The refusal of the senate to confirm presidential nominees for vacant positions in the Central Bank of Nigeria has affected the first monetary policy committee meeting of 2018.
The meeting was initially scheduled for January 22 and January 23, but a source said the apex bank would issue a statement on Monday to announce the new dates that the meeting will hold.
However, it was reported in December that the committee might not meet in January, as a result of the senate’s refusal to confirm nominees for the 12-man committee.
At present, there are five members available — whereas the quorum is six out of 12 members, as defined by the second schedule of the CBN Act.
Recalled that on July 4, the senate said it would suspend all executive confirmation requests until Ibrahim Magu is removed as the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The senate had refused to confirm Magu over allegations of corruption. He has remained in an acting position for the past two years.
The MPC committee comprises of CBN governor, the four deputy governors of the apex bank; two members of the board of directors of the CBN; three members appointed by the president; and two members appointed by the governor of the bank.
In October 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari nominated Aisha Ahmad as a deputy governor of the CBN to replace Sarah Alade, who retired from the bank in June.
Adeola Adenikinju, Aliyu Sanusi, Robert Asogwa and Asheikh Maidugu were also nominated as members to fill the positions of four others whose tenure were to expire at the end of 2017.
The MPC is a statutory body of the CBN and it is in charge of formulating monetary policy for the country. Its decisions cover issues such as interest rate, exchange rate and other matters that affect investment climate of Nigeria.
Market observers said impacts of the meeting not holding, will be beyond economic and may trigger a political crisis in Nigeria. “The first victim of this delayed approval by the National Assembly would be foreign investors’ confidence. This may then erode the gains made so far by Nigerian Stock Exchange. To foreign investors, a bad policy is better than no policy.
This will also impact negatively on the fiscal policy of the government as the revenue side of the budget may not be realised. Many external investors will avoid government bonds or any debts instruments from the country.
