Teddy Oscar, Abuja
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed the reappointment of Prof. Chibuike Ugochukwu Uche; Dr. Adedoyin Salami, Dr. Shehu Yahaya and Abdul Ganiyu Garba as members of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This is even as the Red Chamber also confirmed the appointment of Mr. Hassan Bashir and Mr. Emmanuel Fayemi as members of the National Population Commission (NPC).
President Goodluck Jonathan had in two separate letters to the Senate, requested the lawmakers to approve the reappointment and appointment of the above mentioned persons into the two establishments so as not to allow any vacuum in the various offices they were nominated to fill.
Presenting the report of the Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Matters, which was mandated to screen the nominees for reappointment to CBN Monetary Policy Committee, chairman of the committee, Senator Bassey Otu, told the Senate that the nominees met all the requirements needed for their reappointment.
He also told the senators that while appearing before the committee for screening, the nominees responded satisfactorily to all the questions thrown to them.
Otu also hinted that the committee was also satisfied with their performances in their first term appointment to the apex bank.
A look at the reappointed members revealed that Uche is a specialist in Banking and Finance, while Salami specialises in Macro-economic Policy; Yahaya specialises in Development Economics, while Garba is a Monetary and Fiscal Policy expert.
In his remark, Senate president, David Mark, enjoined the reappointed members of the CBN Monetary Policy Committee to double their efforts in order to bring innovations and rapid development to the economy.
In a related development, vice chairman, Senate Committee on National Identity Card and National Population, Senator Abdulmumin Hassan, informed the Senate that his committee, while screening the nominees for appointment to NPC, found them worthy in all ramifications.
Hassan, thereafter, implored his colleagues to approve their appointment.
Putting the confirmation of the nominees to vote by Mark, the senators unanimously supported their appointment, thereby, confirming all the nominees according to the request by Jonathan.
Mark noted that population is a very important issue in decision-making processes of any nation, and urged the new appointees to live up to the expectations of Nigerians and the demands of their offices.
“Population is a very serious issue in this country, and I believe that there would bring something on board so that we know our true figures. Every time we talk about statistics in this country, depending on who you are talking to, we don’t appear to have the accurate figure. I hope that they would help to bring something on board so that we can know our true population in this country,” Mark stated.
