The Nigerian Senate has confirmed the appointments of four out of the five non-executive directors for the board of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari in April 2017.
The nominees were confirmed following the consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, which conducted their screening on Wednesday at the Senate building in Abuja.
Those confirmed by the Senate are Professor Ummu Jalingo representing North-East, Professor Justina Odinakachukwu Nnabuko, representing South-East, Professor Mike Obadan, representing South-South and Adeola Adetunji, who represents the South-West region. However, Dr. Abdu Abubakar from the North-West region was rejected by the lawmakers.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, while presenting the committee report during the plenary, explained that Dr. Abubakar, who was not recommended for confirmation failed the committee’s integrity test.
According to him, “That four out of the five nominees, Professor Ummu Jalingo, Justitia Odinakachukwu Nnabuko, Mike Obadan and Adeola Adetunji are very resourceful, diligent, articulate, competent and have the needed value for the central bank and they answered questions satisfactorily.”
“The nominees have vast knowledge of the CBN Act. They have been cleared by CCB and relevant security agency. One of the nominees, Dr. Abdu Abubakar, failed the integrity test designed by the committee to assess, his response to questions lacked transparency and not worthy to be appointed into a regulatory agency by the CBN.”
In their contributions, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and Leader of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan stressed the need for the committee to revisit the issues surrounding the non-confirmation of Mr. Abubakar.
President of the Senate Dr. Bukola Saraki thereafter directed the committee to “look into Abubakar’s record, do more legislative work on it and report back.”
The Senate had last month resumed the consideration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s nominees for the board of the CBN, 13 months after the request was made.
President Buhari had in April 2017 forwarded the names of the nominees for the board of the CBN to the Senate for confirmation in accordance with section 6 (1) (d), and 10 (1) of the CBN Act, 2007.