On the directives of the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, the Senate Committee on Banking will today grill the two re-appointed deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Aisha Ahmad and Edward Adamu on the new cash withdrawal policy.
The resolution on the new CBN policy followed Senator Philip Aduda’s attempt on Wednesday, to move a motion on the development.
Aduda had sought to rally other senators to deliberate on the policy but the Senate President, Lawan, interrupted him, saying it was too early to debate the circular.
But Senator Gabriel Suswam supported Aduda telling Lawan, “I think you should have allowed us to discuss this motion for the sake of Nigerians.”
However, the Senate President stopped Aduda and Suswam: “No, distinguished (Senators), there is a misunderstanding here. I told you what my personal opinion is. My personal opinion is that this weekend is off. Maybe but we have an opportunity; the Committee on Banking will be screening two deputy governors of the CBN. This is one major issue they should raise with them.
“As good as the cashless policy may be, it shouldn’t be jumped at, at once. The way the CBN is going about the policy, many Nigerians would be cut off and that won’t be accepted. Motion on the policy will be thoroughly debated in the Senate on Tuesday next week after adequate information has been gotten on it.”
Lawan noted that the newly re-appointed deputy CBN governors would be screened between Thursday and Monday so that by Tuesday, they would have been equipped with enough information to raise a motion in support or shoot down the policy.
He said, “Before Tuesday next week, our committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions mandated to screen the re – appointed deputy governors of the Central Bank should focus its questions on the planned policy.
“The CBN deputy governors must be thoroughly grilled on the policy after which extensive debate on it will be made by Senators on Tuesday next week.”
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Instructions, Senator Uba Sani confirmed to The PUNCH that the CBN deputy governors would be screened on Friday.
“We are working on their letters, the letters will be served tomorrow (Today) and the deputy governors of the CBN will be screened on Friday.’’
Similarly, the House of Representatives has ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to halt the implementation of the new cash withdrawal policy slated for January 9, 2023.
The House also summoned CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele to appear on Thursday 15th December 2022 at 11 am to shed light on the newly proposed naira redesign and withdrawal limit policies.
This is following a resolution of the House passed during plenary today, following a point of order raised by Rep Mark Gbillah on the provisions of the Central Bank Act.
