By Dipo Olowookere
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, has expressed optimism that the first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting scheduled for next week will hold as scheduled.
According to the MPC meeting calendar posted on the apex bank’s website, the meeting is expected to take place on Monday, January 22 and Tuesday, January 23, 2018, in Abuja.
There were fears that the MPC meeting will not take place as planned next week as a result of lack of quorum.
The committee comprises 12 members, but at the moment, eight positions are vacant the Senate, which is to screen and confirm nominees to fill the vacant positions, has refused to carry out this duty because of a face-off with the executive arm of government.
The MPC is headed by the CBN Governor, who is the chairman. Others in the committee are the four deputy governors of the apex bank; two members of the board of directors of the chief lender; three members appointed by the President; and two members appointed by the Governor.
But speaking in an interview in Abuja a moment ago, the central bank boss said he is “very hopeful” the next MPC meeting will take place at the planned dates despite the pending approval by parliament of some newly-appointed committee members.
“We are getting close to the MPC, but I can tell you that I’m optimistic that issues about the confirmation of our nominees are being dealt with,” he said.
The Senate resumed sitting on Tuesday and at the moment, matters concerning the confirmation of the committee members have not been debated.
Last week, a local paper quoted a Senator as saying that the position of the upper legislative chamber remained unchanged until the impasse regarding the nomination and non-confirmation of the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Magu, was resolved.
The lawmaker had also said that the Senate had resolved to seek legal interpretation of a comment made by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo that the position of the EFCC chairman does not require the confirmation of the Senate, as it was not specified in the constitution.
As a result of Mr Osinbajo’s remark, the Senate had resolved to suspend the confirmation process for all nominees of the president not specifically mentioned in the 1999 Constitution, but are provided for in the establishment Acts of several agencies of the federal government such as the CBN, FIRS, NCC, and others.
The source explained: “What we are saying is that there is a need to test this in court. Since the vice-president, who is a lawyer, can pronounce that Magu does not need Senate confirmation and that his nomination should not have been sent to us in the first instance, then we queried why that of the MPC members were sent to the Senate.
“After all, the appointment of MPC members is also not contained in the constitution. So why was it sent to us? If we decline confirmation, would the executive not still interpret it the way they have chosen to interpret the issue with Mr Magu?
“Just like the EFCC chairmanship, the members of the MPC are not mentioned in our constitution.”
In a related development, according to Bloomberg, Mr Emefiele also said at the meeting, the committee will likely not change the rates.
“I don’t think rates will change,” the CBN chief was quoted as saying, but was quick to add that the chief lender was making “very good progress” to bring the rates down.
Data released this week by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that inflation in the country slowed to 15.37 percent in December 2017 from 15.90 percent in November 2017.
