CBN MPC’s Membership Not Updated 114 Days After Emefiele’s Ouster
The membership of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has not been updated yet on its official website, almost five months after the arrest and removal of Godwin Emefiele, the former Governor of the apex bank.
Emefiele was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) in June and resigned in August. However, information on the bank’s official website shows Emefiele and all the former deputy governors are still members of the MPC.
The apex bank on its official website still displays Emefiele instead of the new Governor, Olayemi Cardoso as the MPC Chairman.
Cardoso was announced as the new CBN governor on September 15 after Emefiele resigned in DSS detention 10 months before the expiry of his second five-year in office. Emefiele who is still under investigation for the series of sleaze during his tenure at the CBN was appointed in June 2014 by former President Goodluck Jonathan for a term of five years.
Emefiele was reappointed by President Bola Tinubu’s predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari, for a second term of five years as CBN Governor in 2019.
Other sacked members of the MPC but whose names are still listed on the CBN website include Aisha Ahmad, the Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Edward Adamu, the Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Folashodun Shonubi, Deputy Governor, Operations, and Kingsley Obiora, Deputy Governor, Economic Policy.
The team of the Special Investigator of the CBN and other Key Government Business Entities (GBEs) interrogated Edward Adamu, Aisha Ahmad, Folashodun Shonubi and Kingsley Obiora over their involvement in the alleged fraud at the apex bank and recommended their suspension but the federal government decided to sack them to pave way for a new team to kickstart a new and clean regime at the embattled bank.
Shonubi, the Deputy Governor, Operations, CBN chaired the fourth MPC in July and the fifth MPC scheduled for September 25-26 was postponed, to give room for the incoming CBN and his members to understudy monetary policies.
The MPC members voted to raise the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 25 basis points, from 18.50 to 18.75 per cent; adjust the asymmetric corridor to +100/-300 basis points around the MPR; retain the CRR at 32.5 per cent; and retain the liquidity ratio at 30 per cent.
Tinubu who had previously suspended Emefiele in June, instructed him to immediately transfer his duties to Shonubi, who was to serve during the investigation and subsequent reforms.
The apex bank under Cardoso towards September 2023 assigned responsibility to the four deputy governors confirmed by the Senate.
Consequently, Bala Bello will be responsible for corporate services, and Mohammed Sani will be in charge of economic policy.
Philip Ikeazor is now deputy governor in charge of financial system stability (FSS), while Emem Usoro is responsible for operations.
The new CBN governor promised to pull back from aggressive development finance, ensure a culture of transparency, compliance and collaboration, and embark on zero tolerance for breaches of the CBN Act.
Cardoso said his immediate priority would be to work out ways to aggressively offset massive FX obligations as part of measures to attack the current naira downturn, which has become a huge burden for the economy.
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