Senate Confirms Four Buhari’s CBN Nominees, Rejects One

The Senate has confirmed four of five nominees named as non-executive directors of the board of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The confirmed nominees are Ummu Jalingo, Justitia Odinakachukwu, Mike Obadan and Adeola Adetunji.

It however, rejected Abdu Abubakar, as senators who screened him said they were dissatisfied with his responses to their questions.

President Muhammadu Buhari had sent the five names to the Senate in April.

The confirmation followed the adoption of the reports by the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions which screened the nominees on Wednesday.

The chairman of the committee, Rafiu Adebayo (APC, Kwara South), who read out the report to the Senate, described the four confirmed nominees as “very resourceful, diligent, articulate, competent. He said the confirmed nominees “will add the needed value to 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,” he added.

Ibrahim explained that Abdu Abubakar was not confirmed because “he failed the committee’s integrity test.”

“One of the nominees, Dr. Abdu Abubakar failed the integrity test designed by the committee to assess (him); his response to questions lacked transparancy and not worthy to appointed into a regulatory agency by the CBN,” he said.

After the presentation of the report by Ibrahim, the deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu said the issues surrounding the non-confirmation of  Abubakar should be revisited by the committee.

Thereafter, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, directed the committee to “look into Abdu Abubakar’s record, do more legislative work and report back.”