The Senate on Wednesday, February 21, screened nominees for membership of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

President Bola Tinubu had last week forwarded to the Senate for confirmation, the names of nominees for appointment as MPC members.

During the session, the Senator Tokunbo Abiru-led Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions, grilled six of the nominees by asking them critical questions about the economy and possible solutions to forex volatility and food crisis.

The meeting of the MPC has been slated for Monday next week.

First to face the committee was the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Alhaji Lamido Yuguda, who informed the committee that his nomination into MPC, would give the SEC the needed voice in monetary policy.

He lamented that the value of the Naira as it is today, is not real, having lost its intrinsic value but that the MPC, when inaugurated next Monday, would join other stakeholders, to get it stabilized.

He said: “The value of any currency is measured by the goods and services that it can buy. The Naira as it is today does not possess that value sufficiently which is being critically looked into.”

In his own submission, the nominee from Lagos state, Mustapha Akinkunmi, said the way out now is to target the exchange rate and not inflation as being done without much result.

He stated: “More proactive way of addressing the Naira volatility problem at hand, is for the CBN to target the Exchange Rate itself and not Inflation.

“The inflation the country is facing now is largely that of food inflation which is beyond CBN but for the entire country.

“Production and distribution of food commodities across the country would help to reduce the food inflation, while the aggressive target of the exchange rate would help to stabilize the Naira with the required increase in productivity.”

In a similar submission, the nominee from Imo State, Mrs Aku Odinkemelu, said productivity is the key to arresting the volatility of the Naira and food inflation.

Other nominees, grilled at the session by the committee, were Professor Murtala Sagagi from Kano State, Bamidele Amoo from Kwara State, and Alloysius Uche Ordu, who worked with the World Bank and Africa Development Bank for 30 years at different times.

In his closing remarks, the chairman of the committee, Senator Tokunbo Abiru (APC Lagos East), told the nominees that their screening was done ahead of the MPC meeting slated for Monday next week by the CBN.

He said what Nigerians expect to come after the meeting are solutions to the rising inflation rate, worsening Naira volatility in the FOREX market, and rejuvenation of the economy generally. (The Nation)

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