February 6, 2024
– By Reporter
The Senate has, on Tuesday, February 6, summoned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic team over the falling naira and worsening economy of the country.
The Red Chamber, on Friday, summoned the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Olayemi Cardoso, to appear before it over the same issue on Tuesday.
The Tinubu economic team members include Minister of Finance, Olawale Edun; Minister of State for Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu; CBN Governor Cardoso; Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji; and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, among others.
The Senate on Tuesday, however, deferred its summon of the CBN governor, saying he and the economic team would now appear before it on Friday by 9.00 am.
The Chairman Senate Committee on Banks, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Senator Adetokunbo Abiru, said the panel’s scheduled meeting with the CBN Governor for Tuesday could no longer be held because of Cardoso’s engagement at the House of Representatives.
The panel took the decision after waiting for Cardoso for about an hour without the apex bank’s boss showing up.
Senator Abiru said: “So that is how come this (meeting) has been somehow delayed and the sense is that perhaps they are just rounding up and we don’t know exactly when they will be done to be frank.
“On our part too, we also believe that we should be rational and in terms of trying to see reasons, we put our brothers in the House of Reps and the sisters in the House of Reps and of course the CBN Governor.
“To that extent, it will appear that on our part, we’ll have to adjourn until Friday the 9th of February.
“The reason too, I think I should explain is that tomorrow there is a session with the Service Chiefs, and of course, that might extend till Thursday because they are issues of very serious concern to us.
“So in order to play safe and have enough time to also interact properly with the economic team in this instance, meaning that we might extend the invitation beyond the governor to also include members of the economic team.
“So on that note, we have resolved, and I would like to invite one of my colleagues to move the motion to adopt the decision to postpone this session.”
