Reps fume as Emefiele — again — fails to appear over CBN’s cash withdrawal policy

The house of representatives has again rescheduled the appearance of Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), over the new cash withdrawal policy.

The CBN governor was initially due to appear before the lawmakers on December 15, but it was rescheduled after he sent a letter to the parliament stating that he was out of the country.

At the plenary session on Tuesday, Emefiele, again, through a letter signed by Edward Adamu, CBN deputy governor, corporate services, said he was not yet back in the country.

THE DEBATE

Femi Gbajamiamila, speaker of the house, said the invitation should be rescheduled to Thursday while wondering why the CBN governor was out of the country for over two weeks “at this critical time”.

“At this point, we will be requesting to find out what that official assignment is that keeps the CBN governor away for almost two weeks,” he said.

“I would love to know what that official assignment is at this critical time in Nigeria that will keep him away for two weeks.”

Abdulganiyu Olododo, a lawmaker from Kwara, raised a point of order saying the CBN governor may not be available on Thursday.

“You said the CBN governor was out of the country and you’re picking another day — on Thursday. How are we sure that he’s going to be available this very Thursday?

Ndudi Elumelu, the minority leader, said the house had already taken a position on the cash withdrawal policy, and that Emefiele is expected to implement the lawmakers’ decision.

“The house in the interim had taken a position. The issue of him coming was just to fulfil all righteousness,” he said.

Elumelu said whether Emefiele honours “the invitation or does not come, we have passed a resolution asking him to suspend the policy”.

In his ruling, Gbajabiamila said if the CBN governor is “unavoidably” unavailable on Thursday, a high-ranking deputy should represent him.

“What is important is that this house gets a full proper briefing and I think it behoves on the CBN governor in accordance with the law to brief this house,” he said.

“If for any reason it is verified that he is unavoidably out of the country on Thursday, [he should] ask his deputy governor or anyone who is well equipped to fully brief this house so that we do not carry this to next year.”

THE MOTION

On December 8, the green chamber asked the apex bank to suspend the policy on weekly cash withdrawals by individuals and corporate entities.

The lawmakers also summoned Emefiele to appear before them to be grilled over the policy scheduled to take effect on January 9, 2023.

In a memo issued and signed by Haruna Mustafa, director of banking supervision, the apex bank had directed all banks and other financial institutions to ensure that over-the-counter cash withdrawals by individuals and corporate entities do not exceed N100,000 and N500, 000, respectively, per week.

The CBN also directed that only N200 and lower denominations should be loaded into banks’ ATMs.

The row over Emefiele’s snub of the green chamber comes hours after a federal high court in Abuja declined an application by the Department of State Services (DSS) to arrest and detain him.

The court had said there was no concrete evidence to substantiate the claim that the CBN governor was involved in terrorism financing and economic crimes.