Senate confirms Cardoso as monetary policy committee chairman

The senate has confirmed Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as the chairman of the monetary policy committee (MPC).

On Thursday, the upper legislative chamber also confirmed the appointment of four deputy governors of CBN and seven others as members of the MPC.

The development is coming less than five days before the MPC meeting.

The meeting, which had been postponed on two occasions, is scheduled for February 26 and 27.

In a letter on February  14, 2024, President Bola Tinubu asked the senate to confirm the nominees before the MPC meeting.

The deputy governors confirmed as MPC members are; Mohammed Abdullahi, Bala Bello, Emem Usoro, and Philip Ikeazor.

Other members are Lamido Yuguda, director-general, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Lydia Shehu, permanent secretary, federal ministry of finance, Murtala Sagagi, Aloysius Ordu, Pauline Odinkemelu, Mustapha Akinwumi, and Bandele Amoo.

The senate confirmed the 12 nominees after considering the report of the committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions presented by Adetokunbo Abiru, its chairman, during plenary on Wednesday.

In his remarks, Senate President Godswill Akpabio commended Tinubu for selecting men and women of great expertise who would help Nigeria with policies to turn around the CBN and redirect the monetary policies of the federation for the good of all Nigerians.

“I urge the MPC to use their expertise to redirect the monetary policies including even the contributions to the fiscal policies to ensure that Nigerians get out of the current economic quagmire,” Akpabio said.

MPC is the highest policy-making committee of the apex bank with the mandate to review economic and financial conditions in the economy, and determine appropriate stance of policy in the short to medium term.