BREAKING: Senate confirms Emefiele for second term

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele

The Senate has confirmed the re-appointment of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, for another term of five years.

Emefiele’s re-appointment was confirmed on Thursday after he was grilled for a few hours by the lawmakers on Wednesday.

Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions had on Tuesday received the executive communication for renewal of Emefiele’s appointment.

President Muhammadu Buhari on May 8 wrote to the Senate to seek approval for re-appointment of Emefiele for another five-year term as CBN governor.

Emefiele’e second tenure was given approval despite allegations of money laundering of about N500 billion.

An audio recording recently surfaced of Emefiele and other top CBN executives discussing the apex bank’s depleted balance sheet and shareholders’ fund.

But CBN in a statement said that the discussion was on loans to state governments which negatively affected its balance sheet.

It also said that contrary to the narrative that the discussion was about a fraudulent transaction, the beginning of the conversation was omitted to create a different impression.