The Senate on Tuesday barred journalists and other guests from covering its meeting with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
The National Assembly had last week summoned the CBN governor to appear before it and explain why the naira had fallen precipitously against the United States dollar.
But upon Emefiele’s arrival yesterday, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, announced that the meeting would be held behind closed-doors.
The decision infuriated some journalists who confronted Senate’s spokesman, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, on whether the upper legislative chamber had the right to shut out Nigerians on matters affecting them despite its persistent claim of transparency and openness.
But Abdullahi claimed that the executive session was part and parcel of parliamentary democracy and hence, what happened was not the exception.
A statement issued later by the Senate at the end of the meeting said the CBN governor gave a “lucid account of the performance of the Nigerian economy in the last one year”.”
The statement added: “His presentation began with the current global economic conditions which has been characterised by external shocks including the sharp decline in commodity prices, the geo-political tensions along important global trading
routes and tightening of monetary policy in the US.“He drew linkages of these occurrences with the Nigerian economy especially with respect to the over 70 per cent decline in oil prices from about $116 per barrel in June 2014 to about $30 per barrel currently....Following an exhaustive response by both the governor and his team, the Senate acknowledged that these are indeed difficult times all over the world and not just in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, after the meeting, the spokesman of the Senate, Abdullahi Sabi, said the upper legislative chamber was convinced after listening to the CBN governor that the apex bank was on the right course.
The CBN, among other polices, had initiated a policy stopping the sale of dollars to Bureaux De Change (BDC) – an issue that is agitating the minds of Nigerians.
But yesterday, the senate, through its spokesman expressed satisfaction with the policy.
“The analysis by the CBN showed that Nigeria is not doing badly in many macroeconomic indices, when compared to its peers,” Sabi said. “After the presentation, many distinguished senators asked a host of pertinent questions and raised issues concerning the health of the banking system, the stoppage of sales of foreign exchange to BDCs, gradual rise in inflation, fall in foreign exchange reserves,
exclusion of some items from access to foreign exchange, and policy coordination between the fiscal and monetary authorities.
“Following an exhaustive response by both the governor and his team, the senate acknowledged that these are indeed difficult times all over the world and not just in Nigeria.
“Following an exhaustive response by both the governor and his team, the senate acknowledged that these are indeed difficult times all over the world and not just in Nigeria.
“The senate also acknowledged the pains that many people may be facing at this time, especially in the light of shortages of foreign exchange for legitimate business
.“But having carefully considered the policies of the CBN, the senate would like to commend and support these policies because they are mostly geared towards increasing local production, creating jobs here in Nigeria, safeguarding our commonwealth, and expanding economic opportunities and growth in Nigeria.”
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