The House of Representatives has rescheduled the appearance of the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
The lawmakers rescheduled Mr Emefiele’s appearance on Thursday after a letter from him informing the House of his unavailability.
Mr Emefiele was due to appear before the lawmakers today to brief them on the controversial cash withdrawal limit, a new policy announced by the bank in November.
The CBN governor, in a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Thursday, informed the lawmakers that he is part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s entourage to Washington DC, United States.
The letter, signed by the Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Edward Adamu and read by Deputy Speaker Idris Wase, requested another day to attend to US-Africa Summit.
“We refer to your invitation to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, to brief the House of Representatives on recent policies of the Bank on Thursday, December 15, 2022.
“We respectfully apprise you that the CBN Governor is a member of the delegation of H.E. President Muhammadu Buhari currently attending the USA Africa Summit in Washington D.C.
“Consequently, the Governor will not be able to honour your invitation on Thursday, December 15, 2022.
“While the Governor regrets his inability to be physically present for the scheduled briefing, due to the aforementioned national assignment, he shall be available to provide the briefing at the earliest time possible,” the letter said.
Motion to summon CBN
The lawmakers had last week summoned Mr Emefiele following a motion of a matter of urgent public importance moved by Aliyu Magaji (APC Jigawa) on Thursday during plenary.
In a memo issued on signed by the Director of Banking Supervision, Haruna Mustafa, the apex bank 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.
In the new development, CBN directed that only N200 and lower denominations should be loaded into banks’ ATM machines.
The lawmakers resolved that the CBN should halt the implementation of the policy until the probe is concluded.
The deputy speaker, who presided over the session, ruled that Mr Emefiele should appear before the House on Tuesday.
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