Senate confirms Adelabu as Deputy Governor of CBN

The Senate report on PIB was deferred by a month.
The Senate on Thursday confirmed Adelabu Adekola as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
The confirmation followed the consideration of the report of the Bassey Otu (PDP-Cross River)-led Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions on the screening of Mr. Adelabu.
Presenting the report, Mr. Otu said the committee had screened Mr. Adelabu on Wednesday and having answered questions satisfactorily, the committee found him capable of handling the position.
The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over Thursday’s plenary, congratulated Mr. Adelabu and expressed the hope that he would bring fresh ideas into the CBN.
Meanwhile, presentation of the report of the Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream and Downstream) and Gas on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) was deferred to another legislative day.
Presentation of the report was listed on the day’s order paper.
The Chairman of the joint committee, Emmanuel Paulker (PDP-Bayelsa), however pleaded for additional one month, saying the report was not ready.
Paulker said “the committee has been working assiduously on this bill, but because of its volume, we are yet to put everything together.
“I therefore crave the indulgence of the Senate for another one month to put the report together.’’
However, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Gas, Nkechi Nwogu (PDP-Abia), who said the presentation of the report had been slated for Thursday, asked why the Rules and Business Committee slated it without confirming from the committee if it was ready or not.
She reiterated that the committee had been working hard to put the report together and described as embarrassing the committee’s listing of the report presentation for Thursday without confirmation.
Consequently, the Deputy Senate President defended the Rules and Business Committee, saying the time the senate gave the joint committee to present the report had elapsed.
Mr. Ekweremadu said the Rules and Business Committee assumed that the report would be ready for presentation and listed it for Thursday. He appealed to the joint committee to expedite work on the report and present it within the one month additional period given.
The Senate, also on Thursday, referred the screening of five nominees as members of the National Population Commission to its committee on National Identity and National Population.
The nominees are; Lanre Fayemi (Ekiti), Baba Makau (Yobe), Hassan Bashir (Bauchi), Yusuf Anka (Zamfara) and Abdullahi Abarshi (Kebbi).
The committee is expected to present its report within two weeks.
(NAN)