The Senate on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 vetoed the nomination of Okwu Joseph Nnanna as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to represent the South Eastern region of the country after considering his screening report by the Chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Bassey Otu.
Senate President, David Mark, congratulated Nnanna, noting that the activities of the CBN would impact greatly on the economy, especially in the wake of declining crude oil prices all around the world.
Nnanna had impressed the members of the committee after stressing that recapitalisation of development banks would be key in escaping any economic mishap.
The new CBN Deputy Governor (South-East) has said: “My take is that since we have development banks like the Bank of Industry, Nexim bank, Bank of Agriculture, and so on, we can recapitalise all of them and mandate them to lend at a fixed interest rate for the entrepreneurs and other investors willing to invest in the Nigerian economy.
“If we recapitalise the BoI and we tell the Managing Director that we are giving you this money, and ask him to lend at a specific interest rates, he will oblige us because it is the tax payers money.
“We cannot force the management of a private commissioned bank to lend at a fixed rate because they will take into consideration, the risk premium, especially when most people borrow without the intention of repayment.”
