The Senate on Wednesday confirmed the nomination of Aishah Ahmad and Edward Adamu for a second term as deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The confirmation was sequel to the consideration of a report by the Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, which screened the nominees.
Ahmad and Adamu were first appointed as CBN deputy governors in charge of the Financial System Stability and Corporate Services Directorate respectively in March 2018.
President Muhammadu Buhari renominated the duo last week and forwarded a request to the Red Chamber for confirmation.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Uba Sani, while presenting the report, said the appointment of Mrs Ahmad and Adamu was in line with CBN Act.
He said the nominees also possessed the requisite academic and professional qualifications, cleared by the security agencies, and that there were no petitions against their nominations.
The lawmaker, therefore, recommended their confirmation.
The committee, during the screening last Friday, quizzed the CBN chiefs on the apex bank’s policy, which restricted the maximum cash withdrawal over the counter (OTC) by individuals and corporate organisations per week to N100,000 and N500,000 respectively.
Mrs Ahmad, the Deputy Governor of CBN on Financial System Stability, told the panel that the cashless policy was introduced in 2012 and that its implementation has transformed the banking and payment system.
Ahmad assured that no section of the country would be left out as required facilities for the full implementation of the cashless policy in terms of financial access point system, mobile money, and e-naira are available across the 774 local government councils in the country.
“All fears and worries expressed by Nigerians on the planned limited cash withdrawal policy are seriously being taken care of as nobody or a section of Nigerians, will be left out.
“In the past, banking transactions in Nigeria were limited to bank branches alone as the only means, which has now expanded into multiple electronic platforms as well as the geometrical increase in the number of agents from 88,000 to 1.4 million,” she said.