Senate Grills Tinubu’s Economic Team Over Nigeria’s Economic Crisis

The Senate is holding a session with the economic team of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to discuss the state of the Nigerian economy, which is facing high inflation, low growth, and currency depreciation. The Senate had summoned the entire economic team to appear on Friday, after it had earlier invited the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, last week.

The economic team comprises the Minister of Finance, Olawale Edun; the Minister of State for Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu; the CBN Governor Cardoso; the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji; and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, among others.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Senator Adetokunbo Abiru, explained that the meeting with the CBN Governor could not take place last Friday, because Cardoso was engaged at the House of Representatives. He also said that the Senate had to adjourn the session until Friday, February 9, because of another session with the Service Chiefs, which might last till Thursday.

He said that the Senate wanted to have enough time to interact properly with the economic team, and to extend the invitation beyond the CBN Governor, to include other members of the team. He said that the Senate was concerned about the economic challenges facing the country, and wanted to hear from the economic team on their plans and actions to address them.