The National Assembly, NASS, yesterday, approved the nomination and appointment of Dr. Okwu Joseph Nnanna as the Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

The Senate ratified Nnanna’s appointment, following the consideration of the report of his screening by the Chairman, Joint Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Bassey Otu.

The committee had, in its report, described the deputy governor-designate as very resourceful, articulate and a vibrant economist per excellence, who convinced members of the panel that screened him of his ability to efficiently handle the job.

Senate President, David Mark, congratulated Nnanna on behalf of his colleagues and noted that CBN would play a crucial role in the current economic situation of the country.

Mark urged the apex bank to work assiduously to make sure that the country does not find itself in a fix economically, in view of the declining price of crude oil in the international market.

Nnanna had told the committee that one of the ways to wriggle out of the economic crisis in the country was to recapitalize development banks with a view to encouraging them to lend at controlled interest rates.

He 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 recapitalize 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.”

He noted that the non-performing loans in the country were very high and that banks’ balance sheets were landing on non-performing loans, stressing that the nation had passed the era of fixed interest rate.