FG names Mr. Emefiele as new CBN Governor By Elder (Dr.) Chukwuma O. Nwaonicha Mr. Godwin Emefiele, New CBN Governor I want to use this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Zenith Bank CEO who was picked as a result of his outstanding character and disposition to professional ethics as the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor. The Managing Director, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, is highly principled and independent mindedness apart from the fact that he has not been involved in the banking politics was said to have recommended him for the CBN top job.Mr. President has forwarded Mr.Emefiele’s name to the Senate for approval. Mr. President has also nominated MrAdelabu Adebayo, an Executive Director at First Bank as Deputy Governor of the Apex Bank. Mr. Adebayo will succeed TundeLemo who retired as Deputy Governor of the regulatory bank in late 2013. On the other hand, Mr. President said if confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Emefiele will take over fully as the substantive Governor in place of MallamSanusi whose tenure elapses in June 2014.The President had earlier appointed Dr. Sarah Alade, the most senior Deputy Governor in the bank as Acting Governor, pending the confirmation of Mr. Emefiele’s nomination. It is no longer news that MallanSanusiLamido had been suspended as the CBN Governor and Mr.GodwinEmefiele had been appointed in his stead by the Presidency. MallanLamidoSanusi, has reacted to his suspension by President Goodluck Jonathan, vowing to head for court to challenge his suspension.He equally dismissed the sundry allegations made against his leadership at the CBN, saying the allegations were not new.MallanLamidoSanusi described his suspension as politically motivated, wondering why the Presidency had waited for this long to remove him from office.MallanLamidoSanusi was suspended on Thursday, February 20, 2014 by Mr.President for alleged “financial recklessness and misconduct’’.President Goodluck Jonathan has noted that MallanSanusiLamidoSanusi is still the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria until proven guilty.Mr.President has declared that he has no power to sack the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), MallanSanusiLamidoSanusi, but that he has absolute power to suspend him, without recourse to the Senate. I really respect the gut of President Jonathan in suspending MallanLamidoSanusieven though it was a belated one. As believed by some Nigerians,MallanLamidoSanusi’s appointment as CBN Governor was a terrible mistake that should not be repeated never again.MallanSanusiLamidoSanusihas his shortcoming as any other individual, organization even government but he was damn too egocentric, parochial, controversial, judgmental, arrogant and extremely vindictive, among others. The suspended bank chief lacked certain professional qualities of a Central Bank Governor. I have no remorse for MallanSanusi departure from CBN;perhaps he deserves the suspension due to his trait as defined above. On the other hand, many Nigerians believe the CBN Governor was axed because he exposed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, as a harbinger of corruption and financial mismanagement, diverting huge federal revenues accruing to the nation from the sale of crude oil. MallanSanusisaid as much as $20 billion oil money is missing. The figures keep changing from $49 billion to $10.8 billion to $20 billion, the consistenceis a serious issue but there may be some element of truth. I do not believe this is magician’s trick:“abrakatabra”, the more you look the less you see. On the other hand, because the 2007 Act of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, was basically flawed by allowing the Governor of the Bank to also occupy the position of Chairman of its Board of Directors, the power-drunk MallanSanusi exploited this structural weakness in wreaking havoc on the nation’s financial system. Going back in time, Mr. Godwin Emefiele is the Group Managing Director, Zenith Bank Plc, a position he has held since August 2010. Until then he was the Deputy Managing Director of the bank, having been appointed into that position in 2001. Mr. Emefiele has been on the bank’s management team since inception and has held various management positions in the bank, including serving as the Bank’s Executive Director in charge of Corporate Banking, Treasury, Financial Control and Strategic Planning. Before becoming the Group Managing Director, Mr. Emefiele was directly responsible for all the Group’s local subsidiaries, Treasury and Correspondent Banking, and Multilateral, Conglomerates, and Private Banking. He also had responsibilities for direct supervision of majority of the bank’s branches in Lagos and Northern Nigeria. Mr. Emefiele has over twenty-six years banking experience and holds a B.Sc and an MBA in Finance both from the University of Nigeria Nsukka. Before commencing his banking career, he lectured Finance, Bank Management, and Insurance at the University of Nigeria and University of Port Harcourt. Based on Mr. Emefieleprofile, I believe he merits this top CBN job.Also, I thank Mr. President for giving Mr. Emefiele the opportunity to serve the institution.The exit of CBN Governor MallanSanusiLamidoSanusi, to analysts, means more work for the incoming CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele. The new Governor of CBN may have some tough challenges before himbut I believe he is equal to the task. As a technocrat he should have smart team as subordinates including expert economists. The previous Governor took someharsh economic policy, radicaldecisions without wide consultation and other unprofessional actions. These policy, decisions and unprofessional actions (“dog eats dog” economic strategy) are still affectingMallanSanusi.I hope and pray the New Governor does not make similar mistake. According toOlakunleEzun, a currencies analyst at the Ecobank Nigeria, the incoming governor must consolidate on the successes recorded by MallanLamidoSanusi in both the payment system and banking reforms. I do believe that the independence of the CBN is one of the qualities that will attract foreign investors among other things. Political pressure on CBN should be avoided. In addition, Mortgage Refinance Company or Companies that drive for cheap and affordable housing for the population and the issue of Naira Devaluation, Mr. Emefiele may be compelled to devalue the mid-point of the exchange rate band to N170 to dollar at his first MPC meeting in July. Also, Naira Vs Reserves: it is expected that Mr. Emefiele focuses on getting them back on track. The naira exchanges at N155.75 to the dollar while foreign reserves stand at $41.17 billion should be addressedin a professional manner. It should be noted that the “rebranding” of the Naira cannot be a strategy at this point in time because the Nation has a very weak economy:Nigeria lacksindustrial and technology developments, and lacks manufacturing base.The Nation also lacks infrastructural development and very low economic productivity plus other social problems, all of which makes the Naira to be very weak against the Dollar.As noted, the economy depends solely on the stability of oil price. Therefore, there is no magicbullet to make the Naira stronger but economic and social developments including good governance devoid of corruption. As noted, the Cash-less policy is aimed at reducing the dominance of cash in the system. It specifies penal charges for individuals and corporate organizations that want to withdraw or lodge cash above prescribed limits. Under the policy, the CBN pegged the daily cumulative cash withdrawal or deposit limit for individual accounts at N500, 000 per day and N3 million per day for corporate accounts.This issue needs to be re-examined. Furthermore, the Federal Government’s plans to double agriculture’s share of banks’ credit to 10 per cent in two years, itmeans that the new CBN boss may consolidate on the successes recorded by MallanLamidoSanusi. Other challenges for the New CBN Governor include but are not limited to Finance Houses reforms wherein operators earlier rejected N200 million minimum capital base being proposed by the CBN for the subsector. The stakeholder should be assured by the Governor that the recent changes in the bank’s leadership will not affect monetary policies. For example, Dr. NgoziOkonjo-Iweala said the pursuit of macro-economic stability, which has become the hallmark of the Goodluck Jonathan administration would continue. She expressed optimism that the tight monetary policy at the CBN would be sustained. Lastly, the lending rate of our banks is beyond the reach of SMEs owners and need to be addressed. I strongly believe that Mr. Emefiele is aware of all these challenges at the CBN and he is equal to the task. I wish Mr. Emefiele the best of luck in his new job if confirmed by the Senate. Elder (Dr.) Chukwuma O. Nwaonicha
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 07:19:49 +0000
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