The new governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, will tomorrow (Thursday) announce how he intends to drive price and exchange rate stability during his five-year tenure as the apex bank’s boss.
Emefiele formally assumed office on Tuesday as the 10th indigenous governor of the CBN, taking over from Sarah Alade, whose tenure as acting governor ended on Monday, June 2, 2014.
“I will be holding a World Press Conference on Thursday, June 5, 2014, where I will unveil my agenda for the Central Bank of Nigeria and the people of Nigeria,” he stated at a brief formal handover ceremony, while thanking the erstwhile acting governor and the other deputy governors for holding firm in expectation of his assumption.
BusinessDay learnt that the new governor likewise met with staff of the CBN later yesterday evening.
Emefiele, who was cleared by the Senate on Wednesday, March 26, 2014, arrived at the CBN headquarters at 7.30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 3, 2014, to the warm embrace of the four deputy governors at the bank and expectant staff, led by Sarah Alade.
He is being cheered, particularly with the expectation that he would run a conservative central bank quite distinct from his predecessor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
Experts say Emefiele is also fortunate to have met a reasonably stable economy with inflation staying at single digit and within the CBN’s 6-9 percent targets for a while now.
The fact that the new governor appears to have the strong backing of Aso Rock is expected to work for him, but not without a few challenges.
One of his major challenges would be to drive a monetary policy stance at a time that the naira has come under pressure amid declining reserves. There have been calls for the CBN to consider devaluing the local currency, an option that the new governor has long ruled out.
Emefiele is also taking up the leadership of the CBN close to an election year when liquidity surge, with an attendant dollarisation of the economy, is expected. He may soon face the usual pressure from government to allow a drawdown on the federation’s accounts for election spending, going by past experiences and reports.
Another challenge would be a conscious effort to refrain the CBN from the public eye, considering intense controversies that had rocked the bank in the recent past.
Godwin Emefiele was appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan in February, immediately after he announced the suspension of Sanusi whom he accused of financial recklessness.
It would be recalled that at the Senate screening following Emefiele’s nomination by the president, the new CBN governor promised to take necessary measures to support the naira which had come under immense pressure, but ruled out the option of devaluing the local currency. He also pledged to commit to the core mandate of the CBN to actualise the monetary and price stability.
Emefiele, who is the immediate-past group managing director of Zenith Bank Nigeria plc, brings along to his new role over 20 years of banking management experience. He is a 1984 graduate of Finance and holds an MBA in Finance (1986), both from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also an alumnus of Executive Education at Stanford University, Harvard University (2004), and Wharton Graduate School of Business (2005).
Onyinye Nwachukwu
