On Friday, President Bola Tinubu appointed Dr. Olayemi Cardoso as the new Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), replacing Folashodun Shonubi who has headed the bank in an acting capacity since the President suspended Godwin Emefiele.
The Special Adviser to the President, (Media & Publicity), Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed this in a statement. He added that the President also nominated four deputy governors to the apex bank.
The statement read, “This directive is in conformity with Section 8(1) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, which vests in the President the authority to appoint the governor and four deputy governors for the Central Bank of Nigeria, subject to confirmation by the Senate.
“Furthermore, President Bola Tinubu has approved the nomination of four new deputy governors of the CBN for a term of five years at the first instance, pending their confirmation by the Nigerian Senate, as listed below.”
He listed the deputy governors as Mrs Emem Usoro; Mr Muhammad Dattijo; Mr Philip Ikeazor; and Dr. Bala Bello.
He said that in line with Tinubu’s agenda, the President expected the nominees to successfully implement critical reforms at the CBN. This would enhance the confidence of Nigerians and international partners in the restructuring of the economy toward sustainable growth and prosperity for all.
Tinubu on June 9 suspended Emefiele from office with immediate effect.
A statement from the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, said this was a result of his office’s ongoing investigation and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.
Emefiele was directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), Shonubi, pending the conclusion of the investigation and reforms.
Before this development, the remaining three deputy governors of the CBN were Mrs Aisha Ahmad (Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability Directorate); Mr Edward Adamu (Deputy Governor, Corporate Services Directorate); and Dr. Kingsley Obiora (Deputy Governor, Economic Policy Directorate Serving).
Their fate was not yet known as the time of filing this report.
