President Goodluck Jonathan has nominated Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc, Godwin Emefiele as the next Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Emefiele is to replace Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, whose tenure expires in June but was suspended earlier today by the president, on allegations of financial reckless and misconduct.
Sanusi was directed to hand over to Dr. Sarah Alade, the most senior deputy governor in the bank, who will serve as Acting Governor “until the conclusion of ongoing investigations into breaches of enabling laws, due process and mandate of the bank”.
The Presidency conveyed Emefiele’s nomination in a letter to Senate President, David Mark, which was read on the floor of the Senate.
Jonathan, who urged the Senate to treat the nomination with dispatch, also nominated Adelabu Adebayo Adekola, an executive director at First Bank, as Deputy Governor of CBN.
Before becoming Chief Executive officer and Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc., Emefiele had served as Deputy Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc. He was also Executive Director in charge of Corporate Banking, Treasury, Financial Control and Strategic Planning of Zenith Bank Plc; and had been on the management team since inception. He has nearly two decades of banking experience that has seen him serve as Director at Zenith Bank Plc and Zenith Bank (Gambia) Limited.
Earlier in his career, he taught Finance at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and Insurance at the University of Port Harcourt. As well as serving as Director of ACCION Microfinance Bank Limited, he is an alumnus of Executive Education at Stanford University, Harvard University (2004) and Wharton Graduate Schools of Business (2005). He holds a B.Sc. Degree (1984) and an MBA Degree in Finance (1986) both from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
