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Godwin Emefiele
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Godwin Emefiele
takes charged of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday, June 2,
as the tenure of his suspended predecessor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi expired
on May 31.
President Goodluck Jonathan submitted Emefiele’s candidacy to the Senate for confirmation on February 20, the same day he suspended Sanusi over allegations of the 'financial recklessness and gross misconduct' of the CBN. The Senate confirmed Emefiele's appointment on March 26.
Sanusi rejected the accusation insisting he was removed for highlighting alleged widespread corruption in the oil and gas sector, and appealed his suspension in court. Last week his lawsuit was transferred to another court.
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Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
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Until last Friday, Emefiele was the Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc, a position he held for about four years.
Analysts
believed that ex-governor Sanusi has left behind a strong legacy of
excellent economic management. The new governor’s primary objective will
be to preserve the gains in price and exchange rate stability and,
therefore, maintain the previous regime’s tightening stance.
Many
experts also believe that the new governor will move the CBN to the next
level going by his track record as an achiever at the Zenith Bank Plc.
However,
Emefiele will soon have to face the challenged that a pre-election and
election years normally bring. Extra-budgetary spending arising from
electioneering expenses will most certainly lead to excess cash in
circulation and this will ultimately cause inflation and put pressure on
the naira, while myriads of other monetary challenges that will pose
threats to the economy will come forth.
Unemployment, especially among young people, is another problem that Emefiele is expected to solve.
"My message to him [Emefiele] is
that he should stop focusing on financial variables and financial
markets. CBN should broaden its view to focus on the economy. It should
focus on real economic growth, spending growth and household spending
and consumption," Dr. Ayo Teriba, the CEO of Economic Associates, a
Lagos economic consultancy, told This Day. "A situation where the CBN
just focuses on inflation and exchange rate when unemployment level has
doubled, will leave Nigeria as the loser," he added.
An economic
analyst and Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company, Bismarck
Rewane, noted that although the macroeconomic environment had been
relatively stable "the conflicting trends of core and headline inflation since January 2014 will have to be put in perspective." He also expressed concerns over "the eroding fiscal buffers".
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