INTERPRETER
The acting governor’s appointment comes after the suspension and arrest of his powerful predecessor, Godwin Emefiele, this weekend.
Abuja, Nigeria – Over the weekend, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced the appointment of Folashodun Shonubi as interim governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Shonubi’s appointment followed the suspension and arrest of former governor Godwin Emefiele by the secret police, with the presidency citing an “ongoing investigation into his office and planned reforms in the banking sector”.
Nigeria’s eurobonds were bullish as investors and analysts viewed Emefiele’s suspension and Shonubi’s appointment as interim governor as a reset to a more traditional economic path under Bola Tinubu, who was inaugurated as Nigeria’s president on May 29.
Emefiele, who launched an unprecedented candidacy for president in 2022, had been the bank’s chief for nearly a decade and his tenure had teetered toward partisan politics that favored Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari. First appointed in 2014, he was the first central bank governor to serve more than one term since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.
A banking titan
Until his appointment as governor of the central bank, Shonubi was Emefiele’s deputy and was in charge of the institution’s operations. He also represented Emefiele as a member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Inland Revenue Service – a position he has held since December 2019.
The 61-year-old has had a stellar career in the Nigerian banking industry with a combined experience of over three decades in the banking and tech industries.
Shonubi holds three degrees, including two master’s degrees – in business administration and mechanical engineering – from the University of Lagos.
He started his career in engineering, but turned to the financial sector in the mid-1980s.
He spent three years at Citibank Nigeria Limited in the 1990s where he was head of treasury operations and also worked at a number of Nigerian commercial banks including First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Ecobank Nigeria Plc and Union Bank of Nigeria limited.
Between 2012 and 2018, he was head of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc – which regulates the infrastructure for interbank payments – from where he joined the CBN.
Another political web
The appointment of the new bank chief has been heralded by many in the business community as another decisive move by Tinubu, which has also cut controversial fuel subsidies, signed a new law to boost electricity generation and also introduced a student loan regime in its first 15 year. days as president.
On the campaign trail, Tinubu also criticized a failed cash exchange policy by the CBN that led to cash shortages and popular frustration ahead of February’s presidential election.
But to Ikemesit Effiong, chief of research at Lagos-based SBM Intelligence, Shonubi’s appointment could hint at the president’s intention to influence policy more subtly.
“Considering how Emefiele has demonstrated the power and far-reaching role the central bank can play in setting the country’s economic agenda, the president will like to see the bank run by someone who is simultaneously seen as malleable for his agenda and unobtrusive, so he is not in the spotlight,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Emophile seemed larger than life at times in his role. Shonubi is set up to be a different kind of governor,” Effiong added.
An official at the bank anonymously told Al Jazeera that Shonubi was reportedly at odds with Emefiele and was an outspoken opponent of the former governor’s agenda within the bank. That attitude, the official said, was seen as appealing to the president, who wanted to reshape the economy and unify exchange rates.
President Tinubu is said to have bypassed the other three deputy governors who all outranked Shonubi, but according to three different sources, including presidency insiders, Shonubi was already drawn into a political web before his first decision as governor.