Following the immediate suspension of the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, from office, his Deputy (Operations Directorate) Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, has been announced to replace him in the meantime.
DAILY GIST reported that President Bola Tinubu on Friday night suspended Emefiele.
The suspension was announced in a statement issued by the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey.
According to the statement, the suspension of Emefiele is based on an ongoing investigation as well as because of a planned reform of the financial sector.
Tinubu then directed Mr. Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi to act as the CBN governor.
It was gathered that the decision to suspend Emefiele, was taken on Friday afternoon after a number of scenarios, including an outright sack, was contemplated.
However, president sources said a sack was considered legally complicated because of the CBN law which empowers only the senate to remove the governor by two-thirds majority.
By law, one of the deputies must complete Emefiele’s tenure, which expires May 2024.
The central bank has four deputy governors but Shonubi was considered above Aishah Ahmed, Edward Adamu, and Kingsley Obiora.
Here are things you should know about the new acting governor of CBN:
1. Shonubi assumed the position of Operations Directorate on October 17, 2018.
2. He was born on the 7th of March, 1962.
3. He holds a double Master’s Degree respectively in Business Administration and Mechanical Engineering, from the University of Lagos. He is a banker with over 30 year’s professional experience.
4. He was the Managing Director/CEO of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System PLC from 2012-2018.
5. Mr. Shonubi was Executive Director, Information Technology and Operations at Union Bank of Nigeria Plc.
6. Between 1999 and 2007, he worked in MBC International as Deputy General Manager and supervised their IT operational platforms.
7. He served in First City Monument Bank Limited as Vice President and in Ecobank Nigeria Limited as Executive Director.
8. Shonubi also had a stint with Citibank Nigeria Limited as its Head, Treasury Operations (1990-1993).
9. Shonubi is now the chief central banker of Africa’s biggest economy.
