CBN Gov: Some Nigerians decry Shonubi’s acting role over Ahmad, Adamu, Dr Kingsley Obiora
Nigerians on Twitter have accused President Bola Tinubu of tribalism, for bypassing brilliant Dr. Kingsley Obiora, who graduated best overall student in his class both at University of Benin and University of Ibadan.
Anyone who knows Obiora especially at University of Ibadan, including his professors, will tell you he is not from this planet. He is the deputy governor heading Economic Policy and Research and the only deputy governor with PhD.
Tinubu not only bypassed the most qualified academically Dr Kingsley Obiora, he also bypassed the most senior deputy governors Mrs. Aishah N Ahmad and Mr Edward Adamu, to appoint a Yoruba Mechanical Engineer as CBN governor.
Obiora resumed as a Deputy Governor in the Central Bank of Nigeria on 02 March, 2020. Prior to this, he was an Alternate Executive Director in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, USA. In this capacity, he was a member of the Executive Board, collectively responsible for conducting the daily operations of the IMF. He also assisted to represent the interests of 23 African Countries, including Nigeria, at the Board.
He first joined the IMF through the globally-competitive “Economist Program” in 2007 and worked in both the European Department as well as the Strategy, Policy and Review Department, whilst carrying out extensive work on exchange rate assessment, debt sustainability analyses, decoupling and spillovers, real sector analyses, as well as several reviews of Financial Sector Assessments. Prior to this, Dr. Obiora worked at the West African Monetary Institute in Accra, Ghana and the Centre for Econometric and Allied Research at the University of Ibadan.
While on secondment from the IMF, Dr. Obiora simultaneously served as Technical Adviser to the Nigeria’s National Economic Management Team as well as Special Assistant to the President Jonathan’s Chief Economic Adviser from October 2011 to May 2014.
During this time, he played key roles in helping shape the country’s economic policies on several fronts, including on energy subsidies, power sector reform, measurement of job creation, architecture of development financing, diversification of the economy, oil price benchmarking in the budgetary process, regulatory framework for doing business, port reform, and asset-based economic mapping and modeling.
From June 2014 until July 2018, Dr. Obiora served as Special Adviser on Economic Matters to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). During this role, he contributed to the overall analytical and policy work of the CBN, bringing his extensive international and domestic economic experiences to bear in helping the Bank understand the ramifications of, and deal with spillovers from, the external shocks emanating from the significant drop in global oil prices. Dr. Obiora has a first degree from the University of Benin as well as Masters and Doctorate degrees in Economics from the University of Ibadan.
Aishah Ahmad
Aisha Ahmed was appointed to the board of CBN on March 2018 as the bank’s deputy governor as head of Financial System Stability. She is responsible for leading the bank’s effort to promote a sound financial system in Nigeria. She is a member of the governing board.
Edward Adamu
Edward Adamu became Deputy Governor of CBN on March 2018. According to the CBN, Adamu graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1981, obtaining a Bachelor of Science (BSc.) Honours degree in Quantity Surveying with Second Class Upper Division. He also received Post-graduate certifications in Project & Programme Management, Strategy Management, Credit Administration, Knowledge Management and Human Resource Management.
Folashodun Shonubi
Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi is CBN’s Deputy Governor of the Operations Directorate and holds a double Masters’s Degree in Business Administration and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Lagos. Before he was appointed CBN’s Deputy Governor, Shonubi was Managing Directo/CEO of the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System for six years. He was also Executive Director, Information Technology and Operations at Union Bank of Nigeria and a Member of Union Homes, and director, Information Technology and Corporate Services at Renaissance Securities Nigeria Limited, responsible for the Group’s IT infrastructure in Africa.
