The new governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday assumed duties in Abuja.

Mr. Emefiele, who took over the mantle of leadership from the former acting Governor, Sarah Alade, in a brief handing-over ceremony at the bank’s headquarters in Abuja, pleaded for time to settle in.

He promised to unfold his agenda for the bank and Nigerians on Thursday.

The assumption of duties of the new CBN governor follows the confirmation by the Senate in May of his appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Mr. Emefiele is succeeding Lamido Sanusi, who was in April, few months to the expiration of his tenure, suspended from office by President Jonathan. Mr. Sanusi is in court challenging his suspension.

Until his appointment, Mr. Emefiele was the Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc.

He was on the bank’s management team since inception and held various management positions in the bank, including serving as the Bank’s Executive Director in charge of Corporate Banking, Treasury, Financial Control and Strategic Planning.

Until he took over as Group Managing Director, Mr. Emefiele was directly responsible for all the Group’s local subsidiaries, Treasury and Correspondent Banking, and Multilateral, Conglomerates, & Private Banking. He also had responsibilities for direct supervision of majority of the bank’s branches in Lagos and Northern Nigeria.

A holder of Bachelor of Science degree and an MBA in Finance both from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Mr. Emefiele has over 26 years banking experience.

Prior to embarking on a career in banking, he lectured on Finance, Bank Management, and Insurance at the University of Nigeria and University of Port Harcourt respectively.

An alumnus of Stanford University, Harvard and Wharton Graduate School of Business, Mr Emefiele also took courses in Negotiation, Service Excellence, Critical Thinking, Leading Change and Strategy.

The new CBN helmsman is coming when the country’s banking sector is finding itself in a period of declining confidence following the ugly face-off between the government and its immediate past leadership over the $49.8 billion oil revenue controversy. The conflict appears to have negatively impacted the independence of the CBN.

Followers of developments at the CBN said on Tuesday that Mr. Emefiele needed to urgently settle into office and map out ways to tackle the task of rebuilding confidence and putting the county’s economy on the path of sustained stability and growth.

According to the acting Governor, Mrs. Alade, the thrust of the concerns of the management of the Bank at the moment revolved around the need to sustain financial system stability and restore investors’ confidence in the country’s economy.

As he assumes office, the aggregate expectation of Nigerians is that Mr. Emefiele would immediately think about how to exact the appropriate response through appropriate monetary instruments to contain potential shocks capable of unsettling the financial system stability.

(PREMIUM TIMES)