PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has nominated Godwin Emefiele for a second term as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Emefiele was first appointed in 2014 by former president Goodluck Jonathan and was retained when Buhari came to office in 2015.
This has laid to rest speculation that the president might drop the CBN governor from his cabinet at the expiration of his term.
According to Daily Trust, the CBN governor confirmed that he is returning for a second term at an ongoing Association of Assets Custodians of Nigeria (AACN) conference in London on Thursday morning.
But a source at the CBN headquarters in Abuja said no official announcement has been made within the bank.
Emefiele’s defiant stance against multiple calls to devalue the Naira and restriction on importation of 40 items from buying foreign exchange are said to endear the banker to the president, according to people familiar with the matter.
Prior to his appointment as the apex bank’s chief executive on June 3, 2014, Emefiele was the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Bank Plc, the post, he assumed after spending over 26 years in commercial banking. He had won the best graduating student award when, in 1986, he obtained a Master’s Degree (MBA) in Finance from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; the same school, where he studied banking and finance and graduated with a second class upper division, two years earlier.
He later had executive studies at Stanford University, Harvard University and Wharton School of Business. Even though his five-year tenure ends on June 2, Buhari has the discretion to renew his appointment.