By Gbenga Adedayo
The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, will retire from the apex bank in June 2019, when he would have completed his five years tenure as Governor of CBN. Feelers from the Presidency and CBN confirmed that his tenure will not be extended or renewed owing to reasons bordering on management of economy, politics and policy.
The CBN helmsman was appointed in June 2014 by former President Goodluck Jonathan for a five-year tenure which expires in June 2019, which is three months away from now. The former President is a current member of the opposition, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Despite his achievements in stabilizing the economy, Emefiele is seen as a product of the opposition, the PDP, who cannot be totally trusted by the ruling party, the Action Progressives Congress (APC), who prefers to directly appoint a CBN governor of its choice who will collaborate with the government to work to achieve the ruling party’s three-point agenda of anti-corruption, economy and security.
The sources confirmed that Emefiele’s tenure will not be renewed, but will definitely be allowed to continue till end of June, when he will be advised to step down, fuelling speculations that his successor may have been identified.
The Governor narrowly survived being removed in 2016 and 2017 when the local currency, the value of the Naira crashed against major currencies, owing to speculations and drop in price of crude oil at the international market, leading to an unprecedented depreciation of the Naira which exchanged for the US dollar at the rate of over N550 to one dollar at the parallel market.
One singular measure taken by Emefiele in 2017 to protect the Naira from further depreciation was the introduction of the Investors and Exporters’ Foreign Exchange Window (IEFW) which enables investors and exporters alike to value the dollar at the best rate considered most appropriate, and which has paid-off, leading to stability of the currency.
Also, the CBN’s sustained retention of higher monetary policy rate has helped to save the job of Emefiele till date, as this strategy has been very effective in curtailing inflation and dissipating pressure on the local currency from speculators.
The current administration believes that the CBN can play a better role in improving the current exchange rate which has remained at N360 to US$1 at the parallel market, and which many believe is partly responsible for the current economic hardship.