The election of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Godwin Emefiele as the President of the Association of African Central Bank Governors will give Emefiele the platform to push his home grown economic agenda on a wider platform.
Spokesman for the CBN Isaac Okorafor told The Nation that “his presidency of AACB is most appropriate this time just as some of the Governors said ‘for Africa to protect itself from the negative impacts of the policies of the west.’ With his election as AACB President, African economic leaders must be in the ‘Emefiele mood.”
His leadership at this time Okorafor said “is significant in the sense that Mr Emefiele is one leader that is always thinking home-grown and out of the box, seeking new and most effective and efficient ways of solving old and emerging economic challenges.”
He noted that “the echoes from President Muhammadu Buhari and the other African Governors at the meetings so eloquently vindicate Governor Emefiele’s position on driving the Nigerian economy out of the woods.”
Okorafor added that “at great cost to his peace of mind, he has taken very tough but effective decisions. These have made it impossible for some elements who have continuously sabotaged earlier efforts at diversifying the economy, to continue to feast on our forex reserves to service senseless importation and unbridled taste for foreign goods.”
His venture into Agric, entrepreneurship and infrastructure finance to provide food and tackle unemployment has received acclaim from across Africa. As is the tradition, the CBN will serve as the secretariat of the AACB because the Governor is the President.