Sanusi: Right Balance, Key in Appointing My Successor

Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

Obinna Chima with agency report        
                            
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi Friday stated that having the right balance in appointing his successor was more important than whether his successor was appointed from outside or within the institution.

Bloomberg quoted Sanusi to have said this in an interview in Oslo yesterday, where he is attending a Norway-Africa business conference.
The CBN governor also noted that ensuring that whoever succeeds him and the four deputies also to be appointed would be able to manage the various mandates of the central bank was key.

Commenting on his likely successor, Sanusi said: “It could be from within or outside; it doesn’t really matter. What’s important is the institution and to have the right balance.

“If you have someone, say, with a strong economic theoretical background, you need to make sure at the deputy governor level, you’ve got strong banking supervisory, regulatory oversight background.
“If it’s a banker that’s more into operations and financial stability then you make sure that you’ve got enough economists to complement it. It’s very collegial.”

The CBN governor said he informed President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, two years after his appointment that he would leave at the end of his term. He said he plans to notify Jonathan in writing about three months before he leaves and the president will then be free to announce his successor.

Sanusi, 52, helped to clean up the banking industry during a debt crisis in 2009 and has left interest rates at a record high for almost two years to bolster the currency and keep inflation under control.

Sanusi is expected to step down in June 2014.  THISDAY investigation on Tuesday had revealed that those under consideration for the job to be in two groups comprising three outsiders, who will steer a new direction for CBN and its monetary policies and three deputy governors at the central bank.

The outsiders are the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr. Mustafa Chike-Obi; the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede; and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FBN), Mr. Bisi Onasanya.

The second group is made up of insiders who share similar views with Sanusi on monetary policies and are expected to ensure continuity. They are the three deputy governors of the CBN: Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, Mr. Tunde Lemo and Dr. Sarah Alade.

Whoever succeeds Sanusi next year will be the 11th governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

ThisDay