CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso, during his confirmation hearing, September 2023.
Thank God, there is one silver lining in a predominantly dark sky over Nigeria. The current Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has returned the institution to its former glory. Four Governors have managed the affairs of the bank, before him, since 1999 – Joseph Sanusi, 1999-2004, Charles Soludo 2004-2009, Sanusi Lamido, 2009-2014 and Godwin Emefiele, 2014-2023. The two Sanusis, Joseph and Lamido, were thorough bred professionals. To them managing monetary policy was a sacred duty to be discharged with intelligence and integrity. There was no compromise with the Presidents they served to subvert policy. That mostly explained why they did not last longer.
Two other former Governors, Soludo and Emefiele, left the CBN and the Nigerian economy a lot worse than they found them. Nigeria is still reeling from the impacts of their individual and collective stewardship. Emefiele was reserved but Soludo was garrulous, media-focussed, hyperbolic and complacent. As the Greatest, Mohammed Ali…. had warned us: “the bigger they come, the harder they fall.” He was unraveled in just three years; after hoodwinking everybody including those who gave him Banker of the Year Award; before the roof caved in on the consolidated banks he approved to operate in January 2006.
Because character is destiny, Soludo and Emefiele’s poor performance followed two different paths. Briefly stated, this is how they went from the sublime to the ridiculous.