President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has nominated Dr. Olayemi Michael Cardoso to serve as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), subject to the approval of the Nigerian Senate.
Dr. Cardoso is a banker and chartered stockbroker with over 30 years of experience in private, public, and not-for-profit organisations. He started his banking career with Citibank and later became the chairman of the bank’s Nigerian operation. The nominee also served as commissioner of the Ministry of Planning and Budget in Lagos State between 1999 and 2005. In this position, he notably designed a 10-point economic agenda to catalyse reforms and manage the state’s expenditure patterns.
Greater coordination between monetary and fiscal policy is needed since the nominee's background in the fiscal field suggests that he could be more open to promoting measures that would hasten the achievement of stated FG targets.
Due to his innovative involvement in the creation of the Lagos 10-point economic program, Dr. Cardoso has a strong track record in policy formation and execution. Secondly, it denotes management stability and policy development skill. This experience is relevant today since Nigeria is implementing the most significant policy changes in decades.
According to experts at CardinalStone, the move puts an end to any lingering questions about the apex bank's management. "We recall that the President hinted at a comprehensive 'house cleaning' at the CBN during his inauguration and ultimately removed the then-in-charge governor in June, leaving the bank under interim leadership for approximately three months," the analysts said.
"Given the president's pro-market stance, the market will probably respond favorably to this news because the proposed CBN Governor and the president's economic team are believed to have similar policy stances.
“The appointment also suggests a strong resolve to achieve the long-term sustainability of the key monetary priorities of the current administration. These priorities include:
“- Clearing the existing FX backlog, which was recently estimated at $10 billion.
“- Driving unification of exchange rates across the country.
“- Normalising the application and use of monetary policy tool.
“- Boosting financial inclusion and credit creation.â€