Godwin Emefiele, Zenith Bank MD, Appointed New Central Bank Governor

The managing director of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr Godwin Emefiele has been appointed the new Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria by President Goodluck Jonathan. His name was forwarded to the Nigerian Senate for screening and approval by the Nigerian president a few hours after the removal of Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi from office. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Emefiele will take over fully as the substantive governor in place of Mr. Sanusi, whose tenure elaspes in June 2014. In the interim, Dr. Sarah Alade holds forte as the acting governor of the apex bank. The president also nominated Adelabu Adebayo as the deputy governor of the bank. Mr. Adebayo is current an executive director at First Bank Plc. He will succeed Tunde Lemo who retired as deputy governor of the regulatory bank in late 2013. Read Mr. Emefiele’s profile as contained on Zenith Bank’s website. “He is the Group Managing Director, Zenith Bank Plc, a position he has held since August 2010. Until then he was the Deputy Managing Director of the bank, having been appointed into that position in 2001. Emefiele has been on the bank’s management team since inception and has held various management positions in the bank, including serving as the Bank’s Executive Director in charge of Corporate Banking, Treasury, Financial Control and Strategic Planning. “Until he took over as Group Managing Director, Emefiele was directly responsible for all the Group’s local subsidiaries, Treasury and Correspondent Banking, and Multilateral, Conglomerates, & Private Banking. He also had responsibilities for direct supervision of majority of the bank’s branches in Lagos and Northern Nigeria. “Emefiele has over twenty-six (26) years banking experience and holds a B.Sc and an MBA in Finance both from the University of Nigeria Nsukka. Before commencing his banking career, he lectured Finance, Bank Management, and Insurance at the University of Nigeria and University of Port Harcourt respectively. “He is an alumnus of Stanford University, Harvard and Wharton Graduate School of Business where he took courses in Negotiation, Service Excellence, Critical Thinking, Leading Change and Strategy. “Under Emefiele’s leadership, Zenith Bank has strengthened its position as a leading financial institution in Africa, winning recognition and getting endorsement at home and abroad for giant strides in key performance areas like corporate governance, service delivery and deployment of cutting-edge ICT as well as impact in the bank’s numerous spheres of operations. “In 2012, Emefiele’s visionary leadership saw Zenith Bank receiving acclaim from reputable institutions such as world finance, CFI and FTSE Global Markets that have named Zenith the Best in Corporate Governance, Best Commercial Bank in Africa, and Emerging Global Super brand respectively.”