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"The Banker" Magazine Honors Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor

Uche Nworah - 2/1/2006

The Banker, a financial magazine and member of the Financial Times Group rolled out the drums on Thursday the 19th of January 2006 to honour Africa’s finest and Nigeria’s most courageous Central Bank Governor till date. The occasion was the annual Global Central Banker of the Year award, and what better venue than the Ball room of the prestigious Dorchester Hotel in West London.

The guest list was like a who is who in the Nigerian banking industry, captains of industry, members of the diplomatic community, and other distinguished individuals turned out to rejoice with Africa, and indeed Nigeria, whose son was bringing home a coveted award the world over. Among the guests in attendance were Tony Elumelu (UBA group), Jim Ovia (Zenith Bank), Peter Obi (Fidelity Bank Group), Baroness Lynda Chalker and many other distinguished guests.

An emotional Prof. Charles Soludo in his baritone voice could only utter the words ‘To God be the glory’ as he accepted the award from Stephen Timewell, editor-in-chief of The Banker.

In his acceptance speech, the professor dedicated the award to President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Nigerian people whom he acknowledged have been through difficult times. He also thanked his family, CBN staff and all the stakeholders in the banking sector for their support, and for keeping faith with him and his team. ‘This is only just the end of the beginning’, he said.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade praised Prof. Soludo and his team for making Nigeria proud, saying that Nigerians must indeed strive not to always resort to bringing in foreign experts to come and solve Nigeria’s local problems.

Baroness Lynda Chalker, a member of President Obasanjo’s International Investment Advisory Council, and Dr John Brown, a Scottish national with 50 year relationship with Nigeria also spoke on their impressions about the current reform programme in Nigeria; the general message to the international community was that Nigeria is now open for business.

Key players from the Nigerian banking and financial sector comprising banks, government officials and regulators etc will begin a global road show in March 2006, first stop will be the Dorchester Hotel in London for 2 days (29th & 30th of March 2006) after which the road show will move on to other parts of the world. The event is being packaged by the ever hard working Christian Udechukwu and his BusinessinAfricaevents team. The underlying aim of the road show is to showcase Nigeria’s new financial sector to the world, with a view to attracting and winning further investor confidence.

Speaking later in an interview, Jim Ovia praised Professor Soludo for bringing back sanity to the industry.

When cornered for an interview, Peter Obi, banker cum politician refused to comment on his plans for 2007 saying that he could only comment on banking issues on the day, ‘I have no plans yet for 2007 as I haven’t yet finished with 2003’, he remarked.

On the issue of the ‘casualties’ from the Nigerian Banking sector reforms, especially graduates of OND and HND, and also graduates from state universities who have either lost their jobs or are facing imminent sack by the new re-positioned banks, Senator Gbenga Ogunniya, The Senate Committee Chairman on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions confirmed that the matter is currently receiving attention at the Presidency and in the National Assembly.

The audience were quite enthralled by Professor Soludo’s revelation that prior to his tenure; Nigeria had previously spent 100 Million US Dollars annually importing the Naira, but that a revived Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company has now ensured that it was no longer the case, as the Naira is now printed and minted locally. He also informed the audience that the bank capitalisation exercise brought in over $3 Billion of fresh investments (FDI) into the Nigerian economy. He expressed his vision of making Nigeria the financial hub of Africa, a position which South Africa currently occupies.

This event was quite significant in many ways, and an eye opener for many who attended, one could easily see a gradual generational shift in Nigeria’s key sectors as many of the captains of industry in the audience are all in their 30s and 40s, an indication that the young busches will be the drivers of the economic change Nigerians clamour for.

While cynics may still have a thing or two to say about President Obasanjo’s reform programmes, but quoting the words of Dr Sam Brown, the Scot who has adopted Nigerian nationality and one of the keynote speakers at the event, ‘Rome was not built in a day’.

There was a general sense of joy and optimism amongst the members of the audience, especially Nigerians in the diaspora, some may see the new changes taking place back home as a sign that their days of sojourning abroad may be gradually coming to an end. Ndidi Ofonagoro of Imani Consulting Services captured the euphoria succinctly ‘I have really done lots of networking today, and I will seriously consider any job opportunity in Nigeria that comes up as a result’.