Shortly after President Bola Tinubu approved the suspension of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele on Friday, June 9, 2023, the Deputy Governor, Operations Directorate of the apex bank, Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, took over from him as acting governor.
His appointment which is with immediate effect was announced along with the suspension of Emiefele in the statement issued by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume.
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Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi holds double Masters Degrees in Business Administration and Mechanical Engineering, from University of Lagos and has been a resourceful banker with over 30 years professional experience.
Prior to his appointment as CBN Deputy Governor, he was the Managing Director/CEO in the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, NIBSS PLC from 2012 to 2018.
He was also the Executive Director, Information Technology and Operations at Union Bank of Nigeria Plc; a member of the Board of Union Homes and Director, Information Technology and Corporate Services in Renaissance Securities Nigeria limited, with responsibility for the Group’ s IT infrastructure in Africa
Between 1999 and 2007, he worked in MBC International as Deputy General Manager and supervised their IT operational platforms, served in First City Monument Bank Limited as Vice President and in Ecobank Nigeria Limited as Executive Director.
Shonubi also had a stint with Citibank Nigeria Limited as its Head, Treasury Operations between 1990-1993.
Meanwhile, the suspended CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, was arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS shortly after Shonubi took over from him in acting capacity pending what President Tinubu described as ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.
It will be recalled that the DSS had sought an order of the Federal High Court Abuja on December 7, 2022 to arrest the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, in an exparte application with reference no FHC/ABJ/CS/2255/2022.
The court however refused to grant the order on the grounds that the DSS did not provide sufficient proof of the allegations of sponsorship of terrorism levelled against him and that the Service needed the approval of the then President, Muhammadu Buhari to arrest him because of the sensitive nature of the office he occupied at the country’s apex bank.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
