Emefiele’s suspension: Shonubi, great choice to hold the forte, says expert

A financial expert, Mr Okechukwu Unegbu, has commended President Bola Tinubu for choosing Folashodun Shonubi as acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Erstwhile CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, whose suspension was announced on Friday, had been directed to hand over to Shonubi, CBN’s Deputy Governor, Operations Directorate.

According to Unegbu, Shonubi is an experienced banker and a good public finance specialist who will competently hold the forte until the issues around Emefiele are resolved or a substantive Governor is appointed.

He commended Tinubu for the economic decisions he had taken since he assumed office.

“The president is doing some good job, and he is taking actions that are sympathetic to the Nigerian public.

“But, what I will suggest is for the president to take things easy. He should not be in a rush.

“Nigeria is such a complex country and a lot of things has gone wrong over the years. If the president wants to rush things, he might get into trouble,” he said.

Shonubi, who was born on March 7, 1962, attended the University of Lagos from 1978 to 1983 and obtained a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

He further obtained a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1985 with bias in Production Engineering from the same University.

From 1988-1989 he shifted grounds to Finance and obtained a Masters’ in Business Administration specialising in Finance.

He moved to Citibank Nigeria Ltd. as Head, Treasury Operations from 1990 to 1993, and joined Agusto & Co. Ltd. as a Supervising Consultant from 1993 to 1996.

Shonubi later moved to MBC International Ltd. as Deputy General Manager, Banking Operations & Information Technology.

He joined First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Ltd. as Vice-President, Operations & Information Technology and was there till 2002.

In 2003, he moved from FCMB to Ecobank Nigeria Plc as an Executive Director, Operations & Information Technology and in 2007 he became the Director, Information Technology and Corporate Services, Renaissance Securities Nigeria Limited.

He was recruited by Union Bank of Nigeria Ltd. as an Executive Director, Operations, Technology and Services, September 2009 to April 2012.

He became the Managing Director/CEO, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc from May 2012 to Oct. 2018.

He became the Deputy Governor, Operations of the CBN in October, 2018, representing the Governor of the CBN on the board of FIRS since December, 2019.