Again! Sanusi Wins Africa Central Bank Gov Award
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has been honoured eith the 2013
Central Bank Governor Award for Sub-Saharan Africa.
This award, which was part of the just-concluded World
Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) Summit in
Washington, DC, was in recognition of Sanusi's efforts in
reducing inflation to a single digit, making it the third time
the governor has won the award since assumption of office
in 2009.
Sanusi has won the coveted award consecutively in 2010
and 2011, before conceding it to the South African
Reserve Bank governor, Gill Marcus, in 2012.
Announcing the award over the weekend, Ms Antonia
Oprita, managing editor of Emerging Markets, said:
"Emerging Markets is pleased to announce that Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria,
has won the 2013 Emerging Markets Central Bank
Governor of the Year Award for Sub-Saharan Africa. The
award recognizes Governor Sanusi's ability to bring down
inflation to single digits this year."
According to Oprita, the CBN under Lamido Sanusi had
brought inflation below 10 per cent despite the fact that
food, a category where the bank cannot influence prices,
makes up around half of consumer spending in Nigeria.
While receiving the award, Sanusi said it represented the
efforts of the about 6,000 staff of the apex bank: "Our
consistently tight monetary policy stance going back to
2010 should keep inflation within the single-digit target ...
We have worked day and night through the banking crisis
and now we are working toward restoring stability,
financial inclusion and payment system transformation.
"It's a great honour for me because this is going to be my
last annual meeting. I thank all my colleagues for their
support and the government for the confidence reposed in
me.
"I have worked with two wonderful finance ministers, Dr
Mansur Mukhtar and Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and I thank
them for their support.
"The relationship between the CBN and the finance
ministry is one that is characterised by bulk of hostility,
sometimes interrupted by gunfire, but we have been able
to remain good friends and respect each other's right to
agree and disagree.''
He said building stability in the system was not an easy
task and applauded the federal government for the
transformation reforms in various sectors of the economy.
The ambassador of Nigeria to the US, Mr Adebowale
Adefuye, said the award showed the confidence the
international community has in the Nigerian community
and Sanusi's professionalism on the job.
"This is a plus for the federal government for putting
professionals in different offices to manage our economy. It
is an endorsement of the good efforts of the government
for Nigeria's CBN to be selected as the Central Bank of the
Year for Sub-Saharan Africa," he stated.
Dr Sarah Alade, the CBN deputy governor on economic
policy, said the award showed that Nigeria's conscious
efforts to stabilise the economy was being recognised.
"When the world recognises you among peers, it means
that you are doing the right thing. The efforts at being
able to have macro-economic stability has been recognised
and that is an attestation to the hard, collective and
collaborative work we do with Ministry of Finance and all
the other agencies,'' she said.
Mr Tunde Lemo, the CBN deputy governor, operations,
also said that taming inflation rate in Nigeria was a difficult
task.
He, however, added that "we have been able to achieve it
under the leadership of the current CBN governor, Malam
Sanusi.
"But all of these may not have been possible without the
political and capital support from the president as well as
the support of the Ministry of Finance. For me, this is what
we are celebrating.
"We celebrate key public officers who work in harmony
and ensure that the Nigerian economy achieves
sustainable growth.
``I am optimistic that the moment Nigeria succeeds in its
structural reforms, the economy will record double-digit
growth, year on year,'' he stressed.
The annual Emerging Markets Central Bank Governor and
Finance Minister of the Year awards recognize the leading
policymakers in each region.
The awards are chosen by Emerging Markets' editorial
team, taking into account the views of leading regional
experts, and the winners are announced in daily
newspapers published at the IMF and World Bank annual
meetings each year, with the award-winning policymakers
honoured at an annual awards ceremony during the IMF
and World Bank annual meetings.
Emerging Markets is a unique source of news, analysis and
commentary on economic policy, international economics
and global financial markets, with a particular focus on the
emerging world.
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