Moghalu edged out of @CenBank as Naira hits new low against US dollar

by Tunji Andrews

Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, whose 5 year tenure in the office had run out, indicated that he wouldn’t be seeking an extension in office. In a statement published in several dalies, Moghalu said that he was leaving the bank for higher endeavours after.

This came a day after news broke that president Goodluck Jonathan had nominated Okwu Joseph Nnanna for appointment as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. After the deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu had read the president’s letter to that effect on the floor in line with the Provisions of CBN Act 2007.

Moghalu who had been in charge of financial stability in the apex bank, was a very prominent figure under former Governor Sanusi Laid Sanusi and was even touted in many circles as a likely Sanusi successor.

Moghalu said in his statement “I joined the CBN in November 2009 after a 17-year career in the United Nations and later founding and heading Sogato Strategies S.A., a global strategy and risk advisory firm in Geneva, Switzerland. For most of my five years at CBN I was Deputy Governor for Financial System Stability, and for a few months served as Deputy Governor for Operations. I was a member of the Bank’s Board of Directors of the CBN, the Monetary Policy Committee, and the Committee of Governors, and served as chairman or member of the board of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria (SEC), and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

“It was a great honour and privilege to have served my country in such an important position. And it was a great and fulfilling experience. One of the best parts of that experience was meeting and collaborating with you or deepening our pre-existing relationship.
He also said that “I look forward to the future with confidence and thanksgiving to God, and trust that new vistas and horizons lie ahead. For now, after a tumultuous five years in which the Central Bank of Nigeria played a defining role in reshaping Nigeria’s financial industry, stabilising Nigeria’s banking sector and maintaining monetary and price stability, I will take some rest and spend more time with my family.

“In that relaxed mode I will review the various options and possibilities that are being presented to me, and then make a decision on precise future directions,” he said.

Nnanna, who was a former Director-General, West African Monetary Institute and former Director of Research and Statistics at the CBN, looks set to succeed him as Moghalu steps aside.

This change in hands comes at a time when the price of crude oil is heading south and the country’s foreign reserves under pressure.

This prompted the CBN to the sale of dollars at its Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS) to importers of telecoms equipment, power generators and finished products; amongst other measure to break the fall of the Naira against the dollar.

The naira last week hit a new intra-day low in almost five years to N170.05 against the dollar yesterday, falling 1.87 per cent as the stock market continued to slide. Many say the policy decision confirmed that the CBN could not afford to keep intervening in the foreign exchange market to defend the official target exchange rate of NGN150 +/-3%, at the rate it has been doing in recent weeks, especially in a depressed oil price environment.

With 2015 around the corner and fears of a liquidity surge, that could significantly rise inflation, many would say the the new deputy governor has his work cut out.

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