Business
Relative unknown to run Nigeria central bank
‘Talking too much’
Sanusi’s critics argue he was wrong to publicly criticize the executive. “Central bank chiefs all over the world are conservative,” said Abolaji Odumesi, an economist in the commercial city of Lagos. “They are to be seen and not to be heard. Sanusi was talking too much to the extent that he talked himself into trouble,” he added.
He called the former governor “very imprudent” for not realizing the effect of his words on the markets. “He was behaving like a member of the opposition,” said Odumesi. Nigeria’s markets reacted negatively to Sanusi’s removal, with the naira losing ground to the US dollar, while most equities, particularly bank stocks, dipped to an all-time low.
Sanusi was named as the Central Bank Governor of 2010 for both the African continent and the entire world, by the prestigious Banker magazine. The editor of the magazine said then that few candidate names generate an overall consensus on judging panels but that Sanusi had been chosen unanimously as the best global central bank governor of the year.
Copyright Al Jazeera 2014
