Recent Changes of Guards at the Central Bank of Nigeria

The appointment of a new governor to lead the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from June 2014 to June 2019 brings the number of persons so appointed since 29 May 1999 to four, although only the last two appointments were made after the 2007 CBN Act was signed into law on 28 May 2007. Joseph Sanusi (1999-2004) and Charles Soludo (2004-2009) had been appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo, while Lamido Sanusi (2009-2014) was nominated by President Umar Yar'adua and confirmed by the Senate, and President Goodluck Jonathan has lately nominated Godwin Emefiele for 2014-2019. He has since been confirmed by the Senate and has assumed duty on the 4th of June 2014. The occasion affords us the opportunity to reflect on what our lessons from the preceding three regimes can teach us about the next five years. It is instructive to note that while the CBN Act had always allowed for a possible maximum of two terms of five years each, none of the three persons to occupy the office so far had been deemed fit for second terms in office, each tending to assume office with seemingly very high credibility only for such credibility to be eroded before the first five-year term is up. This raises a lot of questions: Is Nigeria developing a Single-Term Syndrome? Or, why do Nigeria's CBN Governors find it so difficult to succeed? Why do they end up failing so catastrophically? Why is it that Nigeria (specifically the President and the 109-member strong Senate specifically) do not know how to appoint CBN Governors who will be successful (at least in their first five years). Will Mr. Emefiele now break the jinx?