The quest for a strong national economy

Financial institutions play a pivotal role in every economy. The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, regulates banking and non-banking financial institutions. In addition, these institutions help bridge the gap between idle savings and investments and its borrowers from net savers to net borrowers. The central bank as the bankers bank regulates the money supply in the economy to maintain stability and control inflation. It applies various measures like increasing or decreasing repo rate, cash reserve ratio and open market operations, buying and selling government securities to regulate liquidity in the economy.

However, managing the complicated nature of Nigerian economy requires an experienced banker with requisite knowledge in converting losses to gains to the benefit of the overall interest of millions of Nigerians who look into the CBN policies and programmes for their daily interactions and survival. Recall that the President Muhammadu Buhari government came with three agenda setting. They include fighting corruption, reviving the economy and fighting insecurity. The president’s work was made easy for summoning courage and by going beyond party lines to discover and appoint one of the finest brains in the banking sector Aisha Ahmad Ndanusa CFA as a deputy governor of the CBN.

As CBN deputy governor in charge of Financial System Stability, Aisha Ahmad Ndanusa is responsible for leading the effort to promote a sound financial system in Nigeria. She is also a member of the Governing Board and Committee of Governors at the CBN and Chairman of the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) – a not-for-profit organisation offering training, consulting and research services for the financial services sector. Prior to her appointment, Aisha was Executive Director, Retail Banking at Diamond Bank, with over 22 years experience as a corporate executive and finance expert. 

Her banking and investment career spans several financial institutions including NAL Bank, Zenith Bank and Stanbic IBTC Bank, among others. Until her reappointment, Aisha was a deputy governor of the CBN from 2018 in Corporate Services Directorate. She is a Nigerian policymaker and finance professional. She was appointed CBN deputy governor on October 6, 2017, replacing Sarah Alade, who retired in March 2017.

Aishah was born in Lagos, to a Nupe Muslim family from Bida, on October 26, 1976. She attended St. Catherine’s Primary School, Surulere Lagos, and Zarumai Primary School, Minna, Niger state, before proceeding to Federal Government Girls’ College, Bida for her secondary education. Aisha graduated with a BSc degree in accounting from the University of Abuja, and obtained an MBA in finance from the University of Lagos and an MSc in Finance and Management from the Cranfield School of Management. She is an INSEAD Certified Board Director and a recipient of the Economic Development Certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School. She is also a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder. Aisha known as “Nee Ndanusa” is married to Abdallah A. Ahmad, a retired Brigadier General in the Nigerian Armed Forces with two children.

Since assumption of office as deputy governor of the CBN in March 2018, in charge of Financial System Stability, Aisha has promoted a sound financial system in Nigeria as one of the principal objects of the bank as specified within the CBN Act. She has been an inspiration to the Governor of the CBN Goodwin Emefiele in the nation’s monetary and price stabilisation history. It’s imperative to interrogate her actions and inactions within the context of global economic indices in the last four years.

Her arrival at CBN was followed by global economic headwinds especially the crash in price of crude oil which represents about 95 per cent of Nigeria’s export revenue. This triggered a major shock for the Nigerian economy, leading to a 13-month recession in 2016 prior to her appointment. In comparison, the average price of crude oil from 2010 to 2014 was over $100/barrel but it crashed to as low as $30/barrel with production cost of $25/barrel.

Despite these storms, the unwavering support to the CBN governor and her deft management of the monetary policies helped to support governments at all levels including executing capital projects and running overhead costs. When you consider that many oil producers like Kuwait, Russia, Angola and Brunei had longer lasting recessions of 20-60 months with worse socio-economic outcomes, Nigerians would appreciate the magicians today in charge of the CBN including Aisha Ahmad.

One glaring and remarkable achievement of Aisha and her team in the CBN was the management of the economy amidst 2020 Covid-19 pandemic with its attendant lockdown which plunged global economies to recession. Aisha, with the governor and team, were able to mitigate the damage in a manner that made Nigeria’s economy perform better than the economies of some western nations. Countries like the USA had GDP falling in 2020 by -31% in Q2, UK by -19.4% in Q2, EU by -14.1% in Q2 and Nigeria by -6.1% in Q2. She has continued to play critical roles in the Nigerian Bankers Bank and the nation’s history will be incomplete without flipping through the name of this courageous, sound policy maker and a financial expert with economic prudence – Aisha Ahmad.

In conclusion, any government that comes in 2023 must bring to the table her likes to salvage Nigeria from the increasing poverty index through economic diversification. As Dr Emefiele, now in his second term as CBN governor, Aisha Ahmad remains at the next door to be appointment as the governor because of her understanding of the nation’s economy, especially her experience working closely with Emefiele.

Babangida writes from Jos, Plateau state via [email protected]