Diamond Bank, the current employer of newly appointed Deputy Governor
of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Aishah Ahmad, has given a dodgy
response when asked by this newspaper to respond to widespread claims
that Ms. Ahmad was promoted executive director on the same day she was
appointed to the top CBN post.
Rather than make a categorical comment on when Mrs. Ahmad was raised
from her position as deputy general manager to executive director, Mike
Omeife, head of media Relations at the bank, merely said she had been
executive director at the bank “for a while”.
He maintained that based on her wealth of experience, she is qualified to be appointed to the new position.
Mrs. Ahmad was appointed deputy governor of the apex bank on
Thursday, October 5, and is billed to replace Sarah Alade, who retired
from the bank as deputy governor (economic policy) in March 2017.
She is expected to assume duty as CBN deputy governor immediately after her confirmation by the Senate.
Until her appointment, Mrs. Ahmad, a holder of Master of Science,
M.Sc degree in Finance & Management from the Cranfield School of
Management, United Kingdom (2006-2007) and a Master of Business
Administration, MBA in Finance, University of Lagos (1999-2001), was the
executive director (Retail Banking) at Diamond Bank Plc.
She is the chairperson, executive council of Women in Management,
Business and Public Service, WIMBIZ, a Nigerian non-profit organization
focused on issues affecting the interest of women professionals in
business, particularly those promoting leadership development and
capacity building to engender growth.
Since her appointment, there had been controversies, especially on social media, over her qualification for the CBN job.
SCANTY DETAILS
But in a chat with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, Mr. Omeife said the new
CBN deputy governor had been an executive director at Diamond Bank “for a
while”.
When asked of the specific date, he explained that he might not
immediately have the details but he was confident she had been appointed
executive director “for a while”.
Our sources maintained Mr. Omeife “was economical with the truth”.
Checks by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that details of the bank’s annual
report showed that as at December 2016, Mrs. Ahmad held the position of
Head, Consumer and Privilege Banking. The two executive directors listed
in the report are Chizoma Okoli, Executive Director Business
Development, and Chiugo Ndubisi, Executive Director/Chief Financial
Officer.
Similarly, in its quarterly reports for March and June 2017, the
names of the two aforementioned officials remained as executive
directors.
Meanwhile, checks on the disclosure platform of the Nigerian Stock
Exchange, NSE, for possible announcement of Mrs. Ahmad’s elevation also
yielded no result as no such disclosure was made throughout 2017.
When contacted on the telephone on Monday, the media officer of the
NSE, Joseph Kadiri, could not immediately give response to the request.
He, however, told PREMIUM TIMES to forward the request to him via
email and promised to send to appropriate quarters for reply. More than
24 hours after the request was sent with reminders, PREMIUM TIMES has
not gotten any response.
But Mr. Omeife, Tuesday, suggested that disclosure of Mrs. Ahmad’s
appointment as ED may not necessarily be made to the Nigerian bourse.
“From the financial services perspective, the CBN handles issues involving people from ED (position) up (wards),” he said.
When asked about the alleged double promotion the new CBN official
reportedly enjoyed on the day she was appointed by President Muhammadu
Buhari, Mr. Omeife said he knew nothing about such development.
“I don’t know about that; all I am meant to understand is that the
president appointed her as CBN deputy governor and sent her name to the
Senate for approval. I don’t know about that (issue of double
promotion).
“But I know she is eminently qualified to be the CBN deputy governor
and I am expecting young Nigerians to applaud her,” he said, in
reference to Mrs. Ahmad’s academic and professional antecedents.
He, however, said further enquiries should be directed to the CBN.
But PREMIUM TIMES efforts to reach the CBN was futile. Isaac
Okorafor, the apex bank’s spokesperson, did not answer or return calls
to his known number. He also did not reply to a text message sent to
him.
PRIVILEGE BANKING VS ECONOMIC POLICY
Many commentators alleged that her promotion to the position of
executive director at Diamond Bank Plc was ‘fast-tracked’, a few hours
to the announcement of her name by the Nigerian government.
Insiders at the bank told PREMIUM TIMES she was promoted executive
director hours to the announcement of her appointment to the CBN
position. There was a company-wide announcement to that effect, our
sources said.
However, the CBN Act does not require that an appointee to that
position must be an executive director of a bank, and it is not clear
why she had to be controversially upgraded.
Section 8 sub-section 1 of the CBN Act 2007 states, among others,
that: “The Governor and Deputy Governors “shall be persons of recognised
financial experience and shall be appointed by the President subject to
the confirmation of the Senate.”
Some commentators argue that Ms. Ahmad’s expertise may not be the
kind of skills needed at the CBN. She is better known for overseeing
privilege banking, securing accounts from high net-worth individuals,
and providing private client services to wealthy customers. Her
understanding of economic policies remained unclear.
Abdul Mahmud, an Abuja-based attorney, said of the appointment, “That
she replaces Sarah Alade as Deputy Governor of CBN in charge of
economic policy- monetary policy, financial market, etc, before her
retirement, makes her catapult curious.
“With a background in accounting and professional training in
consumer banking, you would ask: what was her appointor thinking? She is
not a monetarist, there is nothing in her CV that shows that she is
nuanced in monetary economics.
“Well, with another
misfit, Emefiele, at the helm of CBN, who has been accused of doing
washwash -printing more naira notes- an Emefiele-esque Quantitative
Easing (QE) -to address liquidity problem and creating the more serious
problem of inflationary pressure- a process of policy catalyzation
really- you will understand why the oracle has consistently argued that
the government projection of the Economic and Recovery Growth Plan
(ERGP) to reduce the inflation rate from 19% to 0% by 2020 is a pipe
dream.
“Brace up for harder, perilous, and more difficult economic times.”