CHIEF (DR.) JOSEPH OLADELE SANUSI (CON)

GOVERNOR, CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA

CHIEF (DR.) JOSEPH OLADELE SANUSI, (CON) was born on 24th September, 1938 in Ogbagi-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria. He attended South-West London College and Kingston College of Technology, England from 1962 to 1965 and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in England. In 1969, he became a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and became a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Bankers in 1987.

Chief Sanusi worked as an Accountant in England and with the Board of Customs and Excise in Nigeria before joining the CBN in 1966 as a Deputy Manager. He rose to the post of a Departmental Director in 1977, after which he was appointed the first Chief Executive of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1978. Between 1979 and 1984, he was the Executive Director, Monetary and Banking Policy, CBN and later Deputy Governor in 1988. In 1990, Chief Sanusi became the Managing Director and Chief Executive of United Bank for Africa, one of the three biggest banks in Nigeria, a post he held until 1992, when he was moved to First Bank of Nigeria, the oldest bank in Nigeria in the same capacity. Chief Sanusi retired from First Bank of Nigeria in 1998, and in May, 1999, he was brought out of retirement and appointed the Governor of the CBN

Chief Sanusi has rich and versed experience in the financial sector. He had held various appointments and under different types of assignments, including chairmanship of financial services firm and membership of various technical committees and panels. He has participated in several training attachments, workshops and seminars in Nigeria and abroad, including Harvard University, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, US Securities and Exchange Commission, and Bank of England amongst others. He was awarded Banker Extra Ordinary by the University of Ibadan, Man of Achievement by the Corporate Press Services Ltd., and Doctor of Science - Honoris Causa by the Federal Universities of Technology, Akure and Yola.