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 (PREMIUM TIMES) 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 March2017.
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. Idon’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.”

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/245673-diamond-bank-evasive-on-promotion-of-new-cbn-deputy-governor-aishah-ahmad.html?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C2720245823

Ok

Critics..





Nor matter how they criticize her it won't bring her down, because we trust BABA he always make the right choice, and his decision is the best.

fk001:
Critics..





Nor matter how they criticize her it won't bring her down, because we trust BABA he always make the right choice, and his decision is the best.

Yes oooooo

You trust a thief who stole $26b within 2 years.


Nigerians we hail thee. The land of zombies.

Atimes like these its hard to accept but i just feel Nigeria deserves to suffer a little more till she learns her lessons. Any other way might just not work

She's good to go

OK

The Northern propaganda.



Her brothers are cheering her on.

Yea, there is a little politicking going on in the background for sure, and that ain't cool. But, the lady is really a scholar...look at all those degrees. I just wonder why they had to lie about one thing which is now making her look unqualified.

CBN Gov in waiting.

Ok

is she worthy of her new position or not

Take it or leave it ,she is not qualified,Central Banks all over the world is the fort of seasoned economists,even the UK had to hire Mark Joseph Carney,a CANADIAN ECONOMIST to Govern the Bank of England presently.

Do not support injustice because it favours you today because the table might turn against you tomorrow.

Hmm

fk001:
Critics..





Nor matter how they criticize her it won't bring her down, because we trust BABA he always make the right choice, and his decision is the best.

When we you outgrow unnecessary sentiment? You see, it's not good to market your idiocy for people to see.

OjukwuWarBird:



Yes oooooo

You trust a thief who stole $26b within 2 years.


Nigerians we hail thee. The land of zombies.

"At least he hasnt broken the record of the last thief who stole $90billion."

**the 2 statements above hover in similiar level of silliness**

hucienda:
Though her resume indicates that she can fill the role, the shaddy manner of promotion on same day as her elevation to the Deputy Governor role all points to the obvious of the Buhari regime thus far - all to entrench the tribal order.

Ironically, Buhari's tribalism thus far is kind of 'good' - he doesn't hide it and it is blatant, in your face.

Anyway, over to his zombies to defend the indefensible as usual.

Please how does how resume indicates she is qualified for the job?

Nigeria my country... Give me one gud reason to pledge to Nigeria my country wen our leaders are not even faithful Loyal and honest. They serve Nigeria with their own agenda and yet want me to defend her unity wen Nepotism is d order of d day.. Mtchewww

I would like to see the names of the high net worth individual she has been servicing

Good one from sai baba. Nigerians deserve to be punished for their docile response to bad governance.

I REALLY PITY THIS CONTRAPTION CALLED NIGERIA. Why should tribal alliance and sentiment always be a priority? Even if Oga Buh-Buh wants to do it as usual, he should have at least allowed her some time to stay in that position at least to avoid all these criticisms. Or is it an emergency?

The whole people cannot be fooled at the same time. "Our mumu don do." We now know better. But be rest assured that everyday is for the thief but one day is for the owner of the house.

I love Diamond Bank

Let her just go ahead and do the job. Afterall the professors with economic and monetary qualifications were there when naira rose to over N500.

Abeg make we 'leave trash for lawma'.

Megaideas:


When we you outgrow unnecessary sentiment? You see, it's not good to market your idiocy for people to see.

Your choice of preference and mine must not be the same.

What a country

We are watching her policy inputs (with a plate of garri and groundnut in hand)

information loading mo bo

The possible reason why Diamond Bank promoted her to Executive Director is because they don't want to loose her...

Now she will be forced to make a choice between accepting the offer at the Central Bank of Nigeria or remaining in Diamond Bank

This is going to be a very tough decision for the following reasons:-

- If she goes to the CBN she may never become the governor cause traditionally the governor is usually appointed from outside the system and not from the existing deputy governors

- If she remains with Diamond Bank she may likely not 'smell' the position of Managing Director when it becomes available cos the ods will favor a person from the eastern part of Nigeria

Catch 22 decision

emeijeh:
The Northern propaganda.



Her brothers are cheering her on.

its not today this has been happening in Nigeria. They went down the cadre and brought sehu yaradua to be VP to obasanjo. Northern agenda supersedes competence and qualification. We have seen many instances in Nigeria