This thread is a debate between myself and Davidylan.
I made the above claim in another thread and davidylan challenged me. In order to avoid derailing the thread, I have dragged him here for debate.
Intellectual, fact-based contributions, by other nairalanders, for or against my assertion, will also be welcome.

This is not a tribal, political or religious war and I expect mature postings. If you don't have anything meaningful to post, please do not post.

I promise to recant my statement if David brings superior arguments.

This is the introduction and my next post will contain an indepth analysis of my assertion.

Let's go. . .

You actually made a thread just for me? Awww

Sanusi as one of the top 3 banking heads in the south west? Based on what? An economics masters deg from ABU and a sharia degree from Khartoum?

Jarus, I know you chat with Sanusi on facebook and reh reh reh but you are taking your fascination too far. . . .

First of all, you are not qualified to judge his intellectual capacity cos he is smarter than you. How can someone of inferior intelligence such as yourself be able to discern who is smarter when 2 smarter men are debating? . . . . . thats like Homer Simpson sitting in on a debate between Steve Hawkins and Einstein and trying to decipher who is more intelligent.

Out of deference to you, I ask you to produce evidence of Sanusi's genius so I can judge if he truly is that smart. . . . and please dont post any more nonsense political ramblings from him, I wanna see something from his field which sets him apart. . .

Let's start by taking a cursory look at Sanusi's background:
EDUCATION:
St Anne Primary School, Kaduna
King's College, Lagos
ABU Zaria, BSc Economics(1981). Msc Economics (1983)
Let's forget about the Sudan degree. He decided to do so at 30, for personal reasons, probably to become Emir of kano in the future, being a prince.
Point 1: He had a sound primary and secondary education, not the typical aboki(apology to the Hausa/Fulani here). Compare the calibre of people that attended KC. Even in the SW then the best brains went for KC.  That means right from his secondary school days, he had been competing with the best brains from Lagos.
Point 2: ABU was and is still as good and respected as UNN, Unilag, OAU and UI. You will definitely not dismiss with a wave of hand a graduate of these schools, especially of the 60s-80s. If Soludo's Economics degrees from UNN are respected and oft-quoted, Sanusi's degrees UNN deserve equal respect. Yes, Soludo had First Class/Distinction and the only First Class SLS had was the Sudan degree, but you will not disagree with me that classes of degree, especially for 1-1 and 2-1 that are close, do not automatically reflect one's ability, especially beyond exams. By the special grace of God, I am a First Class Economics degree holder myself, but I am not ashamed to confess here that I know a couple of my classmates that have better grasp of Economics than me but made 2-1.

More coming. . .don't want to bore you with very long single post

Jarus:

Let's start by taking a cursory look at Sanusi's background:
EDUCATION:
St Anne Primary School, Kaduna
King's College, Lagos

these have no relevance. There must be a million others who attended the same schools.

Jarus:

ABU Zaria, BSc Economics(1981). Msc Economics (1983)

And? He doesnt even have an MBA that others get at the Lagos Business school? What a shame.

Jarus:

Let's forget about the Sudan degree. He decided to do so at 30, for personal reasons, probably to become Emir of kano in the future, being a prince.

Better to include that if we also include such nonsense as his primary school degree.

Jarus:

Point 1: He had a sound primary and secondary education, not the typical aboki(apology to the Hausa/Fulani here). Compare the calibre of people that attended KC. Even in the SW then the best brains went for KC.  That means right from his secondary school days, he had been competing with the best brains from Lagos.

but excuse me . . . what do you mean by "sound primary and sec education"? Does that qualify you to be a CBN governor? Attending Kings College means nothing . . . there were other schools with even better brains. You didnt attend KC, does that mean you have no brains?

Jarus:

Point 2: ABU was and is still as good and respected as UNN, Unilag, OAU and UI. You will definitely not dismiss with a wave of hand a graduate of these schools, especially of the 60s-80s.

an economics degree from ABU is no more worth the paper its printed on.

Jarus:

If Soludo's Economics degrees from UNN are respected and oft-quoted, Sanusi's degrees UNN deserve equal respect. Yes, Soludo had First Class/Distinction and the only First Class SLS had was the Sudan degree, but you will not disagree with me that classes of degree, especially for 1-1 and 2-1 that are close, do not automatically reflect one's ability, especially beyond exams. By the special grace of God, I am a First Class Economics degree holder myself, but I am not ashamed to confess here that I know a couple of my classmates that have better grasp of Economics than me but made 2-1.

More coming. . .don't want to bore you with very long single post

What have the above to do with the topic except to highlight Sanusi is not exactly a brain in the calibre of the likes of Soludo?

CAREER:
Lecturer, Economics Department, ABU, 1981-1983
ICON Merchant bank 1983-1991, rose to become Area Manager before leaving voluntarily for Sudan
UBA: Principal Mgr 1 (May 1997), Principal Mgr 2(Jan 1998), AGM(December 1998), DGM(Jan 2002), GM(March 2005)
First Bank: Executive Director, 2006, Group Managing Director(2008)
CBN: Governor(June 2009)
Point 3: SLS came back from Sudan with a degree in Sharia and a bank like UBA immediately offered him Principal Mgr. For UBA, then highly respected and being run by the whizkid Keem Bello Osagie, to have ignored the irrelevance of his degree and six years in Sudan and offer him such a position, they must have seen something in him. UBA is not a northern bank  the alst time I checked.
Point 4: His rapid promotion could not be as a result of his being a prince, there must be something merit-based behind it. In other words he is a performer. There are other Southern folks in UBA with degrees from top schools in Europe and US, but that only got them the job, cannot do the job for them. No disrespect to these guys, just trying to drive home a point.
[b]Point 5:[/b]At a time when you had to lobby before getting a high position, even in the private sector, Sanusi just got a call from First bank to come and be an Executive Director and fix their credit risk management. He had already built a strong risk management culture in UBA, and recognising that he's the system's best brain in this aspect, FBN had to lobby him to bail them out by offering him an ED. Isn't this ingenuity? Guys, let's be objective and for once shed our impression that nothing good can come from a Hausa/Fulani man.
Point 6[/b]Sanusi had barely spent up to two years in FBN when he was appointed MD, ahead of other Directors from the South, who had even spent more years on board, and some having been with FBN for decades. Oba Otudeko, the highest shareholder in FBN is from Ogun state and raised in Ibadan. The Obafoluke I know will not support the emergence of a mediocre to the no 1 position in his bank(literally, he has the highest voting right). In other words, there must be something good in this Sanusi.
[b]Point 7: UBA and FBN are no small banks, and they are no northern banks. If this man had not been an aboki(apology once again), all of us would have accepted he's a genius.

So that you guys don't go back and forth. . .the true test of anybody's intellect is the answer to this question:

1. What has he/she created before i.e what initiative or idea  did he/she start from scratch and develop into a national or global phenomenom?

Anybody that can give adequate answers is a 'Top' banker.

I need not say more. . . . .

Thank God. The real Nairaland is back

All

Sanusi is the least qualified candidate to head Nigerian's Apex bank. And his actions and inactions in the last few weeks have proven this beyond all reasonable doubts.

Anyone with an indepth knowledge of the Nigerian banking industry would not dispute this.

Jarus:

CAREER:
Lecturer, Economics Department, ABU, 1981-1983

and?

Jarus:

ICON Merchant bank 1983-1991, rose to become Area Manager before leaving voluntarily for Sudan

and where is ICON bank today?

Jarus:

UBA: Principal Mgr 1 (May 1997), Principal Mgr 2(Jan 1998), AGM(December 1998), DGM(Jan 2002), GM(March 2005)
First Bank: Executive Director, 2006, Group Managing Director(2008)

Both banks built and sustained by southerners. What was Sanusi's unique contribution?

Jarus:

CBN: Governor(June 2009)

thanks mostly to Federal Character.

Jarus:

Point 3: SLS came back from Sudan with a degree in Sharia and a bank like UBA immediately offered him Principal Mgr. For UBA, then highly respected and being run by the whizkid Keem Bello Osagie, to have ignored the irrelevance of his degree and six years in Sudan and offer him such a position, they must have seen something in him. UBA is not a northern bank  the alst time I checked.

That could have been due more to politics than Sanusi's banking skills. We do not read of anything he brought to ICON bank that warranted this appointment. You tend to forget that he was the grandson of a prominent Emir of the north in a country that was being ruled by northern generals. It made perfect political sense to have a top northern stooge in your bank if you were going to attract government funds.

Bello Osagie is truly a whizkidd.

Jarus:

Point 4: His rapid promotion could not be as a result of his being a prince, there must be something merit-based behind it. In other words he is a performer. There are other Southern folks in UBA with degrees from top schools in Europe and US, but that only got them teh job, cannot do the job for them. No disrecpect to these guys, just trying to drive home a point.

you still havent said ANYTHING about why Sanusi merited being CBN governor.

Jarus:

[b]Point 5:[/b]At a time when you had to lobby before getting a high position, even in the private sector, Sanusi just got a call from First bank to come and be an Executive Director and fix their credit risk management. He had already built a strong risk management culture in UBA, and recognising that he's the system's best brain in this aspect, FBN had to lobby him to bail them out by offering him an ED. Isn't this ingenuity? Dudes, let's be objective and for once shed our impression that nothing good can come from a Hausa/Fulani man.

yoou're basically struggling to pin some credibility to this man. If i were running a bank in Saudi Arabia too it would make logical sense to have a scion of the ruling family as an ED in my company. It took Ajekigbe to rescue FBN when he came in in 2002, where was saint Sanusi?

Most of the real brains of these banks are names you rarely hear of.

We're still waiting for some tangible success from this Sanusi.

Jarus

CAREER:
Lecturer, Economics Department, ABU, 1981-1983
ICON Merchant bank 1983-1991, rose to become Area Manager before leaving voluntarily for Sudan
UBA: Principal Mgr 1 (May 1997), Principal Mgr 2(Jan 1998), AGM(December 1998), DGM(Jan 2002), GM(March 2005)
First Bank: Executive Director, 2006, Group Managing Director(2008)
CBN: Governor(June 2009)
Point 3: SLS came back from Sudan with a degree in Sharia and a bank like UBA immediately offered him Principal Mgr. For UBA, then highly respected and being run by the whizkid Keem Bello Osagie, to have ignored the irrelevance of his degree and six years in Sudan and offer him such a position, they must have seen something in him. UBA is not a northern bank the alst time I checked.
Point 4: His rapid promotion could not be as a result of his being a prince, there must be something merit-based behind it. In other words he is a performer. There are other Southern folks in UBA with degrees from top schools in Europe and US, but that only got them teh job, cannot do the job for them. No disrecpect to these guys, just trying to drive home a point.
Point 5:At a time when you had to lobby before getting a high position, even in the private sector, Sanusi just got a call from First bank to come and be an Executive Director and fix their credit risk management. He had already built a strong risk management culture in UBA, and recognising that he's the system's best brain in this aspect, FBN had to lobby him to bail them out by offering him an ED. Isn't this ingenuity? Dudes, let's be objective and for once shed our impression that nothing good can come from a Hausa/Fulani man.

Kindly read the profile above again, this time objectively, and tell me if this guy trully deserves to be the CBN governor in a country of over 140 million people. Being the governor of the Central goes beyond managing a bank foe less than a year. It is simply managing the entire economy.

@ Ibime, xavier and co,
Let me finish my initial arguments for. I will take your refutations, and that of Davidylan, one by one.

Xavier.:

CAREER:
Lecturer, Economics Department, ABU, 1981-1983
ICON Merchant bank 1983-1991, rose to become Area Manager before leaving voluntarily for Sudan
UBA: Principal Mgr 1 (May 1997), Principal Mgr 2(Jan 1998), AGM(December 1998), DGM(Jan 2002), GM(March 2005)
First Bank: Executive Director, 2006, Group Managing Director(2008)
CBN: Governor(June 2009)
Point 3: SLS came back from Sudan with a degree in Sharia and a bank like UBA immediately offered him Principal Mgr. For UBA, then highly respected and being run by the whizkid Keem Bello Osagie, to have ignored the irrelevance of his degree and six years in Sudan and offer him such a position, they must have seen something in him. UBA is not a northern bank  the alst time I checked.
Point 4: His rapid promotion could not be as a result of his being a prince, there must be something merit-based behind it. In other words he is a performer. There are other Southern folks in UBA with degrees from top schools in Europe and US, but that only got them teh job, cannot do the job for them. No disrecpect to these guys, just trying to drive home a point.
Point 5:At a time when you had to lobby before getting a high position, even in the private sector, Sanusi just got a call from First bank to come and be an Executive Director and fix their credit risk management. He had already built a strong risk management culture in UBA, and recognising that he's the system's best brain in this aspect, FBN had to lobby him to bail them out by offering him an ED. Isn't this ingenuity? Dudes, let's be objective and for once shed our impression that nothing good can come from a Hausa/Fulani man.

Please pay attention to dates in highlights . . . what was Sanusi doing from 1991 - 1997? To claim that Sanusi was hired by the UBA solely on his banking skills is fraudulent. As at 1991, he had only an ecomomics Masters from ABU (not worth much) and a stint at a failed bank.

And pls do NOT use UBA and FBN to burnish the tattered credentials of this fraud . . . these were banks built with the sweat and hardwork of southerners!

If islam were the sole reason for this new CBN appointment why not choose Hakeem Bello Osagie?

So he was a lecturer with a first degree? What a shame! No wonder our varsities are glorified primary schools

Other important points
-Most informed commentators,analysts and players on Nigerian economy whose comments I read in Newspapers acknowledged the fact that SLS was qualified for the job. Where dust was raised was the fact that all teh key managers of our economy will be coming from the same state.
-SLS is as analytical and eloquent as those top bankers/Economists you will want us to believe can rule CBN better. He oozed brilliance and confidence and demonstrated good grasp of Economics and our peculiar economy at the senate screening, to the applause of even those that had written him off before.
-If Joseph Sanusi, another former MD of FBN could become CBN governor, could become CBN governor without any hoopla, what is wrong in Sanusi being there? Is he because the former is from Kano state and the latter from Ondo?

Now to follow: An analysis of possible names if the position had been zoned to South West.

Ijawman:

So he was a lecturer with a first degree? What a shame! No wonder our varsities are glorified primary schools

that is the way its done in most top "universities" in the north. the lecturers do their masters while lecturing. I even lectured for a time at FUTY with nothing but a first degree.

Jarus:

Other important points
-Most informed commentators,analysts and players on Nigerian economy whose comments I read in Newspapers acknowledged the fact that SLS was qualified for the job. Where dust was raised was the fact that all teh key managers of our economy will be coming from the same state.

BASED ON?

This is Nigeria where any idiot with a degree in yoruba is regarded as "qualified" as long as you're speaking in public for your own pecuniary benefits.

Jarus:

-SLS is as analytical and eloquent as those top bankers/Economists you will want us to believe can rule CBN better. He oozed brilliance and confidence and demonstrated good grasp of Economics and our peculiar economy at the senate screening, to the applause of even those that had written him off before.

Did this translate into any tangible or quantifiable success at ICON bank?

Jarus:

-If Joseph Sanusi, another former MD of FBN could become CBN governor, could become CBN governor without any hoopla, what is wrong in Sanusi being there? Is he because the former is from Kano state and the latter from Ondo?

Is that what makes Sanusi a top candidate for the CBN job? What a disgusting shame.

Jarus:

Now to follow: An analysis of possible names if the position had been zoned to South West.

This is NOT the issue, it is about Sanusi's qualifications!

Jarus

Forget the fact that Sanusi's pedigree is nothing to write home about, how about his utterances and actions since he assumed office as the CBN guv.

Banking is based on perception, as the gov of the Apex bank, Sanusi, done more damage to the images of banks in Nigeria than the global economic crunch can ever do.

Jarus

Forget the fact that Sanusi's pedigree is nothing to write home about, how about his utterances and actions since he assumed office as the CBN guv.

Banking is based on perception, as the gov of the Apex bank, Sanusi, done more damage to the images of banks in Nigeria than the global economic crunch can ever inflict

Jarus:

-If Joseph Sanusi, another former MD of FBN could become CBN governor, could become CBN governor without any hoopla, what is wrong in Sanusi being there? Is he because the former is from Kano state and the latter from Ondo?

Joseph Sanusi, a qualified Chartered Accountant from England in 1965. Member of ICAN since 1969, joined the CBN as a manager in 1966, first ever CEO of the SEC 1978 - 1984, Executive Director, Monetary and Banking Policy, CBN and later Deputy Governor 1988, MD UBA 1990 - 1992, MD FBN 1992 - 1998.

Jarus . . . dont ever compare the qualifications of Joseph Sanusi with a fraud like SLS pls. That would be an ultimate disgrace.

illusion2:

So that you guys don't go back and forth. . .the true test of anybody's intellect is the answer to this question:

1. What has he/she created before i.e what initiative or idea  did he/she start from scratch and develop into a national or global phenomenom?

Anybody that can give adequate answers is a 'Top' banker.

I need not say more. . . . .

nOBODY HAS ANSWERED MY QUESTIONS.
Compare your answers for Gov. Sanusi with any one of Jim Ovia,Tony Elumelu,Erastus Akingbola,Fola Adeola ,Charles Soludo & give me ur feedback. However if its the North's 'turn' we understand,but don't even refer to qualifications,aptitude ,intelligence &previous responsibilities. QED

@davidylan and Ijawman,
Your questions/objections are noted will be taken one after the other after I finish the arguments in support of my claim.

Jarus:

@davidylan and Ijawman,
Your questions/objections are noted will be taken one after the other after I finish the arguments in support of my claim.

Will you finish next yr?

In a blind's country, one eyed man is usually appointed the king. lamido sanusi is one of the best the North could produces and we must give it to him, he tried, got educated more than his peers (in the North) are know for.

So, if it is the north turn (according to federal character of the constitution) and the North need to produce a candidate, he may not be bad, but comparing him wih guys in the south is like COMPARING APPLES TO ORANGES. They are miles apart.( even with Lamido Sanusi well spoken English taken into account, and No babanriga, he wore uniforms of Banker's -as in suit)

Nonetheless, I must agree with Davidylan here that he may not be among the top 10 if done strictly on merit. Being the grandson of Emir of Kano, and a first class Hausa Prince is a door opener even in the North and all over Nigeria. To cap it all, studying Islamic course is a mesmerissing plot for the Northern oligarcy, they love Islamic scholars. To them Lamio Sanusi can do no wrong.

Anyway, going to school does not necessarily make you the best candidate in anything. YAR A'CLUELESS also went to ABU, he is also a lecturer, and a CEO of Kastina state for 8 years and so far he has wasted the first 2 years of his presidency and Nigerian's time and resources, and chances are that we are stuck with him for another 6 years whether we like it or not.

IN FEW YEARS TIME, WE WILL KNOW WHETHER OR NOT LAMIDO SANUSI is a waste of space like YAR A'FAILURE( which is what I said 2 years ago at the commencement of his Presidency- at least you can now judge
YAR A'DULL now one way or the other)

POSSIBLE NAMES FROM THE SOUTH WEST IF THE POSITION HAD BEEN ZONED TO THE REGION AND A COMPARISON WITH SANUSI
[b]-TUNDE LEMO:[/b]Tunde Lemo is a First class Accounting degree holder from UNN(Soludo's mate, really). He had his First degree in Accounting, not Economics. By your arguments, if SLS is not qualified because he had no more than a Masters degree in Economics, then Lemo too is not qualified because he had just a degree in Accounting, not even in Economics, and he did not have a Masters degree like SLS. Much as I don't believe education, especially first degree, has much to do with your career later in life, if that is the argument people are using against SLS, then I can't help using same argument for him too. Anyway, the Group Chief Financial Officer in my company had, not only a first degree in Mechanical engineering, but also Masters, and today he is the number finance person in the Group, driving our finance strategy and controlling other top Finance persons with degrees in Accounting/Finance from world best universities. I don't give much emphasis to first degree.
On the career argument, SLS worked in banks all his life. Tunde worked in audit/accounting firms before joining banking system. He rose to become MD of Wema bank, Sanusi rose to become MD of a bigger, more respected bank, FBN. Tunde's only stronger point is that he had been in CBN before Sanusi and should know better. But Shamsudeen Usman was CBN Deputy Governor for years but was far from impressive as Finance minister, so thsi argument may not be very valid
So if Tunde's name could crop up as SW's candidate, why not Sanusi?

REMI BABALOLA[/b]This is another guy whose name could have cropped up if CBN governorship had been zoned to SW. He and Sanusi were EDs in FBN before his appointment as Minister. Remi is no doubt a brilliant guy and I'm really impressed the way he outshone his senior minister,Shamsudeen Usman, in the Finance ministry.He's my favourite in Yar'adua's cabinet. Remi has attended international courses and top trainings and he's very smart, a Jim Ovia guy. Remi would have made a great CBN governor, but that doesn't preclude the fact that SLS too couldn't have made one. The highest Remi's trainings and experience got him was an ED in First bank, and Sanusi got that too. So what can Remi do CBN that SLS will not be able to do?

[b]FOLA ADEOLA: Fola Adeola's major strenght is in corporate governance. He founded and nurtured GTB. But if SLS is not qualified because he had 'just' a masters degree in Economics from ABU, then should we ignore Fola Adeola's proven brilliance and dismiss him just because he had an HND from Yabatech?  This is why, to me, claim that Sanusi does not have the requisite academic credential to be CBN governor does not hold water. Fola Adeola is more than qualified.

Other Financial gurus from the South West:
Tayo Aderinokun: From his skills, he is doing well and will do better as an operator and a silent boardroom guru than a regulator. Not a CBN governor material. His name was never mentioned for the job anyway.

Oya, name other reputable banking heads from the South West that Sanusi will not match?

CONCLUSION: I'm a Yoruba and in no way ethnocentric. Apart from Sanusi, we can hardly name any banking/economic/financial figure from the north that matches the Southern folks, maybe Mansur Mukhtar. Shamsudeen Usman, who I had respected so much in his days as CBN Deputy governor, lost my respect due to his performance as Finance Minister. But to dismiss Sanusi as incompetent because he did not finish from Harvard or had a Phd or an aboki is what I am uncomfortable with. Sanusi is the best the north could offer but if the same Sanusi had been a South-Westerner, his name would still have made the list of possible candidates. That is my argument.

I'm tired of typing and will shut down now. I've got to rest. I will follow you guys' responses from my phone while on bed and will post short responses where called for. Full debate continues tomorrow by God's grace.

Cheers!!!!

Jarus:

POSSIBLE NAMES FROM THE SOUTH WEST IF THE POSITION HAD BEEN ZONED TO THE REGION AND A COMPARISON WITH SANUSI
[b]-TUNDE LEMO:[/b]Tunde Lemo is a First class Accounting degree holder from UNN(Soludo's mate, really). He had his First degree in Accounting, not Economics. By your arguments, if SLS is not qualified because he had no more than a Masters degree in Economics, then Lemo too is not qualified because he had just a degree in Accounting, not even in Economics, and he did not have a Masters degree like SLS. Much as I don't believe education, especially first degree, has much to do with your career later in life, if that is the argument people are using against SLS, then I can't help using same argument for him too. Anyway, the Group Chief Financial Officer in my company had, not only a first degree in Mechanical engineering, but also Masters, and today he is the number finance person in the Group, driving our finance strategy and controlling other top Finance persons with degrees in Accounting/Finance from world best universities. I don't give much emphasis to first degree.
On the career argument, SLS worked in banks all his life. Tunde worked in audit/accounting firms before joining banking system. He rose to become MD of Wema bank, Sanusi rose to become MD of a bigger, more respected bank, FBN. Tunde's only stronger point is that he had been in CBN before Sanusi and should know better. But Shamsudeen Usman was CBN Deputy Governor for years but was far from impressive as Finance minister, so thsi argument may not be very valid
So if Tunde's name could crop up as SW's candidate, why not Sanusi?

Simply because Tunde Lemo is intellectually superior and has way more experience!

- UNN FIRST CLASS degree in Accounting 1984
- Overall 3rd best result ICAN exams in 1986
- staff Auditor and Consultant between 1985 – 1988
- Consolidations Manager SCOA Nigerian Plc 1988 and 1989
- Credit officer, corporate banking Chartered Bank Limited 1989 - 1990
- AGM Equitorial Trust Bank 1990 1992
- Deputy GM Wema Bank 1995 - 1995
- GM Corporate Banking Group 1997 - 1998
- EX Credit and Relationship MGT 1998 - 2000
- MD CEO Wema Bank 2000 - 2004
- Deputy Governor CBN 2004 - Date

Sanusi does NOT come close!

Jarus:

REMI BABALOLA[/b]This is another guy whose name could have cropped up if CBN governorship had been zoned to SW. He and Sanusi were EDs in FBN before his appointment as Minister. Remi is no doubt a brilliant guy and I'm really impressed the way he outshone his senior minister,Shamsudeen Usman, in the Finance ministry.He's my favourite in Yar'adua's cabinet. Remi has attended international courses and top trainings and he's very smart, a Jim Ovia guy. Remi would have made a great CBN governor, but that doesn't preclude the fact that SLS too couldn't have made one. [b]The highest Remi's trainings and experience got him was an ED in First bank, and Sanusi got that too. So what can Remi do CBN that SLS will not be able to do?

- BSc Agric Economics UI
- Masters of Business and Finance UNILAG
- Courses attended at - Stanford Graduate School of Business, USA; Wharton Business School, USA; London Business School; Harvard Business School, USA; MBA - Lagos Business School.
- ICAN Exam- First Overall Best Student 1988
- Four Time Winner of CEO Award 1994
- Fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria
- Member of Commonwealth Business Council and World Economic Forum

Much more superior qualifications than Sanusi!

Jarus:

FOLA ADEOLA: Fola Adeola's major strenght is in corporate governance. He founded and nurtured GTB. But if SLS is not qualified because he had 'just' a masters degree in Economics from ABU, then should we ignore Fola Adeola's proven brilliance and dismiss him just because he had an HND from Yabatech? This is why, to me, claim that Sanusi does not have the requisite academic credential to be CBN governor does not hold water. Fola Adeola is more than qualified.

Rubbish . . . you're attempting to compare apples to oranges here. Based on credentials alone Fola Adeola is not qualified but he has more than demonstrated his SUPERIOR EXCELLENCE by founding and growing one of Nigeria's best private banks - GTB!

What has Sanusi done?

Jarus:

Other Financial gurus from the South West:
Tayo Aderinokun: From his skills, he is doing well and will do better as an operator and a silent boardroom guru than a regulator. Not a CBN governor material. His name was never mentioned for the job anyway.

Disgraceful! Tayo co-founded GTB with Fola Adeola, holds a BA in Business Administration from UNILAG and has an MBA from the Graduate School of Management, University of California.

to say he is not CBN governor material is completely stupid and a symptom of why Nigeria will never progress with the likes of you and Sanusi in charge. In foreign countries . . . people like Aderinokun and Fola Adeola would be setting economic policy not sharia scholars like Sanusi!

Jarus:

Oya, name other reputable banking heads from the South West that Sanusi will not match?

You mentioned 4 and Sanusi does not hold a candle to them at all.

Jarus:

CONCLUSION: I'm a Yoruba and in no way ethnocentric. Apart from Sanusi, we can hardly name any banking/economic/financial figure from the north that matches the Southern folks, maybe Mansur Mukhtar. Shamsudeen Usman, who I had respected so much in his days as CBN Deputy governor, lost my respect due to his performance as Finance Minister.

You just mentioned EXACTLY WHY Sanusi is CBN governor today . . . it has nothing to do with his skill, experience and credentials but simply because he is the best the north can produce and since it is the turn of the north . . . he gets it. No wonder Ghana is passing us by. Continue with the ruinous federal character system.

Jarus:

But to dismiss Sanusi as incompetent because he did not finish from Harvard or had a Phd or an aboki is what I am uncomfortable with.

We have no dismissed Sanusi as incompetent, simply said that based on the 4 names you mentioned here alone, he is NOT the best Nigeria can offer as CBN governor.

Jarus:

Sanusi is the best the north could offer but if the same Sanusi had been a South-Westerner, his name would still have made the list of possible candidates. That is my argument.

He never would!

Jarus:

I'm tired of typing and will shut down now. I've got to rest. I will follow you guys' responses from my phone while on bed and will post short responses where called for. Full debate continues tomorrow by God's grace.

Cheers!!!!

No problem, post more names pls. As at last count Sanusi cannot make the top 4 in the southwest.

Jarus, It's funny how you took David out of the other thread and the manner you did it. Now that came straight out of my secondary school days when:

If we wanted to settle a score (fight) we took the argument straight to a place we called "Land of Settlement" or "Land" for short. At Land, you were guaranteed of uninterupted fight with spectators and supporters watching.

Sorry for interupting this fight, but una must fight to finish today. No one has keeled over yet and you are all throwing good punches. A beg make nobody put hand.

Well, Well, Well I never knew that the position of the CBN Governor was zoned. Do you guys think this should be the case? Should the governor of our reserve bank be politicised ? By asking this question, it now seems that there is a possibility that the best man has not been chosen for the Job. Though am not saying that this is the case.

Well if I may add they should have gotten someone better than Soludo. But that will be very hard east,west, north or south.

These 2 guys reflect the general attitude of Nigerians. Literate but uneducated. We scubble over little things that doesn't make sense. Management ability or skills of individuals can not be evaluated by just education qualifications. Nor will past experience in different area be a guarantee of success in another area altogether. Successful organisations are build around people not an individual. The CBN governor can have all the qualifications he need, but he doesn't do all the work. He work with other people. His ability to assemble a team, delegate his responsibilities and evaluate their performance is what distinguish good leaders from good personalities. Everything depends on judgement. What we want is not a person that is good in memorizing text books and lecture notes. We want people capable of making independent thinking and giving good judgement of individual events as they come.

Tsiya:

These 2 guys reflect the general attitude of Nigerians. Literate but uneducated. We scubble over little things that doesn't make sense. Management ability or skills of individuals can not be evaluated by just education qualifications. Nor will past experience in different area be a guarantee of success in another area altogether. Successful organisations are build around people not an individual. The CBN governor can have all the qualifications he need, but he doesn't do all the work. He work with other people. His ability to assemble a team, delegate his responsibilities and evaluate their performance is what distinguish good leaders from good personalities. Everything depends on judgement. What we want is not a person that is good in memorizing text books and lecture notes. We want people capable of making independent thinking and giving good judgement of individual events as they come.

While i agree with your post somewhat, i would like to state that although your skills and ability are not evaluated by just education, education is an important asset anywhere in the world. Your type of education, level of education, place of education and time in education are major contributing factors towards your success in any given tasks.

Secondly, your past work experience is damn important too because it is from the accomplishments you have had in your professional career, your abilities can be closely monitored and assessed. Whether you have the required [academic or formal] qualifications or not, some organizations chose to overlook a good formal education for your natural skill and ability. This is however, vary rare these days. Look at most corporations where the founders are supposed school leavers (Bill Gates and co). They always hire those who finished from top schools with the top grades and rarely those who because they have a skill, dropped out of school.

In summary, EDUCATION + PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE is what we need to build a country, our country. Yes, there are always spaces for professional politicians but you cannot leave that kind of person to run your economy. You can never catch an uneducated man running a developed country's central bank or top financial institution - whether or not the country's financial sector is performing or not. You cant be a half-baked (forgive my language) educated person and be expected to manage the economy of a whole country when it is not a private business that is being managed.

When we look at people like Okonjo - Iweala, Adebayo Ogunlesi, Mervyn King (present governor of central bank of england), Ben S. Bernanke (Chairman of the Board of the American Federal Reserve Board), The head of the German Central Bank (who has a PhD) etc, you will find out that they are all extremely well educated (some of them PhD holders) and have impeccable and well documented professional career records. There is no way in hell you will have a half-education and a shady career and some countries will put you in charge of their economy - they dont care how gifted you are in managing people or making decisions!

Why is it that the foreigners always find a way of getting the best people to run their systems and we cannot? All this stupid zoning nonsense we have gotten ourselves into is running us down. If Sanusi is the best the North can provide, it is unfortunate that their best is not good enough. We have enough Southern and Eastern people who can run the show better!

where is Jarus?

I'm still very much around, though have had a quite busy day. I was typing a very long response, taking the points you guys raised one by one, when the system fumbled and I lost the efforts. I had spent almost one hour typing the stuff before the whole thing went off. It was painful and I've been hesitant to devote another 30 minutes on a single post.

I will respond to your and others' rebuttal in due course.