₦airaland Forum

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has appointed 16 new directors across key departments, nine months after it relieved the previous directors from the services of the bank as well as those who retired over a year ago.

The CBN in an internal advertisement published in September 2024 sought to fill strategic departments that were headed by Coordinators.

The new appointees will oversee banking supervision, payment systems, and consumer protection, areas critical to Nigeria’s financial sector, especially as regulators tighten scrutiny on banks and fintechs.


The restructuring comes one month after the reinstatement of Jimoh Musa Itopa as director of the Payments System Management Department (PSMD).

Dr Olubukola Akinwunmi Akinniyi has been named director of banking supervision, one of the most powerful roles at the CBN.

The Payment System Supervision department will be led by Dr Yusuf Rakiya Opeyemi. This newly created directorate was part of a broader restructuring that split the Payments System Management Department (PSMD) into two separate units: one focused on policy and the other on supervision.


While Dr Opeyemi now oversees the supervisory arm, a separate director has been appointed to lead the policy side. Previously, payment supervision and policy were housed under a single team, which some industry stakeholders saw as a bottleneck to effective regulation.

The restructuring follows the return of Jimoh Musa Itopa as director of PSMD, a move that also affected the tenure of Oladimeji Taiwo Yisa, who had been named Acting Director of the Payments Systems Management Department. Oladimeji Yisa Taiwo has now voluntarily left the Central Bank, according to a person familiar with the matter.


Dr Aisha Isa-Olatinwo was named director of consumer protection department. She has a background in audits, is expected to take a tougher stance on consumer grievances, according to an insider.

Sike Rita Ijeoma will head Financial Policy and Regulation, shaping the rules that guide Nigeria’s financial system.

Other key appointments include Dr Obom Victor Ugbem in Monetary Policy, Farouk Mujtaba Muhammad in Reserve Management, and Mrs Vincent Monsurat Modesola in Strategic Management and Innovation.


The supervision of microfinance banks, mortgage banks, and finance companies now falls under Mr Solaja Mohammed-Jamiu Olayemi, while Mr Nakorji Musa will oversee Trade and Exchange.

Mrs Jide-Samuel Omoyemen Avbasowamen heads Information technology Department; Dr Ojumu Adenike Olubunmi, Medical Services Department; Mal Abdullahi Hamisu, Banking Services Department; Mr Makinde Kayode Olarewaju, Procurement and Support Services Department; Dr Adedeji Adetona Sikiru, Currency Opereation and Branch Management Department; Dr Okpanachi Usman Moses, Statistics Department.

kettykin:
I just knew it would come to this . This would certainly some day be the Achilles heels of Nigeria. Any sector they lose out , they will introduce crass nepotism and ethnocentrism .

Telecommunications sector ? Dead.
Food beverages breweries sector? On the chopping block.
Now, they’ve sunk their claws into banking sector, gambling with the nation’s financial backbone.

A disaster in slow motion. Tufiakwa.

ivandragon:
Hmm...

I hope experience, competence and merit where the key considerations... because it looks a bit lopsided.

AustineE1:
Yorubas are obviously taken Nigerians for granted,imagine this level of impudence and the temerity at which they rub it on the face of other Nigerians.They recklessly take 99 percent of all appointments meant for the south and equally take 50 percent of northern appointments and add to theirs.
This is nepotism taken to a new level,we are all watching the drama unfold on the stage but these unfortunate leaders will fall into self destruction,while there paid agents and online janitors resonate the chorus of victory.

proeast:
Nigeria survived all these years because the military and even the northerners understand that they must carry other Nigerians along. Tinubu encouraged Buhari the dullard to pursue bigotry and ethnocentrism. His target was that once he takes over, he will then turn Nigeria to Oduduwa Republic where only yorubas will be in control.

If Nigerians fail to send this primitive bastard away in 2027, by all means necessary then watch how Nigeria will die naturally.

simpleseyi:
Cry well well. But bear in mind, when it comes to your own sector, we will call you, when it comes to drugs trafficking and fake drugs manufacturing, we will call you forward. So, wait until we get to your sector

kettykin:
I am not crying, I am doing the obvious, pointing out things that will cause Nigeria to bleed soon.

Racoon:
And the nepotism continues.

kettykin:
I am not crying, I am doing the obvious, pointing out things that will cause Nigeria to bleed soon.

AustineE1:
Right from the days of Awolowo,tribalism has always been a Yoruba thing,it so engrained in their ego that non of them will want to do the right thing,except for the likes of Obasanjo whom I respect so much and have my utmost regards for him,he is so nationalistic that some historians tag him the father of modern Nigeria.
Tinubu is a typical yoruba supremacist and a local champion and wants yorubas to see him as a Yoruba demigod,of which a section of the unfortunate Yoruba populace see him as such while a large number of their corrupt elites sees him as a conduit pipe for quick money and hence they follow him.