Evolution of the Central Bank of Nigeria

Abstract

Tellingly, Italy’s unenviable record of sixty-one governments since the end of World War II is incongruent with the parallel appointment of only eight Central Bank (Banca d’Italia) governors in almost seven decades.1 Aside from perennial Prime Minister, the late Guilio Andreotti, and perhaps Silvio Berlusconi, the vast majority of Italy’s past leaders are faded shadowy figures. By coincidence, the United States of America also had eight chairmen of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System during that period, including Marriner S. Eccles, whose tenure straddled 1945. Comparatively, Nigeria, not exactly a paragon of democratic governance, has had eleven Central Bank governors2 since independence in 1960, including the last foreigner, Roy R. Fenton, who left office in 1963.