Nigerian President Bola Tinubu nominated 2011 Tutu Fellow Muhammad Dattijo as a Deputy Governor of Nigeria's Central Bank in early September 2023. The position comes as part of a shakeup of the central bank by the president in which he appointed Olayemi Cardoso as the bank's new Governor, along with three other deputy governors serving with Muhammad.
The term of the previous CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, was suspended. Muhammad's nomination is for a five-year term subject to Senate confirmation.
Muhammad was a former commissioner in Kaduna State, where he served as budget and planning commissioner under ex-Governor Nasir El-Rufai's administration and also as the Chief of Staff to the Governor of Kaduna State. An international development expert, he also served as a policy adviser at the Executive Office of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in New York.
In Senate confirmation hearings later in the month, Muhammad was confirmed, along with the other nominees.
He takes on the role in the Central Bank leadership following a cleanout by President Tinubu. The previous CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, was suspended due to an ongoing investigation. This investigation resulted in Emefiele’s arrest in June, and as part of the investigation, President Tinubu appointed a former CEO of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria as Special Investigator to probe the operations of the CBN under Emefiele’s tenure. Muhammad's experience is expected to be called upon as the bank takes up crucial reforms in the Nigerian economy.
These appointments mark a new era in the Central Bank of Nigeria, with anticipated critical reforms and a renewed focus on economic stability and growth.
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