The Federal Government has approved the appointment of Dr. Joseph Nananna as the new chairman of the board of Nigeria Export-Import Bank NEXIM Bank.
In a statement signed by the Bank’s Head of Strategy and Communications, Tayo Omidiji, other Board members include Dr. Mudashiru Olaitan, Mrs. Olubunmi Siyanbola, Mr. Ochapa Ogenyi, Hon Adesina Adegbenro and Hajiya Ramatu Ahmed.
Profile of the new chairman
Dr. Nnanna comes with over three decades experience as an economist and banker. He has served as a consultant to the government of Nigeria, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and, on the Board of the International Monetary Fund.
He is the Chairman of 9Mobile Board, the mobile telco that acquired the shares of the now-defunct Etisalat and also currently the chairman of African Finance Corporation.
- He attended William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey and University of Houston, in Houston Texas, the USA from 1975-80, where he read Finance, Public Policy, and Economics. He graduated with B.A, M.A and PhD diplomas.
- Since graduation, Dr. Nnanna has attended several economic policy-oriented training programs.
- In 2003 and 2004, he studied at Harvard University and participated in the macroeconomic policy and leadership/ organizational management training programs.
- He attended the Bundesbank intensive training program on how to Conduct Monetary Policy in a Monetary Zone in 2006.
- Dr. Nnanna was appointed Deputy Governor (Financial System Stability) Central Bank of Nigeria on February 3, 2015, and later assumed the leadership of the African Finance Corporation AFC.
His work experience includes
- A brief period of teaching at the University of Houston at Clear Lake City campus (USA) and at the Federal Government Polytechnic, Akure (Nigeria) in 1980-82.
- And from 1982-1989, he worked as a staff economist in the international trade and exchange rate section of the Research Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
- Dr. Nnanna rejoined the Central Bank of Nigeria in 1994 and was appointed as an Advisor to the Governor of the Central Bank.
- And in 2001 he was appointed the Director of Research and Statistics of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
- At the Central Bank, he actively participated in the policy formulation process which culminated in the liberalization and deregulation of Nigeria’s financial system in particular and the real productive sectors of the economy as a whole.
- Dr. Nnanna was appointed the Director-General of the West African Monetary Institute in 2006-2008. The Institute is the agency responsible for the actualization of the proposed second West African monetary union.
- Dr. Nnanna also served as a full-time consultant to the government of Nigeria as a technical assistant to the National Economic Management Team and the Presidential Steering Committee on the Global economic crisis. He was also a part-time consultant to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
- In 2012-2014, Dr. Nnanna, served as the Alternate Executive Director, representing Nigeria and 21 other sub-Sahara African countries on the Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington D.C
- A life member of the Nigeria Economic Society. He is a recipient of Dr. Nkwame Nkrumah Africa Leadership Award.
The newly appointed Directors will join the executive management team of the bank headed by Abba Bello as the Managing Director/Chief Executive, assisted by Bala Bello, Executive Director, Corporate services and Stella Okotete, Executive Director, Business Development.
The Nigeria Export-Import Bank NEXIM Bank was established by Act 38 of 1991 as an Export Credit Agency (ECA) with a share capital of N50, 000,000,000 (Fifty Billion Naira) held equally by the Federal Ministry of Finance Incorporated and the Central Bank of Nigeria. The Bank which replaced the Nigerian Export Credit Guarantee & Insurance Corporation earlier set up under Act 15 of 1988.
