Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
Encyclopedia
Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (born 31 July 1961) was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
Central Bank of Nigeria
The Central Bank of Nigeria was established by the CBN Act of 1958 and commenced operations on July 1, 1959.The major regulatory objectives of the bank as stated in the CBN act of 1958 is to: issue legal tender, maintain the external reserves of the country, promote monetary stability and a sound...

 on 3 June 2009.
He is a career banker and ranking Fulani nobleman, and also serves as a respected Islamic scholar.
The renowned global financial intelliegence magazine, The Banker
The Banker
The Banker is an English-language monthly international financial affairs publication owned by The Financial Times Ltd. and edited in London...

, published by the Financial Times, has conferred on Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi two awards. He has been recognised with the global award for Central Bank Governor of the Year, as well as for Central Bank Governor of the Year for Africa. The TIME magazine also listed Sanusi in its TIMES 100 list of most influential people of 2011

Birth and education

Sanusi was born on July 31, 1961. His father was a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 1960s and his grandfather was Emir of Kano
Kano Emirate
The Kano Emirate is a traditional state in Northern Nigeria with headquarters in the city of Kano, capital of the modern Kano State.The Emirate was formed in 1805 during the Fulani jihad, when the old Hausa Kingdom of Kano became subject to the Sokoto Caliphate.During and after the colonial period...

 and Islamic Scholar, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi.
Sanusi graduated from King's College Lagos in 1977 and studied at Ahmadu Bello University
Ahmadu Bello University
Ahmadu Bello University is the largest university in Nigeria and second largest in Africa, second only to Cairo University, Egypt. It is situated in Zaria. It was founded on October 4, 1962 as the University of Northern Nigeria....

 (ABU), Zaria
Zaria
Zaria may refer to:*Zaria, a city in Kaduna State, Nigeria*Zaria , or Zoria, the Slavic goddess of beauty*Countess Zaria of Orange-Nassau, Jonkvrouwe van Amsberg, a member of the Dutch royal family...

 earning a BSc in Economics in 1981. He then taught economics at ABU from 1983 to 1985. He obtained a degree in Sharia from SUDAN.

Banking career

In 1985 Sanusi joined Icon Limited (Merchant Bankers), a subsidiary of Morgan Guaranty Trust Bank
J.P. Morgan & Co.
J.P. Morgan & Co. was a commercial and investment banking institution based in the United States founded by J. Pierpont Morgan and commonly known as the House of Morgan or simply Morgan. Today, J.P...

 of New York, and Baring Brothers of London. He moved to the United Bank for Africa
United Bank for Africa
United Bank for Africa Plc is a public limited company incorporated in Nigeria in 1961 and headquartered in Lagos. It is one of Africa’s leading financial institutions offering universal banking to more than 7 million customers across 750 branches in 19 African countries and a presence in New...

 in 1997 in the Credit and Risk Management Division, rising to the position of a General Manager. In September 2005, he joined the Board of First Bank of Nigeria
First Bank of Nigeria
First Bank of Nigeria is a Nigerian bank and financial services firm.First Bank traces its ancestry back to the first major financial institution founded in Nigeria; hence the name. The current chairman is Dr. Ayoola Oba Otudeko, OFR...

 as an Executive Director in charge of Risk and Management Control, and was appointed Group Managing Director (CEO) in January 2009.
He was also the Chairman, Kakawa Discount House and sat on the Board of FBN Bank (UK) Limited.
Sanusi is recognized in the banking industry for his contribution towards developing a Risk Management culture in the Nigerian banking sector.
First Bank is Nigeria's oldest bank and one of the biggest financial institutions in Africa.
Sanusi was the first Northerner to be appointed CEO in First Bank's history of more than a century.

Governor of the Central Bank

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was the President of Nigeria and the 13th Head of State. He served as governor of Katsina State in northern Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 28 May 2007. He was declared the winner of the controversial Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May...

 nominated Sanusi as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria on 1 June 2009 and his appointment was confirmed by the Senate on 3 June 2009, in the middle of a global financial crisis.
Analysts believed that Sanusi's tempered mien would serve as a counterpoise to the more aloof disposition of his predecessor, Charles Chukwuma Soludo.
Based on his past record it seemed probable that as governor of the central bank he would impose stricter controls.

In August 2009, the Sanusi led Central Bank of Nigeria bailed out Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Union Bank, Oceanic Bank and Finbank with 400 billion naira of public money, and dismissed their chief executives. He said "We had to move in to send a strong signal that such recklessness on the part of bank executives will no longer be tolerated." 16 senior bank officials face charges that included fraud, lending to fake companies, giving loans to companies they had a personal interest in and conspiring with stockbrokers to boost share prices.
In September 2009 he said that 15 of the current 24 Nigerian banks might survive reform in the banking sector.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....

in December 2009, Sanusi defended the extensive reforms that he had initiated since taking office, dubbed by some as the "Sanusi tsunami". He noted that there was no choice but to attack the many powerful and interrelated vested interests who were exploiting the financial system, and expressed his appreciation of support from the Presidency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is a Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee fraud and money laundering...

, the Finance minister and others.

In January 2010 Sanusi said that banks will only want to give credit to the Nigeria’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) if the government gives adequate attention to the provision of infrastructure.
In January 2010 Sanusi admitted that since 2005 the Central Bank had not conducted routine examinations of the 14 banks allocated to it under the sharing arrangement with Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).
Abubakar Nagona, president of Integrated Development and Investment Service (IDIS), a venture capital investment company urged Sanusi to "not be cowed and succumb to undue pressure from operators of the same sector he is striving to bring sanity to."

At a February 2010 conference on banking in Nigeria, Sanusi described his blueprint for reforming the Nigerian financial system. He said that it was built around four pillars of enhancing the quality of banks, establishing financial stability, enabling healthy financial sector evolution and ensuring that the financial sector contributes to the real economy.
Talking later that month, Sanusi said that the crash in the capital market was due to high level financial illiteracy on the part of the Nigerian investors.

The Banker
The Banker
The Banker is an English-language monthly international financial affairs publication owned by The Financial Times Ltd. and edited in London...

 unanimously recognised him as the Central Bank Governor of the Year 2010 citing his radical anti-corruption campaign aimed at saving 24 banks on the brink of collapse and pressing for the managers involved in the most blatant cases of corruption to be charged and, in the case of two senior bankers, imprisoned.

Sharia authority

In parallel to his banking career, Sanusi contributed to the debate over Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...

 law.
In 1997, Sanusi obtained a degree in Sharia and Islamic Studies from the African International University in Khartoum
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...

, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

.
Writing in the Weekly Trust in September 2000, he noted the problem of reconciling "belief in the universal and eternal applicability of the Shariah with the need for a wholesale adoption of its historically specific interpretation to meet the requirements of a particular milieu." He further said that "Even a cursory student of Islamic history knows that all the trappings of gender inequality present in the Muslim society have socio-economic and cultural, as opposed to religious roots."

At a conference in 2000 in Kaduna
Kaduna
Kaduna is the state capital of Kaduna State in north-central Nigeria. The city, located on the Kaduna River, is a trade center and a major transportation hub for the surrounding agricultural areas with its rail and road junction. The population of Kaduna is at 760,084 as of the 2006 Nigerian census...

, Sanusi delivered a lecture on Islamic economics called Institutional Framework of Zakat: Dimension and Implications. He argued that although collection of zakat
Zakat
Zakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...

 is the responsibility of the state, it may be the responsibility of the Nigerian government rather than the emirs in Northern Nigeria.
In July 2001 at a seminar in Abuja he talked on Basic Needs and Redistributive Justice in Islam – The Panacea to Poverty in Nigeria. He took the mainstream position that zakat is an instrument for redistributing income, but argued in favor of giving the role of redistribution to the government.

In October 2002 he published a paper on The Hudhood Punishments in Northern Nigeria: A Muslim Criticism. In July 2003 he presented The Shari'a Debate and the Construction of a 'Muslim' Identity in Northern Nigeria: A Critical Perspective at a seminar at the University of Bayreuth
University of Bayreuth
The University of Bayreuth is a public research university situated in Bayreuth, Germany. It was founded in 1975 as a campus university focusing on international collaboration and interdisciplinarity...

.
In August 2003 he presented Democracy, Rights and Islam: Theory, Epistemology and the Quest for Synthesis at an international conference on Shari'ah Penal and Family Law in Nigeria and in the Muslim World: A Rights-Based Approach in Abuja
Abuja
Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria. It is located in the centre of Nigeria, within the Federal Capital Territory . Abuja is a planned city, and was built mainly in the 1980s. It officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos...

.

There are two underlying themes to Sanusi's position. First, Islam is concerned with delivering justice and should not be a tool for self-seeking political agendas. Second, the Wahhabist rhetoric of fundamentalists is counter to genuine Muslim interests.
He explains that Sharia is not divine but merely religious, and is neither uniform nor unchanging.
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