A rare collage of photos released to celebrate the 60th birthday of Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, last year, reveals the storied life and evolution of the ambitious and fiercely brilliant young man that would rewrite the story of the Nigerian banking leader. As he celebrates his 61years on earth, Emefiele’s commitment to strengthening the CBN with the ultimate goal to impact the life of the average Nigerian remains as unflinching as it was on his first day in office in June 2014.
Very few people have seen Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, without his characteristic charisma and flair. Then, images of his adolescence and youth surfaced in the social media space courtesy of a special publication to commemorate his 60th birthday last year.
The images transmit mental portraits of his childhood, bearing them like colourful carnations of the past to perfume his present. From the adorable snapshots of his evolution as an adolescent to teenager and young adult, the CBN governor cut the image of a soul that had lived through various phases of growth.
There is no gainsaying that the pictures collectively manifest like a time capsule into his past, reflecting among other things, his humble beginnings and the nostalgic moments spent with his adorable wife and children. His storied and sensational life would make many of his peers go green with envy and make them feel like they came to the world at the wrong time. These rare portraits of the CBN governor also revealed that his life had been a journey spanning both flat miles and seemingly impassable terrains.
Growing up through the maze of life’s dark woods, Emefielesnapped off a long branch and picked his way through. Stumbling through life’s expanse, his wandering feet got entangled in thickets of experience and roots that ran deeper than his years. The unfamiliar scent of manhood stung his nostrils and kept him on track along with the profound domains of experience. Determinedly, he kept to the trail, guided by the whiff and promise of a better tomorrow.
As a gangly teen, Emefiele was wiser than his years. He was older than the days he had seen and the breaths he had drawn. He understood that life wasn’t completely a frightening encounter with genuine menace; he also learnt that as a young adult, he must learn to navigate the brute nudge of manhood and all its desperate years.
The vast expanse of his curiosity and an incredible degree of freedom in thought and responsibility fostered his maturation through the challenges and grotto of manhood. His fears vanished into thin air. An enviable and very significant shift in his maturation had occurred since then.
The bliss of childhood was gone likewise the days of adventure. That fabled land ruled by children to which a kid might exile himself for at least some portion of every day from the neighbouring kingdom of adulthood, was largely taken over, co-opted, colonized, and finally absorbed by harsh, brutish reality. But Emefiele was up to the task. He had already evolved into a full man. And his family, the CBN, and Nigeria are the better for it.
Against all odds, Emefiele was nominated for the CBN governor’s position on February 20, 2014. After an impressive performance at his screening before the Senate on March 26, 2014, his appointment as the 11th (and 10th indigenous) Governor of the CBN was confirmed. He assumed office on June 3, 2014.
Since his appointment, Emefiele has held his own against the ravages of attrition characteristic of the Nigerian political scene. He has maintained his spot in a clime where public officers are ousted or given the boot at the expiration of the tenure of the principal that appointed them especially when an opposition party takes over political power.
Emefiele, however, survived all plots to oust him when the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government took over and even went ahead to become the first CBN Governor to get a second term since 1999, following his reappointment in 2019.
Without a doubt, the Ika, Delta State-born banker has lived a remarkable and eventful life. Despite rising from humble beginnings to assume leadership of the nation’s apex banking institution, he has remained humble and uncompromising in his values. He has maintained a culture of unflinching uprightness and unwavering commitment to the collective good. He has remained a staunch patriot and advocate of the common man. This, among others, guarantees his place in the pantheon of Nigeria’s finest citizens.
