How I Almost Undermined Appointment Of Rakiya As Director Of CBN– Emefiele

Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria has revealed that he had undermined the nomination of Rakiya Mohammed as a director of the apex bank.

While making his speech during the eNaira Hackathon Grand Finale which was held in Abuja, the governor attributed the success of Africa’s first central bank digital currency partly to Rakiya.

Rakiya was appointed the Director, Information Technology Department of the CBN. She was the Head, Corporate Strategy and Planning of the CBN.

But Emefiele said he had undermined her elevation, because she was a “lady” as he believed a man was best fit for the position.

Emefiele confessed that he became convinced when he perused her Curriculum Vitae (CV).

The apex bank boss confessed, “I would like to pay tribute and appreciate our eNaira team at the Central Bank of Nigeria headed by the Deputy Governor, Dr Kingsley Obiora and supported by our IT guru, Hajia Rakiya Muhammed, who is very intelligent and I think I must single Rakiya out.

“When she was going to be made a director, I was thinking. I’m Sorry ladies, please forgive me. I said a lady IT Director? I went back and began to read her CV. I read her CV, the first Class computer science first class graduate in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University; brilliant erudite lady from the Northern part of our country, combine with being a chartered accountant and I said you cannot have a better person as head of IT for Central Bank of Nigeria.

“She has done so very well and I thought I should single her out. As a leader of a team that has worked tirelessly to bring the fruition of our eNaira project. She has worked day and night with her team. “

Her profile seen by THE WHISTLER described her as an IT and information security specialist with over 25 years’ experience in information systems security, enterprise architecture, and service management.

Rakiya’s profile also shows she is a Certified Enterprise and Solution Architect, Certified IT Governance (COBIT, CGEIT), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and a Chartered Accountant (ICAN).

She also graduated with a First-Class Degree in Computer Science at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Masters in Information Systems Engineering.