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From Uche Usim, Abuja
Additional accolades came the way of the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who bagged the Euroknowledge Africa award as the Most Innovative Digital Transformation Governor of the Year 2022z conferred on him by the Foreign Investment Network (FIN).
According to a statement from the apex bank, the award was presented to Mr. Emefiele at a ceremony held at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, Washington DC, on Thursday, on the sidelines of the Annual meetings of the IMF/World Bank Group holding in Washington DC, by the Advisor, Euroknowledge, Mr. Andreas Deutschmann.
He commended the CBN Governor for leading innovation among central banks on the continent.
In his brief acceptance remarks, Mr. Emefiele thanked the Euroknowledge and the Foreing Investment Network (FIN) for finding the CBN worthy of the award and dedicated the award to the Management and staff of the Bank for their creative ideas, which had seen the CBN emerge as a pace-setter in payments system with the pioneering efforts in central bank digital currency (CBDC). He also thanked Nigerians for their support to the CBN.
“This award is not just for me, it is meant for all of us who have worked hard in the last eight and half years to keep Nigeria strong. To keep the Nigerian economy strong and going,” he said.
Highlighting the investment potential on the continent, Mr. Emefiele invited foreign investors to consider Nigeria and other countries in Africa as their choice investment destination, noting that business confidence in the continent was on the rise.
Specifically, he listed countries that investors should consider to include Nigeria, Angola, South Africa and Egypt.
“Today, we talk about the frontier market and what I keep telling people is that as you continue thinking about growth opportunities in the world and you are looking at Africa, naturally you will have to think about some of the big economies in Africa.
“Nigeria, Angola, South Africa and Egypt are economies that you would need to think about. And I dare say these economies hold a lot of strong opportunities with opportunities for high yields and profitable projects and I can only seize this opportunity to encourage our friends in the foreign investment community to continue to take a look at Africa. Africa years for growth and development.
“We cannot do this alone; we will continue to need the support of the rest of the world. But I can assure all of us that as you do this, the opportunities are there and you will not regret taking the opportunities.
“The opportunities are there. I can only continue to say let’s give the support to Africa let’s give the support to Nigeria. We should all continue to work together for the growth, not just for our individual countries but for Africa as a whole,” the CBN governor added.
While admitting that there had been challenges, Mr. Emefiele said the Bank, under his leadership, was encouraged to do more to boost the Nigerian economy.
