The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has been conferred with the Euroknowledge Africa Most Innovative Digital Transformation Governor of the Year Award for 2022 by the Foreign Investment Network (FIN).
Andreas Deutschmann, Advisor, Euroknowledge, presented the award to Mr. Emefiele at a ceremony held at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington DC on Thursday, October 13, 2022, on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the IMF/World Bank Group held in Washington DC, and commended the CBN Governor for leading innovation among central banks on the continent.
In his brief acceptance remarks, Emefiele thanked Euroknowledge and the Foreign 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 the payments system with the pioneering efforts in Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
“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, Emefiele invited foreign investors to consider Nigeria and other countries in Africa as their choice investment destinations, noting that business confidence in the continent was on the rise.
Specifically, he listed countries that investors should consider, including 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’s years of growth and development.
