CBN | These past History and Today

This page will tell or remind you about the past and happenings in the financial sector, so as a student, broker and more enjoy this little pieces of update.

The first Indigenous Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria was Alhaji Aliyu Mai Bornu from July 25, 1963 to July 31st, 1967.

On July 1, 1959 the Central Bank of Nigeria came into full operations in Lagos with an initial capital of 17 million pounds (£17m). It was primarily involved in banking and currency operations.

The Nigerian pound was first issued in 1959, and had fixed parity with the British Pound while it enjoyed full Sterling backing. It remained in circulation until January 1973 when decimalised currency, the Naira was introduced with four denominations (fifty kobo, one naira, five naira, and ten naira).

"Payment cards are paper based instruments which were introduced in 1933" 

Black Thursday in The US financial Economy:

Black Thursday was the first sign of the end of a great bull market. 12.9 million shares changed hands that day (4m shares was considered a busy day back then). Most of the panic started in the morning. The ticker tape machine fell behind by an hour and a half leaving investors madly scrambling to sell their investments without knowing the current prices. Panic set in. People gathered outside the exchanges and brokerages, police were dispatched to insure peace. Rumors were flying. By 12:30 pm, the Chicago and Buffalo Exchanges closed down, eleven well-known speculators had already committed suicide and the NYSE closed the visitor's gallery on the wild scenes below. The market moved up a bit afterwards, but the real recovery came at 1:30 pm, when self-confident Richard Whitney, vice-president of the NYSE and floor broker of J.P. Morgan and Company, walked into the exchange floor. The crowd went silent. Everyone expected an announcement that the NYSE would be closed. Instead, Richard Whitney surprised everybody by buying 10,000 shares of U.S. Steel (Bid at 109) at 205. He immediately received 200 shares and then left the rest of the order with the specialist. He continued to make similar orders for over a dozen more stocks. Fear evaporated as investors became worried that they would miss the new boom. Black Thursday was the worst day in the US stock market and the beginning of the Great Crash of 1929.

The world bank was established in July 1, 1944 during a conference of 44 countries in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The World Bank is made up of one hundred and eighty four (184) member countries of which Nigeria is a member. The Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) introduced Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) as a condition for lending to developing countries, in order to ensure that the living standards of the poor are lifted by public expenditure. Nigeria entered the process but eventually ended with the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established by an international treaty in 1945, to help promote the health of the world economy. The Headquarters is in Washington, D.C. It is governed by its almost global membership of 184 countries. The IMF is the central institution of the international monetary system, the system of international payments and exchange rates among national curries that enables business to take place between countries. It aims to prevent crises in the system by encouraging countries to adopt policies a fund that can be tapped by members needing temporary financing to address balance payments problems.

In 1951, a Commercial Bank known as the Central Bank of Nigeria was created. However, this bank was not in any way related to the Central Bank of Nigeria established in 1959, which is the regulatory body for the Financial Industry.

In 1970, the First Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Nigeria, employed the services of W.H. Rozell (Jnr.), a Consultant, to, among other things, review the existing structure and size of the Banks departments. Precisely in March of the same year, Rozell recommended for the first time, a new organizational structure for the CBN.

2021 CBN financial statistics