Barely two months into his new role as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, has now been elected chairman of Committee of Central Bank Governors of the ECOWAS sub-region. He was was elected by fellows central bank governors from ECOWAS countries at the 31st Meeting of the Committee of Governors of the West African Monetary Zone, WAMZ, in Abuja recently.

Emefile promptly announced that the January 1, 2015 date for the sub-regions monetary union may not be realized. According to him, over the years, appraisals have continued to show that the level of macroeconomic convergence in the Zone remained inadequate relative to the set targets. Explaining further, he said since 2009, no two countries satisfied all the four primary convergence criteria consistently for two consecutive years, making the regional body to miss several launch dates for the monetary union.

He said this development may have informed the decision of the Heads of State and Government to approve the Modified Gradualist Approach to monetary integration by 2020. Emefiele noted that, “the performance of Member States’ on the convergence scale relative to that required for the establishment of a monetary union is still inadequate. “Also member countries’ business cycle synchronization in terms of real GDP, inflation, broad money and interest rates remained weak, and their level of institutional preparedness for the monetary union remain inadequate,” said he.

He urged other central bank governors “to objectively examine the numerous challenges before us, assess the state of preparedness of Member States for monetary integration at short notice, and realistically appraise the directive of the Heads of State and Government for a Modified Gradualist Approach to monetary Integration by 2020.” Their role, he stated, is to honestly appraise this directive and design strategies to ensure a sustainable monetary union in the zone.” In doing this, he explained that other ECOWAS countries must think outside the box and realistically assess and provide innovative options as well as the costs and benefits of implementing the Modified Gradualist Approach.

He, however, said that member countries “have continued to make remarkable progress towards the establishment of a common market and the implementation of the ECOWAS Trade Integration Protocols and Convention as well as significant progress towards the reforms of their financial systems.”