The line of office
1959 — present▸Colonial1 Governor
1 catalogued
- Roy Pentelow Fenton — Governor →
Founding Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
24 July 1958 — 24 July 1963
Colonial / 1st Republic
▸1st Republic1 Governor
1 catalogued
- Aliyu Mai-Bornu — Governor →
First Nigerian Governor of the Central Bank. Pictured on the ₦1,000 note.
25 July 1963 — 22 June 1967
1st Republic / Military
▸Military (1966-79)2 Governors
2 catalogued
- Clement Isong — Governor →
Governor through the civil-war and OPEC-accession years. Later Governor of Cross River State.
1967 — 1975
Gowon
- Adamu Ciroma (CBN) — Governor →
Governor of the Central Bank under Murtala and Obasanjo. Later Finance Minister twice.
24 June 1975 — 27 June 1977
Murtala / Obasanjo
▸4th Republic5 Governors
5 catalogued
- Joseph Oladele Sanusi — Governor →
First CBN Governor of the Fourth Republic.
29 May 1999 — 29 May 2004
Obasanjo II
- Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo — Governor →
Led the 2005 bank consolidation: 89 banks reduced to 25.
29 May 2004 — 29 May 2009
Obasanjo II / Yar'Adua
- Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (Muhammadu Sanusi II) — Governor →
Rescued 8 banks in 2009; established AMCON; suspended after the $20bn NNPC disclosure.
3 June 2009 — 20 February 2014 (suspended)
Yar'Adua / Jonathan
- Godwin Emefiele — Governor →
Suspended on 9 June 2023; arrested and tried. Naira redesign of October 2022.
3 June 2014 — 9 June 2023 (suspended)
Jonathan / Buhari
- Olayemi Cardoso — Governor →
26th Governor. Pivoted to inflation-targeting and FX-market unification.
22 September 2023 (Ag.) / confirmed 22 September 2023 — sitting
Tinubu (sitting)
Tier 1 · primary
Courts. Gazettes. National archives.
Tier 2 · corroborating
OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.
Tier 4 · tertiary, flagged
Wikipedia only where primary is pending. Always labelled.