Nigeria's Lamido Sanusi Bags Africa Person of the Year award

Nigeria's Lamido Sanusi bags Africa Person of the Year award

Nigeria's Central bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has been voted Africa Person of the Year by Forbes Magazine.

He beat five other candidates for the inaugural award, including Nobel Peace Laureate and Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, as well as Africa 's richest man, Aliko Dangote.

Sanusi has spearheaded reforms in Nigeria 's banking sector since his appointment in 2009.

Under his supervision, the Central Bank of Nigeria has bailed out nine banks and removed their chief executives, over allegations of financial mismanagement.

Several of the ousted bankers have been put on trial for fraud.

Fiscal discipline

Forbes magazine's readers gave Mr Sanusi the most votes in an online poll.

The other contenders in the poll include Mrs Johnson Sirleaf, who was awarded this year's Nobel Peace prize, Mr Dangote, a Nigerian business tycoon who tops Forbes' list of Africa's richest people, former Cape Verde President, Pedro Verona Pires, who won this year's $5m (£3.2m) Mo Ibrahim prize for good governance in Africa and Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan Nobel Peace Laureate, who died last September.

This is the second year in a row that Mr Sanusi has received the highest votes in a poll. Last year, another financial publication, The Banker, named Mr Sanusi the Central Bank Governor of the Year.

Mr Sanusi's critics say his reforms have led to massive job losses in the banking sector.

But when receiving the award, he was quoted as saying that the Central Bank's role was not to create jobs but to create an environment for businesses to thrive.

He also called on the government to show tighter fiscal discipline and to discourage imports.

BBC/Ugo