Umaru Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s president, has nominated a private sector banker with a strong reputation for risk management as the country’s new central bank governor in a move aimed at boosting confidence in the country’s banking sector. 

The president’s choice of Lamido Sanusi, the head of First Bank, to take over from Chukwuma Soludo, who oversaw a major consolidation exercise during his five-year term as governor, must now be ratified by Nigeria’s Senate.