Ms. Emem Usoro serves as Deputy Governor of the Operations Directorate where she provides strategic oversight for Banking Services, Finance, Information Technology, Currency Operations and Branch Management and Risk Management departments in the Bank.

Prior to her current appointment, Ms. Usoro served as Deputy Governor in charge of the Corporate Services Directorate where her mandate spanned Human Resources, Corporate Communications, Security Services, Legal Services, Medical Services, Procurement and Support Services- functions critical to the Bank’s operational effectiveness and the successful execution of its policy objectives. Under her distinguished leadership, the departments were strengthened and harmonised into cohesive pillars of resilience, excellence and institutional capability.

In her initial stint as Deputy Governor, Operations (September 2023- January 2025), Ms. Usoro championed initiatives that strengthened financial inclusion, advanced digital banking and regulatory reform oversights for the Bank’s core institutional systems.  

She was also the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Plc (NSPM), which is responsible for producing Nigerian’s banknotes and coins. NSPM is Africa’s foremost security printing company and the only full-fledged security printing organisation in the West African region. As Chairman of the Board, Ms. Usoro drove far-reaching strategic reforms, new partnerships and technological advancements at the institution which achieved significant production efficiency, waste reduction, cost savings, and new improved management style.

Appointed to the Bank in 2023, Emem Usoro brought to the Central Bank of Nigeria more than twenty-three years of outstanding professional experience in the financial services sector. Before her appointment as Deputy Governor in the Central Bank of Nigeria, she served as Executive Director, North, at one of Nigeria’s leading banks, where she earned widespread acclaim for her exceptional leadership across retail, commercial, public sector, corporate banking and advisory services. Her career reflects a consistent record of excellence in business development, financial advisory, strategic planning and the management of complex asset portfolios.

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (FCIB), Emem holds an MBA from Obafemi Awolowo University. She is also an alumna of Harvard Business School and Lagos Business School, where she completed distinguished executive programs including the Advanced Management Program and the General Management Program. She has also attended several executive programmes at world’s leading business schools including Columbia Business School, New York; the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, USA, National University of Singapore Business School, Singapore, etc., and has broadened her global leadership education at the Harvard Kennedy School, Massachusetts; the University of Pretoria in South Africa, etc.

She is a recipient of many awards including Doctor of Business Administration, honoris causa, from the Akwa Ibom state University and the ARISE 2025 Women Trailblazers Award.