During General Yakubu Gowon’s military administration, Clement Nyong Isong CFR; April 20, 1920 – May 29, 2000 served as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, from 1967 to 1975. He was a Nigerian banker and politician. In the Nigerian Second Republic, he was subsequently elected governor of Cross River State (1979–1983).
Isong was born in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, on April 20, 1920. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences after completing his studies at University College, Ibadan, Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and University College, Ibadan. Before joining the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as secretary and then director of research, he taught economics at the University of Ibadan. He served as a second to the IMF in the capacity of Adviser in the African Department.
CBN Governor
Isong was appointed governor of the CBN by Yakubu Gowon in August 1967. He retained this position until September 1975. He served as the CBN’s chairman during the Nigerian Civil War, which lasted from July 1967 to January 1970, and the ensuing oil boom. Under his leadership, Nigeria avoided amassing unmanageable debts. Isong lamented that despite having a lot of room for infrastructural development, Nigeria was collecting foreign reserves but had “nowhere to invest them properly.”Isong claimed that the $35 million in annual funding was a drop in the ocean when the United States Senate defeated the foreign aid bill in October 1971.
Later Career
Isong entered politics following his retirement from the CBN and, on the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) platform, was elected the first civilian governor of Cross River State from 1979 to 1983. Isong had to cope with a border conflict with Cameroon in 1981 and went to the troubled location, which was in Ikang.
Dr. Isong received the title of Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFR) in 1982 for his contributions to the expansion and advancement of Nigeria. The “Lagos Group” head of the NPN party, Senate President Joseph Wayas, and Senator Joseph Oqua Ansa, who represented the calabar senatorial district, opposed Clement Isong in the 1983 elections and backed Senator Donald Etiebet for governor. Despite winning the NPN candidacy and the ensuing election and gaining office in October 1983, Etiebet’s victory was rendered meaningless when the military took back power in December of that same year following a coup led by Major-General Muhammadu Buhari.
Death
Isong died on 29 May 2000. His portrait features on the 1,000 Naira note brought into circulation on October 12, 2005
