Godwin Emefiele took over from Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who was removed in February, four months from the end of his term of office, on government charges of financial recklessness and impropriety.
The nomination of former Zenith Bank chief Emefiele's came as a surprise to many market watchers and his first day at the helm was low key, although he is expected to speak later this week.
From the outset, he is seen as likely to build on Sanusi's policies, which are credited with bringing relative stability to the banking industry and putting it on a sound footing.
Macro-economic stability would be his watchwords and the central bank would work hard to drive down inflation and interest rates as well as tackle unemployment, he added.
"Emefiele is a capable hand who will restore public confidence to the system," Pat Utomi, a professor of political economy at the Lagos Business School, told AFP.
"He is a very quiet person and likes to work behind the scenes. Central banking is not about craving publicity but to set the tone for macro-economic policies as well as serve as the watchdog for the financial system."
- Elections, inflation and stability -
The central bank is legally independent of the government.
Sanusi was an outspoken figure unafraid of controversy, which clouded his reputation for overhauling a rotten banking sector and stabilising the local currency and earned him powerful enemies.
His suspension -- effectively a sacking in all but name -- came after he alleged that the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had misappropriated $20 billion of public funds.
Afterwards, he told AFP in an interview that President Goodluck Jonathan was a "simple man" doing his best who was surrounded by incompetent, fraudulent aides.
He had also previously warned that his successor would have to guard against political interference in running the central bank.
Utomi said Emefiele's main challenge now was to work in tandem with Nigeria's finance minister and put the best team in place to steer monetary policy, given the increased interest in the country as a potential boom market.
Nigeria, already Africa's leading oil producer and most populous nation, became the continent's biggest economy in April after a long-overdue rebasing of gross domestic product.
Other analysts said that Emefiele's biggest challenge in the short term was not inflation, currently nudging 8.0 percent, high levels of unemployment or ensuring greater equity in wealth distribution.
Instead, it was next year's general elections, which typically see profligate spending by politicians on the campaign trail.
Some have suggested that the alleged shortfall in NNPC remittances highlighted by Sanusi have been syphoned off to party political war chests.
"There is no doubt that the tasks before Mr Emefiele as we enter the election year are daunting," said Debo Adeniran, from the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders pressure group.
"The new governor has to demonstrate a great deal of patriotism, guts and sagacity to moderate the way politicians spend for elections so as to absorb inflationary shocks and drop in the value of of the naira.
"Political spending will cause inflation which will exert a lot of pressure on the naira."
Foreign reserves are also a pressing issue: according to CBN data, levels fell from $50 billion in the middle of last year to $37 billion last week.
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