Part of the legacy of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) (2009 -2014) is the introduction of Good Corporate Governance policy stipulating 10 years only as the maximum tenure for bank Managing Directors. Ostensibly, it was set up as a guarantee against self perpetuation by bank Managing Directors, some of whom were also founders of banks after the CBN (under the watch of Chukwuma Soludo as governor) opened up the banking industry for more private sector investments and consolidation in 2004.
Apart from the likes of Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank, and Tony Elumelu, UBA who also doubled as majority owners of equity in the banks that they founded, and therefore returned to assume the chairmanship positions after hibernation for about five years, the former Chief Executive Officer of IBTC, Atedo Peterside, started a private airplane leasing company ANAP- Jets and ex Access Bank MD/CEO, Aigboje lmokhuede, became the Chairman of WAPIC insurance -a subsidiary of Access Bank as well engage himself in the activities of some international academic and climate change focused organisations.
Femi Akinfenwa, former MD of Skye Bank also swept off by the Sanusi’s Good Corporate Governance tsunami had migrated to oil/ gas sector as the MD of Femi Otedola’s Forte Oil.
Unlike the others, UBA’s Philip Oduoza (who took over the reins of leadership from Elumelu, has set up Nova Merchant Bank as he completed his 10 years tenure as MD. Likewise for the immediate past GMD of Zenith Bank, Peter Amangbo (who succeeded the current CBN governor Godwin Emefiele) and has also set up a bank-Globusbank where he serves in the role of chairman, after retirement.
Emeka Emuwa had also recently exited Union Bank where he had served as MD since 2012. But he might be in hibernation as his whereabouts or what he is doing in or outside the financial services sector is currently not in the public domain.
The most recent retired MD of a bank is Nnamdi Okonkwo, formerly the CEO of Fidelity Bank. He is currently in hibernation too-taking a deserved break.
Would he also set up a bank as Oduoza and Amangbo have done, or would he make a foray into a related sector such as the Fintech business, as a former deputy CBN governor and former Wema Bank MD, Tunde Lemo did by setting up Flutterwave, the wave making money transfer platform? Recently, the services of Flutterwave got suspended by the CBN as part of the apex financial institutions strategy to cut off the source of funding to #EndSARS youth protesters last October. But it is back in business now as a unicorn-$1b by valuation-having raised series C capital of $170m.
GTBank’s MD/CEO, Segun Agbaje is due to go into retirement in a couple of months-June specifically-pre retirement leave starts this month.
He is already a board member of PepsiCo.
Would he also remain in the financial services sector or would he pivot into the real sector -manufacturing and production of goods instead of remaining in the services where he was as a banker?
The first founder and Chief Executive Officer of a bank to hand over the reins of leadership to his co-founder, Tayo Aderinokun of blessed memory is Fola Adeola.
He made a clean break from the banking sector by not becoming the chairman. Rather he went into other areas of endeavours.
He set up FATE Foundation, a philanthropy and later joined politics by contesting as vice presidential candidate with the pioneer EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu as the presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN).
Alex Otti, a former MD/CEO of Diamond Bank retired from the role to contest for the governorship of his state, Abia. After two unsuccessful attempts at being the helmsman in government house Umuahia, Abia State, he is still pushing the ante on the political path with the hope that he might be third time lucky.
Also recently, Tokunbo Abiru, resigned as MD/CEO of Polaris Bank to contest for the senatorial seat in Lagos. He is now a serving senator, perhaps with eyes on the governorship seat of Lagos State, upon the completion of the tour of duty of the current governor, Jide Sanwo-Olu.
Curiously, no ex-bank CEO has retired into the academia in Nigeria as Pat Utomi did when he retired from Volkswagen of Nigeria as acting MD/CEO into Pan African University where he is now a professor of practice. Not even Chukwuma Soludo, ex CBN governor that appear to be intellectually inclined has not had his eyes on the academia. Instead, he is coveting the governorship seat in Anambra State which had eluded him in the past when he contested to be the governor of a state as opposed to just being the governor of the CBN – also known as governor of money.
In the absence of intellectually inclined bankers, there is bound to be a lot of practical knowledge lost as those who are repositories are not sharing or passing them onto the new generation in our higher institutions of learning.
I doubt if senior bankers (like the MDs and EDs) who are the centres of gravity in their respective banks, some of whom have helped grow their banks balance sheets phenomenally (Zenith Bank, GTBank, UBA, Access Bank) even have time to go and impart their knowledge on the future generation of bankers via lectures in any of the industry training platforms such as Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), how much more spend time serving as part-time lecturers in universities etc.
Unlike bankers, some major real sector players have transited from industry to diplomacy.
When he retired as chairman of Cadbury, Christopher Kolade was appointed to the post of Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Apart from bank CEOs, some bank EDs such as Elias Akenzua, exited Acess Bank to co-found Globus Bank in 2019. Fidelis Anyabae, also a former Director in Citibank Nigeria pivoted into the world of manufacturing with focus on the pharmaceuticals sector when he quit banking to set up Fidson Pharmaceuticals.
Remarkably, before the recent phenomenon of ex-bank MDs setting up their own banks, and prior to the avalanche of private sector investments into the banking sector leading to ownership of banks by individuals in Nigeria, most ex-bank MDs either got appointed into the CBN (because they were essentially public servants) or were really old, and as such became fully retired.
That’s particularly so because all the banks at that time were owned by government.
The late Green Nwankwo comes to mind as former MD of Union Bank. Ola Vincent, ex CBN governor too, as well as Joseph Sanusi, one time FirstBank MD and later CBN governor, while not also forgetting Victor Odozi who also served as deputy governor of the CBN.
Who knows if they too would have applied and obtained banking licences if the financial services sector had been opened to participation by private investors in their time. That’s assuming they still had the energy to cope with the rigours associated with ‘MDship’ of banks.
When he retired as MD of FirstBank, Oladele Olashore, had set up a bank, Lead Merchant Bank which is now defunct. He had also established Olashore International School in Iloko-ljesha, Osun State.
Mrs Cecelia lbru, first female managing director of a major private bank in Nigeria, Oceanic Bank, (in memory of her husband who was a renowned industrialist) has also set up Michael lbru University in Agbaro-Otor, near Ughelli in Delta State.
Jim Ovia, the banking titan, and founder of the most profitable bank in Nigeria, Zenith Bank which recently dolled out nearly N100bn to shareholders has also ventured into the social investment arena in the education sector.
He started by providing a platform for the development of knowledge of our offsprings, (who are the proverbial leaders of tomorrow) via the founding of James Hope College in Agbor, Delta State.
He took his investment in education a few notches higher when he recently received a licence to establish a university by the same name-James Hope in Lagos.
In recent history, there are some bank directors, although not managing directors, who pivoted into the murky waters of politics when they got co-opted by political mentors.
The path from banking to politics was led by Abdulfatah Ahmed immediate past governor of Kwara State. He was drafted by an ex-governor of the same state and immediate past Senate President, Bukola Saraki who was himself briefly a an executive director in Societe Generale bank- owned by his father, the late Olusola Saraki. Abdulfatah first joined politics from his executive director position in Societe Generale Bank to serve as finance commissioner during Saraki’s tenure as governor.
Thereafter, he inherited the governorship from his boss, Bukola Saraki who became a senator after being a two term governor. Saraki too was a bank director with Societe Generale bank before he dabbled into politics as Special Assistant to former president Olusegun Obasanjo.
The next bank executive director to become governor of a state is Willie Obiano, who is the current governor of Anambra state.
He was an executive director in Fidelity Bank before he was coopted by Peter Obi, then governor of Anambra State and co-owner of Fidelity Bank where Obiano was serving as ED.
Another ex-banker that became a governor of a state is Emmanuel Udom, the incumbent in Akwa Ibom State. He too was dragged into politics by the immediate past governor of the state, Godswill Akpabio. Udom was serving as ED in Zenith Bank before he joined Akpabio’s cabinet as Secretary to State Government. Thereafter he inherited the throne as the governor of Akwa Ibom State since 2015 from his political mentor, Akpabio.
Evidently, it was a trend for politicians to bring their bankers into political offices, especially as commissioners of finance and SSGs. This is reflected by the political trajectories of Abdulfatah Ahmed, Willie Obiano and Udom Emmanuel, amongst others.
But it is not fashionable anymore as the model has not worked out as perfectly as envisaged by the inventors of the political strategy.
Hence no banker appear to be in the pipeline of those that would become governor in the forthcoming governorship elections in 2023. The exception may be Tokunbo Abiru, who just transited from being the MD of Polaris Bank to being a senator representing Lagos State in the National Assembly. Information in the grape vine indicates that the newly ‘minted’ senator is being prepped for governorship of Lagos State after the very hard working and ground breaking governor, Jide Sanwo-Olu’s time is done.
God willing, the highly driven and super performing Governor, Sanwo –Olu, would be allowed to complete his two terms, if he is spared the fate that befell the immediate past governor, Akinwunmi Ambode who could only serve one term at the behest of his godfather and kingmaker of Lagos State who withdrew his support when Ambode was seeking a second term. By the way offering support to make a candidate win and withdrawing the assistance if the political office holder fails to meet the expectations of the promoter or godfather is legitimate in politics. A typical case in point is when Theodore Roosevelt the 26th president of the USA who had ‘crowned’ his protege , William Howard Taft the 27th president by making him succeed him. But Roosevelt eventually withdrew his support when they fell out, resulting in president Taft’s failure to win a second term as president.
But as the saying goes, he who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day. Nothing precludes VISA phone from being relaunched in the future as GSM when NCC opens the window for another licensing bid. VISA phone can even make an acquisition of an existing GSM licence, if need be. Take 9mobile that looks likes it is severely starved of funding, for instance. It is clearly a take over candidate.
Who knows, as the song by the English songwriter and drummer Phil Collins reminds us, there will be “another day in paradise.”
Before that day in paradise, at least by now, we all know which life endeavors most ex-bank MDs in Nigeria have been going into after retirement from active banking.
Onyibe, an entrepreneur, public policy analyst, author, development strategist, alumnus of Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA and a former Commissioner in Delta State government, sent this piece from Lagos.
Source – This Day
