Where Do Ex-Bank MDs In Nigeria Go When They Retire?

Part of the legacy of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, SLS 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 of the maximum tenure for bank Managing Directors, MDs. Ostensibly, it was set up as a guarantee against self perpetuation by bank Managing Directors, MDs, some of whom were also founders of banks after the CBN, under the watch of Chukwuma Soludo as governor, opened up the banking sector for private sector consolidation in 2004.
Apart from the likes of Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank, and Tony Elumelu, UBA who also double as majority owners of equity in the banks, and therefore returned to assume the chairmanship positions in their banks, the former Chief Executive Officer, CEO of IBTC, Atedo Peterside, started a private leasing company ANAP- Jets and ex Access bank MD/CEO, Aigboje lmokhuede, became the chairman of WAPIC insurance -a subsidiary of Accessbank as well engage himself in the activities of some international academic and climate change-focused organs. Femi Akinfenwa, former MD of Skye bank also swept off by the Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s Good Corporate Governance tsunami had migrated to the oil/ gas sector as the MD of Femi Otedola’s Forte Oil.
Unlike the others, UBA’s Philip Oduoza has set up Nova merchant bank as he completed his ten years tenure as MD. Likewise for the immediate past GMD of Zenith bank, Peter Amangbo has also set up a bank and serves in the role of chairman, GlobusBank, after retirement.
Emeka Enuwa has also recently exited Union bank where he has 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 Oduaza 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? Recently, the services of Flutterwave were suspended by the CBN as part of the apex financial institutions strategy to cut off the source of funding to #Ensars youth protesters last October? But it’s back in business now, 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 he would pivot into the real sector -manufacturing and production of goods instead of just services that he was offering as a banker?
One of the first founders and Chief Executive Officer of a bank to hand over the reins of leadership to his co-founder, Tayo Aderinokun, is Fola Adeola.
He made a clean break from the banking sector by not becoming the chairman. Rather he went into other areas of endeavors.
He set up the FATE foundation, philanthropy, and later joined politics by contesting as a vice presidential candidate with the pioneer EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu as the presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.
Alex Otti, a former MD/CEO of Diamond bank retired from the role to contest for the governorship of his state, Abia.
Also recently, Tokunbo Abiru, resigned as MD/CEO of Polarisbank to contest for the senatorial seat in Lagos. He is now a serving senator, perhaps with eyes on the governorship of Lagos state upon the completion of the tour of duty of 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. In the absence of intellectually inclined bankers, there may be a lot of practical knowledge lost as those who are repositories are not sharing or passing them to the new generation in our higher institutions of learning.
I doubt if senior bankers like the MDs who are the centers of gravity in their respective banks, some of which have grown their balance sheets phenomenally (Zenith bank, Gtbank, UBA, as well as Access bank) even have time to go and impart their knowledge on the future generation of bankers via lecture in Financial Institutions Training Centre, FITC, how much 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, Uk.
Notably, apart from
Bank CEOs, some bank EDs such as Elias Igbeniweka Akenzua, exited Acessbank to co-found Globusbank in 2019. Fidelis Anyabae, also a former Director in Citibank Nigeria pivoted into the world of manufacturing with a 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 privatization of the banking sector in Nigeria, most ex-bank MDs either got appointed into the CBN or were really old, as such became fully retired.
That’s particularly so because all the banks at that time were owned by the government.
The late Green Nwankwo comes to mind. Ola Vincent, ex CBN governor too, as well as Joseph Sanusi, one-time first bank MD and later FirstBank MD, while not also forgetting victor Odozi who served as deputy governor of the CBN.
Who knows if they too would have applied and obtained banking licenses if the financial services sector had been opened to private investors in their time. Assuming they still had the energy to cope with the rigors associated with the ‘MDship’ of banks.
When he retired as MD of FirstBank, Oladele Olashore had set up a bank, a Lead merchant bank which is now defunct. He had also established Olashore International School in Iloko-ljesha, Ekiti state.
Incidentally, Jim Ovia has also ventured into the social investment of providing a platform for the development of knowledge of our offsprings, (who are the proverbial leaders of tomorrow) by founding James Hope College in Agbor, Delta state.
He also recently received a license to establish a university by the same name in Lagos.
In recent history, some bank directors, although not managing directors dove into the murky waters of politics.
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 an executive director in societe General bank- owned by his father, the late Olusola Saraki. Abdulfatah first joined politics from his executive director position in societe general bank to serve as finance commissioner during Saraki’s tenure.
Thereafter he inherited the governorship from his boss Bukola Saraki.
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 co-opted by Peter Obi, then governor of Anambra state and co-owner of Fidelity bank where Obiano was servicing as ED.
Another ex-banker that became a governor is Emmanuel Udom, the present governor of Akwa Ibom state. He too was dragged into politics by the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio. Udom was serving as ED in Zenithbank before he joined Akpabio’s cabinet as Secretary to State Government, SSG. Thereafter he inherited the throne and crown of the governor from his political mentor, Akpabio.
Evidently, it was a trend for politicians to bring their bankers into political offices, especially as commissioners and SSGs, as reflected by the political trajectories of Abdulfatah Ahmed, Willie Obiano, and Udom Emmanuel amongst others. But it is not fashionable anymore.
Hence no banker is in the pipeline of those that would become governor in the forthcoming governorship elections. 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, NASS. Information in the grapevine indicates that the newly ‘minted’ senator is being prepped for the governorship of Lagos state after the very hard-working and new groundbreaking governor, Jide Sanwo-Olu’s time is done.
Hopefully, the high-performance governor Sanwo -Olu would be allowed to complete his two terms in office as governor, 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. Hopefully, serving only one term hasn’t become the rule (Standard Operating Procedure, SOP) rather than the exception in Lagos state.
There are also a couple of ex Zenithbank and UBA alumnus that became governors in the northern states whose names l can’t readily recall.
Why are politicians not entrusting or handing over state governments to their hand-picked acolytes in the banking sector anymore?
In my reckoning, the presumption of competence, trust in their ability to manage funds, and political nativity that was expected from the bankers by their political godfathers have turned out to be false expectations.
Although the bankers became governors overnight, they learned the political ropes very fast.
Hence in Anambra state Willie Obiano ditched Peter Obi his mentor before the ink used by INEC in signing his victory at the polls dried.
Ditto for Emmanuel Udom in Akwa Ibom who also decoupled himself from the stranglehold of his former boss, Akpabio now minister of Niger Delta Affairs who allegedly was still acting as if he was in his 3rd term with Udom as his surrogate that he had to be dishing orders.
There are those who may wonder how come ex-bank MDs would be so liquid to set up banks after leaving office?
Well, they earn a lot of income as salaries and emoluments and perks.
In addition to their salaries, which range from N80-N100m per annum, bank MDs
are also rewarded with a certain percentage (let’s just say 10% ) of the Profit After Tax, PAT earned by the banks annually.
For instance, the MD of a bank that earned one hundred billion naira (N100, 000, 000,000) as PAT in one year would have earned 10% of N100, 000, 000, 000b which would amount to N10,000, 000,000b.
If a bank MD earns that consistently in 10 years which is the CBN approved maximum tenure for bank MDs, he would have earned at least a hundred billion naira. That’s even without adding similar income in the periods that the MDs were EDs or DMDs.
My analysis is just a hypothetical straight-line calculation for the purpose of putting things in perspective.
But, one can imagine that a smart MD (they usually are) would be re-investing such incomes consistently to boost his/her wealth.
So it’s not impossible that a handful of the ex-bank MDs can bring inequity of at least 10 billion naira out of the N100b required for a universal banking license and a good chunk of the N25b for a national bank and over half of the N15b for regional or merchant bank license.
Other strategic investors, whom the bank MDs must have identified in the course of their ‘MDship’ usually provide some of the additional funding to the equity contributions and the rest can be borrowed funds. Thus most banks, like most business ventures are set up with equity and debt with varying ratios of debt to equity.
Bank MDs whose retirement is on the horizon is Herbert Wigwe of Access bank who entered the role in 2014, so going by CBN rule he is due to retire in 2024, all things being equal.
Others are Mrs. Oluwatoyin Somefun of Unity bank who became MD of the bank in 2015.
The next is Kenedy Uzorka, the current MD of UBA who took over the mantle of leadership from Philip Oduoza in 2016. He has spent only a little over 5 years in the saddle and may have less than 5 years ahead of him.
But since unlike Wigwe, both he and the MD of Unity bank are not co-owners of the respective banks that they work for, so their tenure is at the pleasure of the boards of the banks.
Would Herbert Wigwe at the expiration of his ten years tenure in 2024, enter the race for the governorship of his home state, Rivers, and thus follow the path that the likes of Alex Otti are trying to chart; or pivot into the less stressful role of a real estate entrepreneur (he has been involved in Eko Atlantic City floated by the Charguories) or delve into oil/gas entrepreneurship like Tony Elumelu?
Time will tell.
In conclusion, when bank MDs are compelled to retire in compliance with CBN extant rules, (oftentimes before their statutory age of retirement which is 65 years in the public sector) more often than not, they still have boundless energy, hence they often reinvent themselves in the financial services sector or veer off into other sectors of the economy.
The bottom line is that in whatever endeavor they engage in after retirement from banking, they ultimately contribute to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP of our country by creating employment and boosting economic activities.
That is better than just being idle and unproductive citizens with their hefty earnings from their time in banking being neutralized in bank vaults or being spent in holiday destinations like the Bahamas, Barbados, south of France, or Spain sipping umbrella drinks (cocktails) or mojitos.
All of the above would hinder the growth of our economy as the badly needed funds to buy it, would be, by omission or commission, exported to foreign countries where they would be holidaying. If that happens, the wealth generated from our economy wouldn’t be regenerating optimally in our economy. But to the credit of the retired, but not tired bank MDs, they are currently engaging in business ventures locally and ruling the roost in both the financial services sector and the manufacturing industry, including oil/gas.
Since bankers are very good financial strategists, they seem to have crowded out bank owners that are not professional bankers such as Aliko Dangote who owned Capital Trust bank which folded up, and Mike Adenuga, who also founded two banks(commercial and merchant)Equatorial Trust Bank and DEVCOM merchant and had to also wrapped them up after Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s reforms in the banking sectors stifled them.
The only area of the Nigerian economy that retired bank MDs are yet to successfully challenge the Titans that are already there, (Mike Adenuga of GLO is a colossus) is the telecom industry.
Jim Ovia made a foray with a VISA phone which is a CDMA system and flunked because it is not GSM that is most suitable for our market, so he retreated.
But as the saying goes, he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.
Who knows, as the song by the English songwriter and drummer Phil Collins goes, there will be “another day in paradise.”
Before then, at least, we now know which life endeavors most ex-Bank MDs in Nigeria have been going into after retirement.
ONYIBE, an entrepreneur, public policy analyst, author, development strategist, an 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.
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