First Bank of Nigeria Limited has appointed Mrs. Olusola Adetoun Oworu to its board of directors as an Independent Non-Executive Director.

However, it also announced the retirement of Alhaji Mahey Rafindadi Rasheed and Adetokunbo Abiru from the board.

Oworu’s appointment, which is still subject to approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is in tandem with FirstBank’s strong corporate governance credentials and best practice, ensuring that there is balance of knowledge, judgment and experience at the highest decision-making organ of the financial institution.

Oworu was the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry in Lagos State from 2011 to 2015 and before then, the Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, on Commerce and Industry from 2007 to 2011.

She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and had an enviable career in consulting and banking spanning over 20 years, starting from Coopers and Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) and subsequently, NAL Merchant Bank (now Sterling Bank Plc) and Citibank Nigeria, where she rose through the ranks to the position of Vice President, with a strong bias for credit risk management and marketing.

Meanwhile, Rasheed, was appointed to the board of FirstBank in 2009 as an Independent Non-Executive Director. He brought his in-depth expertise across industries on the implementation of the bank’s strategic objectives.

He started his career at the New Nigeria Development Company, Kaduna, as Principal Investment Executive, before joining the Central Bank of Nigeria, as an Assistant Director.

He rose to the position of a Departmental Director, and was subsequently appointed a Deputy Governor of the Central Bank.

He was a major player in economic and financial policy formulation and implementation during his career at the Central Bank.

Rasheed, an Edward Mason Fellow of Harvard University has held several public appointments and sits atop boards of various institutions in the country, including the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority.

Also, Abiru joined the board of FirstBank in 2013, as Executive Director, Corporate Banking, bringing in far-reaching experience to bear.

Prior to joining the board, he was Group Head, Corporate Banking and also a pioneer Business Development Manager in 2006 at the inception of that business model by the bank. and served as the Commissioner of Finance for Lagos State between 2011 and 2013.

He is a Director of FBN Bank Sierra Leone, FBN Capital Limited and Airtel Networks Limited.

Adetokunbo is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (FCA) and Honorary Senior Member, The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (FCIB). He is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School and Lagos Business School.

The bank’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, thanked Mahey and Abiru for their invaluable contributions to the growth and development of FirstBank over the years and wished them the best in their future endeavours.