Tinubu appoints new executive directors of BOI

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Rotimi Akinde and Ifeoma Uz’Okpala as executive directors at the Bank of Industry (BOI).

In a statement released on Wednesday by Theodora Amechi, the head of the public relations division at BOI, it was announced that the appointments took effect on August 26.

Akinde will assume the role of Executive Director of Corporate Finance and Risk Management, while Uz’Okpala has been appointed as Executive Director of the Large Enterprises Directorate.

Akinde is a finance professional with over 20 years of investment and corporate banking experience and an extensive track record covering capital raising, including debt, equities, and hybrids.

He is also a corporate finance (mergers & acquisitions, privatization advisory, and project finance) person, a statement by the Head, of the Public Relations Division, BOI, Theodora Amechi, said.

Before joining the bank, he was an Associate Partner, Project & Corporate Finance at the Infrastructure Delivery International (IDI), where he worked on the UKNIAF program and promoted green finance as well as structured debt solutions for sub-nationals.

He worked previously as the Corporate Finance Advisor at the Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (NIAF), providing financing initiatives, modeling, and funding structures for the infrastructure team, the bank said.

He served within Corporate Banking as the Group Head & Assistant General Manager of multinationals at UBA Plc, before which he was Vice President of corporate Finance & Advisory at UBA Global Markets, now United Capital.

Akinde, according to the statement, was a Privatisation Adviser & Head the oil and gas Team at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), where he closed on the divestiture and sale of the federal government’s equity interest in 11 oil services companies and achieved the sale of all the federal government’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) assets.

He was an Assistant Manager in Lead Bank Plc, within both the Investment and Corporate Banking Groups, it added.

Prior to this, he had worked in the financial sector in the United Kingdom as an analyst with Barclays Funds, London.

He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; earned a Masters’s Degree in International Securities, Investment & Banking from the University of Reading, UK, and holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD.

On the other hand, it stated that Uz’Okpala joined BOI in September 2014 as Group Head, Large Enterprises Credit and later served as the Chief Risk Officer of the Bank before her appointment.

As Chief Risk Officer of the Bank, the statement stressed that she played a crucial role in managing and mitigating risks associated with the bank’s operations, while also providing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) risk support.

“ She offered invaluable ESG support within transactions and provided the roadmap for attracting impact investments. Uz’Okpala is a seasoned Credit and Risk Management Professional, with a career spanning over 30 years in the financial sector.

“She commenced her career at the International Merchant Bank (IMB) and progressed through key roles at MBC International, First Bank, Stanbic Bank, and UBA. Her versatile expertise includes Internal Audit, Corporate Finance, Credit Evaluation and Origination, Foreign Operations, and Risk Management.

“She is an alumna of the University of Nigeria, where she attained a BSc. In Accountancy and a graduate of the prestigious Lagos Business School.

“Uz’Okpala is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA), an Honourary Senior Member (HCIB) of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and Member of the Chartered Risk Management Institute,” the statement added.