Abiru, Akabueze, Ex-S’Leone Central Bank Chief, others become honorary CIBN fellows

Group Managing Director/CEO of Polaris Bank Limited, Tokunbo Abiru; Director -General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze; erstwhile Governor of Central Bank of Sierra Leone,  Patrick Saidu; and other top bankers have been conferred with the Honorary Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN). They got the award during the institute’s 2018 investiture ceremony held in Lagos recently.

CIBN in a citation of the Polaris Bank’s CEO, acknowledged Abiru’s immense contribution to the growth of the institute and Nigeria’s banking and finance sector where he currently serves as member of the body of Bank CEOs; member of Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria, and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). The Board of CIBN equally commended Abiru’s strong support which has impacted and promoted the CIBN brand in Nigeria and beyond.

Other top bankers that received the Honorary Fellowship award were FirstBank CEO, Adesola Adeduntan; Group Managing Director, GTBank, Segun Agbaje; Managing Director, Unity Bank, Mrs. Tomi Somefun; Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan; Group Managing Director/CEO, United Bank for Africa, Kennedy Uzoka; Managing Director/CEO, FSDH Merchant Bank, Mrs. Hamda Abimbola Ambah; and Managing Director/CEO, Jaiz Bank Plc, Hassan Usman amongst others.

Welcoming the new fellows into the revered group, CIBN President/Chairman of Council, Dr. Uche Olowu, congratulated Abiru and other awardees on the new attainment. “I heartily congratulate all new awardees to be invested as we share in your moment of joy. As worthy role models and brand ambassadors of CIBN, our charge to you all is to uphold ethical conduct and professional values helping to raise the brand equity of our highly revered institute and the banking profession as a whole”, he said.

Olowu added that the institute is saddled with the responsibility of entrenching capacity building, up-scale competence of its members, as well as upholding ethical and professional standards of professionals and would be-professionals in the banking industry. Earlier in a keynote paper with the theme, ‘Sound Educational System and Human Capital Development: Imperative for Economic Growth and Development’, delivered by  Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, a former Vice-Chancellor of Igbinedion University and professor of Political Science, University of Ibadan, advocated complete overhaul of the current school curriculum inherited from the colonialists. He stressed the need for a more solutions-oriented education system with emphasis on leveraging education to solve societal challenges as it has been successfully experimented and executed in countries in East Asia which gave rise to the famed Asian Tigers and South Africa after the collapse of apartheid.