By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The immediate past Permanent Secretary of Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mr Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, has been appointed to the board of Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Jedda, Saudi Arabia.
Mr Isa-Dutse joined the bank as an executive director after his appointment was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Nigeria purchased a 7.65 per cent share of the capital stock of the IsDB in 2010 and the acquisition and subsequent payment of subscription entitled the country to a single-country constituency as against the previous 11 country-constituency to which Nigeria previously belonged.
It also entitles the country to a permanent seat on the bank’s board as an executive director and with Mr Isa-Dutse occupying the position, he is expected to bring in new ideas, innovations and contribution on behalf of Nigeria during deliberations at the IsDB.
The position provides Nigeria with an opportunity for a voice to demand and access additional resources from the bank.
The new appointee is taking over from Mr Shuaibu Gambo, who was appointed on July 1, 2011, as the executive director for Nigeria for a period of two years renewable, serving for five terms.
The position of executive director on the board of IsDB is non-residential (part-time) as a member travels to attend board meetings quarterly or as determined by management to consider critical policy issues.
Mr Isa-Dutse is quite familiar with the modules operandi of multilateral institutions such as IsDB as he has enormously interacted with development partners and international financial institutions during his tenure as a Permanent Secretary.
The renowned banker with 23 years of vast experience in the financial sector was the acting Chairman and subsequently a non-executive director of the Emerging African Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) before his appointment as Permanent Secretary.
While he was a Permanent Secretary, Mr Isa-Dutse, a graduate of Economics with MBA and PhD in Business Administration, represented Nigeria on various boards of governors/directors of both local and international bodies, including the African Export-Import Bank, Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund for International Development, World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), Islamic Development Bank, ECOWAS Bank for Investment, Central bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), among others.
Modupe Gbadeyanka