First Bank Appoints Olusegun Alebiosu as Acting MD

By Adedapo Adesanya

First Bank of Nigeria has appointed Mr Olusegun Alebiosu as its acting managing director, following the exit of Mr Adesola Adeduntan from the helm of the tier-one Nigerian lender.

Mr Alebiosu has been the bank’s executive director/chief risk officer since 2022 and has been in the banking industry for nearly three decades, with expertise in credit marketing, trade, corporate and commercial banking, and credit risk management among others.

Mr Alebiosu takes the mantle from Mr Adeduntan, who surprisingly exited the role abruptly on Saturday even though he was due to complete his tenure in December.

Mr Adeduntan resigned from the financial institution to “pursue other interests” on Saturday, April 20, 2024, and the company could not hold its anticipated Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).

“I have, however, decided to proceed on retirement with effect from April 20, 2024, to pursue other interests,” the veterinary doctor turned banker said in his resignation letter.

His exit comes almost three years after his first sacking by the bank under then Ms Ibukun Awosika but he was returned to the position shortly after by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the then-governorship of Mr Godwin Emefiele, who removed Ms Awosika and Mr Oba Otudeko, who was then the chairman of FBN Holdings.

The decision to appoint Mr Alebiosu was reached on Sunday after a Saturday board meeting of the bank could not resolve the controversy surrounding Mr Adeduntan’s resignation.

Mr Alebiosu has core competence also in oil and gas, project financing, agriculture, shipping and aviation.

He completed his Bachelors in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management at the University of Lagos in 1990 after which he obtained a Masters in International Law and Diplomacy from the institution in 1997.

The new acting CEO started as a graduate at the defunct Oceanic Bank in 1991.

From 2006 to 2011, he served as the group head of credit policy and product programmes at the United Bank for Africa (UBA). He would later fill the role of chief credit risk officer at the continental development finance institution, African Development Bank (AfDB), in 2011.

At Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, where he served until 2015, he similarly led the company’s risk management unit.

An alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School of Governance, Mr Alebiosu also holds a Master of Science degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics.

He has been a chartered accountant for over two decades and now enjoys the status of fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. He is an associate of the Nigeria Institute of Management, a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and a member of the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs.

He will be tasked with securing approval to source N300 billion from the capital market as the CBN mandated banks in the country to increase their capital bases as the country chases a $1 trillion economy.