By Adedapo Adesanya
The founder of the first indigenous credit rating agency in Nigeria, Agusto & Co., Mr Bode Agusto, has passed on at 68.
The chartered accountant died on Thursday.
He was a chartered accountant with a tremendous practice of over 30 years, covering both the private and public sectors.
Mr Agusto started the consultancy firm in 1992 after partnering with associates, Mr Fola Adeola and Mr Tayo Aderinokun to set up Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), which has evolved into the financial institution, GTCO.
Those two were the pioneer CEO and deputy CEO of the bank, while Mr Agusto was once a non-executive director.
At Agusto & Co, he served for a decade and a year as the chief executive. Until his death, he served as a Non-Executive Director on the boards of Agusto & Co. Limited and Grand Cereals Limited (a subsidiary of UACN Plc).
He was also a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria and a non-executive Director of GTCO, Shell Nigeria CPFA, and Nigerian Agip CPFA.
He graduated from the University of Lagos with a degree in Accounting and held an executive certificate in Strategy and Innovation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Mr Agusto was at a time an assistant vice president of Citibank Nigeria and a partner at the consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers.
In government, he served under former President Olusegun Obasanjo during his second tenure between 2003 and 2007 as a Director General and Adviser on budget matters.
During his four years as DG on budget matters, Nigeria ran budget surpluses every year and built savings that enabled the country to obtain debt relief and repay $32 billion of the national debt.
The team also reformed the budget process by introducing spending limits and encouraging key Ministries to work with the National Assembly to evolve Medium-Term Sector Strategies consistent with the goals of the President.
That service earned him in 2003, the national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MOFR).
Modupe Gbadeyanka