CBN Authorises Two Directors to Join Zenith Bank Board

By Dipo Olowookere

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has approved the appointments of Mr Henry Oroh and Mr Al-Mujtaba Abubakar to the board of Zenith Bank Plc.

A statement from the financial institution disclosed that while Mr Oroh will serve on the board as an executive director, Mr Abubakar is joining as an independent non-executive director.

According to Zenith Bank, their appointments were also approved by the board of directors of the bank and were in consistent with lender’s tradition and succession strategy of grooming leaders from within.

They are expected to resume their new roles from Sunday, September 1, 2019.

Mr Oroh, who comes to the board of Zenith Bank with strong competencies in Credit & Marketing, Operations, Information Technology, Treasury and impressive Leadership skills, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from the University of Benin, Benin City and an MBA from the Lagos State University as well as LLB Degree from the University of London. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and an honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Nigeria.

He has over two decades of banking industry experience, beginning his banking career in 1992 at Citibank where he served for seven years in Operations, Treasury and Marketing.

Mr Oroh joined Zenith Bank in February 1999 and has worked in various Groups and Departments within the Zenith Group Office. His expertise spans Operations, IT, Treasury, Marketing, including the Manufacturing, Food and Beverages, Pharmaceuticals, Oil and Gas, Public Sector, Consumer as well as Corporate Banking and Business Development.

In April 2012, he was seconded to Zenith Bank Ghana Limited as an Executive Director and became the Managing Director/Chief Executive in February 2016 where he successfully spearheaded the phenomenal growth of the Zenith Brand both within the Ghana market and the West African Sub region.

Mr Oroh has attended several leadership programmes and executive management courses at the Harvard Business School, Columbia Business School New York, University of Chicago, USA, University of Pennsylvania, HEC Paris, JP Morgan Chase UK and the Lagos Business School.

On his part, Mr Abubakar is currently the Managing Director of Apt Pensions Funds Managers Limited. He is a graduate of the Leeds Polytechnic UK and a renowned Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.

Mr Abubakar has extensive and tremendous experience in the Financial Services Industry, Audit and Consulting. He had worked with the firm of Akintola Williams Deloitte between January 2000 and November 2008 and rose to become the Partner and Board Member of West Africa Sub region. Prior to this, he had served on the Board of several Financial Institutions in Nigeria.

He has attended several management and leadership training programmes and conferences both within and outside the country.

He brings to the board of the bank tremendous track record in Risk Management, Credit & Marketing, Auditing and very outstanding Leadership skills.