A former banker and top shot at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Isa Mohammed Inuwa, has been appointed to the board of directors of Fidelity Bank Plc.
Mr Inuwa, whose appointment has been approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is joining the versatile board of the reputable lender as an independent non-executive director.
Fidelity Bank, in a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), said the appointment of the new director took effect from January 22, 2020.
Commenting on the development, Chairman of Fidelity Bank board, Mr Ernest Ebi, a former Deputy Governor of the CBN, said Mr Inuwa comes with a wealth of multi-industry experience spanning over 35 years in the banking and oil and gas industries.
“We could not have made a better choice in Inuwa, given his pedigree and experience, a significant portion of which was in executive and strategic roles covering management, finance, strategy, corporate services, compliance, audit and Information Technology. We look forward to his contributions even as we remain focused on the pursuit of our strategic growth plans,” said Mr Ebi.
The new director statutorily retired in June 2019 as Chief Operating Officer/Group Executive Director, Corporate Services at NNPC, where he worked for over a decade.
While at NNPC, he was seconded to Nigerian Liquefied and Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) in 2016 as Deputy Managing Director. As the DMD of NLNG, he served on the board of NLNG and NLNG subsidiaries including Bonny Gas Transport Limited (BGTL) and NLNG Ship Management Limited (NSML).
He was at various times a member of the Governing Council of the Nigerian Content Development and Management Board (NCDMB), the Petroleum Training Institute, Chairman of Nigerian Pipelines and Products Storage Company Limited (NPSC) and Alternate Chairman of NNPC LNG Limited, amongst others.
In the financial services industry, his experience spans Commercial Banking, Merchant Banking and Development Finance, with requisite knowledge and experience in retail and commercial banking, operations, international trade finance, agricultural finance, treasury and corporate banking.
He started out as a banker with Union Bank of Nigeria Plc where he did his mandatory youth service programme and worked at the defunct Bank for Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) and International Merchant Bank (IMB).
Mr Inuwa rose to the pinnacle of the banking profession with his appointment as Managing Director, Intercity Bank Plc, in 1991.
Upon leaving Intercity Bank, he worked briefly as a self-employed financial consultant, providing research and advisory services in project finance, process re-engineering, strategy development and public policy impact analysis, before being appointed through a formal selection process, as Executive Director, Operations, Bank of Agriculture (BoA) in 2005.
Mr Inuwa has an active community and public service life. He was a member of the Presidential Committee on the management of the Excess Crude Account and a member of the Bureau of Public Enterprises Committee on Reconciliation of Public Sector Debt.
Born in Kano, Mr Inuwa was educated at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Stirling University, Scotland where he obtained BSc Accounting and MSc Accounting & Finance degrees respectively.
Married with children and a grandchild, he has attended several courses and executive management programmes at Wharton, Oxford University, Euromoney, INSEAD, IMD and other high profile global institutions.
