By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Mr Mohammed Shehu has been appointed as the new Secretary of Unity Bank Plc.
A statement issued by the financial firm disclosed that the appointment, affirmed during a meeting of the Board of Directors on February 24, 2017, was in line with the succession plan of the institution.
Unity Bank said Mr Shehu is a lawyer with diversified experience spanning banking, financial services and regulatory environment. He holds an LLB degree from the Bayero University, Kano and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1996 and subsequently obtained a Masters degree in International Affairs and Diplomacy from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
He is a member of The Nigerian Bar Association and The Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria.
He has successfully plied his profession in multi-disciplinary fields that involved litigation and Company Secretariat activities.
The appointee began his career in 1997 as a Legal Officer in Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation where he coordinated amongst other things, cases of the corporation pending at the Failed Bank’s Tribunal.
Later same year and up until May 2001, he practiced as a counsel where he was actively involved in matters of debt recovery and prosecution of cases in the law firms of EI-Thayyib & Co in Kano and Suleiman D. Lere & Co in Kaduna.
He later joined NUB International Bank Limited in 2001 as Legal Officer and rose to become the Assistant Company Secretary/Legal Adviser.
In January 2006, following the banking consolidation exercise, NUB International Bank Ltd merged with three other entities to form First Inland Bank Plc (which later rebranded as FinBank PIc) and currently FCMB Plc.
Mr Shehu has held important positions in the banking industry and the Financial Services Sector. He was at various times Acting Group Head Zonal Legal Coordination and Security Liaison (FinBank Plc), Acting Group Head, Legal (FinBankPlc), Company Secretary/Legal Adviser FinInsurance Ltd (the then Finbank/FCMB Subsidiary).
He was also Acting Company Secretary FinHomes Ltd (a Subsidiary of erstwhile FinBank). Before leaving FCMB in October 2014, he was Head, Legal Unit-FCT/North.
He joined Unity Bank Plc in November 2014 as Deputy Company Secretary.
Mr Shehu has benefited from numerous training programs, courses, seminars, workshops and conferences, including but not limited to law, banking, capital markets and strategic management and leadership.
They include Anti Money-Laundering and Drug Abuse in Banks and Work Place, Securities and credit documentation in Banks, Contemporary Legal issues on Management of Banks and other Financial Institutions, National Workshop on Company Administration and Practice in Nigeria National Workshop on Arbitration, Creation and Realization of Security Interests in Bank Lending, Credit Appreciation Training, Balance Sheet Analysis Training, Company Secretaries Conference- Dubai, AML/CFT Compliance Statutory/Regulatory Annual Reports Disclosures Workshop – NSE, and Corporate Secretary Master Program – ICSAN/IFC.
Aduragbemi Omiyale