Kenneth Opara becomes CIBN president after election

The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has elected Kenneth Onyewuchi Opara as its 22nd president/chairman of council of the Institute.

Opara who was elected during the Institute’s annual general meeting on Saturday will succeed Bayo Olugbemi, whose two- year tenure will come to an end on May 21, 2022.

The Institute also elected other new officers and reviewed the 2021 financial and operational reports.

Other elected officers were Pius Oladeji Olanrewaju, as the 1st Vice President; Oladele Alabi, as the 2nd Vice President and Mojisola Bakare-Asieru, as the National Treasurer while other elected positions in the Governing Council were Victor Ndubuisi Aguwah, Olayinka Alade Odutola, Mary Oluwakemi Aina and Segun Oshadare, to serve the tenure (2022-2024).

Oladele Alabi, national treasurer of the Institute, gave the financial highlights that the Institute recorded an improved Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N1.766 billion in 2021 from N1.468 billion recorded in 2020, representing a growth of 20.3 percent. This is an indication that the Institute is strategically moving towards its aspiration of becoming financially independent. In the same vein, the year closed with a Net Operating Surplus of N800.14 million in 2021 and this reflects a 40.31 percent increase from N570.26 million recorded in 2020.

Also, Kayode Sunmola of Messrs. Moore Stephens Rosewater, the external auditors of the Institute gave a report for 2021 financials and stated that the financial position of the CIBN was in agreement with the book of account. The Chairman of the CIBN Audit Committee, Babatunde Oduwaye affirmed that the accounting and reporting policies of the institute were in accordance with legal requirements and ethical practices.

Speaking on the 2021 Operations, the CIBN President, Bayo Olugbemi informed the members that the Institute stands tall as a vanguard for the promotion of banking education and professionalism in Nigeria and world at large. The number of individual members of the Institute grew from 144,922 as at April 30, 2021 to 149,967 as at March 24, 2022, representing an increase of 3.5 percent over the previous year.

In the area of implementation of the Competency Framework, he said the Institute has received a boost as it was appointed as the Secretariat for the Bankers Committee, Sub-Committee on Competency and Industry Standards.

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The CIBN, according to him, collaborated with Wrights & Co. to conduct the Anti-Money Laundering & Countering Terrorist Financing (Basic and Advance Level) and Enhanced Product Development & Customer Relationship Management Training Programmes with a total of 23,274 members of the Institute benefited from this free programme.

Olugbemi also informed the gathering that the Institute has executed a long-desired collaboration Agreement for the MBA/SMP/ACIB Linkage Programme with Lagos Business School. The agreement will afford interested candidates the opportunity to run the MBA/SMP programme at prestigious Lagos Business School and qualify with dual qualification of MBA/SMP and ACIB distinguished members.

Seye Awojobi, registrar/chief executive of the Institute also made known in his report that in the year in review a total of 291 graduates were conferred with MCIB while 380 candidates were conferred with the ACIB (320 candidates via the regular ACIB examination route, 41 candidates via the Chartered Banker MBA route and 19 candidates via the MSc/ACIB Linkage Programme route).

Members in their remarks commended Bayo Olugbemi for his 2-year leadership (2020-2022) and made suggestions on enhancement in the areas of membership drive and others.