Nigeria Content Online

A board reshuffle
occurred, yesterday, at First Bank, Nigeria’s largest bank, following
the exit of three top executive officers.

In a statement
signed by Steve Omanufeme, the spokesperson for the bank, Oladele
Oyelola (Chief Financial Officer), Bola Adesola (Executive Director,
Lagos), and Abdu Abubakar (Executive Director, Banking Operations and
Services) voluntarily resigned from the bank.

“We are very proud
of the achievements that each of these individuals has made, and of
their significant contributions towards strengthening and sustaining
First Bank’s leadership position,” Bisi Onasanya, the bank’s group
managing director, said in the statement added.

“Today we can boast
of a balance sheet that is more than 25 per cent larger than our next
competitor, profits that exceed all of our peers, and an enviable
position as the largest bank in Sub-Saharan Africa (ex-South Africa),
in no small way due to the invaluable contributions made by each of the
outgoing Executive Directors. They will be missed greatly by the First
Bank family and we wish them the very best in their future endeavours,”
Mr. Onasanya said.

Interim heads have been named to replace the departing officials pending the appointment of substantial ones.

There were no clues
as at last night on why the executives resigned as senior officers of
the bank did not hear about the resignations until the release was made
public. Officials of the bank’s communications unit could not be
contacted.

Muhammed Abdullahi, the head of corporate affairs of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said he was not aware of the development.

“Whether the bank
has been notified officially, I cannot say. I will find out from the
people that should know and I will get back to you.”

The Central Bank as regulator is supposed to be informed of such a
development because it must give its nod before replacements can be
appointed.