In line with the latest directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on tenure limits for bank and financial holding companies’ executives, the deputy managing director of First Bank of Nigeria, Gbenga Shobo, has stepped down from the Board of the bank with immediate effect, the first to do so following the directive.
Shobo who served as the MD designate in the bank during a boardroom crisis in 2021 had been on the board of the bank since 2012 has been an executive director in the bank for 11 years. The circular by the CBN had stipulated that for “an Executive (ED) who becomes a DMD of a bank or any other DMB, his/her cumulative tenure as ED and DMD shall not exceed 10 years.”
The CBN circular dated February 24, 2023 and which became effective stipulates that no bank executive is expected to surpass 20 years across the banking industry from the time of appointment as executive or non-executive director to deputy managing director and managing director.
The circular which comes 13 years after the initial limit of a 10-year tenure for bank MDs also places a limit of 12 years for deputy managing directors, executive directors as well as non-executive directors.
Checks revealed that many prominent bank executives and non-executive board members are caught up in the web of the sudden regulatory guideline of the apex bank.
