The Central Bank of Nigeria has approved the appointment of the Governing Council Chairman of Remo Growth and Development Foundation (RemoGDF), Otunba Seni Adetu as well as Dr Sarah Omotunde Alade and Prof. Olukonyinsola Konyin Ajayi as independent non-executive directors of the proposed JPMorgan Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited, bringing experience spanning central banking, legal practice and corporate leadership to the institution’s board.
Otunba Adetu brings more than 30 years of executive experience across multinational businesses and corporate leadership in Africa. He is the Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of First Primus West Africa, whose businesses include Algorithm Media Nigeria and Ogilvy Nigeria. His previous executive roles include leading Guinness Ghana Breweries, serving as Group Managing Director and CEO of East African Breweries, and heading Guinness Nigeria as Managing Director and CEO from 2012 to 2014. He has also served on the boards of Fidelity Bank and FBN Holdings.
Dr. Alade is a former Deputy Governor of the CBN who briefly served as Acting Governor in 2014. She joined the apex bank in 1993 and held roles across research, fiscal analysis and banking operations before becoming Deputy Governor in 2007, a position she held until 2017. In 2019, she was appointed Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Finance and Economy. Her background brings substantial experience in monetary policy, financial regulation and public-sector economic management to the proposed bank.
Prof Ajayi is a Senior Partner at leading law firm, Olaniwun Ajayi, with more than four decades of legal experience spanning banking and finance, capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, project finance and dispute resolution. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, he holds a Master of Laws degree from Harvard University and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Beyond legal practice, he has held corporate governance roles and chaired the Capital Market Master Plan Implementation Committee , giving him experience across legal advisory, financial markets and institutional governance.
The three appointments form part of the CBN’s approval of the proposed bank’s board and management as JPMorgan advances plans to establish a licensed merchant banking operation in Nigeria. The regulator also approved Latter Kevin George, Nzelu Chinedum Izunwanne and Syed Gabriel Murtaza as non-executive directors, alongside Adedapo Adedayo Olagunju as the proposed bank’s Managing Director.
The CBN granted Approval-in-Principle for the establishment of JPMorgan Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited on 23 October 2026.
