/ People

Mrs. Agnes ‘Tokunbo Martins is currently a doctoral researcher in Finance at the ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading, United Kingdom. Her areas of specialism are banking reforms, microfinance, MSMEs and development.

Mrs. Martins worked at the Central Bank of Nigeria in various capacities for twenty-nine years. She was appointed as the Director of Banking Supervision in April 2012. Under her leadership, the banking industry witnessed tremendous progress toward best practice risk management and corporate governance as she drove the seamless introduction of the Basel II/III Capital Accord and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) into the industry. The industry witnessed relative stability and growth as she oversaw the banking reforms that took effect in 2012. She held the position until December 2016 and is the first and only female to hold that position till date.

Mrs. Martins was later appointed as the Director of Other Financial Institutions Supervision, where she oversaw financial institutions that intermediate in the middle and lower tiers of the economy. She held the position until October 2019, when she retired. Her posting to OFISD was at an auspicious time when the country was exiting recession, and there was a renewed focus on economic recovery and growth through the MSME industry players.

Mrs. Martins obtained a bachelor’s degree in Economics and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. She also holds a first-class degree in Applied Accounting (Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom); a master’s degree with distinction in Advanced Information Technology (London South Bank University, United Kingdom) and a master’s degree in Business Administration (University of Lagos). She is also an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School.

Mrs. Martins is a Fellow of both the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA, UK) as well as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). She is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIBN), the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers and an Associate of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), United Kingdom. She is a Certified Information Systems Auditor in addition to being a Certified Information Security Manager. She was the first female president of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) in Nigeria. She is a Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) of the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) and the Risk Managers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN).

Mrs. Miriam Olusanya is the Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank (Nigeria) Limited, a subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO).

Miriam joined the Bank as an Executive Trainee in 1998, rose through the ranks and has garnered over 25 years’ banking experience that cuts across Asset and Liability Management, Financial Markets, Corporate Finance, Investment Banking, Investor Relations and Transaction Services.

She holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and a Master of Business Administration (Finance and Accounting) from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. She has also attended several executive management and banking specific developmental programs in leading educational institutions around the world.

Prior to her appointment as the bank’s MD, she was appointed Executive Director in 2018 and served as the Group Treasurer and Head, Wholesale Banking Division, responsible for the bank’s Asset & Liability Management as well as Financial Markets dealings across all African subsidiaries.

Miriam currently serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Guaranty Trust Bank (Gambia) Limited. She is also a Non-Executive Director of the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS) and the Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities (SANEF); an agent banking initiative of the CBN, supported by Nigerian banks. She is a member of the Financial Markets Sub-Committee of the Bankers’ Committee, the primary interactive policy platform made up of the Central Bank of Nigeria and banks.

Ahmed Lawi Liman has over 24 years’ experience and has worked in various units of the Bank, spanning Retail, Commercial/SME, Public Sector and Corporate Banking Divisions. He joined the Bank in 1998 as a Banking Officer and rose through the ranks until his appointment to the board in October 2023. Prior to joining the Bank, Ahmed had experience in IT and Investment Banking. Ahmed has been involved in landmark Corporate Finance transactions in the Energy, Telecommunications and Power Sectors.

Ahmed holds a degree in Electrical/Electronics Engineering from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi and an MBA from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. He is also a Chartered Banker MBA holder from Bangor University and a member of the Chartered Banker Institute, Scotland. He is an Honorary Senior member (HCIB) of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN.

Ahmed has attended various executive management, strategy, and banking training programmes at leading institutions such as INSEAD, Harvard Kennedy School, Michigan University, and Cranfield University, among others.

Ahmed currently heads the Public Sector and North East Division of the Bank. He also serves as a Non-Executive Director at GTBank Liberia, where he sits on the Board Credit Committee and chairs the Asset & Liability Committee.

Ahmed is an avid reader and is married with children.

Mrs. Victoria Adefala holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree (1987) from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and a Master’s degree in International Law (LL.M) from University of Houston Bates Law School, Houston, Texas. She was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1988. Mrs. Adefala is a seasoned professional with over thirty-three (33) years’ work experience in diverse industries including Manufacturing, Finance and Transportation as well as the Legal profession, having worked with the African Chamber of Commerce, Houston, Texas, Michelin Nigeria Limited and Alstom Nigeria.

Mrs. Adefala served as the Country President and Managing Director of Alstom Nigeria up till 2016. Prior to working at Alstom, she was an Executive Director at Michelin Nigeria Limited, and sits on the Board of both local and international companies. She is the Managing Partner of WHITGIFT Law Firm. She joined the Board of GTBank in 2017.

Mr. Jide Okuntola’s banking and financial service experience spans across Transaction Services, Risk Management, Treasury, Financial Control, Oil and Gas as well as Fintech, by over the years actively interfacing and or assuming leadership roles in some of these business segments.

With over a decade experience in originating, advising, structuring and executing transactions in- excess of $13 Billion in Oil and Gas Financing, he was responsible for managing the Bank’s Oil and Gas portfolio covering the Upstream, Midstream and Downstream subsectors of the Oil and Gas industry.

Mr. Okuntola holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from the Lagos State University and a Master of Business Administration (Petroleum and Energy Economics) from the European-American University. He has attended several executive management and banking specific programs in leading educational institutions.

Mr. Okuntola joined GTBank as an Executive Trainee and rose through the ranks to become an Executive Director in 2018, a position he held until his appointment as Deputy Managing Director.

Dr. Kolapo Omidire holds a Doctorate degree in Law (LLD) from the North-West University, South Africa. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in August 1985 and obtained an MBA from the Ogun State University, Nigeria. He is also a Chartered member of the Chartered Insurance Institute of England.

Kolapo lectured at both the University of Ife and the University of Lagos, prior to a career in industry. He was at different times General Counsel to three publicly quoted companies. At Guaranty Trust Bank plc (GTBank) as General Counsel, he was responsible for the documentation of transactions with multilateral institutions like the International Finance Corporation, African Export Import Bank, and FMO- the Dutch Development Bank, as well as the listing of the Bank’s shares on the London Stock Exchange.

As General Manager & Group Head, General Internal Services & External Affairs, Kolapo was responsible for the strategic management of the Bank’s legal & corporate secretariat, general & branches administration, safety & security, corporate affairs, and special projects. He laid the foundation for the best-in-class cost to income ratio for GTBank over a 10-year period. He developed and managed the expenses budget of the Bank, succeeding in holding costs within budget for most of the period.

As the Head of GTBank’s Retail Banking Division, he implemented the Bank’s retail strategy in 2006. He also led the turn-around of an insurance subsidiary acquisition of GTBank (now AXA Mansard Assurance plc) succeeding in recapitalising the company and coordinated the go-to-market strategy before handing over to a substantive CEO. In furtherance of GTBank’s business expansion drive, Kolapo was again requested to establish a mortgage bank subsidiary. He established GTHomes Limited (now Imperial Homes Limited), which commenced business in January 2008 as a primary mortgage institution and ran the company as Managing Director/CEO. By the time he finally retired from the Bank’s services in April 2009, GTHomes has become a major player in the mortgage-banking sector.

Kolapo is an accomplished trainer and writer, with publication in books, as well as local and international academic journals. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Law at Lead City University, Nigeria, and he facilitates on some seminars and degree courses at the Lagos Business School/Pan Atlantic University.

Olufunsho Olusanya is an Investment Banker and a Finance Professional with extensive experience and notable capability in Global & International Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, Investment Banking, and Credit & Risk Management.

Olufunsho has years of business leadership and board experience providing operational, financial, regulatory and investment advisory and oversight duties to management teams and their board of directors across the Nigerian pension industry, the investment and commercial banking sector, and the financial markets regulatory space.

She worked at FSDH Merchant Bank as the Executive Director in charge of the Treasury and International Banking Division and was the Chairperson for the bank’s Sustainable Banking initiative. She was also a board member and a key board investment committee member of Pensions Alliance Limited (PAL Pensions), a pension fund company that has over $1 billion AUM and is affiliated to the FSDH Group.

Prior to her rejoining FSDH Merchant Bank Limited as an Executive Director, she was the Group Treasurer for the United Bank for Africa (UBA) where she managed multinational teams and a portfolio of over $19 Billion that cut across 750 branches in 19 African countries, as well as New York and London.

Olufunsho holds an Advanced Management Program Certificate from Harvard Business School, a Master of Science Degree in Corporate Governance from Leeds Metropolitan University, an MBA in Banking and Finance from Ogun State University and a B.Sc. in Banking and Finance from the University of Lagos. She has attended several leadership and management training programs of leading international business schools and institutions.