TRIBUTE: Abimbola Ogunbanjo, the man who helped Nigerian Exchange become public company
In 1985, Abimbola Olurotimi Ogunbanjo began a long, rich career in Lagos, when he joined Chase Manhattan Bank as a credit analyst.
Born in July 1962 to a renowned corporate lawyer, Christopher Oladipo Ogunbanjo, from Ogun State, he obtained Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from American College, Switzerland, in 1985, followed by an LLB in Law from the University of Buckingham, UK, in 1989.
Mr Ogunbanjo joined his father’s law firm, Chris Ogunbanjo LP, in 1990 after leaving Chase Manhattan Bank, serving as managing partner until his death.
In 1995, he moved to the American oil & gas company ConocoPhillips, where he would spend the next 19 years, rising to the position of director in the process.
He was appointed to the role of first vice president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2011, where he chaired the governance and remuneration committee.
He would later serve as the immediate past chairman of Nigerian Exchange Plc (NGX), the corporation he saw through demutualisation and into a public company in 2021.
But his first experience with stock market operations happened much earlier, when he started attending meetings as the representative of his father, whose firm acted for the World Bank during Nigeria’s indigenisation era and also incorporated and launched the exchange in 1961, when it went by the name, Lagos Stock Exchange.
In 2017, the exchange appointed him to be the chairperson of its demutualisation advisory committee, a team that would guide the bourse in its bid to transition from a mutual company owned by members into a public company, replicating the feat previously recorded by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
He later became the president of the national council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, taking over from Aigboje Aig-Immoukhuede.
“Successful demutualisation was one of my fundamental objectives when I assumed the presidency of The Exchange. The SEC’s decision today to approve the NSE’s demutualisation plans brings this aspiration to a successful conclusion in a process that included the passage of the Demutualisation Act through the National Assembly,” Mr Ogunbanjo said in March 2021, after the demutualisation push got key regulatory approvals.
On completion of the process, he was made the board chairman of the NGX. The transition helped the NGX to break away from the old mould of a member-owned entity to a for-profit organisation with shares publicly traded like those of quoted companies.
READ ALSO: NSE announces chief executives of emerging entities
His supreme efforts turned the bourse into a non-operating holding company with subsidiaries spanning real estate, regulation and stock exchange business.
“We need to reduce the number of adult Nigerians who are excluded and give them the ability to make well-informed financial decisions”, Mr Ogunbanjo said in 2021 while stressing the need to motivate young people to partake in the investment market as a means of boosting financial inclusion.
As of that time, the NGX had only 400,000 share accounts, which Lamido Yuguda, the then director-general of the capital market watchdog Securities and Exchange Commission, described as “abysmally low” for a nation of over 200 million people. The average age of investors then was 50 years.
“The Johannesburg Stock Exchange is still seen as the flagship stock exchange. The South African economy is the most industrialised and Nigeria is still considered to be a frontier economy, but the market cap to GDP ratio is at 371% in South Africa, while in Nigeria it is just above 13% (listed companies, 2020). Could it be that the JSE is overvalued?” Mr Ogunbanjo said.
His immense contribution to the Nigerian capital market was rewarded in October 2022 when former President Muhammadu Buhari conferred on him the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic.
He had been a board member of several companies, multinationals inclusive, such as AIICO Insurance, Beta Glass, GTL Registrars and ConocoPhillips.
Until his death in a helicopter crash near Nipton, California, on 9 February, he was a member of the International Bar Association, Nigerian Bar Association, Institute of Petroleum and a registered capital market consultant with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria.
Among his philanthropic efforts was serving as global ambassador for the Cervical Cancer-Free Nigeria, a brainchild of the Global Oncology (GO), a US-based nonprofit organisation backed by Stanford University.
He was a one-time vice chairman of the Commercial Law and Taxation Committee of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce. Mr Ogunbanjo was Nigeria’s special counsel to the London and Paris clubs during the refinancing and rescheduling agreements made between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and International Creditors Banks.
“NGX Group mourns the untimely departure of Bamofin Abimbola Ogunbanjo and Dr. Herbert Wigwe, along with his wife and son. Bamofin Ogunbanjo’s leadership has left an indelible mark on our organization and the broader Nigerian financial community, and his legacy will continue to inspire us,” said NGX Group Chairman Umaru Kwairanga in a statement.
In his tribute, NGX Chief Executive Officer Temi Popoola said “The passing of Bamofin Ogunbanjo is a profound loss for NGX Group and the entire Nigerian private sector. He played a crucial role in shaping NGX Group, and while he will be sorely missed, his visionary leadership and impact will never be forgotten.”
Support PREMIUM TIMES’ journalism of integrity and credibility
Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.
For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.
By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.
Donate
TEXT AD: Call Willie – +2348098788999
In 1985, Abimbola Olurotimi Ogunbanjo began a long, rich career in Lagos, when he joined Chase Manhattan Bank as a credit analyst.
Born in July 1962 to a renowned corporate lawyer, Christopher Oladipo Ogunbanjo, from Ogun State, he obtained Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from American College, Switzerland, in 1985, followed by an LLB in Law from the University of Buckingham, UK, in 1989.
Mr Ogunbanjo joined his father’s law firm, Chris Ogunbanjo LP, in 1990 after leaving Chase Manhattan Bank, serving as managing partner until his death.
In 1995, he moved to the American oil & gas company ConocoPhillips, where he would spend the next 19 years, rising to the position of director in the process.
He was appointed to the role of first vice president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2011, where he chaired the governance and remuneration committee.
He would later serve as the immediate past chairman of Nigerian Exchange Plc (NGX), the corporation he saw through demutualisation and into a public company in 2021.
But his first experience with stock market operations happened much earlier, when he started attending meetings as the representative of his father, whose firm acted for the World Bank during Nigeria’s indigenisation era and also incorporated and launched the exchange in 1961, when it went by the name, Lagos Stock Exchange.
In 2017, the exchange appointed him to be the chairperson of its demutualisation advisory committee, a team that would guide the bourse in its bid to transition from a mutual company owned by members into a public company, replicating the feat previously recorded by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
He later became the president of the national council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, taking over from Aigboje Aig-Immoukhuede.
“Successful demutualisation was one of my fundamental objectives when I assumed the presidency of The Exchange. The SEC’s decision today to approve the NSE’s demutualisation plans brings this aspiration to a successful conclusion in a process that included the passage of the Demutualisation Act through the National Assembly,” Mr Ogunbanjo said in March 2021, after the demutualisation push got key regulatory approvals.
On completion of the process, he was made the board chairman of the NGX. The transition helped the NGX to break away from the old mould of a member-owned entity to a for-profit organisation with shares publicly traded like those of quoted companies.
READ ALSO: NSE announces chief executives of emerging entities
His supreme efforts turned the bourse into a non-operating holding company with subsidiaries spanning real estate, regulation and stock exchange business.
“We need to reduce the number of adult Nigerians who are excluded and give them the ability to make well-informed financial decisions”, Mr Ogunbanjo said in 2021 while stressing the need to motivate young people to partake in the investment market as a means of boosting financial inclusion.
As of that time, the NGX had only 400,000 share accounts, which Lamido Yuguda, the then director-general of the capital market watchdog Securities and Exchange Commission, described as “abysmally low” for a nation of over 200 million people. The average age of investors then was 50 years.
“The Johannesburg Stock Exchange is still seen as the flagship stock exchange. The South African economy is the most industrialised and Nigeria is still considered to be a frontier economy, but the market cap to GDP ratio is at 371% in South Africa, while in Nigeria it is just above 13% (listed companies, 2020). Could it be that the JSE is overvalued?” Mr Ogunbanjo said.
His immense contribution to the Nigerian capital market was rewarded in October 2022 when former President Muhammadu Buhari conferred on him the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic.
He had been a board member of several companies, multinationals inclusive, such as AIICO Insurance, Beta Glass, GTL Registrars and ConocoPhillips.
Until his death in a helicopter crash near Nipton, California, on 9 February, he was a member of the International Bar Association, Nigerian Bar Association, Institute of Petroleum and a registered capital market consultant with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria.
Among his philanthropic efforts was serving as global ambassador for the Cervical Cancer-Free Nigeria, a brainchild of the Global Oncology (GO), a US-based nonprofit organisation backed by Stanford University.
He was a one-time vice chairman of the Commercial Law and Taxation Committee of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce. Mr Ogunbanjo was Nigeria’s special counsel to the London and Paris clubs during the refinancing and rescheduling agreements made between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and International Creditors Banks.
“NGX Group mourns the untimely departure of Bamofin Abimbola Ogunbanjo and Dr. Herbert Wigwe, along with his wife and son. Bamofin Ogunbanjo’s leadership has left an indelible mark on our organization and the broader Nigerian financial community, and his legacy will continue to inspire us,” said NGX Group Chairman Umaru Kwairanga in a statement.
In his tribute, NGX Chief Executive Officer Temi Popoola said “The passing of Bamofin Ogunbanjo is a profound loss for NGX Group and the entire Nigerian private sector. He played a crucial role in shaping NGX Group, and while he will be sorely missed, his visionary leadership and impact will never be forgotten.”
Support PREMIUM TIMES’ journalism of integrity and credibility
Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.
For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.
By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.
Donate
TEXT AD: Call Willie – +2348098788999
Denial of responsibility! Techno Blender is an automatic aggregator of the all world’s media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.