Profile update on the incoming CBN management team

HENRY SEMENITARI

Born on June 29, 1963, Semenitari, hails from oil rich Rivers State in the Niger Delta region attended Saint Cyprians Primary School, Port Harcourt, Rivers State in 1974. He moved on to Okrika Grammar School, Okrika, Rivers State in 1979, Enitonna High School, Port-Harcourt, Rivers State in 1980 and University of Lagos in 1987.

In furtherance of his academic pursuit, he went to the International Graduates School of Management, University of Navar, Barcelona, Spain in 2000, Harvard Business School, Boston, US for Advanced Management Programme in 2007 and the Cambridge Judge Business School for another advanced leadership programme at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Today, Semenitari holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from International Graduate School of Management, University of Navara (I.E.S.E) Barcelona, Spain. He is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School, Advance Management Programme (AMP173) in Boston, USA. He is also an alumnus of Cambridge Judge Business School, Advanced Leadership Programme (ALP 1), Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK.

His banking experience spans over 26 years. He is valued very consistent and highly experienced in operations, internal control, branch management, credit and marketing, commercial and retail banking, consumer and corporate banking (Energy) and several other aspects of the banking operations.

He had worked in banks such as Zenith, Diamond, United Bank for Africa, ACB International Bank and Continental Trust Bank. He also held senior Management positions in United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc as an Assistant General Manager – Commercial and Retail Banking Group, General Manager (Credit and Marketing) in ACB International Bank Plc, acting Managing Director/CEO, ACB International Bank Plc and Executive Director (Business Development) in Continental Bank Limited, Afribank Nigeria Plc in May 2003 as General Manager in charge of Consumer and Retail Banking business with responsibility of supervising and development of business activities across the entire 150 branch network.

He later joined First City Monument Bank Plc in November 2005 as Executive Director Retail and Enterprise Banking. His job description while there was to develop and grow retail and enterprise banking business across the entire branch network. That was where he held sway before eventually joining the Unity Bank Plc as non-executive director. He would later become the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Bank in January 2014.

While at Unity Bank, Semenitari made some remarkable improvements that are still on record today and which won him global accolades. For instance, the bank’s gross earnings grew from N62 billion in 2013 to N77 billion in 2014, the profit before tax grew from negative of N33.6 billion in 2013 to positive of N13.6 billion in 2014 while profit after tax grew from negative of N22.5 billion in 2013 to positive of N10.6 billion in 2014.

The cost to income ratio improved from 28.4 per cent in 2013 to 69.6 per cent in 2014, return on asset improved from negative 5.7 per cent in 2013 to positive 2.6% in 2014, return on equity improved from negative 56.7 per cent in 2013 to positive 20.5 per cent in 2014, capital adequacy ratio improved from negative 13.8 per cent in 2013 to positive 2.02 per cent in 2014, liquidity ratio improved from 34.5 per cent in 2013 to 44.8 per cent in 2014 and most importantly, the Unity Bank attained the enviable international ‘A3’ global rating by GCR.

He established a robust electronic business (E-Business) group in the bank that gave rise to electronic channels transactions. For instance, Point of Sales (POS) transactions grew from 17.5 million transactions in 2013 to 75.3 million transactions in 2014 and ATM transaction grew from 3.3 million transactions in 2013 to 5.7 million transactions in 2014.

Still during his tenure as the MD, non-performing loans (NPL) improved from 25.5 per cent in 2013 to 17.6 per cent in 2014 and the bank also recorded a historical achievement in debt recovery drive by recovering in excess of N10 billion bad debts in 2014 financial year.

Working with other experts in the Unity Bank, his leadership won several awards, which included European Business Assembly Best Africa Regional Bank Award, Oxford University, England, for year 2014; top 100 businesses in Nigeria Award by Federal Government of Nigeria; Business Day Newspapers Top Chief Executive Officer Award; Banker of the Year 2014 Award in Nigeria by Leadership Newspaper and Semenitari himself was admitted into the famous Bill Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in Times Square, New York, USA.

In rating Semenitari’s acumen, those evaluating him have always attributed his unique selling point to his strengths in business process re-engineering and design with specialisation in strategic process enterprise management, and integration of business process models with information technology to drive business at product and strategic business unit levels.

He also had development and implementation experience of major banking applications such as Micro Banker/Flexcube, Phoenix, Bank Master, SAP (Systems Application and Product), Globus and Finacle Banking Application etc.
Mr. Semenitari is a fully registered Engineer (R.29, 331) and member Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). He is a member the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE); Fellow, Institute of Credit Administration (FICA) of Nigeria and member, The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

ARUNMA OTEH

Arunma Oteh is of Nigerian/British nationality. She is from Abia State. She studied at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, earning a first class honors degree in Computer Science. She went on to the Harvard Business School where she obtained a master's degree in Business Administration. She co-edited the book, African Voices African Visions.

Oteh worked for various institutions including the Harvard Institute for International Development and Centre Point Investments Limited of Nigeria in corporate finance, consulting, teaching and research. She joined the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 1992.

She was a Senior Investment Officer/Senior Capital Markets Officer from 1993 to 1997, then Division Manager Investments and Trading Room from 1997 to 2001 when she was appointed the Bank's Group Treasurer responsible for fund raising and investments in major international capital markets.Oteh was appointed Vice-President for Corporate Management at the ADB in March 2006, responsible for Language Services, General Services and Procurement, Human Resources, and Information Management and Methods.

Ms. Oteh was nominated as the Director-General of the Securities & Exchange Commission by President Umaru Yar'Adua in July 2009. Arunma Oteh became Director General of the SEC in January 2010, after being confirmed by the Senate.

In a June 2010 interview with the BBC Oteh listed "wash sales, market rigging, pumping and dumping shares" as some of the abuses in Nigeria's capital market. She said the SEC expected to charge about 200 individuals and entities in civil or criminal cases. She faced resistance from the powerful Nigerian rent-seeking elite, but expressed confidence due to the backing she had received from President Goodluck Jonathan.In August 2010, as a result of some of the identified market abuse issues, the Securities and Exchange Commission removed the leadership of the Nigerian stock exchange.

The House Committee of Capital Markets and Institutions launched a public inquiry in April 2012 into the near collapse of the Nigerian capital market in 2008. Oteh and the committee chairman had a heated exchange over the focus of the hearing, leading to the chairmans resignation from the committee after allegations that he had asked for a bribe to influence the House Committee inquiry, and that he had collected public funds to attend a workshop in the Dominican Republic but had neither attended the program nor returned the money

The SEC released two statements explaining their position on the allegations made during the public hearing. The First press statement made on 19 March 2012 focused on the varied allegations made by the committee

In June 2012. The second press statement stated that "[n]o financial overtures have ever been made to the Hon. Hembe by Ms. Oteh, DG SEC or any staff of SEC."A new eight-man Ad hoc committee was set up by the House of representatives to complete the hearing on the near collapse of the capital market.As a possible fallout of the events that had taken place at the public hearings, Arunma Oteh was asked to proceed on compulsory leave by the SEC board, pending an independent investigation into the management of Project 50, a program packaged by her to commemorate 50 years of capital market regulation in Nigeria.

On July 18, 2012, Oteh was called back to resume work after an independent investigation by the board-appointed firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, cleared her of any financial impropriety. Oteh's concluded her 5-year tenure as SEC DG in January 2015. In July 2015, Jim Yong Kim, the president of the World Bank appointed Arunma Oteh, Vice President and Treasurer of the institution.

In 2011 Oteh was made an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in "recognition of her contribution to economic development and to transforming the Nigerian capital markets". In 2011 she received the "Distinction In Public Service" award from the Commonwealth Business Council/African Business.In 2014, Oteh won the CNBC Africa All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA) Business Woman of the Year category for West Africa.

More updates coming.