Meet Bola Tinubu’s Fiscal and Monetary Tsars
Olawale Edun:
Olawale wale Edun has a background in economics, public finance, international finance, merchant banking and corporate finance at both national and international levels. wale Edun was the Honourable Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State, an appointment he held for an unparalleled two terms (1999-2007). He is the founder of Denham Management Limited, Chairman of Livewell Initiative, a health sector Non-Governmental Organization(NGO) and a Trustee of Sisters Unite for Children, an NGO focused on helping children in need. He also sits on the Board of a number of other companies.
Mr A. Olawale Edun popularly known as Wale Edun holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of London and a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Sussex, England.
Wale Edun had a tremendous career in the financial sector both in national and international companies. He served as the Head of Treasury and Deputy Head of Corporate Finance at Chase Merchant Bank and he was in charge of the bank’s Treasury and Money Market activities he had major responsibility for Capital Market and Financial Advisory operations on behalf of the local subsidiaries and affiliates of major multinational companies.
During his time at Chase, he gained international experience while on secondment to the Wall Street firms of Lehman Brothers and Chase Manhattan Capital Markets Corporation in New York, USA. From 1980 to 1986, he worked at Chase Merchant Bank (later Continental) in Lagos.
It is worthy to note that He has over twenty-five years of experience in merchant banking, corporate finance, economics and international finance at national and international levels.
He joined the World Bank/IFC in Washington DC, US through the elite Young Professionals program in September 1986. At the World Bank, Mr Edun worked on economic and financial packages for several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic and Trinidad as well as Indonesia and India in the Far East.
He has been the Chairman of Chapel Hill Denham Group since March 2008. In 1989, he returned to Nigeria as Co-Founder and Executive Director of Stanbic IBTC Plc(formerly Investment Banking & Trust Company Limited). In 1994, he founded Denham Management Limited. He also sits on the Board of a number of other companies. In 1999, he was appointed as Honourable Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State, a position he held for an unprecedented two terms under Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
His background includes working for the World Bank/International Finance Corporation in Washington DC, USA, In this role, he was involved in assignments in India, the Caribbean and East Asia, amongst others. Wale also worked in merchant banking in Nigeria. He is a director of several other private businesses; and Chairman, of the Board of Trustees, Ogoni Trust Fund for the environmental Clean-up of Ogoniland in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.
Wale is an International Trustee of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation and Chairman of Lagos Boxing Hall of Fame, a registered non-profit youth development organization that runs amateur boxing in Lagos in conjunction with the Lagos Amateur Boxing Association.
Wale Edun has also been involved in several acts of Philanthropy, He is the Chairman of Livewell Initiative, a health sector Non-Governmental Organization(NGO) and a Trustee of Sisters Unite for Children, an NGO focused on helping children in need.
Zacch Adedeji: The Revenue Mobilizer
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Thursday appointed eight think tanks to assist in the realisation of his renewed hope agenda towards breathing a new life to the economy and security of the citizens.
One of the astute men and women appointed is Mr. Zacch Adedeji, an industrious, brilliant, vibrant, result-oriented and an accomplished professional who was prior to the appointment, the Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council.
When Mr Zacch Adedeji was appointed as the fifth substantive Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council in March 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, stakeholders in the sugar sector hailed the appointment as one that would redefine the growth and development of the sugar industry.
For over two years, he has worked assiduously towards Nigeria’s drive to attain self-sufficiency in sugar production through faithful implementation of the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan (NSMP).
He assumed leadership of the Council with a proven track record of over 15 years of hands-on executive experience (+16 years qualified chartered accountant) in strategy, accounting and financial management, financial analysis/reporting, internal controls, change management, and people management.
Before his appointment as the Sugar Council boss, Adedeji had demonstrated capacity for service delivery when he worked as one of the youngest Commissioners in Nigeria.
In 2011, barely seven months after his 33rd birthday, he was appointed Commissioner for Finance in Oyo State becoming the youngest person to have occupied such a position. This was after he had attained managerial position few years after working diligently with an American multinational company- Procter and Gamble (P & G). Till date, he is one of the most sought after in the state and beyond.
He is a First-Class graduate of Management and Accounting from the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and later bagged a Master of Science degree in Accounting from the same university. Zacch is currently a doctoral student at the same university. His insatiable quest for knowledge took him to the famous Harvard Kennedy School of Government in the United States of America for an Executive Course in Economic Development.
Mr. Adedeji’s long sojourn in the private sector and a four-year stint as the Commissioner for Finance in Oyo State between 2011-2015 with unbeatable and unassailable performance records and achievements, have undoubtedly, prepared him for the onerous task of providing the needed leadership required for Nigeria’s revenue management. The government is in dire need for an improved revenue mobilisation to match the high debt stock of the nation.
He held a number of senior management positions while working at the Procter & Gamble Company (P&G), a renowned American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, United states of America with branches across several countries. He was General Accounting and Stewardship Manager between January 2004 to May 2006 where he led a cross-functional team to prepare and report financial statements regionally and globally through consolidated data entry tool.
Mr. Adedeji’s culture of hardwork and knack for professional excellence earned him a higher position at the P&G with his elevation as the Finance Leader-SAP (Systems Applications and Products) Implementation Project. He spearheaded the day-to-day evaluation and implementation of SAP Modules and also led a 15-person finance team to develop the internal processes for the roll out of SAP West Africa in line with the projects pre-requisites.
He later rose to the position of Corporate Finance Manager (West Africa) overseeing Treasury, Corporate/Affiliate Accounting, AP &Tax at the Procter and Gamble between August 2007 and May 2011.
While in the saddle as the Commissioner for Finance in Oyo State, he introduced a number of brilliant, forward-thinking, revenue-boosting and cost-saving reforms that pushed up the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state, plugged financial leakages, introduced best financial practices and general financial turnaround among other innovations. Mr. Adedeji, a Fellow of Chartered Accountant (FCA) is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and member, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN).
Immediately he took over at NSDC, Zacch hit the ground running with series of programmes to reposition the sugar sector as encapsulated in the Nigerian Sugar Master plan.
In driving the growth and development of the sector, he has within a space of 26 months implemented series of programmes that have attracted huge investments into the sugar industry and positioned the sector as an avenue for job creation and poverty reduction.
In an interview, he described his over two-year journey at the NSDC as memorable, tasking and very rewarding.
Adedeji said, “The sugar sector is without doubt a very crucial sector to the Nigerian economy, especially in line with the economic diversification agenda of the President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government. More than anything else, we at the Council are ready and have put in place all the necessary policies, measures, programmes and strategies to maximally harness all the potentials in the sector in the overall interest of our dear country.
“So, the journey has been an eye-opening experience particularly for me and members of my Management Team. We are determined to achieve our mandate as an agency of government, which is to regulate and develop the sugar sector for national prosperity.
“I inherited an organization that is both forward-thinking and very determined in the pursuit of its defined mandate and corporate objectives. I’m lucky to meet members of staff who are so dedicated, disciplined and committed to work, thereby making the whole environment friendlier and livelier than I thought.”
