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The Bank of Industry (BOI) has defended its record on women’s representation, following a PREMIUM TIMES report highlighting persistent underrepresentation at its board and senior management levels over the past five years.
In a statement issued in response to our story, the bank said women remain central to its leadership and operations, arguing that its broader leadership ecosystem reflects stronger gender inclusion than board figures alone suggest.
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The agency did not dispute PREMIUM TIMES’ findings that women were grossly underrepresented on its board, its topmost decision-making organ, but said there was a need to distinguish between board composition and institutional leadership. It also referenced a sponsored post published on PREMIUM TIMES as evidence of its commitment to gender inclusion.
BOI’s statement was signed by its media consultant, Lanre Odukoya, who is also the head of Media, Neuroscience, and Storytelling at Chain Reactions Africa.
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Mr Odukoya noted that a distinction must be made between board composition, often determined by statutory appointment processes involving various external decision-makers, and the bank’s wider leadership structure, “where women demonstrably hold substantial influence and responsibility.”
He said focusing only on board numbers as the sole measure of gender inclusion risks ignoring the true institutional leadership landscape, where women actively make decisions, manage resources, and drive daily impact.
PREMIUM TIMES report
The report, published on Monday, examined gender representation at decision-making levels against the promise of the present administration to ensure fair representation of women. The presidency controls appointments to the BOI board.
However, the report finds that despite promoting gender equity externally, the bank’s board and management structure reveal a persistent underrepresentation of women in decision-making roles over the past five years.
BOI’s board currently consists of 13 members, including five executive and six non-executive directors. Of these, only two are women, representing roughly 15 per cent of the total. President Bola Tinubu appointed the board on 2 September 2024.
The women are Mabel Ndagi, executive director, Public Sector/Intervention Programmes, and Ifeoma Uz’Okpala, executive director, Large Enterprises.
In 2023, only two out of 18 members of the BOI’s board of directors were women. The situation is slightly better at the management level, with 8 of 19 positions (42 per cent) held by women in 2024, indicating some progress in mid- to senior-level representation.
The BOI’s board composition contradicts global governance recommendations, which aim for at least 30 per cent female representation on boards.
Meanwhile, women were significantly underrepresented in decision-making roles at the bank in both 2020 and 2021.
During those years, the executive level had minimal representation of women; Toyin Adeniji, appointed in 2016, was the only woman on the 11-member board. In 2020, women accounted for only three of the 11 management personnel, a number that increased slightly to four in 2021.
‘Right of reply’
In the statement titled ‘BOI: Riding On Wings of Women’s Power, ’ the bank said it values transparency and accountability and welcomes scrutiny from the media, but argued that its record on women’s leadership is often overlooked.
The bank pointed at the number of women in key roles, including two executive directors, the company secretary, and heads of governance, risk management, grant management and sustainability.
“Beyond executive directorship, women lead key governance, operational, and advisory units within the Bank. Olufunlola Salami serves as Company Secretary, ensuring regulatory compliance and corporate governance integrity,” the statement reads.
“Dayo Aderugbo heads Management Services, while Uche Nwuka leads Services Industries, both divisions critical to enterprise delivery and sectoral growth. The Bank’s communications reputation is guided by Thedora Amechi as Divisional Head, Public Relations, while oversight and accountability are strengthened through Onome Agorua, Chief Audit Executive.
“Legal, sustainability, and human capital functions, pillars of modern institutional resilience, are also led by accomplished women: Iretioluwa Daramola as Legal Adviser, Eniola Akinsete as Chief Sustainability Officer, and Kehinde Alade as Head of Human Resources.”
According to the statement, women also lead the bank’s subsidiaries, including two of its four managing directorships.
Read the BOI’s full response below.
RIGHT OF REPLY
BOI: Riding On Wings of Women’s Power
The Bank of Industry (BOI) has taken note of the recent feature published by Premium Times titled “Inside the Gender Lopsidedness of BoI’s Board Management.” As an institution that values transparency, accountability, and constructive public discourse, we welcome scrutiny from the media and acknowledge the important role journalism plays in strengthening democratic and corporate governance.
However, it is equally important that public commentary reflects a holistic view of institutional realities. This Right of Reply is therefore offered respectfully, not as a rebuttal to the editorial independence of Premium Times, but as a clarification intended to present the full picture of gender representation and leadership within the Bank of Industry.
Only weeks earlier, the same publication, in its March feature “Give to Gain: BoI’s Game-Changing Initiatives to Empower Women, Boost the Economy,” highlighted BOI’s transformative interventions supporting women entrepreneurs and inclusive economic growth. That recognition aligns with the Bank’s longstanding philosophy: empowering women is not an aspiration at BOI, but an operational reality embedded across leadership, strategy, and execution.
A closer examination of BOI’s management structure reveals a strong and substantive presence of women occupying critical leadership roles across the institution, positions that shape policy, drive operational performance, and influence national development outcomes.
At the executive management level, women serve in some of the Bank’s most strategic portfolios. These include Mabel Ndagi, Executive Director overseeing Public Sector and Intervention Programmes, and Ifeoma Uz’Okpala, Executive Director responsible for Risk Management and Technology, two functions central to institutional stability and innovation.
Beyond executive directorship, women lead key governance, operational, and advisory units within the Bank. Olufunlola Salami serves as Company Secretary, ensuring regulatory compliance and corporate governance integrity. Dayo Aderugbo heads Management Services, while Uche Nwuka leads Services Industries, both divisions critical to enterprise delivery and sectoral growth. The Bank’s communications reputation is guided by Thedora Amechi as Divisional Head, Public Relations, while oversight and accountability are strengthened through Onome Agorua, Chief Audit Executive.
Legal, sustainability, and human capital functions, pillars of modern institutional resilience, are also led by accomplished women: Iretioluwa Daramola as Legal Adviser, Eniola Akinsete as Chief Sustainability Officer, and Kehinde Alade as Head of Human Resources.
In the Bank’s developmental financing operations, female leadership remains equally prominent. Jelilat Ismaila-Ayinde heads SME Lending, Ogochukwu Akabogu oversees the North Central MSME division, Hadiza Shuaib leads Manufacturing 1, Nafisa Bashari directs Micro Lending, and Ibitoru Ubosi heads Infrastructure. Strategic advisory and intervention roles are further strengthened by Aderonke Akinluyi, Technical Adviser to the MD/CEO, and Uloma Ike, Divisional Head, Grants Management, in charge of all the Federal Government Grants intervention programs.
These are not just symbolic appointments. They represent operational authority across risk management, lending, governance, sustainability, infrastructure financing, and enterprise development – areas at the very heart of BOI’s mandate.
Equally noteworthy is the leadership composition of the Bank’s subsidiaries. Out of four subsidiaries, two are led by women as Managing Directors: Olayinka Mubarak at the Bank of Industry Investment Trust Company (BOITC) and Ebehiriere Ehi-Omoike at the Leasing Company of Nigeria. Additionally, Marian Ejaife serves as Deputy Managing Director of BOI Microfinance Bank. This level of representation underscores a deliberate institutional culture that recognizes competence, leadership excellence, and diversity as mutually reinforcing values.
It is therefore important to distinguish between board composition, which may reflect statutory appointment processes involving multiple external stakeholders, and the broader leadership ecosystem of the Bank, where women demonstrably hold substantial influence and responsibility. Assessing gender inclusion solely through the narrow prism of board numbers risks overlooking the lived reality of institutional leadership where women actively shape decisions, manage resources, and deliver impact daily.
READ ALSO: Inside the gender lopsidedness of BOI’s board, management
BOI remains firmly committed to gender inclusion, not only internally but also externally through financing programmes designed to expand women’s economic participation across Nigeria. The Bank’s initiatives supporting female entrepreneurs, women-led MSMEs, and inclusive industrial growth continue to produce measurable national outcomes, outcomes previously acknowledged and rightly celebrated.
We hold Premium Times in high regard as a respected platform for public accountability and informed debate. Our intention is not to contest its editorial judgment, but to enrich the conversation with comprehensive facts that reflect the full scope of women’s leadership within the Bank of Industry.
At BOI, women are not peripheral to progress; they are central to it. From executive management to subsidiary leadership and operational command centres, the Bank continues to ride on the wings of women’s power, advancing inclusive development, strengthening governance, and building a more resilient Nigerian economy.
The Bank of Industry remains open to continued engagement with the media and stakeholders in the shared pursuit of accuracy, balance, and national progress.
Written by Lanre Odukoya
Head, Media, Neuroscience, and Storytelling,
Chain Reactions Africa (Consultants to Bank of Industry)
