Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede

Aig-Imoukhuede was born on 24 September 1966 in Ibadan, Oyo State in Western Nigeria to parents who were in the civil service.[6] He hails from Sabongida-Ora, Edo State in Southern Nigeria. He lived with his family in Lagos but went to school in Kaduna, in Northern Nigeria. He later attended St. Saviours School in Lagos and at aged 16, he enrolled to study law at University of Benin, Edo State, Nigeria. He graduated with a LLB degree in 1986 at age 20 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1987. He holds a Trium MBA, awarded jointly by the London School of Economics, New York University, and HEC Paris.[7] In 2000 he attended a three-month Executive Management Programme course at Harvard Business School.[8][6][9]

He began working as a lawyer with Continental Merchant Bank during his NYSC year in 1986. Aigboje started his banking career at Guaranty Trust Bank Plc where he resigned as Executive Director in March 2002.[4] Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede was the leader of the 2002 acquisition of Access Bank, then a fringe regional player. He was the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank till December 2013. He retired as President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2017, but he remains on the National Council as an Ex-Officio.[5] He was a Non Executive Director of Africa Finance Corporation since 2008 until June 2, 2017. He has been the Chairman of Associated Discount House Limited since December 1, 2011. He serves as a Director of Petralon Energy[10] and also serves as the Chairman of Wapic Insurance Plc and has been its Director since November 2011.[11] Aig-Imoukhuede also served as Board Chairman and Director of FMDQ OTC PLC until August 1, 2014.[12]

He was conferred with Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 2011 by then President Goodluck Jonathan of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for his contributions to the development of banking and finance. He was also awarded the National Productivity Order of Merit Award in 2009.[13] In 2011 he was inaugurated into the Ernst and Young World Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame as the Ernst & Young West Africa Entrepreneur of the Year,[14] as well as the African Banker Magazine's “African Banker of the Year” in 2013.[15][16] He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences[17] and was appointed a member of the International Advisory Board of Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government.[18][19] He is a fellow of the African Leadership Institute through the help of Aspen Institute in Colorado, USA. He is also honorary fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. In 2018, he was awarded the Honorary Doctor of Science (D.Sc) by the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria.[20]

He is the Founder and Chairman of the Africa Initiative for Governance, a partnership programme with the Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government, a scholarship scheme that sends qualified Africans to the Oxford for a Master of Public Policy degree.[21] The Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG) partnership will run for five years, from 2017/18 until 2021/22.[22] Aig-Imoukhuede is the first African Co-Chairman of the Global Business Coalition on Health (GBC Health) and the Chairman of Friends of the Global Fund – Africa (Friends Africa).[23] In 2010, he made a $1 million contribution to the Global Fund, and he has since made donations to the Global Fund through the 'Gift from Africa' campaign.

Aigboje is married to Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede and they have four children together; Aima, Zoje, Renuan (also known as Ren), and Morenike.