By Uche Usim
The Bank of Industry (BOI) is one of Nigeria’s oldest and largest development financial institutions, but the appointment of Olukayode Pitan as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer in 2017 marked the beginning of a new era.
A versatile banker who has carved a niche for himself in investment banking, Pitan is known to have structured project finance for major institutions, especially in the oil, gas and powers sectors; and participated in many innovative transactions in the Nigerian Capital Market.
Under his leadership, BOI has consistently delivered on its mandate to transform Nigeria’s industrial sector by providing long-term financing and counter-cyclical loans diversified across industries, such as agro-processing, gender businesses and renewable energy among others.
These achievements earned him a reappointment for another five years in May 2022.
In the last five years, BOI, under the watch of Olukayode Pitan, has promoted financial inclusion by supporting the expansion of over three million enterprises, thereby creating over seven million jobs.
He led the BOI’s successful foray into the international market and has raised about 3.8 billion dollars in the last four years.
These include a 750 million dollars syndicated medium-term loan in 2018; a one billion Euro syndicated loan in March 2020; a one billion dollar syndicated loan in December 2020; and a 750 million Euro Senior Eurobond, the first by any African national DFI, in February 2022.Since his appointment in 2017, BOI’s balance sheet has grown significantly from N713 billion to about N1.7 trillion as of December 2021.
Prior to his current role, Pitan served as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of First lnterstate Bank; Executive Director at Unity Bank; Executive Director at FSB lnternational Bank; and pioneer MD/CEO of ENSEC – a banking unit of FSB lnternational Bank that specialises in the energy sector in Nigeria.
He graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) in Economics as a UAC scholar from the University of Ibadan in 1982 and obtained a Master’s Degree in International Management as a Rotary International Scholar from the American Graduate School of International Management, Thunderbird Campus at Glendale, Arizona.
He is a Fellow of several professional organisations, including Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, Institute of Credit Administration of Nigeria, and Nigeria Economic Society.