Olamide Adeniji
President Muhammadu Buhari, recently appointed an Economist, Dr. Lamido Yuguda, as the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This brings to an end, the 2-year long controversy surrounding the office of the DG, SEC.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), a CFA charter holder, and also holds a Certificate in Financial Asset Management and Engineering from the Swiss Finance Institute, Geneva, Switzerland.
A member of the Board of Securities and Exchange Commission, Yuguda served in different capacities at the apex bank for 32 years, after which he voluntarily retired in 2016.
Yuguda during his days at the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, successfully upgraded the CBN’s in-house fixed-income trading and settlement capabilities and left a state-of-the-art portfolio management system as his legacy.
The appointment followed the necessary procedure, which required the approval of the Senate, requesting the house to ratify the appointment of Dr Lamido Yuguda as Commission’s new DG.
Yuguda’s pedigree as an economist, banker and investment manager, with over 30 years’ experience in financial services is overwhelming.
He began his career in the banking sector as far back as 1985, when he moved to the Banking Supervision Department and had the task of handling bank licensing and prudential regulations.
His responsibilities included managing Nigeria’s external debt service, as well as managing the investment of the CBN’s external reserves in a liquid portfolio of cash, fixed-term deposits, and foreign government treasury bills.
Dr. Yuguda also headed the Debt Conversion Committee to manage the Nigerian Debt Conversion Programme in 1988, after which he had a brief stint at the Foreign Operations Department in 1992. This led him to the post of Senior Manager of the Investment Office.
Yuguda was seconded to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, the USA in 1997, as an economist in the Africa Department. In this position, Yuguda assessed the economic policies and management of balance of payment support programmes in IMF member countries.
After a brilliant and impressive stay at the USA, Dr. Yuguda returned to the CBN in 2001. He led a team of staff to restructure and diversify the CBN’s growing FOREX reserve portfolio. Together with this team, a new investment policy was adopted with the introduction of new asset classes, the appointment of a reputable global custodian and asset managers.
By 2010, he became Director of the Reserve Management Department. He is credited with the strong risk-aware investment culture in the department, and also instilled a disciplined approach to investment evaluation.
Yuguda has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he graduated in 1983. He later obtained a Master’s degree in Money, Banking, and Finance from the University of Birmingham, UK, in 1991.
He has attended leadership training at notable business schools like Harvard, INSEAD, IMD, Saïd, Wharton, Haas, and London.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), a CFA charter holder, and also holds a Certificate in Financial Asset Management and Engineering from the Swiss Finance Institute, Geneva, Switzerland.
