Akinwunmi Ambode (; born 14 June 1963) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

politician who served as governor of Lagos State from 2015 to 2019. He was a civil servant for 27 years and a financial consultant before running for public office. Ambode ran for office of the Governor of Lagos State in April 2015 as a member of the

All Progressives Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, t ...

, the state's ruling party. He won the election, defeating second-place

Jimi Agbaje Olujimi Kolawole Agbaje (), popularly known as Jimi Agbaje; (born 2 March 1957), is a Nigerian politician who has unsuccessfully contested for the governor of Lagos State for four consecutive times, between 2007 and 2019. Early life Jimi Agbaj ...

of the Peoples Democratic Party by just 150,000 votes.Akinwunmi Ambode Wins Lagos Governorship Election

Channels TV Channels Television is a Nigerian independent 24-hour news and media television channel based in Lagos, Nigeria. The parent company, Channels Incorporated, was founded in 1992, a year before the Nigerian government deregulated the broadcast med ...

, 2015-04-12. Accessed 2015-04-15. He began his tenure on 29 May 2015, succeeding

Babatunde Fashola Babatunde Raji Fashola ( ; born 28 June 1963) is a Nigerian lawyer and politician who served as the federal minister of Works and Housing of Nigeria from 2019 to 2023. He was the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing (Nigeria), minister of Pow ...

. In October 2018, Ambode lost the APC gubernatorial primary election to

Babajide Sanwo-Olu Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu (born 25 June 1965) is a Nigerian politician who has served as the governor of Lagos State since 2019. Sanwo-Olu became governor under the platform of the All Progressives Congress after winning the APC gubernatoria ...

, denying him the opportunity to run for a second term. He eventually supported Sanwo-Olu's campaign that brought about a smooth transition in the state.

Early life

Akinwunmi Ambode was born on 14 June 1963 in Epe General Hospital, into the family of Festus Akinwale Ambode and Christianah Oluleye Ambode. Akinwunmi Ambode is one of ten children of his father Festus Ambode.

Education

Akinwunmi Ambode attended St. Jude's Primary School,

Ebute Metta Ebute Metta is a neighbourhood of Lagos Mainland, Lagos, in Lagos State, Nigeria. History Ebute Metta is known for the production and sale of local food and cloths. It is a very old part of Lagos State, many of its houses were built during th ...

Lagos State Lagos State (, ) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West, Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, Nigerian states, Lagos is the second List of Nigerian states by population, most populous state but the List of Nigerian states by area, smallest ...

, from 1969 to 1974, where he sat for the National Common Entrance Examinations. From 1974 to 1981, Ambode, attended Federal Government College,

Warri The city of Warri is an oil hub within South-South Nigeria and houses an annex of the Delta State Government House. Warri City is one of the major hubs of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. Warri, Udu, Okpe and Uvwie are the commercial ...

Delta State Delta is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South (Nigeria), South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named after the Niger Delta—a large part of which is in the state—the state was formed from the former Bendel State, on 27 August 1 ...

. From 1981 to 1984, he attended

University of Lagos The University of Lagos (UNILAG) is a Public university, public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria, which was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the education in Nigeria#First generation universities, first generation universities in ...

where he studied

Accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entity, economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activit ...

, graduating at the age of 21. He also has a master's degree in accounting from the

, and he qualified as a chartered accountant. Ambode was awarded the

Fulbright Program The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

scholarship for the Hubert Humphries Fellowship Programme in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. He also attended the

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

for Advanced Management Programme. Other institutions he attended for courses and programmes include

Cranfield School of Management Cranfield School of Management, established in 1967, is a business school that is part of Cranfield University in Bedfordshire, United Kingdom. Cranfield School of Management is triple accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA), EQUIS and AAC ...

Cranfield Cranfield is a village and civil parish in the west of Bedfordshire, England, situated between Bedford and Milton Keynes. It had a population of 4,909 in 2001. increasing to 5,369 at the 2011 census. The parish is in Central Bedfordshire uni ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, the Institute of Management Development, Lausanne,

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

INSEAD INSEAD ( ; French: ''Institut européen d'administration des affaires'') is a non-profit business school with locations in Europe (Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE) and North America (San Francisco, USA ...

, Singapore. Moreover, he attended the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, Cambridge, USA.

Civil service career

From 1988 to 1991, Akinwunmi Ambode was the Assistant Treasurer,

Badagry Badagry, also spelled Badagri, (Gun language, Gun: Gbagli) is a coastal town and Local Government Areas of Nigeria, Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is quite close to the city of Lagos, and located on the north bank of Po ...

local government,

, Nigeria. In 1991, he was posted to

Somolu Somolu (or Shomolu) is a local government area (LGA) in Lagos. It is located in Southwest Nigeria, North of Lagos city, and its administrative headquarters is located on Durosimi Street. Somolu Local Government is part of the Lagos East Senatoria ...

Local Government, Lagos State, as an

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...

. He has also held the position of Council Treasurer in

Shomolu Somolu (or Shomolu) is a local government area (LGA) in Lagos. It is located in Southwest Nigeria, North of Lagos city, and its administrative headquarters is located on Durosimi Street. Somolu Local Government is part of the Lagos East Senatoria ...

Local Government in later years. He also previously served as Council Treasurer at

Alimosho Alimosho is a Local Government Area in Lagos State, Nigeria with the largest population of about 4,082,900 which is according to Population 019''– Projection'' The 2006 Census says the population was 1,288,714 (but the Lagos State Governme ...

Local Government, Lagos State. In 2001, he became acting Auditor General for Local Government, Lagos State, Nigeria. This position was confirmed by the State House of Assembly. In January 2005, Ambode was appointed the permanent secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Finance. From 2006- 2012, Ambode was the accountant general for Lagos State, in charge of all the financial activities of the state and directly responsible for over 1400 accountants in the state service. Under his watch, the State Treasury Office (STO) revolutionized the way Lagos State finances were raised, budgeted, managed and planned. In his six years as the Lagos State accountant general, the state's financial performance improved visibly with the budget performing at an average of 85% annually.

Consulting career

After 27 years in the civil service, Ambode voluntarily retired in August 2012. He founded Brandsmiths Consulting Limited to provide Public Finance and Management Consulting services to government at all levels, its parastatals and agencies.

Memberships

Ambode is an active member of the Federal Government College Warri, Old Students Association (FEGOCOWOSA) and is credited with revitalizing the Lagos branch of the Association. Ambode was a two-time Chairman of the Lagos State Branch, and, until recently, was the National President of the Association, a position he held for three years. In those three years, he executed key projects in the school in conjunction with the

alumni Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

network to improve the educational and living standards of the students.

Non-profit organisation

In 2013, he founded the non-profit La Roche Leadership Foundation. Its recent goal is to install Nigerian and Lagos State flags in all government owned schools in

Personal life

In 1991, Ambode married Bolanle Patience Odukomaiya. They have twins, a boy and a girl. Ambode is a Christian.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ambode, Akinwunmi 1963 births Living people University of Lagos alumni People from Lagos State Nigerian accountants Lagos State politicians Yoruba politicians Governors of Lagos State Lagos State civil servants Nigerian Christians Harvard Kennedy School alumni