Kemi Adeosun (born 9 March 1967) is the former

Finance Minister of Nigeria The minister of finance of Nigeria is a senior cabinet official in the Nigerian Federal Executive Council. The finance minister's directs the Nigerian Ministry of Finance and ensures that it operates in a transparent, accountable and efficient m ...

and former chairman of the Board of

African Export–Import Bank African Export–Import Bank, also referred to as Afreximbank or Banque Africaine d’Import-Export, is a pan-African supranational multilateral financial institution created in 1993 under the auspices of the African Development Bank. It was o ...

(AfreximBank).

Early life and education

Adeosun Kemi was born on 9 March 1967 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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 ...

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 ...

parents, both who hail from

Ogun State Ogun State is a state in southwestern Nigeria. It is bordered to the south by Lagos State and the Bight of Benin, to the east by Ondo State, and to the north by Oyo and Osun states while its western border forms part of the national borde ...

. Her father was a government

civil Engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

. She is the third of her father's four children. Adeosun Kemi earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the

University of East London University of East London (UEL) is a public university located in the London Borough of Newham, London, England, based at three campuses in Stratford, London, Stratford and London Docklands, Docklands, following the opening of University Squar ...

, a

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

located in the

borough of Newham. She also holds a

Postgraduate Diploma fILE:Prédio Pós Graduação IMECC Unicamp.jpg, The State University of Campinas, as well as many Brazilian universities, offer Postgraduate courses in Brazil A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PGD) is a postgraduat ...

in Public Financial Management from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

and has attended various executive management programmes such as leadership training at the prestigious

Wharton Business School 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 ...

. In 1994, Adeosun qualified as a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (

ICAEW The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) is a professional membership organisation that promotes, develops and supports chartered accountants and students around the world. As of December 2024, it has over 210,000 memb ...

)

Career

Kemi Adeosun began her career as an accounting assistant at

British Telecom BT Group plc (formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-li ...

, from 1989 till 1990, after which she moved to Goodman Jones, London, working as a senior audit officer from 1990 till 1993. Kemi then became the manager of Internal Audit at

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

, London and Prism Consulting from 1994 till 2000 before joining

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

, London as Senior Manager from 2000 till 2002. In 2002, She became financial controller at Chapel Hill Denham Management and subsequently, managing director in 2010. After working with Quo Vadis Partnership as managing director from 2010 to 2011, she was then appointed

's Commissioner of Finance 2011. Kemi maintained this role from 2011 to 2015. She was a key part of Governor Ibikunle Amosun's Mission to Build, which turned around economic fortunes of the state. In November 2015, Adeosun Kemi was appointed Nigeria's Minister of Finance by President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian army major general, he was the military head of state of Nigeria from 31 December 1983 to 27 Augu ...

. During the annual general meeting of Afreximbank in Abuja to commemorate its 25th anniversary, Adeosun was elected chairman of the board of the bank. Kemi Adeosun succeeded the outgoing chairman Ndagijimana Uzziel, Minister of Finance of the

Republic of Rwanda A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a state in which political power rests with the public (people), typically through their representatives—in contrast to a monarchy. Although a ...

NYSC certificate scandal

On 7 July 2018, Nigerian online newspaper ''

Premium Times ''Premium Times'' is a Nigerian online newspaper based in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The newspaper was launched in 2011. The online medium is notable for investigative journalism and reports, among other fields. Recognition * Nominated ...

'' alleged that Kemi Adeosun had illegally obtained her NYSC exemption certificate to get into public office. On 9 July, NYSC Director of Press and Public relations Adeyemi Adenike released a statement that confirmed that Adeosun legitimately submitted a request for an exemption certificate, but also stated that investigations were still ongoing to verify the approval of the exemption certificate. On 14 September 2018, Adeosun resigned as Minister of Finance in a written letter to the President due to the alleged NYSC Certificate forgery scandal. On 7 July 2021, the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court cleared Adeosun, holding that, as a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

citizen, she had not been qualified to take part in the NYSC as at the time she graduated at the age of 22 and that when she returned to the country and became a Nigerian citizen aged over 30 she was not eligible for youth service.

Political association

After officially being non-partisan throughout her career, Kemi Adeosun joined

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

's ruling party, 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 ...

(APC), on 5 May 2018.

Other activities

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...

(AfDB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2015-2018) * United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, Member of the Investment Committee (2018) *

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

, Ex-Officio Alternate Member of the Board of Governors (2015-2018)Board of Governors

Professional memberships

Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) is a professional membership organisation that promotes, develops and supports chartered accountants and students around the world. As of December 2024, it has over 210,000 memb ...

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) is a professional accountancy body in Nigeria. It is one of the two professional accountancy associations with regulatory authority in Nigeria, the other being the Association of National A ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adeosun, Kemi Living people 1967 births Buhari administration personnel Politicians from London English people of Nigerian descent Finance ministers of Nigeria Nigerian bankers Nigerian accountants Alumni of the University of East London BT Group people PwC people Alumni of the University of London Black British women politicians British financial analysts Nigerian financial analysts Female finance ministers 21st-century Nigerian politicians 21st-century British women politicians Women government ministers of Nigeria British emigrants to Nigeria Nigerian chairpersons of corporations Women corporate directors