Arunma Oteh is the former Director-General of Nigeria’s Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC). She is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in business and management from Nigeria. She has been referred to as an Iron Lady by BBC News and had frivolous allegations made against her.
Early Life
Arunma was born in Abia state in eastern Nigeria and is of British\Nigerian Nationality. She spent most of her early life there before she gained admission into the university of Nsukka, Enugu State to study Computer Science. After obtaining a first-class Honors degree she went on to acquire a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. After that, she co-edited the book, African Voices, African Visions.
Career
Despite having a degree in Computer Science, Arunma started her career working for many financial institutions; she joined the African Development Bank in 1992, Worked as a Senior Investment Officer/Senior Capital Markets Officer from 1993 to 1997, and then Division Manager Investments and Trading Room from 1997 to 2001.
In the same year, she was appointed Ed African Development Bank’s Group treasurer; she was responsible for fundraising and investments in major international capital markets. She was later promoted to Vice President of corporate management at the bank in 2006.
Arunma began her career as Director-General of the Securities And Exchange Commission in Nigeria in July 2009. She was nominated by President Umaru Musa Yar’adua and she became the Director-General in January 2010 after her nomination was confirmed by the Senate.
When she had her interview with the BBC, she listed a plethora of abuses in Nigeria’s capital market including wash sales and market rigging. She said the SEC expected to charge about 200 people and entities in civil and criminal cases. Her clampdown on these abuses was met with resistance from the Nigerian rent-seeking elite but was confident due to the backing she had received from then President Goodluck Jonathan.
During her service as the Director-General of the SEC, she was accused of spending N850,000 on food shortly after she was appointed. The House Committee launched an inquiry in 2012 into the near-collapse of the capital market.
Arunma and the chairman of the committee got into a heated exchange over the focus of the hearing, leading to the chairman’s resignation from the committee after allegations that he had used money given to him for a trip to Guinea Bissau and not gone on the trip.
Arunma was placed on compulsory leave after the incident. On July 18, 2012, she was called back to resume.
In July 2015, Arunma was appointed Vice President and Treasurer of The World Bank by the President, Jim Yong Kim. During her time as Vice President, she managed the organization’s 200 billion dollar debt portfolio, as well as an asset portfolio of the same amount.
She left the World Bank in late 2018 to join St Antony’s College, Oxford University, as an academic scholar and an executive in residence at Said Business School. She was appointed chair of the Royal African Society in July 2021, taking over from Zeinab Badawi.
Achievements
Arunma Oteh has been recognised in the 2020 power list as, of the most influential people in the UK of African\African Caribbean Heritage.
In 2011, she was made Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) “in recognition of her contribution to economic development and to transforming the Nigerian Capital markets”.
She also received the “distinction in public service” award in the same year from the Commonwealth Business Council\African Business. In 2014, she won the CNBC Africa business leaders Awards (AABLA) Business Woman Of The Year category for West Africa. In 2020, Forbes listed her among Africa’s 50 most powerful women.
In 2020, Forbes listed her among “Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women” she was also recognised in the power lists of the most influential people in the UK of African/African-Caribbean Heritage.
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