An accomplished economist, chartered accountant and foremost banker, Tokunbo Abiru has risen to the top of his career as a finance professional and banker and now seeks the mandate of the good people of Lagos East Senatorial District to serve as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He has previously served with distinction in the government of Lagos State as the Honourable Commissioner for Finance between 2011 and 2013 before returning to First Bank of Nigeria plc as Executive Director. He was appointed by the CBN as GMD of Skye Bank and led the spectacular rescue of Skye Bank and its transformation to the new Polaris Bank.
Tokunbo Abiru was born on March 25, 1964. An indigene of Ikorodu, he attended Government College Lagos, Baptist Academy Lagos for advanced level studies and Lagos State University graduating in economics in 1988. He holds a B. Sc Economics and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and Honourary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN). He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and Lagos Business School executive education programmes and is happily married to Mrs Feyisola Abiru, CEO of H & Y Ltd, an industrialist with a thriving furniture industry in Ikorodu.
His working career took him through several institutions including Deloitte (formerly Akintola Williams and Co), Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, First Atlantic Trust Bank and First Bank of Nigeria Plc before his appointment as Lagos State Commissioner for Finance in 2011 under the administration of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN.
As Commissioner for Finance, he led the state’s floating of an N80billion bond earning it the EMEA Finance Best Local Currency Bond Award for 2012. His efforts led to a significant increase in Land Use Charge generated by the state government and the widening of the tax net to improve revenue generation by 2013. He returned to First Bank of Nigeria Plc in 2013 as Executive Director after a very successful two-year period in the Lagos State Cabinet.
He was appointed in July 2016 by the CBN as Group Managing Director to lead the turnaround of Skye Bank in a bid to preserve the stability of the Nigerian Financial System, a critical assignment which he successfully accomplished leading to the birth of the new and transformed Polaris Bank Ltd. He has successfully positioned Polaris Bank as a enabled and systemically important Tier 2 bank in Nigeria.
Adetokunbo Abiru seeks to take his lifelong and career wide record of excellence into the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the nation’s highest legislative body, deploying his competences in banking and finance, public financial management, corporate finance, economy, industry and commerce, accounting and technology to the development of Lagos State and the Nigerian federation.
Adetokunbo Mukhail Abiru is an indigene of Ikorodu and is a quiet but acknowledged philanthropist who has contributed consistently and immensely to poverty alleviation, empowerment, and community development in different parts of Lagos State.
In his sparkling career across Deloitte, Guaranty Trust Bank, First Atlantic Trust Bank, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Lagos State Government, Skye Bank and Polaris Bank, Abiru has consistently exhibited resourcefulness, integrity, innovation, accountability, and a commitment to excellence.
