Tinubu appoints Opeyemi Agbaje as PenCom chairman

From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja

President Bola Tinubu has appointed a former Executive Director at Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), Opeyemi Agbaje as the new chairman of the National Pension Commission (PenCom).

His appointment comes after the Nigerian Labour Congress last week, issued a seven-day ultimatum asking Tinubu to immediately reconstitute a governing board for the Commission.

The workers’ body, which also demanded refund of all allegedly diverted workers’ contributions from the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) threatened industrial action if the government failed to grant its requests.

In a statement issued by it’s President Joe Ajaero, NLC expressed concern over the continued non-constitution of Governing Board of the National Pension Commission, noting that the vacuum contravenes the PENCOM Act and strips away statutory tripartite oversight.

Agbaje is a finance, investment and strategy professional with a multi-disciplinary career encompassing law, banking and finance, academia and consulting in the areas of economy, policy, business strategy and leadership, with over 40 years of post-graduation experience.

He is recognised as an expert and thought-leader in business, economy and policy. He graduated with honours in law in 1985 from the then University of Ife and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986. He obtained a Master’s degree in law (LLM) from the University of Lagos in 1989, an MBA from IESE Business School, Spain in 1997, and is close to completing a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from Eaton Business School.

Agbaje has worked in the law firm of Kola Awodein and Co, SAN and the legal department of First Bank of Nigeria Plc in the 1980s, before entering mainstream banking and finance as a foundation staff of GTBank in 1990, where he rose to Assistant General Manager in eight years.

Opeyemi Agbaje enjoyed a banking career, rising to Executive Director before voluntarily exiting the industry in 2004. Since 2004, he has worked as Founder and CEO of successful indigenous business consultancy, RTC Advisory Services Ltd, focusing on economy, policy, strategy and organisational transformation.

From 1999, Opeyemi taught business strategy and The Environment of Business at Lagos Business School on a part-time basis, briefly joining the full-time faculty and serving as Senior Fellow (Associate Professor equivalent) and Head of Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship. He continues to date to teach at the Business School.

Agbaje is a well-known and authoritative policy commentator writing the respected “Economy, Polity, Society” column on Businessday Newspaper from 2006 to 2019 and producing and hosting the policy-focused TV Show, “The Policy Council” on Channels Television from 2011 to 2015.

He served on the board of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) for two terms from 2011 to 2019, and briefly as CEO of the Ogun State Security Trust Fund from 2019 to 2021 before reverting to the private sector. Opeyemi Agbaje has closely analysed the evolution of Nigeria’s pension sector from the inception of the Contributory Pension System and served as an internal consultant and Principal in charge of Asset Management and Pensions at Nigeria’s private equity firm, Capital Alliance, in 2005, as the firm evaluated opportunities in the emerging pension sector.

Agbaje is married with adult children, and is a Knight of John Wesley (KJW) in the Methodist Church and a humble philanthropist.