MR. ADEBAYO OLAWALE EDUN
MINISTER OF FINANCE
Since 2023
Mr. Adebayo Olawale Edun has over four decades of experience at national and international levels in merchant banking, corporate finance, economics, and international finance.
Post the Nigerian 2023 elections, Mr. Edun was one of the only two candidates nominated by the President-elect into the Presidential Transition Council. He has since been appointed Special Adviser to the President on Monetary Policy, a critical role that requires a deep understanding of economic principles, financial markets, and global trends.
Mr. Edun holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of London and a Master’s in Development Economics from the University of Sussex, England. Between 1980 and 1986, he worked at Chase Merchant Bank (later Continental) in Lagos, where he rose to Head of Treasury and Deputy Head of Corporate Finance. He was responsible for the bank’s treasury and money market activities and had significant responsibility for capital markets and financial advisory on behalf of the local subsidiaries and affiliates of major multinational companies. During his time at Chase, Mr. Edun gained international experience while on secondment to the Wall Street firms of Lehman Brothers and Chase Manhattan Capital Markets in New York, USA. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers.
He joined the World Bank/IFC in Washington DC, USA, through the elite Young Professionals Programme in September 1986. At the World Bank, he worked on economic and financial packages for several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic and Trinidad, as well as Indonesia and India. In 1989, Mr. Edun returned to Nigeria as Executive Director from the inception of Investment Banking & Trust Company Limited, now Stanbic IBTC Plc.
In 1994, he founded Denham Management Limited. Having spearheaded the company’s growth, Mr. Edun responded to a call to civic duty in 1999 by accepting an appointment as Honourable Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State, a position he was appointed to for an unprecedented two terms.
Mr. Edun became Chairman of Chapel Hill Denham Group in March 2008. He sits on the boards of numerous companies, including Vintage Press Limited – publisher of The Nation newspaper – and AFKAR Printing and Publishing Company Limited – one of the leading printing and publishing companies in Nigeria.
In 2016, he was appointed Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Ogoni Trust Fund for the environmental clean-up of Ogoniland in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria by the then president, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari; a position he held until 2020. In January 2023, he was again appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari, as a member of the pioneering Board of Directors who will oversee the restructuring of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated.
Furthermore, Mr. Edun founded West Africa Ratings Limited, a debt securities rating company which, following several corporate combinations, is now Global Credit Ratings (GCR). The company recently became a subsidiary of Moody’s Investors Service, arguably the world’s leading international credit rating agency.
Mr. Edun is an International Trustee of the London-based Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Award for Young People Nigeria. He is also the President of the Repton Boxing Club, London, and the Lagos Boxing Hall of Fame Chairman. This registered non-profit youth development organisation runs amateur boxing with the Lagos Amateur Boxing Association in Lagos.