Seasoned banker and corporate accountant with decades of industrial experience, Onyeagwu was first appointed GMD of Zenith Bank in June 2019 and was promised a fresh tenure by the bank’s founder who doubled as his cousin, Mr. Jim Ovia.
However, before the expiration of his tenure as Zenith Bank’s CEO, Ovia unearthed a number of deals orchestrated by Onyeagwu in sync with Godwin Emefiele, the immediate past Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) whom he had considered as business partners.
The trio have been involved in several business dealings. As CBN Governor, Emefiele was involving Ovia and Onyeagwu in a lot of businesses. But things went south, when Ovia started feeling shortchanged in most of the deals.
Onyeagwu is a vastly experienced banker and financial expert, trained in A-league institutions in Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
A graduate of Accounting from Auchi Polytechnic where he obtained the Ordinary National diploma in 1984 and Higher National Diploma in 1987. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1989 while he was still undergoing the compulsory National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) post graduation and was named a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA) in 2003.
He is also an alumnus of the prestigious University of Oxford, England, from where he obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Strategy, and certificate in Macroeconomics.
Onyeagwu joined Zenith Bank Plc in 2002 as a Senior Manager, in the Internal Control and Audit Group of the bank. His professionalism, competence, integrity and commitment to the set objectives of the bank saw him rise swiftly between 2003 and 2005, first, as Assistant General Manager, then Deputy General Manager, and eventually as General Manager of the bank.
While his competence is never in doubt, Ovia on realizing that the closeness of Onyeagwu and Emefiele was not in his best business interests, settled for Dame (Dr) Adaora Umeoji as the bank’s new GMD.
Aware of the imminent announcement of Umeoji for the plum seat, Onyeagwu and Emefiele moved to stop Ovia but their efforts were too little, too late.
Dame Adaora Umeoji whose tenure kicks off on June 1, 2024, is the first female GMD/CEO since the inception of the bank, and her appointment is consistent with the bank’s executive transition tradition, succession plan, and strategy of grooming leaders from within.
Prior to her appointment, Dr. Umeoji was the Deputy Managing Director of the bank since October 28, 2016 and has close to 30 years cognate banking experience of which twenty-six (26) years has been with Zenith Bank.
She is an alumnus of the prestigious Harvard Business School where she attended the Advanced Management Program (AMP) and an alumnus of Columbia Business School with a Certificate in the Global Banking Program.
She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Jos, a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and a First-Class honors in Law from Baze University, Abuja.
She also holds a Master of Laws from the University of Salford, United Kingdom, a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Calabar, and also a doctorate in business administration from Apollos University, USA.