President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Ayo Sotinrin as the Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture, with immediate effect.
The announcement was made in a statement issued on Friday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
The statement described Sotinrin as an experienced professional with a background spanning both the private and public sectors, emphasizing his potential to strengthen agricultural financing in Nigeria.
Before his appointment, Sotinrin was the Group Chief Executive Officer of SAO Group, where he led large-scale agribusiness projects, including a 20,000-hectare oil palm plantation and major poultry, aquaculture, maize, and cassava operations in Ondo State.
He also headed SAO Capital, where he played a key role in raising over $750 million for infrastructure and development projects, including the $200 million Akure Water Supply Project.
In the public sector, he served as Special Adviser on Environment and Urban Development to the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory from 2011 to 2015.
His extensive consulting experience includes working with the World Bank, African Development Bank, DFID, and USAID on various federal and state-level projects.
President Tinubu expressed confidence in Sotinrin’s leadership, stating that his expertise in capital mobilization, agribusiness innovation, and inter-sector collaboration would help reposition the Bank of Agriculture to support food security, economic sovereignty, and rural development.
Sotinrin’s international experience includes roles at the Royal Bank of Scotland International, Deutsche Bank, and the UK Environment Agency.
He holds an Executive MBA from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, a Master’s in Engineering Business Management from Warwick University, and an Advanced Diploma in Environmental Conservation.
