Dressed in a floral top on a long denim skirt, nothing gave her identity away. There was no police orderly, protocol officer or aide clutching any of her items. She didn’t cut the picture of a commissioner. She held on to her Chanel bag and politely said hello.

To Kemi Adeosun, the Ogun State commissioner for Finance, life should not be so formal. “Fortunately, there is no room for a retinue of staff where I work. Though when I started as a commissioner in Ogun State, I was shocked to see men trying to carry my bag just because I am a commissioner. What! I simply told them that my bag is part of my dressing and God gave me hands to carry it. In England, you do everything and would not rely on people to do that for you,” she said.

Born and bred in London, her father was a civil servant and she is the third of four children. A graduate of Economics from the University of East London, she was a senior manager at the Price Waterhouse Coopers, London. She is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, England and Wales.

With a good job in her kitty, why did she return to Nigeria? She confessed that she needed to secure her home and have her family intact.
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“I hardly came home except on holidays. Nothing gave me the feeling that I would ever live here,” the mother of three said. But her 20-year-old marriage saw her doing the unthinkable. According to her, her husband’s business brought him more to Lagos. “He was spending a lot of time in Nigeria and by 2002; I just thought the whole family should be living together. So, we moved. When I notified them in my office that I was coming to Nigeria, they were convinced that it was not going to work. In fact, I was asked to keep my job open and return to it, in case things didn’t work here,” she stated.

She belongs to the school of thought, where everything is possible. Her mind was made up. “I knew it was just a question of adjustment. I reasoned: if Chinese, Indians and other nationals come here and are coping, why wouldn’t I in my fatherland? So, I came. I would have retained my job at Price Water Cooper in Nigeria but I never wanted a job that would make me shuttle from one state to the other. So, I joined Denham Management as a financial controller and I rose to become the managing director. In 2008, we merged with Chapel Hill but I left in 2010. I wanted to be an entrepreneur,” she said.

That gingered the personal finance planning programme she organised for women. A newspaper columnist for sometime, Adeosun, who was the Managing Director, Quo Vadis Partnership for two years, recalled how she came about the programme: “When I returned from London, I discovered most Nigerian women don’t have anything! A large percentage carry designer bags, wear labels but live on credit. Some can’t even lend you N100,000! Meanwhile, she wears clothes and accessories worth hundreds of thousands! This was unlike our mothers, who built houses and had thriving businesses. So, I started running seminars and teachings on personal financial planning. Aside the column, I also had programmes in churches educating women on how to save money. Though I have stopped the column due to time constraint, I still do the teachings at fora whenever I have the time.”

Wondering how she clinched the finance portfolio in Governor Ibikunle Amosun cabinet?

According to her, it was never on her mind to have a job like such.

“In 2010, a mentor, who is a friend of the governor called me and said the governor wanted to see me,” she reminisced.

“He mentioned a job on finance but I replied that I wasn’t interested in any political appointment. He insisted and I went. I just wanted to get there, see the governor, thank him for considering me and reject the offer. But by the time I heard him talk about his plans for the state and his zeal (he is also an accountant); I changed my mind and took up the job,” she added.

But nothing prepared her for what laid ahead of her appointment. Was she frightened? “In fact, I kept asking myself, God! What have I done? The financial mess this government inherited was unthinkable! There were all sorts of debts- from banks to contractors, pensions etc. The funds available just would not go round. I almost cried one day when a pensioner walked into my office and begged me to pay her. She had cancer and was due for surgery in India but she didn’t have money. This and more made me determined that I have to utilise my skills and improve the financial health of my state. Thank God, we have made a lot of progress in getting the state back to her feet financially but it was tough!” she answered.

The challenges, she said, were enormous but she was able to overcome. “First, it was getting a large percentage to believe that a woman is the commissioner for finance. One day, I was summoned by the governor to see a contractor. When I entered, the look on the man’s face said it all — she can’t possibly be the commissioner. Considering my hair, make-up, suit and jewellery, he was confused. There were more episodes but now, everyone is accustomed to the idea. Whenever I went for the federal allocation committee meeting, I would be asked if I was representing the commissioner. Imagine! That was the question women would ask me! I would reply, “I’m the commissioner.” Aside that, other challenges were: insufficient funds and getting the citizens to pay taxes. Already, the government has started addressing that and we have started a civic education on tax in schools.”

The 45-year-old (she will be 46 in March), allows herself to be educated on matters she is ignorant of. “We learn from one another,” she stated.

“The Yoruba language I speak sounds like Chinese to others. I am from Ogun Waterside and we must make things work in our state. I tell my team to correct me whenever I’m wrong because there is so much ‘Yes ma’ here. It’s not like that abroad. That I’m a commissioner does not make me so superior that I would not be told the truth,” she added.

Despite her enthusiasm at what she does, life as a career woman, a mother (her kids are age 19, 16, and six) and a wife could be hectic. “I work in Abeokuta and there are days I don’t go to sleep until 2am. Even when I’m so tired and really want to go home, you look at your boss, the governor, still awake, energetic and asking questions. This does not stop him from calling you at 7.00am for more information! Here, it’s work and work. I have learnt to juggle things and like other women in Nigeria, I cope.

“Fortunately, my children are not here but my husband is and I still have to be the woman he married 20 years ago. Luckily, he is very understanding and not intimidated in anyway. He is not one who will put me in the shadow,” she said.

Now, let’s talk style with Adeosun. She warned that she is not as fashionable as most people think. “First, know that I’m not a designer freak. My style is easy and I wear what I am comfortable with. I don’t go for labels either. It doesn’t do anything to me. I thought I liked jewellery but now that I’m in Nigeria, I know I don’t. I could wear one for a week while some change theirs everyday! I love it when they do but I can’t do it. With me, it’s simplicity- no nails and minimum make-up. I am comfortable being me. Though I am more conscious of my appearance; I make my hair often, wear more of suits and tie Iro and Buba unlike when I was in London, I still believe in moderation.”

Any time for leisure? She answered in the affirmative but with a clause: “I juggle things to have time for my family but that robs me of my social life. I hardly attend parties. But I still write, read and spend quality time with my family.”


source: http://www.punchng.com/spice/im-not-a-designer-freak-kemi-adeosun/

Linked in Profile: https://ng.linkedin.com/pub/kemi-adeosun/26/2bb/bb7/

If you feel she is not the type of technocrat we need now then present the CV of a possible alternative.

watching

Cool! Nice profile but its all about results not the profile.

BTW, her name is on the list but not yet assign a portfolio. OP! Where did you get your own finance minister portfolio from?

No picture(s)?

Gud 4 u.....

This woman go sabi steal eeh.. See her fishy eyes

Obasanjo girl
Lai Muhammad minister of information, dude will finish opposition with grammar.
Amaechi - Niger Delta to handle Wike, Asari & co

I would like to see our finance minister actually tidy up our finances and not looking to please foreign institutions

have they read out their portfolios.. how are u sure.

Ok

You mean Minister of State for Finance?

I like the part where she said she will take corrections from her team when she's wrong. That's the team spirit that most of our former leaders lack. Their decisions can't be questioned cos they believe they know everything. I think she will make a good finance minister.

OBY-EZEKWESILI how far? How market na...

Ngige represented your state.

Ehyaaa... just wait and be patient... another batch of ministerial list is on the way. Sorry sha.

Obiagelli:
I would like to see our finance minister actually tidy up our finances and looking to please foreign institutions

She is soulful, motherly,wifely.......a person that view issue from a humanitarian perspective going by her interview. Is she good enough as minister of finance? NO. If I'm the President she will be heading ministry of women affair.

lol Yorubas are already Positioning Fashola-minister for works and this unknwon Kemi as minister of finance,It is as if you have not learnt anything at all from Buhari!!! those juicy portfolios are strictly reserved for Abo.kis !! better back out

bonechamberlain:
have they read out their portfolios.. how are u sure.

Review the profile and compare with others on the list who else has a profile of someone that looks like a Finance Minister. Moreover her profile and attitude speaks volumes.

No wonder She even appeared on Ogun States list of proposed commissioners for the second time.

What I am saying in essence is that there is no other finance expert on the list and the President would not want to leave appointment of Finance Minister until second batch.

You mean the said criminal??
Why Amosun is afraid of her
- Why she is called ‘The Diezani’ of Ogun State
By Kemisola Adebajo
Careless talk costs lives. Sometimes, it renders a man a
pitiful talkative and clown. As for being garrulous, well, at
the age four, with colourful frocks and wooden dolls, most
little girls are talkative. As they evolve, many of them
grow out of it but not Kemi Adeosun, the Ogun State
former Commissioner of Finance. Like an underage girl,
Adeosun opens her mouth to blather not minding the
pitiful words she utters.
Curiously, however, Kemi has been telling anyone who
cares to listen that she has been nominated by Governor
Ibikunle Amosun for the ministerial position as the
Minister of Finance or the head honcho of FIRS. Her
friends have been popping champagne on her behalf. But
pray, a careful consideration of her past utterances vis-a-
vis her current actions reveals that she is hardly what she
professed to be. Kemi lied. More worrisomely, the dark
flame of her vanity is gradually rising to the fierce lure and
perverted prod of high office. She hides her vanity beneath
a veneer of humility...but at odd moments—in the exciting
company of her bosom friends, in the folds of a wispy
day-dream or the middle of a friendly and feel-good
banter, she betrays her lust for reverence and acclaim.
For instance, she hardly engages in conversations with
her friends without making reference to the so-called
nomination by Amosun.
Interestingly, there is infinite wile in the heart and smile of
a painted devil. When the painted devil is a gorgeous
woman, it takes a discerning mind and clinical intellect to
see through her plots and sidestep her maneuverings. The
eternal coupling of the criminal and the hypocrite
manifests in the soul of a woman with a dark heart. Such
woman presents a colossal evil of sort; while her
penchant for crime confront society with the perplexity of
radical evil; her hypocrisy and flagrant disregard for the
truth, establishes her as really rotten to the core. You
couldn’t have forgotten so soon how she left Bolaji
Balogun’s ChapelHill in a very controversial manner.
That's a story for another day.
If by virtue of her sass and unrivalled wiles, she wins the
heart of Amosun, she succeeds in turning him into her
parlour pet and gets him to wag his tail in utter
submission to her craziest whim. If she is devious
enough, she exploits her position to amass great fortune
for herself, often at the state's expense. With unparalleled
dexterity and finesse, she wields money like a utility
weapon; sometimes like a hideous cloak, often like a
deadly dagger. She adds inordinate vile to her already
chilling nature and thus becomes terror to the most
valiant of men in Ogun State Civil Service.
She could ruin a man with an imperceptible smile. Yes,
Kemi is as scary as that. And men and women who had
been on the receiving end of her Machiavellian and
ruthless plots have only gory stories to share.
There is no gainsaying Kemi is manically haughty and
high-handed. Many of her staff claim that she is a control
freak who brooks no confrontation from anyone no matter
how highly placed the fellow is; once you cross her path
or incite her wrath, you are get in serious trouble and she
is always supported by Governor Ibikunle.
The Capital investigations revealed that so tenacious and
suffocating was her hold on Ibikunle that the latter
couldn't dare cross the former Finance Commissioner.
She is to Ibikunle Amosun what Diezani Madueke was to
former President Goodluck Jonathan. Mess around with
her at your own peril. Top government officials catch cold
whenever she sneezes. It seems that Kemi is on a
mission to rub it in the face of whoever crosses her path
that she is the favoured aide of an incumbent governor. In
fact, commissioners and permanent secretaries are said
to dread her so much that they avoid treading her path.
Little wonder, they worship the ground she treads while
praying and hoping that they don’t incur her wrath
because her word is law in Ogun state.



thecapital.ng/index.php/home/2953-the-curious

Seems to be another okonjo iwela! This dollars and pounds peeps sef!

chukwudi44:
lol Yorubas are already Positioning Fashola-minister for works and this unknwon Kemi as minister of finance,It is as if you have not learnt anything at all from Buhari!!! those juicy portfolios are strictly reserved for Abo.kis !! better back out

It is not a Yoruba thing it is simply doing a critical analysis of the list and fitting people into their areas of core competence. Will Abdulrahman Dambazzau be the minister of Finance or Amaechi or Fashola or Ngige or Ogbeh or Lai Mohammed . It is all about thinking and reviewing based on past and present competence in line with the president's vision who is likely to fit where.

You can take the following to the bank.

1. Attorney General - Abubakar Malami
2. Minister of Finance - Kemi Adeosun
3. Minister of Defence - Abdulrahman Dambazzau

I will add others as I review their profile and Cv's.

These are technocrats in their areas. Forget the politics people may want to play.

kemooo

This woman's elevation is a tad worrying, in my view.
Now while I am not one easily given to tittle-tattle , I have been reading and hearing things which jars the mind.

Ah well, since patience is what the occasion demands, let's see how the ducks get aligned going forward.

deking:


It is not a Yoruba thing it is simply doing a critical analysis of the list and fitting people into their areas of core competence. Will Abdulrahman Dambazzau be the minister of Finance or Amaechi or Fashola or Ngige or Ogbeh or Lai Mohammed . It is all about thinking and reviewing based on past and present competence in line with the president's vision who is likely to fit where.

You can take the following to the bank.

1. Attorney General - Abubakar Malami
2. Minister of Finance - Kemi Adeosun
3. Minister of Defence - Abdulrahman Dambazzau

I will add others as I review their profile and Cv's.

These are technocrats in their areas. Forget the politics people may want to play.

SO NA ONLY YORUBA SABI TO MAN THE JUICY POSITIONS BAA? FASHOLA-WORKS,KEMI-FINANCE!!! TELL ME SOMETHING!!! BETER FORGET ABOUT THOSE TWO POSITIONS AS THEY ARE STRICTLY FOR ABOKIS

chukwudi44:
lol Yorubas are already Positioning Fashola-minister for works and this unknwon Kemi as minister of finance,It is as if you have not learnt anything at all from Buhari!!! those juicy portfolios are strictly reserved for Abo.kis !! better back out

Do you have any moment in a day when you experience joy no matter how short lived the moment is?

You were one of those screaming how PMB will disappoint Fashola, Amaechi and Fayemi. Now your refrain is that they will miss out on 'juicy' positions. How dark and low can you go?

Of what benefit was NOI as finance minister to you or your clan? How much accrued to you from Stella Oduah and Chidoka's stints as aviation ministers?

What exactly do you benefit from always appearing on the wrong side of history? Why not pray that wherever they're appointed to head, they will succeed for the good of Nigeria?

And if you consider yourself non Nigerian, why not keep mute over Nigerian issues?

theV0ice:


Do you have any moment in a day when you experience joy no matter how short lived the moment is?

You were one of those screaming how PMB will disappoint Fashola, Amaechi and Fayemi. Now your refrain is that they will miss out on 'juicy' positions. How dark and low can you go?

Of what benefit was NOI as finance minister to you or your clan? How much accrued to you from Stella Oduah and Chidoka's stints as aviation ministers?

What exactly do you benefit from always appearing on the wrong side of history? Why not pray that wherever they're appointed to head, they will succeed for the good of Nigeria?

And if you consider yourself non Nigerian, why not keep mute over Nigerian issues?

Sharap!! That woman is an alleged thief under Amosun! Google her name!! She is known for her classless and high handedness!!

I just dey observe from my corner...

patrick89:


Sharap!! That woman is an alleged thief under Amosun! Google her name!! She is known for her classless and high handedness!!

Shut up if you're bereft of anything sensible to contribute. I don't know her and i couldn't careless about her. Forward her case to efcc if you can and stop displaying childishness online

chukwudi44:


SO NA ONLY YORUBA SABI TO MAN THE JUICY POSITIONS BAA? FASHOLA-WORKS,KEMI-FINANCE!!! TELL ME SOMETHING!!! BETER FORGET ABOUT THOSE TWO POSITIONS AS THEY ARE STRICTLY FOR ABOKIS

Where were you when GEJ appointed Onoleme-works(south south), Diezani-petroleum (south south), Ngozi Okonjo-Finance (south south). It's cool for GEJ to favour a particular section of the country with juicy appointments but very bad if PMB does the same. Shame!

seunmsg:



Where were you when GEJ appointed Onoleme-works(south south), Diezani-petroleum (south south), Ngozi Okonjo-Finance (south south). It's cool for GEJ to favour a particular section of the country with juicy appointments but very bad if PMB does the same. Shame!

don't mind him. dt guy na hypocrite

theV0ice:


Shut up if you're bereft of anything sensible to contribute. I don't know her and i couldn't careless about her. Forward her case to efcc if you can and stop displaying childishness online

What he accused her of where highhandedness and Classlessness. None of which is under the jurisdiction of EFCC.

FCT - Babatunde Fashola
Niger Delta - Rotimi Amaechi
Infomation - Lai Mohammed
Defence - Abdulrahman Dambazzau
Foreign Affairs - Kayode Fayemi
Agriculture - Audu Ogbeh
...