AKINWUNMI AMBODE
INTRODUCTION
Akinwunmi Ambode (born June 14, 1963) is
an accountant, an administrator and a public
finance management expert. He is the Chief
Executive Officer of Brandsmiths Consulting
Limited – a firm that specializes in public
sector finance management. Ambode was
formerly the Accountant-General of Lagos
State, Nigeria, and held many sensitive
financial positions in the Lagos State
government in a 27-year career in the Lagos
State Civil Service. He is a Fellow of the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria
(ICAN) and a Member of the Nigerian
Institute of Management. He is the founder
of La Roche Leadership Foundation, a non-
profit organization focused on developing
the next generation of leaders. He is married
to Bolanle Patience Ambode (nee
Odukomaiya) and they are blessed with
children.
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION
Akinwunmi was born on June 14, 1963 at the
Epe General Hospital, Epe, Lagos, as the sixth
of ten children. His late father, Festus
Akinwale Ambode was a teacher while his
mother, Christianah Oluleye Ambode (nee
Oresanya) was an entrepreneur who ran a
thriving sewing business in her prime. In
1967, when Akin was still four years old, his
father moved to the mainland part of Lagos
with the family and continued his teaching
career until his death in 1981. Akinwunmi
Ambode began his education at St. Jude’s
Primary School, Ebutte Meta, Lagos, Nigeria
in 1969. In 1974, while still in Primary 5, he
sat for the National Common Entrance
Examinations and was admitted to Federal
Government College, Warri in the same year.
Ambode spent 7 years in Warri, where he
completed his Ordinary and Advanced
Levels and had the distinction of achieving
the second best result in all of West Africa in
the Higher School Certificate Examinations
in 1981. He was on the school’s Hockey and
Cricket teams and was part of the then
Bendel State Cricket team while still a
student.
Ambode proceeded to University of Lagos
where he studied Accounting, graduating at
the age of 21 in 1984. He completed his
mandatory[National Youth Service Corps
year serving with the Central Bank of
Nigeria, Sokoto, Sokoto State, where he
started his relationship with the Public
Service.
CIVIL SERVICE CAREER
After his NYSC year, Ambode commenced his
career at the Lagos State Waste Disposal
Board (now LAWMA) as Accountant Grade II.
He enrolled for Institute of Chartered
Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) exams and at
the same time was awarded a Federal
Government Scholarship to pursue a Masters
Degree in Accounting at the University of
Lagos. By the time he was 24, Ambode had
qualified as a Chartered Accountant and had
completed his Masters Degree programme in
Accounting, specializing in Financial
Management.
His career was fast-tracked and in 1988,
Akinwunmi Ambode was appointed the
Assistant Treasurer, Badagry Local
Government. In 1991, he was posted to
Shomolu Local Government as Auditor. He
was later deployed to Alimosho Local
Government as Council Treasurer. Ambode
was posted back to Shomolu as Council
Treasurer and later on to Mushin Local
Government as Council Treasurer. He criss-
crossed many Local Government Councils in
different roles in a 10-year period and got a
first-hand experience of the direct impact of
governance on the citizenry.
In 1998, Ambode was awarded the US
Fulbright Scholarship for the Hubert H.
Humphrey Fellowship program, in Boston
University, Massachusetts, USA. His
Fellowship Year was spent studying Public
Leadership with emphasis on Finance and
Accounting. During this programme Ambode
had professional internships at The Federal
Reserve Bank of Boston, the Cabinet Office of
Administration and Finance (Governor’s
Office), City of Boston Treasury Office as well
as with the World Bank and IMF.
On his return from the programme, Ambode
became acting AuditorGeneral for Local
Government. This position was confirmed by
the State House of Assembly in 2001.
In January 2005, Ambode was redeployed to
mainstream public service as the permanent
secretary of the Ministry of Finance. By
February 2006, Ambode was given the added
responsibility ofaccountant general for Lagos
State, in charge of all the financial activities
of the state and directly responsible for over
1400 accountants in the state service. Under
his watch, the State Treasury Office (STO)
revolutionized the way Lagos State finances
were raised, budgeted, managed and
planned. In his six years as the Lagos State
accountant general, the state's financial
performance improved visibly with the
budget performing at a remarkable average
of 85% annually. Ambode believes that
"public financial management is about
ensuring that public money is well spent and
it is made to stretch as far as possible. It
provides leaders and public-sector managers
with information to make decisions and to
know if they are using resources effectively.
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
Ambode is a very active member of the
Federal Government College, Warri Old
Students Association (FEGOCOWOSA) and is
credited with revitalizing the Lagos branch
of the Association. Ambode was a two-time
chairman of the Lagos State Branch, and,
until recently, was the National President of
the Association, a position he held for three
years. In those three years, he executed key
projects in the school in conjunction with the
alumni network to improve the educational
and living standards of the students.
THE PUBLIC FINANCE CONSULTANT
After 27 years in the civil service, Ambode
voluntarily retired in August 2012. He
founded Brandsmiths Consulting Limited to
provide Public Finance and Management
Consulting services to government at all
levels, its parastatals and agencies.
Brandsmiths, in collaboration withPrice
Waterhouse Coopers, has trained
government accountants and finance
personnel to prepare them for the cut-over
to the International Public Sector Accounting
System (IPSAS) which is to become effective
in 2015.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
His belief in mentoring and passion for
passing on leadership skills gave birth to La
Roche Leadership Foundation , which he
founded in 2012. This is a non-profit
organization that has a mandate to develop
the educational and leadership skills of
young Nigerians, to inculcate in them
leadership values as a way of grooming
future leaders in all spheres of life. La Roche
is presently spearheading an initiative, ‘The
Flags Project’, to install Nigerian and Lagos
State flags in all government owned schools
in Lagos State. The Foundation has also
donated tools to technical colleges to support
training of artisans.

okay...peform or take it to heaven

Our next Governor Amen

see qualifications eh wo...at least this one has certificateses
SaiAmbo
Eko o ni baje o

Good for him