Zenith Bank Plc has appointed Engr. Mustafa Bello as its new Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. The appointment received regulatory approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and was ratified by shareholders during the bank’s Annual General Meeting held on May 5, 2026.
The bank described the appointment as a deliberate move to strengthen board continuity and uphold its reputation for sound corporate governance. Engr. Bello is no stranger to Zenith Bank’s boardroom — he joined the board in December 2017 and has since served on key committees, including the Board Audit and Compliance Committee, the Board Governance, Nomination and Remuneration Committee, and most recently as Chairman of the Board Risk Management Committee.
Bello brings over four decades of leadership experience spanning Nigeria’s public and private sectors. He served as Minister of Commerce under President Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2002, during which he shaped Nigeria’s World Trade Organization-compliant trade policy and championed the digitisation of the Corporate Affairs Commission’s business registration process. He later served as Executive Secretary and CEO of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) from November 2003 to February 2014, where he drove foreign direct investment into Nigeria and represented the Federal Government on international platforms.
A civil engineering graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria — where he won the Shell Prize for the best project and thesis in the Faculty of Engineering — Bello began his career with the Nigerian Army’s Directorate of Quartering and Engineering Service before moving into the Niger State Housing Corporation as a Senior Civil Engineer.
Beyond banking, he currently chairs Invest-in-Northern Nigeria Limited, a vehicle dedicated to the economic transformation of northern Nigeria. He has also served on the boards of South Africa’s Eskom Holdings and FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc. He holds fellowship distinctions from the Nigerian Society of Engineers, the Academy of Natural Sciences and Engineering in Nigeria (ANSEN), and is a registered member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).
Zenith Bank remains one of Africa’s foremost financial institutions, with operations spanning Nigeria, the United Kingdom, the UAE, Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Côte d’Ivoire.
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