Jim Ovia retires as Zenith Bank chairman, Mustafa Bello takes over

Jim Ovia, the founder of Zenith Bank, has stepped down as Group Chairman of the institution after completing the maximum tenure permitted under Nigerian corporate governance regulations.

Zenith Bank announced the retirement in a notice issued in Lagos on May 5, 2026, confirming that Ovia completed the mandatory 12-year tenure applicable to chairmen of financial holding companies, non-interest banks, and payment service banks in Nigeria.

His exit marks the end of an era for one of the country’s largest financial institutions, one that Ovia built from the ground up.

The board credited him with providing strong leadership, strategic direction, and effective oversight throughout his tenure. His commitment to governance standards and stakeholder value creation, the bank said, significantly enhanced Zenith’s positioning and reputation in Nigeria’s financial services sector.

His successor is Engr. Mustafa Bello, whose appointment has received approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria. Bello joined the Zenith Bank Board on December 29, 2017, making him the longest-serving director currently on the board.

The board said the appointment is designed to ensure stability and a seamless continuation of the bank’s strategic objectives as it navigates evolving regulatory and market conditions.

Zenith Bank’s performance under Ovia’s watch

Zenith Bank’s financial results in the final years of Ovia’s leadership demonstrated the strength of the bank he developed. In 2025, the bank announced a pre-tax profit of N1.26 trillion. This was a 4.78% decrease from the previous year. However, this decrease was due to a particular circumstance: a directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that required all banks to settle debts related to COVID-19 relief measures.

This one-time event negatively affected the profits of banks throughout the industry.

Even without external pressures, the bank’s revenue performed strongly. Specifically, interest income increased significantly from N2.7 trillion in 2024 to N3.6 trillion in 2025.

Loans and advances to customers, the bank’s largest income driver, contributed N1.8 trillion, representing year-on-year growth of 20.15%. Treasury bills generated an additional N1.1 trillion. Post-tax profit settled at N1.04 trillion after income tax of N222.8 billion.

The bank also carried strong momentum into 2026. In Q1 2026, Zenith posted an unaudited pre-tax profit of N360.92 billion, a 2.87% increase year-on-year from N350.82 billion in Q1 2025. Profit after tax rose 0.69% to N314.02 billion, a stable performance despite higher loan impairments and persistent cost pressures.

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What comes next for the Bank

Bello inherits a bank in solid financial health but operating in a challenging environment, one shaped by rising credit costs, regulatory pressure, and Nigeria’s broader macroeconomic volatility.

His immediate task will be to maintain the institutional culture and governance standards that Zenith built under Ovia, while steering the bank through its next growth chapter.

For Ovia, the retirement closes a chapter that began when he founded Zenith Bank in 1990. The institution grew from a startup to one of Nigeria’s tier-one banks with assets running into trillions of naira, a trajectory that established him as one of the most consequential figures in the history of Nigerian banking.