Chief Adebayo Adekola Adelabu is a former deputy governor, operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria and currently serving as the federal minister of power of Nigeria.
He was born to Aderibigbe Adelabu of Oke-Oluokun compound, Kudeti Area in Ibadan. His grandfather is Adegoke Adelabu.
Adelabu attended Ibadan Municipal Government primary school, Agodi Ibadan from 1976 to 1982 and Lagelu Grammar School, Ibadan from 1982 to 1987.
He received a first class degree in Accounting from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), a Fellow of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and an Associate Member of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Adelabu has also taken up professional courses in various business schools, including Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, Kelloggs, Euromoney, and the University of London.
He started his career with PriceWaterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers), an international firm of chartered accountants and management consultants. During his seven years with the firm, he led and managed various audit and consultancy engagements for large banks and non-bank financial institutions within and outside Nigeria.
He was on secondment to the Central Bank of Nigeria for one year in 1999 when he led the finance team on the CBN re-engineering and corporate renewal project tagged "Project EAGLES". He left the firm in year 2000 as an audit manager and senior consultant to join First Atlantic Bank as the Financial Controller and Group Head of Risk Management and Controls. He was later promoted to Chief Inspector of the Bank in 2002 and Group Head of National Public Sector Business in 2003.
Adelabu moved to Standard Chartered Bank as the West African Regional Head of Finance and Strategy (Consumer Banking Business) with dual offices in Lagos and Accra. He was there till 2009 from where he became an Executive Director/Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Nigeria's largest bank, First Bank of Nigeria Plc. (FBN) at the age of 39.
He was appointed by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in February 2014 as Deputy Governor, Operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Adelabu serves as the Chairman, Board of Directors of the Nigeria InterBank Settlement Systems (NIBBS) and has chaired the board of Financial Institution Training Centre (FITC). He is also a serving member of the Board of Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).
Chief Adebayo Adekola Adelabu is also a businessman and has investments spanning the hospitality, entertainment, agriculture and real estate industries. He is the Group Chairman of Bayse One Group of Hotels, the Best Western Plus Hotels, Ibadan and Bayse One Farm.
Adelabu received the honour as Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) on 11th of October, 2022.
He was made minister of power by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on 16 August, 2023.
He is a member of Jericho Businessmen Club, Ikoyi Club 1938, and Ibadan Golf Club. He is married with children.
