Late Bode Agusto, founder of the first credit rating agency, Agusto & Co. Limited was born in 1955 before he passed on at 68 in October 2023.
Before founding Agusto & Co, Agusto, Agusto worked at PwC for 10 years and was admitted as a Partner of the same institution in 1991. He also worked at Nigeria International Bank (now Citibank Nigeria), where he served as Assistant Vice President and as Head of the World Corporations Group.
Bode has a degree in Accounting from the University of Lagos, an Executive Certificate in Strategy and Innovation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
He was an independent researcher and consultant on economics, finance, and business strategy in the key economies of sub-Saharan Africa – Nigeria, South Africa, Angola, Kenya, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Ghana, DRC and Cameroon. Agusto was the founder and first managing director of Agusto & Co. Limited.
Agusto & Co. was founded in 1992 and was a pioneer in Nigeria, being the first to offer credit rating services. It got official approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission, making it the first credit rating agency in Nigeria. Bode Agusto was its Managing Director for 11 years.
In 2003, President Olusegun Obasanjo awarded Agusto, the national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) for his contributions to the Nigerian Economy. Consequently, President Obasanjo appointed Bode as the Director General and Special Advisor to the President on Budget Matters.
During his four years as Director General of the Budget, Nigeria ran budget surpluses every year and built savings that enabled the country to obtain debt relief and repay $32 billion of the national debt. The team he headed also reformed the budget process by introducing spending limits and encouraging key Ministries to work with the National Assembly to evolve Medium-Term Sector Strategies consistent with the goals of the President.
He was also a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria and a non-executive Director of GT BANK, Shell Nigeria CPFA, and Nigerian Agip CPFA.
Bode spent most of his time researching the key economies of Sub-Saharan Africa – the politics, the economics, the banking system, and how key businesses create value for their shareholders. He always thoroughly went through solutions to improve Nigeria’s economy.
He once spoke on how Nigeria can win on the economic front, debunking some myths about Nigeria, he said “ ‘Nigeria’s population is a strength.’ False, the population is only a strength if it is well educated, healthy, the economy has the capacity to provide them with employment and households have enough income to buy goods and services produced by businesses.”
He also refuted the statement that “ Nigeria’s debt to GDP ratio is below 20%, one of the lowest in the World. Therefore, we are not over-leveraged and can continue to borrow to finance infrastructure spending.” because measuring the level of leverage as a percentage of national income is misleading for a country like Nigeria.
In 2023, Agusto & Co. expanded their services to countries like Kenya and Rwanda. Bode Agusto became highly respected in the finance industry for his research on politics, economics, and business in African countries.
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