FIRSTBANK’S NEW VOICE OF INFLUENCE

There is a particular kind of institutional credibility that cannot be purchased, inherited, or fast-tracked. It is the kind that accumulates over years, through campaigns that delivered, strategies that endured, and results that compounded long after the original mandate expired. Olayinka Thomas-Ijabiyi, newly appointed Group Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at First Bank of Nigeria, possesses that credibility in abundance.

His elevation to the top marketing seat at Nigeria’s oldest and most storied financial institution is not an announcement of arrival. It is the culmination of a career spent building, brick by careful brick, one of the most recognised brand communication architectures in African banking.

Thomas-Ijabiyi entered the communications profession through one of its most demanding schools: the media and public relations landscape of early 2000s Nigeria, when the rules of brand building were being written in real time. At Multichoice Nigeria, he managed public relations for the DStv bouquet, overseeing the successful launch of multiple channels including SuperSport, Movie Magic, Channel O, and Series Channel, and maintained a 100 percent press release adoption rate with traditional media. It was an apprenticeship in precision: how to craft a message, time a release, and make noise in a crowded media environment without losing control of the narrative.

At British Council Nigeria, he managed the institution’s 60th anniversary celebrations, rebuilt its digital presence from the ground up, and led communications for the organisation’s global regionalisation programme , working out of the British Council’s London office to build a network of communications managers across its international footprint. The experience gave him something most Nigerian marketing executives lacked: a firsthand understanding of how globally governed institutions manage brand consistency across cultures and geographies.

When MTN Nigeria came calling, Thomas-Ijabiyi joined one of the most commercially aggressive communications environments in the country. He pioneered the Sunrise to Sunset Media Engagement and Crisis Management Strategy, a framework that earned him the CEO Award and a personal commendation letter for delivery beyond the standard work schedule. He also served as Nigeria’s representative on the MTN Group Local Organising Committee for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, managing hospitality for board members, executives, key distributors, and VVIPs in Accra.

At Etisalat Nigeria, he managed dual portfolios as PR Manager and Acting Head of Corporate Communications, overseeing external stakeholder relationships, CSR delivery, and media crisis management across one of the country’s fastest-growing telecoms brands.

When Thomas-Ijabiyi joined FirstBank in 2011 as Head of Digital Marketing, the bank was navigating a moment of significant brand transformation. His mandate was to build something that did not yet fully exist: a coherent, aggressive, and data-driven digital presence for Nigeria’s oldest financial institution. Over seven years, he delivered.

He established FirstBank’s presence across owned platforms-website, social media, and email – and earned platforms including search engines and digital news media. He built an influencer network that reached 100 percent brand loyalty among its members. He created a Digital Content Partnership strategy spanning over 100 content producers online.

And through marketing efficiencies engineered with the precision of a financial model, he generated cost savings of N2.5 billion over six years ,a figure that made the marketing function not a cost centre but a demonstrable contributor to the bank’s bottom line.
During the same period, FirstBank was named Best Banking Brand six years in a row ,a run of consecutive recognitions that does not happen without systematic, disciplined brand management at every level of execution.

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His appointment as Head of Brand and Stakeholder Management in 2018 marked the beginning of his most institutionally consequential work. Tasked with protecting and growing one of the most valuable financial services brands in West Africa, Thomas-Ijabiyi designed the FirstBank Brand Pillars Framework — a five-pillar strategic tool encompassing Build Brand, Drive Loyalty, Drive Revenue, Drive Alternative Channels, and Drive Efficiencies. The framework was not a cosmetic exercise.

It became the blueprint that aligned the marketing and communications function with FirstBank’s enterprise-wide objectives, embedding brand governance into the organisation’s broader risk and compliance architecture.

Under this framework, he oversaw annual marketing campaigns worth over ₦10 billion. He achieved 35 percent cost savings through data-driven budget optimisation and rigorous performance tracking. He led the team that delivered FirstBank’s 125th and 130th Anniversary celebrations to international standards.

And he spearheaded the Giant Campaign, which recorded a 45 percent brand awareness rate, among the highest documented for a single banking initiative in Nigeria’s history. He also led marketing initiatives that grew the bank’s Agent Banking network by 100 percent within a single year, a contribution that extended FirstBank’s financial inclusion footprint far beyond the reach of its branch network.

Thomas-Ijabiyi’s progression from Acting Group Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications in December 2024 to full confirmation in April 2026 is, in the grammar of institutional trust, a very clear sentence. FirstBank does not elevate carelessly. It is an institution that understands legacy, that has watched countless communication professionals come and go, and that knows the difference between someone who manages a brand and someone who builds one.

His confirmation signals that the bank sees in him not merely a safe pair of hands for the present, but a strategic voice capable of carrying FirstBank’s narrative into its next era — an era defined by digital banking competition, evolving customer expectations, and the pressure to remain relevant across generations while honouring the weight of 130 years of institutional history.