Akinwunmi Ambode is the current Governor of Lagos State, born on 14 June 1963 in, Epe, Lagos, into the
family of Festus Akinwale Ambode (a teacher) and Christianah Oluleye Ambode an entrepreneur. he is one of ten children of his father Festus Ambode.
He sat for National Common Entrance Examinations at St. Jude’s Primary School, Ebutte Meta, Lagos, Nigeria, in 1974.
He attended Federal Government College, Warri, Nigeria from 1974-81, and University of Lagos where he studied Accounting, graduating at the age of 21 from 1981-1984.
He also has a Masters degree in Accounting from the University of Lagos, and he qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
Ambode was awarded the US Fulbright Scholarship for the Hubert Humphries Fellowship Programme in Boston Massachusetts.
He also attended the Wharton Business School, for Advanced Management Programme. Other institutions he attended for courses and programmes, includes Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, England, the Institute of Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland, INSEAD Singapore and Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Boston, U.S.A.
He was the Assistant Treasurer, Badagry Local Government, Lagos State, Nigeria from 1988-91. In 1991, he was posted to Shomolu Local Government, Lagos State, as an Auditor. He has also held the position of Council Treasurer in Shomolu Local Government in later years.
He also previously served as Council Treasurer at Alimosho Local Government, Lagos State. In 2001, he became acting Auditor General for Local Government, Lagos State, Nigeria. This position was confirmed by the State House of Assembly. In January 2005, Ambode was appointed the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance.
From 2006- 2012, he was the accountant general for Lagos State, in charge of all the financial activities of the state and directly responsible for over 1400 accountants in the state service.
Under his watch, the State Treasury Office (STO) revolutionized the way Lagos State finances were raised, budgeted, managed and planned. In his six years as the Lagos State accountant general, the state’s financial performance improved visibly with the budget performing at a remarkable average of 85% annually.
In
August 2012 he voluntarily retirees from civil service after 27 years . He founded Brandsmiths Consulting Limited to provide Public
Finance and Management Consulting services to government at all levels,
its parastatals and agencies.
He is a member of several professional bodies including: Fellow of
the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and a Member of
the Nigerian Institute of Management.
He is also the founder of La Roche Leadership Foundation, a non-profit organization whose primary aim is developing the next generation of leaders.
He ran for office of the Governor of Lagos State in April 2015 as a member of the All Progressives Congress, the state's ruling party, he won the election, defeating the second-place candidate by more than 150,000 votes.
He began his tenure as the governor of Lagos on 29 May 2015.
He began his tenure as the governor of Lagos on 29 May 2015.
