Festus Okotie-Eboh

Chief Festus Samuel Okotie-Eboh was born on July 18, 1912, in Jakpa, Delta State. A prominent Itsekiri businessman, he built an extensive rubber and footwear manufacturing empire before entering national politics under the NCNC umbrella.

Appointed Minister of Labour and Welfare in 1955, Okotie-Eboh became Federal Minister of Finance in 1957, holding the crucial portfolio through independence until 1966. He laid the foundational institutional framework of modern Nigeria's financial architecture: establishing the Central Bank of Nigeria in 1958, introducing the Nigerian national currency (the Nigerian pound), founding the Lagos Stock Exchange, and financing major infrastructure including the Kainji Dam. He was assassinated alongside Prime Minister Balewa in the January 1966 coup.