Kyari Bukar

Kyari Bukar

Chairman of the Board

Biography

Kyari Abba-Bukar is an accomplished board chairman, business leader and technology strategist with more than three decades of executive and board experience across banking, capital markets, payments, insurance, technology and investment. His career combines international technology expertise with a record of transforming financial institutions, strengthening corporate governance and advancing Nigeria’s financial and digital infrastructure.

His leadership is distinguished by measurable results. As Managing Director and CEO of Central Securities Clearing System Plc, he led a transformation that increased profitability more than fourfold and grew shareholders’ funds from approximately ₦11 billion to ₦26 billion. At Validar Nigeria Plc, now Unified Payments, he turned a historically loss-making company into a profitable institution, negotiated Visa International’s strategic equity investment and helped establish Visa’s payments infrastructure in Nigeria. Earlier, during a 13-year career at Hewlett-Packard in the United States, he progressed through engineering and senior management roles and contributed to global technology programmes, including an initiative projected to deliver US$85 million in annual savings.

Mr. Abba-Bukar holds a B.Sc. in Physics from Ahmadu Bello University and an M.S. in Nuclear Engineering, with a minor in Mechanical Engineering, from Oregon State University. He also attended an MBA programme at Portland State University. His executive education includes programmes at Harvard Business School, Wharton, Oxford Saïd and Visa Business School at Robinson College, Cambridge, spanning governance, digital transformation and innovation.

He currently chairs Phoenix Investment Bank (Labuan) Ltd. Ltd in Labuan, Malaysia, as well as SUNU Assurances Plc, ARCA Payments Ltd and Ventures Platform, and serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Development Bank of Nigeria. A former Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, he continues to serve on its board. He also previously served eight years as an Independent Non-Executive Director of Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria. His public-policy contributions include national assignments on identity management, fiscal policy and tax reform.

Across these roles, Mr. Abba-Bukar brings strategic judgement, technological depth and governance discipline to institution building, combining commercial performance with a commitment to stronger institutions and sustainable economic development.