By The Peak Performer Africa Media
Some women break barriers once. Others build careers that repeatedly expand what women can achieve. Mrs Ronke Sokefun belongs to the latter. From the law firm to the boardroom and public service, her career demonstrates the power of expertise, courage and institutional influence.
Introduction
A distinguished legal practitioner, corporate executive, public servant and boardroom leader, Sokefun has built a career spanning nearly four decades across law, energy, financial services, public policy and corporate governance. In December 2018, she became the first woman appointed Chairman of the Board of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), the institution that protects insured deposits and sustains confidence in Nigeria’s banking system.
Her story raises a vital question. What happens when competence is matched by the courage to assume responsibility, cross boundaries and make one’s experience count?
A foundation of Mastering the law
Sokefun obtained her LLB from Ogun State University, now Olabisi Onabanjo University, in 1987 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1988. After Ighodalo & Associates, she joined Aluko & Oyebode, where she rose to partnership, a milestone that demands technical depth, credibility and sound judgement.
Law gave her an understanding of institutions, accountability and the consequences of decisions, capabilities that would prove invaluable across every sector she later led. The lesson for emerging women leaders: the discipline through which one builds mastery can become the platform for opportunities far beyond it.
From law to the corporate boardroom
In 2002, Sokefun joined Ocean & Oil Services Limited as Head of Management Services, and in 2007 became Group Chief Legal Officer of Oando Plc, serving until 2011. Operating at the intersection of strategy, legal risk and regulation, she showed that a professional discipline is a starting point, not a boundary.
Her journey speaks to women with deep expertise who are unsure how to convert it into executive authority or board influence: broaden your understanding of the business, take on complex responsibilities and contribute beyond your original function.
A New Arena of Public Service
In 2011, Sokefun joined the Ogun State Government as Special Adviser and Director-General of the Bureau of Lands and Survey, later serving as Commissioner for Agriculture and Commissioner for Urban and Physical Planning. These roles meant managing competing priorities, engaging diverse stakeholders and turning policy into programmes that affect livelihoods and public resources.
Her career challenges the idea that success follows a single path. What connects her transitions is not the sector, but judgement, adaptability and responsibility for complex outcomes. For women considering non-linear careers, changing arenas need not diminish expertise. It can expand one’s capacity to lead.
Breaking a historic barrier at the NDIC
As NDIC Board Chairman from 2018 to 2022, Sokefun became the first woman to hold the position, a landmark for women in financial-sector governance. Her appointment mattered not only because she was first, but because it placed a leader with deep experience across law, business and government at the head of a nationally consequential institution.
Representation matters. So does the authority women are given and their power to shape institutional direction. But a first should never be the final objective. The aspiration is institutions where women routinely attain leadership on the strength of their capabilities.
Strengthening boardroom leadership
Sokefun became a partner at TEMPLARS in September 2025, advising clients on complex governance and business challenges. She also chairs the Women’s Group of the Chartered Institute of Directors Nigeria, mentoring emerging women leaders.
The goal is not simply more women in boardrooms, but women equipped to shape strategy and strengthen institutional performance. That is the difference between presence and influence.
Creating Possibilities Beyond titles
Through the M.R.S. Foundation, Sokefun supports health and education initiatives, including scholarships, community outreach and healthcare access for underserved populations. It reflects a conviction that influence gained through a successful career should widen opportunity for others, whether through board decisions, mentorship or community work.
NO MORE SHRINKING®: From breaking barriers to changing systems
NO MORE SHRINKING® holds that women should not diminish their ambitions, capabilities or voices to fit limiting expectations. Sokefun’s career embodies this. Yet every first also raises questions about who is considered ready to lead and whether the path stays open for others.
Full capacity is not only the courage to occupy a space. It is the ability to influence it, strengthen it and help other capable women advance. It means moving from being the exception to making opportunity accessible.
A fitting voice for the Full Capacity Experience
On Friday, 20 November 2026, at MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, Mrs Ronke Sokefun will lead a panel conversation and receive a distinguished recognition at NO MORE SHRINKING® — The Full Capacity Experience.
Drawing on leadership across law, business, government and governance, she will help explore how women prepare for leadership before opportunity arrives, move from expert to decision-maker, carry the responsibility of being first, and widen the path for those who follow. Her recognition will honour a career marked by versatility, historic milestones and service.
The legacy is what becomes possible next
A legacy is not measured only by positions held, but by what one’s journey makes possible for others. Sokefun’s story encourages emerging women to build deep competence and stay open to new opportunities, challenges organisations to let women shape consequential decisions, and asks established leaders how their experience can open doors for the next generation.
Because the most enduring legacy of a pioneer is not simply that she was first. It is that others can follow, contribute and lead without having to ask whether they belong.
NO MORE SHRINKING® — The Full Capacity Experience
Friday, 20 November 2026 | 8:00 a.m.
MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos
