Alhaji Isa Rhume Yusuf was born on the 25th of May 1960 in Nguru Town of Yobe State. He attended Saint Paul Primary School (now Kasugula Primary School) Nguru from 1970 to 1975. He obtained the Teachers’ Grade 11 Certificate from Government Teachers’ College, Potiskum in June 1980 after undergoing a five-year teacher education programme. He was awarded the Degrees of B.Sc Accountancy in March 1986 and M.Sc Finance in May 2002 by the University of Maiduguri and University of Calabar respectively.
Alhaji I.R Yusuf is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, a Certified Forensic Accountant and has the Institute’s certificate of proficiency in International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS). He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Administration of Nigeria. Alhaji I. R. Yusuf served as youth corper in the Imo State Ministry of Finance from 1986 to 1987.
He was Accountant with the defunct Borno State (now Borno and Yobe States) Ministry of Finance from 1987 to 1989. During that period, he worked in the Government Sub-Treasury in Maiduguri and established the Accounts Department of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Maiduguri in 1988.
He joined the Central Bank of Nigeria in 1989 as a Senior Supervisor and rose through the ranks to the position of Director before he voluntarily retired in April 2017. During his 28 years sojourn in the CBN, he worked as a bank supervisor, regulator and policy maker. He also worked in the Operations Department of the Bank. He was at various times the relationship manager (responsible for the off-site and on-site supervision) of more than 30 different banks in Nigeria. He was an instructor in the CBN Training School.
He had trained bank examiners from various regulatory institutions in Nigeria and other west African countries. He was lead resident examiner to Unity Bank. He also headed for 7 years, the Secretariat of the Financial Services Regulation Coordinating Committee (FSRCC) – a statutory committee comprising of all the CEOs of the financial regulatory agencies in Nigeria. The Committee is vested with the responsibility of ensuring the safety, soundness and stability of the Nigerian financial system.
He has extensive training in banks and other financial institutions’ supervision and regulation from Bank Negara, Malaysia, the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States of America.
He was a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria Students’ Special Project Committee. The committee was saddled with the responsibility of training accountants from the Northern and Eastern parts of the country, considered disadvantaged. Alhaji I.R Yusuf is married with five children.