Meet Sarah Morocco-Clarke, Nigeria's first female banker | EduCeleb
Kabeerah Aremu
8th April 2019
For a long time, the banking sector was largely dominated by men. That was until Dr Sarah Adenike Morocco-Clarke joined the profession.
She started her career with the then Bank of British West Africa (now First Bank), and subsequently Standard Bank (now called Stanbic IBTC in Nigeria) as a pioneer female employee.
Prior to then, Sarah Morocco-Clarke had attended Queen’s College, Lagos, Nigeria.
Her passion and dedication to her duties propelled her through the ranks at First Bank Nigeria. She had served as the Services Manager and Secretary to the South Administration, wherein she had a mandate that covered the services of all the First Bank branches in Southern Nigeria.
Before that, Morocco-Clarke was the manager of numerous First Bank branches in Lagos and served subsequently as a Regional Manager in charge of old Bendel State, Ogun State and old Oyo State.
She was also an Area Manager in the Western part of Nigeria. Popularly known as the ‘Iron Lady’, a moniker seemingly taken from references to the then British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, Sarah Morocco-Clarke was given this nickname because of her stern mien and no-nonsense attitude professionally.
Born on the 13th of May 1938, the Morocco-Clarke matriarch passed away peacefully on Sunday, 16 September 2018, after a brief illness.
She is survived by six successful children, thirteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.