Farouk Shehu was born on September 24, 1952 in Kano State. He attended Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria where he obtained a Diploma in Banking in 1975. After a brief career with then Bank of North and the Water Resources and Engineering Construction Agency (WRECA) spanning three years, he proceeded to the University of Waterloo in the United Kingdom where he graduated with a B. Sc. Degree in Business Management in 1982. He subsequently joined the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) as Administration Manager and rose to the position of Assistant General Manager before transferring his services to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Governor (International Operations) in 1992.

During his career at the CBN from 1992 to 2010, he served in various Directorates: International Operations, Corporate Services and Financial System Stability all under the Governors Office.

He was appointed the pioneer Director of the then newly created Consumer Protection Department of the Bank in 2011, and retired from the services of the Bank in September 2012.

Farouk is currently a Senior Partner in UFS Financial Consulting Limited and the Chairman of Maiburgami Company Nigeria Limited. He is married with six children.