TheCable

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc says investors and shareholders should be assured it would continue to adhere to solid corporate governance processes as the bank honoured its retiring director, Kola Jamodu.

He was honoured with a dinner at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, on Thursday, for his service on the bank’s board for 12 years as a non-executive director.

Tony O. Elumelu, the bank’s group chairman, commended Jamodu’s efforts at contributing to the strong corporate governance policies which UBA currently boasts of.

He said: “Chief Jamodu is a great Nigerian, a respected man and a great non-executive director to UBA. He has been wonderful and instrumental to today’s current standing of UBA across our 20 presence countries in Africa as well as in America, United Kingdom and in Paris. He was on the board of UBA for 12 years, and in line with corporate practices, which says at the end of 12 years, you retire from the board, he is retiring and we are here to celebrate his contribution to the bank.”

Elumelu said he has been extremely supportive to UBA.

“He served as chairman of Board Risk Committee, and he has all the experience – a chartered accountant, extremely astute, chairman of Nigerian Breweries, chairman of PZ, chairman of Nutricima; former minister of industry; a great tax expert, financial and management expert and UBA has been extremely lucky to have him on our board for 12 years. So to him and his family, we say thank you for all the support, for the teachings, for being generous with knowledge and for asking those hard questions that made us solidify our governance processes here at UBA,” Elumelu said.

Kennedy Uzoka, the group managing director  and chief executive officer, highlighted impact that Jamodu’s experience has had on the bank.

He was able to help UBA navigate through some challenges that have now made the bank come out even stronger, Uzoka said.

“Chief Kola Jamodu is a very astute financial manager with diverse experience; he is someone that has helped us as managers to look into areas that we may not have looked into. During his time, he helped us to navigate critical issues, and now UBA America is a bank on its own as is UBA UK. He was always asking the right questions which others would have missed, and this is what helped us be where we are today. He started with us when we had just a few countries of operation and now today, UBA is operating in 23  countries. Kudos to Jamodu, he will be missed,” he said.

Jamodu, who attended the event with his wife Funmilayo, thanked the bank for the opportunity given to him to contribute to the growth of the UBA Group.

“I am very happy today that loan loss provisioning in UBA is one of the lowest because of the way we have handled those issues. My door is quite open and I will continue to offer what I can to ensure that this bank which I am still very much a part of continues to flourish.  My advice to the board, is that they should continue to ensure good succession planning which is very important,” he said.