Pan African financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has assured investors and shareholders of her continuous adherence to solid corporate governance processes as it honoured its ex-director, Chief Kola Jamodu.

In a glitzy cocktail event and dinner in his honour at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, on Thursday, Jamodu was celebrated for his service on the bank’s board for 12 years as a non-Executive Director.

Accolades were showered on him for his remarkable contributions to the group over the period that have helped solidify the bank’s footprints in its many countries of operations.

Speaking at the event, UBA’s Group Chairman, Tony O. Elumelu, commended Jamodu’s efforts at contributing towards 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.”

While reeling off some of Jamodu’s many achievements, 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 expertise, 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.”

On his part, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Kennedy Uzoka, explained in fine details the impact that Jamodu’s experience has had on the bank, adding that he was able to help UBA navigate through some challenges that have now made the bank come out even stronger.

He 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.”

Jamodu, who attended the event with his beautiful wife Funmilayo, thanked the bank for the opportunity given to him to contribute to the growth of the UBA Group, adding that as a board member one should be able to have an impact in the way things are being done, in governance principles and much more.

Speaking on his most memorable achievements on the board, he said: “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.”

•PHOTO: L-R; Minister of Industry, Otunba Niyi Adebayo; GMD/CEO, United Bank for Africa(UBA) Plc, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka; the celebrant and Former Director, UBA Plc, Chief Kola Jamodu and wife; Chairman, UBA Plc, Mr. Tony Elumelu; Wife of Vice Chairman, UBA Plc, Mrs Dayo Keshi; Senator Tolu Odebiyi; and Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Uchechukwu Ogah, during the dinner party in honour of Chief Jamodu who recently retired from the Board of the Bank, in Abuja on Thursday

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