- Group Names Three Executive Directors
The board of the United Bank for Africa Plc group, on Monday, named Oliver Alawuba Chief Executive of its African operations in charge of the 20 country operations on the continent, outside of Nigeria.
He replaces Victor Osadolor, who retires from the board of UBA Group, after 9 years.
A statement by the group also announced the appointment of three new executive directors, subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria. They are Abdoul-Aziz Dia, a Senegalese national as Treasury and International Banking; Chukwuma Nweke, Retail, and Payments; and Chiugo Ndubisi, Group Chief Operating Officer.
Until his appointment, Alawuba, with close to three decades of banking industry experience was at various points the CEO of UBA Ghana; and Regional CEO, UBA Africa. He thereafter returned to Nigeria to run UBA’s Nigerian East Bank division, which under him became the fastest-growing region in the group.
Dia, who brings a wealth of multi geographical experience onboard, becomes the first non-Nigerian Group Executive Director of the UBA Group and will be responsible for UBA’s global network of operations in New York, London and Paris, together with Group Treasury.
With almost three decades of banking experience spanning Banking Operations, Finance, Technology, Audit and Strategy, Nweke who is currently the ED Operations, was confirmed by the board as the Group Executive Director, Retail and Payments, demonstrating its commitment to its retail offering.
The statement described Ndubisi as a professional with almost three decades of banking experience spanning such roles as Chief Finance Officer(CFO) and Executive Director on the board of a financial institution. His in-depth understanding of banking and finance industry dynamics will bring a lot of value to the Group Board of UBA.
Speaking on the appointments, Group Chairman Tony O. Elumelu said the “appointments emphasise the group’s commitment to our pan-African and global network, our huge retail client base and our operational infrastructure. We are focused on improving our efficiency and further strengthening our pan-African mission, using the extraordinary pool of talent and experience available in the Group.”
He expressed gratitude to the “outgoing Deputy Managing Director/CEO, UBA Africa, Victor Osadolor, and the former Regional CEO for UBA in East and Southern Africa, Emeke Iweriebor, who just retired from the board, for their contributions to the bank. “Victor and Emeke were key players during the merger of Standard Trust Bank and UBA and have been valuable contributors to the growth of the Bank. We wish them well”.
The appointments, the statement continued, underline UBA’s broader commitment to investing in the highest quality human capital. The Bank recently reformed its grade structure and technology teams, having reduced its grade structure from 16 to 12 levels, at the end of 2019. The Bank welcomed 3,000 new staff members in 2019 and promoted over 5,000 employees.
