The United Bank for Africa Plc, on Thursday, honoured Chief Kola Jamodu, its ex-director, and a former Minister of Industry in Abuja, as he retired after 12 years on the board as a non-executive director.
The bank’s management and board poured accolades on Jamodu for his remarkable contributions to the group over the period that have helped solidify the bank’s footprints in its many countries of operations.
A statement by the group quoted its chairman, Tony Elumelu, as commending Jamodu’s efforts at contributing towards the strong corporate governance policies which UBA currently boasts of.
He described Jamodu as “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, the United Kingdom and Paris. He was on the board of UBA for 12 years, and in line with corporate practices, which say 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 listed Jamodu’s achievement to include being extremely supportive to UBA, serving 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.”
Also speaking, UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, Kennedy Uzoka, explained in fine detail 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 described Jamodu as “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 was accompanied by his 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.
Recalling his most memorable achievements on the board, he expressed happiness “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 caption: From left, Minister of Industry, Otunba Niyi Adebayo; GMD/CEO, United Bank for Africa(UBA) Plc, Kennedy Uzoka; the celebrant and Former Director, UBA Plc, Chief Kola Jamodu and wife; Chairman, UBA Plc, 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, October 17, 2019.
