New appointments as UBA gets DMD for Nigeria, Africa
SEPLAT PETRO LEUM DEVELOP MENT Company Plc, the dual Nigerian Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange listed Nigerian indigenous oil and gas company, has tapped top Nigerian banker and accountant, Emeka Onwuka, as its chief financial officer and executive director, the company announced at the weekend.
Onwuka once sat atop old Diamond Bank (which merged with Access Bank last year) as group managing director and chief executive officer and before that had been an executive director, taking over from bank founding managing director, Pascal Dozie, and served out his tenure in what many consider the golden heyday of the bank.
His appointment as CFO, made by the board of Seplat and the weekend, kicks in August 1, 2020 and Onwuka will be taking to the new role over 30 years of experience in financial services within sub-Saharan Africa, a statement made available to Business A.M. showed.
Onwuka is well regarded in industry, finance and business circles in Nigeria for his brilliance and deep knowledge of finance, but he is also well known for his humble disposition and was well taken by the financial media in Nigeria for the deep insights he often provided when he was engaged by them.
After he left Diamond Bank he remained very active, chairing former Enterprise Bank, and working as a partner at Andersen Tax Nigeria, as well as being on the boards of many companies, including as chairman, FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited; director, FMDQ Holdings Limited; director, Ecobank Nigeria Limited and director, Bharti Airtel Nigeria.
According to the statement announcing his appointment, Onwuka is a graduate of political science from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and holds an MBA from the University of Benin. His professional qualifications include being a chartered accountant, a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria. He has attended executive programmes at the Lagos Business School, Wharton Business School and Harvard Business School.
The board of Seplat said it is confident that the wealth of knowledge and experience he brings will be a great addition to the company.
HAPPY TIMES ARE HERE AT the United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), the leading pan-African financial services group, as the bank on Tuesday announced the appointments of Ayoku Liadi and Oliver Alawuba as deputy managing directors in charge of its Nigeria and Africa businesses, respectively.
According to the bank, the creation of the new positions, reporting to the group chief executive Officer, Kennedy Uzoka, represents further strategic recognition of the growth of UBA’s panAfrican business, now representing in excess of 40 per cent of the group’s revenue, and the critical importance of Nigeria, the group’s largest market.
Combined with UBA’s unique international business, operating from New York, London and Paris, UBA Africa and Nigeria, offer an unparalleled service offering to clients across Africa and globally, it added.
Commenting on the appointments, Tony Elumelu, UBA Group chairman, said: “In 2005, we set out our panAfrican vision. Fifteen years later, we are present in 20 African countries, serving over 20 million clients, leveraging our service culture and technology platform, to provide an integrated and seamless customer offering across the continent.
“In Africa, we lead in innovation and service, whilst our international business, operating from New York, Paris and London, provides global and African clients access to treasury, trade finance and corporate banking products, uniquely tailored to the African opportunity. These senior appointments represent our commitment to optimise our management structure to best serve our clients and drive our business success.”
Alawuba has worked with the UBA Group for almost 20 years and was appointed in January 2020, CEO for the group’s Africa operations. His knowledge of UBA’s business in Africa is unrivalled. He previously held the role as CEO of UBA in Ghana and more recently, as Regional CEO for UBA in Anglophone Africa.
On the other hand, Liadi joined the UBA Group in 2014 and was appointed the executive director of Lagos and West bank in Nigeria, two years later. He is widely recognised for his innovation in driving business development.
Also announced yesterday by the Board, was the retirement from the board with effect from August 01, 2020, of Mr. Dan Okeke who has been with the UBA Group for 22 years. Okeke, served on the board as an executive director for three terms and a total of nine years.
According to Elumelu, “Dan was born for UBA. He has worked tirelessly for the group and achieved so much in the past two decades. We will miss him, but he will still be very much around us.”
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