BREAKING NEWS, Business
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Alex Otti, group managing director and chief executive officer of Diamond Bank Plc, and eight others bag the 2013 Zik Prize in Leadership
| By Chinwe Okafor | Jul. 7, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
ALEX Otti, group managing director and CEO of Diamond Bank Plc has become one of the recipients of the 2013 Zik Prize in the Professional Leadership category. The award ceremony was recently organized by the Public Policy Research and Analysis Centre, PPRAC.
In his welcome address at the ceremony, Jubril Aminu, chairman, advisory board of PPRAC, said the late Nnamdi Azikiwe, in whose memory the award was instituted, needed no introduction as his nationalist legacies still loom large in our national psyche adding that the Zik’s Prize has become a national institution to celebrate notable Nigerians for their contributions to the society.
Emeka Anyaoku, former secretary general of the Commonwealth and chairman of the occasion, extolled the virtues of Azikiwe, noting that he had become an institution whose legacies would transcend generations. “Dr. Azikiwe is no doubt a legend that has contributed a lot to the development of the country and we are here to celebrate distinguished Nigerians who have proven themselves in public service and professional leadership like the late Zik and we hope that those present here today will draw inspiration from the late African giant,” he said.
Otti said in his response that even though the shoes of the late Azikiwe cannot be filled, “we are only trying our best to follow in his footsteps.” He said as Anyaoku had noted earlier, “the current situation whereby we spend about 80 percent of our national revenue on recurrent expenditure leaving very little for capital investment is unsustainable and this is why we continue to face problems of youth restiveness, among others.
“At Diamond Bank, we are trying in our own way to reduce the burden of youth unemployment. We have instituted the Building Entrepreneurs Today, BET, project, where we try to help young people with great ideas but lack the funds to execute them. We reach out to these people from all over the country and select fifty with the best ideas for training at the Enterprise Development Centre of the Pan Atlantic University.
After the first round of training, the best fifteen go through a second phase of business training with top consultants and the final five participants are given free grants of three million naira each to pursue their ideas. Over the years, Diamond Bank has invested over one hundred billion naira into the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs, sector.”
Emeka Obasi, executive secretary of PPRAC, described Otti, as an intellectual banker and quintessential leader, who, after graduating with a first class degree and as the best graduating student in his set at the university, came into banking and has been making strides for others to follow.
The awardees included Liyel-Imoke, governor of Cross Rivers State; Ibrahim Dankwambo, governor of Gombe State; and Adams Oshiomhole, governor of Edo State. Others were: BamangaTukur, chairman, Nigerian Railway Corporation; Aare Afe Babalola, Founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD; ABC Orjiako, CEO, SEPCOL; Ernest Obiejesi, GMD of Nestoil Plc and Evelyn Oputu, former MD/CEO, Bank of Industry.
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