Business
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Uzoma Dozie has been appointed the new group managing director of Diamond Bank Plc. He takes over from Alex Otti, who retired voluntarily to join politics as a governorship aspirant in Abia State
| By Maureen Chigbo | Nov. 3, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT |
THE Board of Diamond Bank Plc, has appointed Uzoma Dozie as its new group managing director, GMD, and chief executive officer, CEO. His appointment followed the voluntary retirement of Alex Otti, former GMD of the bank who has joined politics as a governorship aspirant in Abia State. Dozie’s appointment is subject to the approval of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
The Bank’s Corporate Communications Department, issued a statement quoting Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, Obi of Onitsha and chairman, Board of Directors as saying that Dozie’s appointment was in recognition of his extensive managerial capabilities. “We are pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Uzoma Dozie as the new Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Bank Plc in consonance with the Bank’s succession strategy and in recognition of Mr. Dozie’s wealth of banking knowledge, the statement said.
Achebe, who said that outgoing GMD/CEO will be sorely missed, also extolled Otti’s enviable achievements in the Bank, describing his tenure as “the brightest years of Diamond Bank’s 24 year-history”.
Under Otti’s stewardship, Diamond Bank made a remarkable return to profitability and has continued to record impressive growth across all performance indicators year-on-year. After writing off toxic risk assets which resulted in the loss of N16 billion in 2011, the Bank posted a profit before tax of N28.36 billion in 2012 and N32.5 billion Naira in 2013. The Bank also saw its total assets rise from N564.9 billion in February 2011 to N1.18 trillion by December 31, 2012 and N1.52 trillion on December 31, 2013.
Otti is credited with creating the office of the Chief Risk Officer and designating an executive director to head the department. He also spear-headed the expansion of the Bank by doubling the full staff count from around 2,000 in 2010 to over 4,000 as at mid-2014, even as he vigorously grew the Bank’s footprints from a network of 210 branches in 2011 to over 265 branches three years later. It was also under his watch that the Bank established an international subsidiary in the United Kingdom, in addition to expansion in Francophone West Africa (Senegal, Togo, and Ivory Coast).
It was during Otti’s tenure that the CBN only recently classified the bank as one of the eight systematically important banks in Nigeria.
“Dr Alex Otti is a fine gentleman with an outstanding career in the Nigerian Banking industry. We are pleased with the time he spent at the helms of affairs of Diamond Bank Plc and wish him every success in his future endeavours”, Achebe said.
Otti, OFR is a 1988 graduate of the University of Port Harcourt where he finished with a First class honors degree in Economics. He subsequently received an MBA from the University of Lagos in 1994 as well as honourary Doctorate degrees from Babcock University and the Universities of Port Harcourt, UNIPORT, and University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN in 2009, 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Prior to his appointment as the group managing director/CEO of Diamond Bank Plc in March 2011, Otti worked in a number of financial institutions in various capacities. He started from Nigeria International Bank Limited, a subsidiary of Citibank N.Y. in 1989 and thereafter moved to United Bank for Africa Plc as principal manager and head, Corporate Banking Sector, South. In May 2001, he joined First Bank of Nigeria Plc as an assistant general manager with responsibility for the Bank’s Energy Group. In April 2004, he was promoted to deputy general manager and in September 2005, he was appointed executive director, Commercial Banking. In October 2006, he was redesignated executive director (South), and given the responsibility to oversee the bank’s businesses in both South-South and South Eastern geo-political zones of Nigeria.
Shortly after retiring, Otti told journalists in Lagos, that he is confident that he will clinch the ticket of the PDP during the primaries and will subsequently win the election in 2015. He listed his priority areas to include revamping Aba and restoring its infrastructure to ensure that small and medium enterprises thrive once again there. He will also focus on the health sector to ensure that maternal mortalities are curbed and provide an enabling environment to boost the education and industrial sectors. He also said that he will ensure that women will be well represented in his cabinet as 50 percent of the members are females.
Ob his limited experience in politics, Otti assured that anybody who is able to navigate board room politics could as well excel in partisan politics where the same intelligence hard work and dexterity is also need for success.
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