The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on Wednesday conferred the Corporate Citizens Award on United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc.
The award, which was in the Extensive Compliance Category, seeks to promote the culture of good corporate governance in the Nigerian environment.
The Corporate Citizens Award, which is open to all registered companies in Nigeria, is designed to recognise corporate citizens who have conducted their affairs in compliance with statutory requirements and best practices.
Chairman, CAC Board of Directors, Funso Lawal, said the idea behind the award was to recognize performance and reward corporate excellence among companies operating in Nigeria, with the ultimate goal of improving the country’s rating in the global competitiveness index.
To be eligible for consideration, he said companies must have complied with the requirements of the Companies and Allied Matters Act and respective industry statutes and regulations.
In addition, the companies must impact on their respective industries positively through credible performance in corporate social responsibility.
The judges under the Chairmanship of former Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Christopher Kolade, looked at financial management, work place environment, management of stakeholder relations, innovation, corporate social responsibility, industry leadership as well as corporate governance to select winners.
UBA was among 26 companies that made the final list from over 800 companies considered, with the bank emerging as one of the eventual 9 winners.
Outgoing Minister for Commerce and Industry, Olusegun Aganga, presented theaward to recipients, while encouraging others to imbibe the best practices of the winners.
He said the awards would provoke commitment to best business practices among companies in Nigeria and expressed happiness that this was coming at a time the government’s transformation agenda was blossoming.
The Group Managing Director of UBA Plc, Phillips Oduoza, said the award reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to best practices in the way its business was done across the continent.
“We operate in multi-jurisdictions given that we have presence in 19 African countries and three international financial centres; London, New York and Paris.
We are thus committed to higher standards in regulatory compliance in the interest of our stakeholders and customers.” Mr. Oduoza said.
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