LEADERSHIP Awards Reputable, Highly Cherished Honour, Say BUA Foods PLC, Lotus Bank

The managing director and chief executive officer of Lotus Bank, Mrs Kafilat Araoye; and the managing director of BUA Foods, Mr. Ayodele Abioye, have described LEADERSHIP Awards as “a reputable and highly cherished honour”.

Lotus Bank, one of Nigeria’s three Non-Interest Banks (NIB); and leading food and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), BUA Foods, were named as LEADERSHIP Bank Of The Year, and LEADERSHIP Company of the Year 2022 respectively by the media company. They will be decorated at the LEADERSHIP Conference and Awards 2022 ceremony holding in Abuja on January 31, 2023.

Speaking while receiving the management of LEADERSHIP Group Limited, led by its vice chairman, Mike Okpere and his team which include the media company’s executive director, Abraham Nda-Isaiah; director, southern operations, Bunmi Olowoyo and general manager, southern operations, Chima Akwaja, who delivered the official Notification of Award letter for the LEADERSHIP Conference and Awards, Mrs. Araoye said the bank was committed to financial inclusion and also financing exports and agriculture in the country to ensure the growth and development of the Nigerian economy.

She explained that the award was a testament that the efforts of the bank which commenced operations in 2021 were being noticed. According to her, Lotus Bank, in just over one year of its existence in the country, has become the choice of many at the grassroots.

Receiving the notice of the award of LEADERSHIP Bank of the Year, Araoye noted that the award came as a surprise to her and the bank as she said, “we were just doing what we can to ensure that Nigeria achieves financial inclusion and also help businesses particularly exporters in such a way that the country would be able to generate the needed foreign exchange.

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“One of the purposes of setting up the bank is to actually add value to the society. What we have done for most of this year is to go to places where people don’t normally go to, both north and south and try to educate them on why they should have a bank account. We did not even see the cashless coming up, we just had a desire for Nigeria, where we should be as a country.

“People should be financially included, we should finance them, we should try to increase our agricultural output and our export to reduce pressure on our foreign exchange. we did not know that the things we were doing were being noticed and we appreciate the honour that is being bestowed on us.”

Also, Mr. Ayodele Abioye said the leading food and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company would continue to uphold the values and virtue which earned it the LEADERSHIP Company of the Year 2022 award. Abioye stated this yesterday at the company’s head office while receiving the management of LEADERSHIP Newspapers, led by its vice chairman, Mike Okpere.

While receiving the delegation, Abioye in company of BUA Foods’ executive director, Isyaku Rabiu, and director of marketing and corporate communication, Adewunmi Desalu, noted that the award conferred on it by LEADERSHIP was a worthy one as the media group is one of the most reputable in the country.

He commended the management of LEADERSHIP for its dedication towards maintaining a high level of reputation in the media industry, saying, “We are sure that you didn’t just arrive at selecting us, there must have been some in-house evaluation. We are very glad to receive this. We have received so many awards recently, and this coming from LEADERSHIP, which is a very reputable brand is a reconfirmation that we are doing well. This is because the giver of the award is very important and LEADERSHIP is one of the major newspapers. We are very happy to be on your paper.

“We remain very proud of ourselves in Africa, made out of Nigeria. I am sure if you go to other organisations, you will probably see a lot of foreigners but we are proudly Nigerian. Made in Nigeria and we see ourselves as the pride of Africa. We want to continue to do more of whatever we are doing very well.”

LEADERSHIP vice chairman, Mike Okpere responding, noted that although young in age, the impact of Lotus Bank is already being felt within the Nigerian economy. He noted that the bank had been awarded Bank of the Year for its drive and impact on improving financial inclusion in Nigeria and efforts at boosting non-oil export earnings of the country in its less than two years since it obtained a banking license.

Also, he noted that a lot had been put into consideration before BUA Foods was named the 2022 LEADERSHIP Company of the Year. He said, ‘‘being recognized as LEADERSHIP Company of the Year, we hope this will spur you to do greater things in the future.”