UK EKE wins 2020 Zik prize in professional leadership

By Kayode Tokede

The Group Managing Director of FBN Holdings Plc, UK Eke, MFR has been named winner of the 2020 Zik Prize in the Professional Leadership category. The announcement was made during a Press Conference on Thursday, 23 September 2021 at the Centre for Values in Leadership, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Announcing the award, Professor Pat Utomi, the Chairman, Selection Committee, Zik Prize 2020, said UK Eke’s choice was based on the “recognition of his outstanding achievements and immense contributions to the development, growth and stability of the Nigerian and African Banking and Financial Services industry.”

Utomi further added that Eke’s unblemished record of outstanding service has marked him out as a thorough bred professional with rich experience spanning four decades in the banking and financial services industry.

While highlighting the rigorous process the awards committee went through before announcing the winners, he gave further insight into the thinking and resolve of the awards board to ensure that “this noble venture of encouraging and nurturing the most beneficial leadership that can be found on the continent as an embodiment of the leadership values of the Great Zik of Africa in whose honour this award was instituted.”

Other honourees, in various categories, include: Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State Governor, the pioneer Managing Director, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Uche Orji, the Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari; the Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency, Dr Bashir Jamoh.

In addition, the former Kwara State Governor, Ahmed Abdulfatai; Prof. Tunde Adeniran, former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke; Usman Bugaje, Prof. Attahiru Jega, Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo, Yomi Awoniyi, Dr Rose Idi Danladi and Dr Sadiq Gombe were also recognised.

The Zik Prize center was set up in 1994 in honour of the first President of Nigeria, late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.