Okwechime, Duke join UBA board

Mrs. Rose Ada Okwechime and Mrs. Owanari Duke

 

Financial giant United Bank for Africa Plc has appointed two women - Mrs. Rose Ada Okwechime and Mrs. Owanari Duke - to the Group board. 

The appointments were made at a meeting of the Board of Directors in China on July 13, according to a statement from the bank.

The appointments, which have received the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), bring to four the number of women on the board.

Mrs. Rose Ada Okwechime is the Managing Director of Abbey Building Society; a multi-billion naira mortgage institution. She has served as a public company director for over 20 years and her experience of the financial services industry includes service at the Bank of England. Mrs. Okwechime was a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of Standard Trust Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc. 

She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria; the Chartered Institute of Bankers, London; the Institute of Brand Management; the Institute of Direct Marketing of Nigeria and a member of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria.

Mrs. Duke is a former First Lady of Cross River State and a lawyer, a specialist in mediation and dispute resolution and a philanthropist. She has been the Managing Partner of the law firm of Duke & Bob-Manuel and also the Executive Chairman of Allied Merchants & Brokers Limited.

She is a Member of the Board of UNCTAD (United Nations Centre for Trade & Development) and the Country Director of EMPRETEC Nigeria Foundation; a UNCTAD Private Sector Support Initiative to assist Nigerians achieve higher levels of productivity and competitiveness among Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises SMEs.  Mrs. Duke graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, with LLB Hons in 1983 and a BL at Nigerian Law School, Lagos in 1984.

“We welcome these distinguished members  to our Board and look forward to benefiting from their wealth of experience, as we continue to provide the required leadership and drive to grow shareholder value and delivering on our objective of being a leading African financial services institution” said Chief.  I C Ogbue, Chairman, UBA Board of Directors.