Dipo Olowookere
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Mr Tony Elumelu, has clinched the ‘Person of the Year’ award at the Africa Investor CEO Institutional Investment Summit hosted on the sidelines of the 71st UN General Assembly in New York, USA.
Mr Elumelu, after receiving the award, dedicated it to staff and management of Transcorp Power, the biggest producer of thermal energy in Nigeria, providing about 18% of national output.
He said in his speech that, “In accepting this award, I want to dedicate it to Transcorp Power staff who remain committed to realizing our dream of improving access to electricity in Nigeria and making our vision of a well-lit, fully powered Nigeria come true.”
Mr Elumelu, who doubles as Chairman of Heirs Holdings, extolled stakeholders in the public and private sectors committed to improving access to power in Africa.
Transcorp Power has supported President Obama’s Power Africa initiative with a $2.5 billion commitment.
He thanked the broader coalition of investors in the African power sector and urged other institutional investors to consider long-term opportunities on the continent.
“I also dedicate this to all stakeholders working hard to improve access to power in Africa. I call on others to please join us in this journey to powering Africa out of poverty,” he said.
He noted that, “Africa has been faced with this same challenge, in my view, for far too long.
“I choose to look at the recent episodes of economic contraction across the continent as opportunities to diversify our economies and invest in building critical infrastructure, especially in power, to reduce our susceptibility to commodity shocks and break out of the perpetual boom-bust cycles.”
According to him, “While there is huge private capital – local and global – seeking investment destinations, as we know, global private capital goes to where it is most welcome.”
“Therefore, the challenge before African governments should be how to ensure they create the environment that will attract and retain these investments in our continent,” he remarked.
He emphasised that it was “critical for the public and private sectors to work together in SHARED PURPOSE, which is a key tenet of Africapitalism – the economic philosophy I espouse which calls for the private sector to play a key role in Africa’s social and economic development by investing in strategic sectors for both economic profit and social prosperity.”
