Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote and Tony Elumelu, Chairman of United Bank of Africa (UBA) have been honoured with National Productivity Merit Award by the Federal Government.
The duo were honoured alongside 25 others at the 18 National Productivity Day Celebration in Abuja.
Designed as an incentive scheme to positively affect the productivity of organizations that are self-reliant in adaption and use of technology, about 333 individuals and 84 organisations have been honoured with the award since its inception in 1991.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige stated that the awardees were considered due to their outstanding performances, creativity and innovation.
“A lot of them have created jobs. A lot of them have shown creativity, innovation, high performance, efficiency, discipline and patriotism”.
Also speaking at the event, IkechiUko, Chairman of NPOM said “the evaluation of the individual nominees for the award was based on 16-point performance criteria which include, job performance, expertise, initiative, responsibility, leadership qualities, reliability, outstanding achievements, team spirit, amongst others.
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He added that the criteria for selecting the awardees in corporate organizations include “local sourcing of raw materials, employment generation, staff training, profitability, capacity utilization, corporate social responsibility, exploit promotion drive and acclaimed breakthrough”.
Recognising the amazons
With the National Productivity Merit Award focusing on organizations that have made their marks towards economic growth and job creation, one man that could not be ignored is Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
With an estimated net worth of US$8.9 billion, Dangote is a proud owner of a multi-trillion-naira conglomerate with many of its operations in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo.
Dangote has expanded to cover food processing, cement and manufacturing, and freight. The Dangote group has also dominated the sugar market in Nigeria and is a major supplier to the country’s soft drink companies, breweries, and confectioners.
The Dangote group has moved from being a trading company to be the largest industrial group in Nigeria including Nigeria sugar refinery, Dangote cement and Dangote flour. The group owns salt factories and flour mills and is a major importer of rice, fish, pasta, cement and fertilizer. The company exports cotton, cashew nuts, cocoa, sesame seeds and ginger to several countries. The company employs more than 11,000 people and is the largest conglomerate in West Africa.
Tony Elumelu, who was also recognised on the award night was also considered to have shaped Nigeria’s economic space. Aside from being the Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), one of Africa’s leading financial services group, Elumelu has also been recognised for his “philanthropic” efforts through his Tony Elumelu’s Foundation which he pride as example to “prove that the African private sector can itself be the primary generator of economic development.
Other awardees of the nights were Oba Otudeko, a Nigerian businessman who serves as the founder and chairman of the Honeywell Group, a diversified industrial, trading and investment conglomerate.
