By Eberechi Obinagwam
Chairman, Heirs Holdings Group, Transcorp Group and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Group, Mr Tony Elumelu has urged federal government to pay attention to leadership capacity in addressing economic challenges and driving growth.
Elumelu stated this while speaking at the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) Public Wealth Management Conference in Abuja on Monday.
He said government should assemble the best in the industry who possess a turnaround mindset to transform the state assets and set performance targets for them.
He noted that there is no rush to see immediate profit but must have that mindset if we are to fully unlock the value contained within these state-owned assets.
“First set the strategic intent, prepare the milestones, know how you will be judged, and then execute, execute, execute with discipline and always with that strategic intent in focus,” he said.
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The Chairman, Heirs Holdings Group, stated that MOFI should be saluted for setting out these goals, for looking widely for models and approaches and for bringing a private sector mind set to the stewardship of public assets.
The conference was aimed at bringing together the key players and stakeholders to chart a course to position MOFI as the strategic institution that will support the Federal Government’s efforts to address economic challenges and drive growth in the Nigerian economy.
Elumelu while reeling out achievements by Heirs Holdings Group, said the group are known for how to turn around businesses. “Our expertise is in unlocking the value in the assets we hold and our track record speaks for itself.”
He said the turnaround of a defunct Crystal Bank birthed into Standard Trust Bank, which is now part of today’s United Bank for Africa (UBA).
“This was not a state-owned enterprise but the same principles for turnaround occurred here. We had a clear vision from day one of what we wanted to achieve in the financial services industry. We set out clear goals which we labelled our strategic intent and worked assiduously to ensure we met them.
Today, UBA Group operates in 20 African countries, the UK, France, the UAE and the USA. We are the only African bank with a deposit taking license in the USA.”
“In 2010, following my retirement as the CEO of UBA, and in looking for new opportunities and ventures, the Heirs Holdings Group, my family’s investment firm acquired Transcorp Plc. At the time, Transcorp was formed to lead the industrialisation of Nigeria. The only asset Transcorp Group had back then was this hotel in which we are all gathered today.
Today, Transcorp plays in the hospitality, power (both in generation and distribution) and in the oil & gas sectors.
In Power, we acquired the 972MW gas-fired Ughelli Power Plant and ramped up its generations from 160MW to 701MW within four years of taking over the plant.
Our Ughelli Power Plant is the first privatized power company to be discharged from post- privatization monitoring having surpassed all set targets by the BPE and the National Council on Privatisation. Transcorp Hotels has also been issued a Certificate of Discharge by the National Council on Privatisation.”
He said he is confidence that fixing the issues of gas supply in Nigeria will generate enough electricity to significantly power our country’s industrialisation.
He said his group stands ready to support and partner with MOFI in whatever way we can to ensure that the initiative is a long-term success.
“Times are hard for Nigerians everywhere and we must come together and act in unison to catalyse significant socio-economic development for Nigeria and all our people,” he said.
