UAC appoints Bello GMD designate as Ettah retires

The Board of UAC of Nigeria Plc (UACN) has appointed Abdul Akhor Bello as the new group managing director following the impending retirement of Mr. Larry Ettah from the organisation next January.
According to a statement by the chairman of the board, Mr. Dan Agbor, the incumbent group managing director/chief executive officer, Ettah, has informed it of his decision to retire on January 1, 2018, after 11 years in the role and will, therefore, proceed on his pre-retirement leave same date.
The statement said the board has elected Bello to succeed Ettah upon his retirement.
The chairman said it was on record that UACN, under Ettah’s leadership, has seen a decade of strong performance, growth and significant transformation.
“We are on course to becoming a N100 billion topline organisation by the end of this year. We thank Larry for his invaluable contributions to the group in almost 30 years of service, half of which have been on the board. Larry will always have a honoured place in the memory of the company and, on behalf of the board, we offer him the respect and gratitude of UACN,” he said.
In the choice of Bello as a successor, the chairman said that the company has demonstrated yet again the robustness of its succession planning and validates the depth of the leadership bench within the business.
“We have every confidence that Abdul has the ability to ensure that, under his stewardship, the company will continue to build on its strong foundations, drive its strategic agenda, and generate competitive returns to our shareholders,” he said.
The incumbent GMD has expressed gratitude to the organisation for the privilege and opportunity to have led UACN in the last 11 years.
Ettah said, “I am pleased and proud about the work we have done and are doing. I am supremely confident and optimistic about (the company’s) future because of its rich culture, resilience, talents, assets and strong platform for growth.”
He also said that his successor, Bello, was an ideal and logical successor, given his background in UACN and track record of achievement at various levels in the organisation.
“He has been a strategic partner since 2010, when he was appointed to the board as chief financial officer. A role that has acclimated him to understand the challenges, context and evaluate adequacy of response to the work that lies ahead. I believe that the company will be in more than capable hands,” he said.
Bello has held various management positions across UACN. Between August 1997 and February 1998, he was senior accountant at accounts headquarters, UACN. He was appointed finance director and company secretary of Chemical & Allied Products (CAP) Plc on April 1, 1998. He became the managing director of CAP on February 1, 2003.
Since his appointment as executive director/chief financial officer (UAC) in January 2010, he has redefined the role of finance in the group, emerging as strategic partner of the CEO’s office to strengthen risk management, controls and as mergers and acquisitions team lead in period of UACN’s restructuring.