News Investigators/ The Vice President, Sen. Kashim Shettima, has commended Zenith Bank for breaking barriers, setting standards, and proving that in Nigeria, greatness is not an exception but an expectation.
Shettima, who was a former staff of the bank, made the commendation at its 35th Anniversary and Chairman’s Dinner, held on Friday in Lagos.
He said that for the past 35 years, the bank had opened more branches across the world, adding that it had opened possibilities.
Shettima added that the bank had not only guarded wealth but nurtured the dreams of a nation.
He said,”It is for this reason that I join this anniversary as a proud alumnus of Zenith Bank.
“On behalf of the Government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I salute Zenith Bank, I honour Mr Jim Ovia, and I commend Dame Adaora Umeoji.
” May the next 35 years find you still breaking barriers, still setting standards, and still proving that in Nigeria, greatness is not an exception—it is an expectation.
” There are financial institutions that exist chiefly to expand their profit margins year after year, and there are others that write history.
” I know the difference because I was bred in this system, and I know that Zenith Bank belongs to a class of its own. It is a family that has stood together. A family that thinks together. A family that builds together.
” A family that grows together. A family that celebrates each other’s victories and endures each other’s trials. A family bound not solely by contracts and capital, but by the foresight that tomorrow arrives heavy with promise.”
He recalled in July 1990, when some visionaries were assembled to plant “a seed in the fertile but uncertain soil of Nigeria’s banking sector.
Shettima said: “A motion was set in place for a revolution in the nation’s corporate culture. What has come out of it is no accident—a bank that stands as Nigeria’s largest bank by Tier-One capital.
” This is a prize it has earned consecutively for the past sixteen years, making it a benchmark in the annals of African enterprise.”
He said at the heart of the story of Zenith Bank “is the master of foresight, the architect of dreams, the conjurer of possibilities, the alchemist who turns vision into gold.
” And a magician whose wand is wisdom, whose stage is the future, and whose art is the transformation of an industry.
” The man who made time his apprentice. The man who made innovation his language. And this magician, this sage of our age, is none other than my mentor, Mr Jim Ovia. “
Shettima stated that long before technology became the bloodstream of global finance, Jim Ovia had already woven it into the DNA of Nigerian banking.
The vice-president said, ” He introduced innovation not as a fashion but as a philosophy, placing Zenith Bank on a path where excellence is not an ambition but a standard.
” To those of us who had the privilege of working under his watch in our own banking years, his genius was never in doubt.
” He introduced innovation not as a fashion but as a philosophy, placing Zenith Bank on a path where excellence is not an ambition but a standard.”
Shettima said that the story of Zenith bank was also the story of continuity, adding,” it was the relay baton passed with trust and received with grace.
” Today, that baton rests in the capable hands of Dame Adaora Umeoji, the first woman to lead this bank in its distinguished history.
” Her journey demonstrates the succession planning that characterises Jim Ovia’s school of leadership, of which I am proud to be an alumnus.
” Dame Adaora rose through the ranks with almost three decades of service. She has taken the Zenith Bank ethos and dressed it in the elegance of a new generation.
“Blending strategic vision with the soft power of empathy. In barely a year at the helm, she has guided the bank to record-breaking performance, proving that leadership is not about replacing the past but building upon it.”
Earlier, the founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia, said the bank had grown into a global brand, adding that the best of the bank is yet to come.
He commended members of staff of the bank for their commitment and loyalty.
Also, the bank’s Group Managing Director, Dame Adaora Umeoji, said in 35 years, the bank had grown from humble beginnings in a converted presidential building to becoming a shining example of excellence in the Nigerian banking industry.
” And a globally recognized financial institution.
” We celebrate not just a bank, but a vision born 35 years ago in the mind of one extraordinary man who dared to dream differently, ” she said.
NAN
