President Uhuru Kenyatta seeks UBA support For Nairobi

President Uhuru Kenyatta has unveiled plans to make Nairobi an international financial centre and is calling on UBA to play a pivotal role in seeing to the actualization of this plan.

Speaking in Abuja at a luncheon organized in his honor on Monday by UBA, President Kenyatta said the bank, as African financial services institution is in pole position to bring its financial know-how to make this happen.

He lamented that Africans have traditionally looked outside for development partners but the time has come to shift focus inwards and partner with credible local institutions. He commended UBA for its continental expansion in general and the establishment of the Kenyan office in particular stating that the bank's African outlook is noteworthy. 'We look at you as partners who will oil the wheel of progress, helping to create the kind of investments that will grow our economies and create jobs' he stated.

According to the Kenyan President who addressed the gathering of senior UBA executives and top Nigerian businessmen at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Africa is continent of great potentials, particularly in human resources and therefore the need for banks and financial institution like UBA to support the entrepreneurial aspirations of the people.

Speaking earlier the Deputy Managing Director of UBA Plc, Mr. kennedy Uzoka who thanked the president for creating time from the Africa Union Summit in Abuja, to meet with the bank officials and other Nigerian businessmen assured that UBA will remain committed to its afro centric vision.

He said the expansion to Africa by the bank was well thought out and was propelled by the vision to be a role model institution with African origins that will last for perpetuity. He reiterated that UBA has and would continue to partner with governments and other credible institutions to develop and grow those economies of countries where the bank has presence. Using its financial resources, the bank he says, has been in the forefront of facilitating intra-Africa trade and payments, thus eliminating the cumbersome process of trade payments in the past where LCs for local transactions are consummated abroad.

'As the only African bank with presence in 19 African countries and three global financial centers such as New York, London and Paris, we have created a platform for Africa and African related businesses. We urge Your Excellency and indeed other African Presidents to continue to provide the enabling environments for businesses to thrive' said Uzoka.

In Kenya, UBA is deploying its resources to support the economy in the areas of Energy (Oil, Gas and Power), Infrastructure (Railways, Roads, Irrigation and Water Supply), Agriculture, Finance, Industry and Commerce.

'Only recently UBA Kenya helped the Kenya Revenue Authority to computerize Revenue Collection in a collaborative project dubbed i-Tax, thus enabling Kenyans to pay their taxes online and seamlessly' said Mr. Tunji Adeniyi, MD UBA Kenya.