The Board of Nestlé Nigeria PLC has appointed Mr. Gbenga Oyebode, MFR, as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors with effect from May 18, 2023. The appointment announced to shareholders and other stakeholders at the Annual General Meeting of Nestlé Nigeria PLC, held at the MUSON Center on May 17, 2023, follows the retirement of Mr. David Ifezulike as a Director and the Chairman of the Board of the Company with effect from May 18, 2023. 

Mr. Oyebode qualified as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1980. He holds a Master of Laws degree and is the co-founder of the law firm of Aluko & Oyebode. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and the Nigerian Leadership Initiative. He is the Chairman of Okomu Oil Palm PLC, Teach for All, and the African Philanthropy Forum. He is also a Director of both CFAO Nigeria and Lafarge Africa PLC as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ford Foundation. 

Mr. Oyebode was first appointed to the Board of Nestlé Nigeria PLC on February 24, 2014, and has served on the Statutory Audit Committee, Nomination, Governance and Remuneration Committee as well as the Board Audit and Risk Management Committee of the Company. 

Mr. Ifezulike who holds a Masters in Management Science and a Diploma of Imperial College, London, was appointed to the Board of Nestlé Nigeria PLC on December 22, 2000. He became the Chairman of the Board on May 10, 2013 and served the Company meritoriously during his tenure. 

He joined Nestlé Nigeria PLC on January 1,1980 and worked for over 26 years in various capacities and locations including Nigeria, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, Switzerland, and Ghana. He was on an international exchange program as Factory Manager of Nestlé Ghana between May 1999 and April 2003. 

He retired from Nestlé Nigeria PLC as the Executive Director, Industrial Development in October 2006. The Board of Nestlé Nigeria PLC thanked Mr. Ifezulike for his contributions to the growth of the Company and wished him success in his future endeavours. The Board of Nestlé Nigeria PLC also expressed confidence in the ability of the new Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Oyebode, to further contribute to the development of the Company and wished him personal satisfaction in his new role.

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari knows Nigeria’s capacity is limitless in terms of what we can produce, even as he disclosed that in his relationship with the President  in the last two years, he has been treating him more like a brother and a son.

Speaking on the President’s convictions he said “when he gave the 2017 budget speech in December 2016, the President said the central vision of our government is to grow everything that we would eat and to make everything we would use.”
The Acting President said this at a gathering of small scale businesses, industry and stakeholders across the public and private sectors involved in developing the micro, small and medium scale enterprises in the country at the launch of the Katsina State’s MSMES Clinic in Katsina.

Prof. Osinbajo averred that the Federal Government’s newly launched Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (EGRP) places high premium on the nation’s capacity to grow it’s export potentials rather than continue on the unsustainable path of total dependence on import.
He said the focus of the Plan is to develop “the capacity of Nigerians to do everything that we need internally; to become a net exporter of the various things that we are importing today.”

Explaining Federal Government’s reason for the inauguration of the MSMEs Clinics that is now going round major cities in the country, Prof Osinbajo stated that it was designed to give small businesses the opportunity “to meet with the industry regulators, to talk to them and to hear their problems”, adding that he was so excited to see not only business men but women who are focussed and serious about their businesses.

He explained that the idea of the MSMES clinics which he has personally attended for the fourth time now is the Buhari administration’s effort to close the gap between MSMES and relevant FG regulatory agencies like NAFDAC, CAC, SON, BOI, FIRS and others and ensure that those agencies become facilitators of businesses not obstacles to business development.

Unilever Nigeria PLC has disclosed that it plans to raise its authorised capital base at the forth coming annual General meeting in May 2017. At the meeting the company will seek its shareholder approval to raise N63 billion through a rights issue, an opportunity for existing shareholders to increase their stake in the company. The household products maker also said it would seek approval to increase its authorised share capital to N5 billion by creating an additional 3.95 billion new ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.
The local unit of Unilever plans to seek a vote at a shareholder meeting on May 11, it said in a notice, adding that it would also ask for approval to convert shareholder loans to stock as part of the share sale.