The Aiteo Group, founded and managed by its Executive Vice Chairman, Benedict Peters has been named Company of The Year at the 2017 New Telegraph Awards.

The event which was held on Saturday featured other distinguished Nigerian brands including the Dangote Group, Zenith Bank Plc, representatives of UBA Plc among others. The nomination committee factored in the outstanding contribution of Aiteo to the development of local communities, the oil and gas sector, and the development of sports in its decision.

In the last two years, Aiteo has achieved remarkable feats in a number of areas. It has increased production from OML29 which it acquired from Shell in 2014 by an estimated 200%. Apart from this, the company has established itself as a member of the communities where it operates by continuously engaging with, and carrying along host communities and other stakeholders in its business model.

The awards committee also noted that Aiteo made remarkable contribution to the successful qualification of Nigeria’s senior male football team, the Super Eagles for the World Cup scheduled to hold in Russia next year.
“Its partnership with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), and its sponsorship of the Federation Cup which has been rebranded the Aiteo Cup, go to show the value it places on football and physical development at the national level.”

A representative of Aiteo who spoke on the sideline of the event said that the award is a testament to the commitment of Benedict Peters’ to investing in Nigeria. He also said that Aiteo prides itself in using local talents to achieving great goals, just as it has done with OML29.

Zenith Bank Plc was presented with the Bank of the Year Award. Speaking on behalf of the bank while receiving the award, Denis Olisa, General Manager, Chief Inspector of the bank, was grateful to New Telegraph for the award. He noted that the award will ginger the company to continue to improve the country’s banking sector.

According to him, the bank has impacted positively on the lives of Nigerians and will continue to support the economy. However, UBA Plc Managing Director, Mr Kennedy Uzoka was presented with the ‘Bank CE0 of the Year’ Award.
Receiving the award on behalf of the bank’s MD, Mr. Ayoku Liadi, Executive Director, Lagos and West of UBA, said that the bank was delighted and honoured with the award.
He said that the bank will contnue to support the media and the banking sector to improve the economy. In the same vein, the Aiteo Group was presented with the ‘Company of the Year’ Award.

The President of Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote was presented with the Businessman of the Year Award.

Receiving the award on behalf of Alhaji Dangote, Mr. Sunday Esan of Corporate Communications Department disclosed that the company was humbled to be presented the ‘Businessman of the year’ on Aliko Dangote.