Shareholders of Infrastructure and Project Management Group(MTI) Plc have unanimously approved changes in the  Board with the participation of representatives from major institutional investors to the company.

The Board has the objective of strengthening the Group’s commercial & professional organization and focusing on a combination of technical excellence and creation of shareholder value.

At the 5thAnnual General Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos, shareholders ratified the decision of the Hon. (Prince) Chibudom Nwuche (OFR), to step down as Chairman and confirmed the appointment of Alhaji Kasimu Kurfi as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors.

They also confirmed the appointment of Mr. Robert Vercoe as the Group Managing Director as part of a program to strengthen independent professional management of the day to day management of the company .

The shareholders also elected Messrs Uchenna Ogbu, Chidi Agbapu, Chiedu Ijomah and Robert Vercoe as members of the restructured Board and re_elected Messrs Glenroy Daley, Amanuel Araya and Gaetano Marconi and Peter Aletor as board members

The 2009 Annual Report & Accounts, together with the Reports of the External Auditors and the Audit Committee, were duly approved and adopted.

MTI Plc recorded some losses for the financial year_end 31st December 2009, which was attributed in part to the global economic and other factors including both the long gestation period of certain targeted business sectors such as Oil and Gas and Mass Power.

Speaking, the immediate past Chairman of the company, Hon. Chibudom Nwuche  said that the 2009 was particularly challenging for the company due to the global financial crisis that unfolded at the end of 2008, the impact of which was still being felt, and the resultant banking and financial sector consolidation in Nigeria.

According to him, “As you are well aware, telecommunication infrastructure projects accounted for some seventy percent of MTI’s business portfolio and downturn in this sector adversely impacted our operations and income realization for the period under review, particularly as MTI Plc. had been positioning itself for a greater share of the market by investing in both human and technical resources,” he said.

“The reality of the 2009 operating environment, especially the lull in economic growth in the sectors where MTI operates, has clear adversely impacted on MTI’s short_term fortunes.”

Meanwhile, the new Chairman, Alhaji Kurfi, informed the shareholders that MTI Plc corporate vision is to  establish itself as a leading infrastructure provider in Sub_Saharan Africa and will retain and develop its subsidiary structure designed to target key sectors of infra_structural development.

The five subsidiaries currently operating within the MTI Plc Group consist of the following entities:_ MTI Oil & Gas Services Limited, Mass Power Integrated Services Limited, MTI Engineering Services Limited, MTI Unitower Network Services Limited and MTI Ghana Limited.

He said the key infrastructural sectors to be targeted by the MTI Group include Telecommunications, Power & Alternative Energy, Oil & Gas with possible future interest in Environmental Services and Agronomy.