Dangote Cement Plc, First Bank of Nigeria  Plc, Zenith Bank Plc Oando Plc and Julius Berger Nigeria Plc emerged  winners in  the maiden edition of BusinessWorld  Corporate Achievement Awards for  coming  tops  in the performance ranking of  100 quoted  companies in Nigeria as contained in 2011 edition  of BusinessWorld 100, a special  publication of BusinessWorld Newspaper.
Dangote Cement emerged the “Most Profitable Company in Nigeria”, while First Bank of Nigeria Plc clinched the award of the “Largest Company in Nigeria” in 2011. Mr. Chima Jonathan Ibeneche, NLNG managing director, received an award for being the “Most Outstanding CEO in Nigeria” during the period. Other recipients of awards are Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, which clinched the award of the “Most Employer of Labour in Nigeria”; Oando Plc, the “Most Revenue Earner”; Zenith Bank Plc, the “Most Capitalised Company in Nigeria” and Dangote Cement, the “Most Valuable Company in Nigeria”.
Sectoral leaders are First Bank of Nigeria Plc for the banking sector, AIICO Insurance Plc, for the insurance sector, Oando Plc for the oil and gas sector and Dangote Cement Plc for the manufacturing  sector.
Mr. Chima Ibeneche, managing director of Nigeria LNG Limited received the award of the Most Outstanding CEO in Nigeria for leading the way in harnessing Nigeria’s abundant gas resources and reducing gas flare in the country. Reduction of gas flare was seen by BusinessWorld editors as a major effort in addressing the pesky problem of pollution. 
The ceremony which  took place  penultimate Friday  night  at the Eko Hotel & Suits, Victoria  Island, Lagos where the winners were  officially presented  the  awards, was attended by  eminent personalities including Senator  Gbenga  Obadara, Senate committee chairman on Privatisation, who was the chairman of the occasion, Professor Akpan Ekpo, director-general of West African Institute for Financial and Economic  Management (wifem)  and a former vice-chancellor of  University  of  Uyo,  who  was the guest speaker.
In his remarks, Obadara gave kudos to BusinessWorld for instituting the award. He said for taking time to study and reward companies that are supporting government initiatives by adding value to the nation’s economy in terms of job creation and contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP), the newspaper is contributing to the development of the country.
Ekpo, in his speech titled: “Paradox of Jobless Growth”, voiced concern over the rising unemployment in the country, regretting that in spite of the high GDP growth, the country is still hobbled by rising poverty. He urged government to find a lasting solution to the lingering socio-economic problems in the country.
While commending BusinessWorld for the initiative of identifying companies that are adding value to the economy, Professor Ekpo urged the editors of the newspaper to always be in the vanguard of setting agenda for the government especially in the ongoing effort to transform the economy.
The annual award, which  is part of BusinessWorld’s  mission to contribute to  the economic development of the country by encouraging entrepreneurship and high  performance in the various sectors of the economy, is  to  celebrate companies that scaled the rigorous assessment employed by the newspaper to identify companies  that are making great impact  in their various  sectors.