Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has won the
'Outstanding Leadership Award 2020' by the Nigerian American Awards (NNA) in
Florida, United States, for his exemplary leadership and outstanding performance
in transforming governance landscape in the state.
Other Nigerians who won different categories of the
NNA awards are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) vice presidential candidate
in the 2019 general election, Peter Obi; business magnate, Dr. Adedeji Adeleke,
and Chairman of Nigerians Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Mrs. Abike
Dabiri-Erewa.
In a statement issued on Sunday by the Chairman of
NAA, Dr. Afolabi Andu, he said Obi won the 'Lifetime Achievement Award 2020'
for his outstanding entrepreneurship, exemplary leadership and visionary
excellence especially for the transformation he carried out when he was the governor
of Anambra State.
Adeleke, who is the chairman of Pacific Holdings
and proprietor of Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State, was conferred with
'Business Entrepreneur of the Year 2020' for his outstanding business
performance and exemplary entrepreneurial leadership in Nigeria.
Also, Dabiri-Erewa was also conferred with the
'Visionary Leader of the Year 2020' for showing exemplary leadership and being
outstanding in handling affairs at NIDCOM.
Andu explained: "The award was instituted by
the Nigerian-American Business Forum (NABF) to recognise the contributions of
Nigerians who are doing their best to change the narratives of the
country."
He commended the awardees for their excellent
representation of the Nigerian in diaspora and contributions to Nigeria's
development.
Andu said NABF was primarily established to bridge
the gap between Nigerian and American-based businesses and their home-based
counterparts in the public and private sector.
In his remarks, Obi thanked the organisers for the
award, and called on Nigerians in diaspora to develop full interest in what happens
in Nigeria, stressing that the task of developing Nigeria is for all Nigerians.
The former Anambra State governor, who also
received the award on behalf of Makinde, testified that the Oyo State governor
was on the right track to change the governance and development landscape of
the state, urging him not to be distracted.
On his part, Adeleke, who was represented by Mr.
Alani Ogunlade, commended NABF and NAA for the gesture and lauded the forum for
its innovative approach to drive investment to their homeland and national
development, despite the challenging investment environment.
On her own, Dabiri-Erewa expressed optimism that a
more organised diaspora group like NABF would assist in re-channeling the
energy among them homewards for the development of Nigeria.
"Yet we cannot discount its (remittances)
value and the good it can do to nation-building if properly leveraged. Nigeria,
as it is, offers a huge demographic and consumer market,” Dabiri-Erewa added.
No comments:
Post a Comment