According to him, he accepted LEADERSHIP Newspaper’s nomination for the award because of the reasons for which the newspaper found him worthy of the honour.
In a letter he personally signed, Emmanuel also confirmed that he would attend the conference and award ceremony scheduled to hold at the Abuja International Conference Centre on March 17, 2017.
Minister of agriculture and rural development, Audu Ogbeh, will deliver the keynote address at the annual event while the Etsu Nupe and chairman, Niger State Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, will be the royal father of the day.
Ogbeh will speak on the conference theme, “The Rice Economy.”
The governor said he was highly honoured and gratified by the reasons advanced by the Board of Editors in nominating him for the award.
Recall that in December 2016, LEADERSHIP had in line with its annual tradition of celebrating individuals and organisations that have distinguished themselves in their various fields of endeavour and made outstanding contributions to Nigeria and the world in the course of the year, picked the nominees for its 2016 awards, and Governor Emmanuel emerged joint winner of the Governor of the Year Award, alongside Anambra State governor, Willie Obiano and Adamawa State governor, Abubakar Bindow.
Emmanuel was nominated for his strides in rural development, on the basis of his current transformation efforts in opening up the rural communities in his state and for bringing seriousness and responsibility to governance and crafting the highly successful “Dakkada” philosophy in addition to several works in infrastructure.
“Let me restate here that I was elected to provide service, and to our people, to engender a new attitude towards governance and its approach and mechanics of dispensing democratic dividends; to rouse our people and steer them away from a dependency mind-set; to make them see the dignity in working to earn a living as opposed to begging for a living and I am glad you recognized this, as forming the organising blocks of our “Dakkada” philosophy.
We will continue to walk this path of service delivery and ensure that government is seen as a force for good and not a force for ill,” he stated, in his acceptance letter.
For the year 2016, just like in the preceding year, three eminent Nigerians were jointly nominated for the award of LEADERSHIP Person of the Year.
They are: include Kebbi State governor, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, and the acting chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Magu.
Recall that the trio of President Muhammadu Buhari, former President Goodluck Jonathan and immediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, were LEADERSHIP Persons of the Year 2015.
The board stated yesterday that the venue for the event was chosen in view of the high-powered guests who would be attending it and assured that all logistics have been put in place to accord the event, which is barely two weeks away, deserving honour and prestige.
According to the Group Managing Director, Dr Cletus Akwaya, Emefiele jointly won the coveted the award for his aggressive support for Nigeria’s agricultural sector particularly in rice production coupled with his sole campaign for development banking, the CBN governor, among other vital criteria for his selection, was also considered on the basis of his skilful management of the nation’s economy in this period of recession through his commendable monetary policy initiatives as well as the interest rate reduction.
“The Kebbi state governor, Senator Atiku Bagudu, who is today seen by many as Nigeria’s number one rice Ambassador, was nominated along with Emefiele for pioneering unprecedented production of rice in Kebbi for both local consumption and for export.
The nation’s anti-financial crime czar and acting chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, also made the prime honours roll for his unflinching commitment, despite all odds and opposition from within and outside the government, to the war against corruption and financial crimes in the country,” he said.
In the other categories of the LEADERSHIP Annual Awards, three governors emerged joint winners of the Governor of the Year Award. They are: Anambra State governor, Chief Willy Obiano, who was nominated Governor of the Year for changing the narrative in his state with his rock-solid modern agricultural revolution, provision of adequate security, infrastructure and empowerment programmes for his people, Adamawa State governor, Senator Abubakar Bindow, who was chosen as Governor of the Year for putting the state on a path of economic independence – a feat for a northern state governor – and driving an unprecedented infrastructural development across the state and Akwa Ibom state governor, Chief Emmanuel Udom.
The Award for Politician of the Year went to the former Edo state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomole; Bank of the Year was clinched by SunTrust Bank; Public Service Person of the Year went to the acting managing director of the Bank of Industry (BOI), Mr Waheed Olagunju; the Banker of the Year Award was clinched by the group managing director/chief executive officer of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Dr Adesola Kazeem Adeduntan; the Business Person of the Year was roundly won by the Chairman of SHOPRITE Nigeria Limited, Chief Tayo Amusan; and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) won the Government Agency of the Year 2016.
Other award categories are: Company of the Year, which was won by Okomu Oil Palm Plc; Brand of the Year, Dana Airline Limited; Telecoms Company of the Year, clinched by Smile Communications Nigeria Limited; Product of the Year won by Power Oil, a latest brand of household cooking oil on the stable of Dufil Nigeria Limited; the CEO of the Year went to the managing director/CEO of Main One Cables, Mrs Funke Opeke; and the E-Commerce Company of the Year, which went to Yudala.com, one of the online shopping and trading portals.
This year, the Artiste of the Year award went to the Afro Pop RnB Hip hop music rave of the moment, Mr Augustine Miles Kelechi, popularly known as Tekno, for his hit song “Pana.”
The LEADERSHIP Sports Persons of the Year award went to the Paralympians who recently won several medals for Nigeria in the August 5-24, 2016 Summer Olympics Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, while Miss Faizal Abubakar Sani, the Kano state-born candidate with the overall best result in the May/June 2016 West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), won the LEADERSHIP Outstanding Young Person of the Year award. Faizal scored A1 in all nine subjects she sat for in the examination
Culled from Leadership Newspaper
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