Vice President Namadi Sambo is to grace the 2011 edition of the Zik
Leadership Award in Excellence, along with other prominent Nigerians.
The award ceremony, organised by the Public Policy Research and
Analysis Centre (PPRAC), will hold on Saturday, March 17, 2012 at the
Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Road, Victoria Island, Lagos.
It is usually a high profile event and this year’s event would be
particularly so, given the calibre of the recipients, made up of a
foreign head of state and seven prominent Nigerians.
As in the past editions, this year’s recipients were adjudged by the
Advisory Board of the PPRAC to have excelled in various fields of
human endeavour. They include President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Governors Olusegun Mimiko (Ogun), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina) and
Peter Obi (Anambra), Chief (Dr) Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion (Esama of
Benin Kingdom), Alhaji Aminu Dantata (Chairman Dantata Group), Prof
Barth Nnaji (Honourable Minister of Power), and Mr. Stephen Olabisi
Onasanya (Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, First Bank
of Nigeria).
Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was selected for her
demonstration of astute political leadership since she was first
elected President four years ago, during which she brought significant
transformation in Liberian politics resulting in widely acknowledged
transparency in governance. She also used her leadership position to
consolidate peace in a country that suffered prolonged years of civil
war. Ellen has just been re-elected for another meritorious 4-year
term which will consolidate the confidence her leadership generated
among average Liberians.
Governors Mimiko, Shema and Obi emerged recipients following evidence
of astute talent in the management of human and material resources,
coupled with sustained people’s confidence which the governors earned
on the platform of their consistent drive towards grassroots
development, matched with unusual vigour for transparency and
accountability in governance.
Igbinedion was chosen for humanitarian services which he has
consistently pursued over the years as a personal ‘mission statement’
anchored on a personal philosophy of making life worth living for
others, and demonstrably insisting on it.
Dantata was selected for business leadership which he has demonstrated
through unbroken years of sound management of human and material
resources, thereby maintaining a window for job creation and national
economic development.
Onasanya distinguished himself in professional leadership at a time of
serious crisis in the financial sector which has betrayed many
organizations as lacking in professionalism and exhibiting performance
gap in sound corporate governance.
Nnaji an internationally renowned Professor of Robotic Engineering,
was selected for professional leadership in recognition of his efforts
at ensuring efficiency in power generation and distribution in
Nigeria. He has gone beyond the mere rhetoric and lip service applied
by many government ministers by bringing about stability and sanity to
the Power sector.
The Zik Prize in Leadership was set up in 1994 by the Public Policy
Research and Analysis Centre (PPRAC), as part of the annual activities
in honour of Rt. Honourable (Dr) Nnamdi Azikiwe, the First President,
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The award, meant to encourage the development of patriotic leadership
in Nigerians, Africans and all black peoples of the world has drawn
notable world leaders in the past, including former Presidents J.J.
Rawlings, Sam Nujoma, among others.
Past recipients of the prize in Political Leadership include
President; J.J. Rawlings (1995), President Nwalimu Julius Nyerere
(1997), Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim (1998), President Sam Nujoma (1999), Dr.
Nelson Mandela (2000).
PROFESSOR JUBRIL AMINU (CON, Phd, London)
Chairman Advisory Board.
