Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and his Cross River
counterpart,Ben Ayade have been nominated for awards at the 2017 edition
of the prestigious
South-South Leadership Advancement Awards(SSLAA) and summit.
Mr Kinsley Amafibe, Project Director of SSLAA, told the News Agency
of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday that CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele
and Amaju Pinnick, President of Nigeria Football Federation are also on
the list of nominees.
According to him, other nominees for the award, scheduled for Dec.
15, includes Sen. Godswill Akpabio,Sen.Ovie Omo-Agege, traditional rulers, as well as
industrialists, artistes and philanthropists from the South-South
region.
Amafibe said the names were among the list of nominees made available
by organisers of the award, Good Dreams Multimedia Concepts, an NGO
that celebrates productivity, excellence and good governance.
He said the nominees would be honoured because of their contributions
to the peace building, economic and infrastructural development of the
region.
“These Nigerians from the South-South region have, in one way or the
other, contributed to its development and peaceful coexistence.
“He added that “we believe that this recognition will always be the push for them to achieve more in their service to society.”
The project director said that since the initiative was
non-political, service to humanity, in which ever capacity, was the
benchmark that earned the recipients nomination space.
He noted that although there were more people contributing to
peaceful coexistence and development in the South-South, there was need
to honour the outstanding ones in edition of the award.
“Service to humanity and making society a better place for everyone is the essence of leadership.
“Anyone who has notably used his office or profession to serve and
touch society positively, is a leader that needs to be recognised,” he
said
According to Amafibe, the 2017 edition of the award will feature a
summit where peace, reconciliation and youth empowerment in the region
will be discussed.
He added that militancy, kidnapping and other vices threatening peace in the region would be discussed at the summit.
“The region is very significant to our economic survival as a nation,
and we must do everything collectively to sustain peace in the region.
He further said that Brig-Gen Paul Boroh, Coordinator of the
Presidential Amnesty Programme, and Gov. Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa
would also be honoured for their efforts at curbing youth restiveness in
the oil-rich state.
NAN reports that the South-South Leadership Advancement Awards
(SSLAA) is an annual award that honours Nigerians, especially those from
the South-South who contributed meaningfully to the development of the
region.
The awards cuts across different categories, with recipients picked from various fields and backgrounds.
The categories include South-South Governor of the Year, Award for
Peacekeeping in the South-South, South-South Comedian and Entertainment
Entrepreneur of the Year.
Others include South-South Traditional Ruler of the Year, South-South
Construction Company of the Year and South–South Community Personality
of the Year.
The event is scheduled for Emerald Events Centre in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State Capital.