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Senator Okowa Bags Zik Leadership Award

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Senator Okowa Ifeanyi&comma; the executive governor of Delta State has won Zik Leadership award<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Delta State Governor&comma; Senator Okowa Ifeanyi&comma; was on Sunday honoured with the 2019 Zik Prize in Leadership for &&num;8220&semi;Good Governance&&num;8221&semi;&comma; in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments in road infrastructure and socio-economic development of the state&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The award was presented to the governor by the Public Policy Research and Analysis Centre &lpar;PPRAC&rpar;&comma; organisers of the Zik Prize in Leadership awards to mark its 25th anniversary&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Senate President&comma; Dr Ahmed Lawan&comma; was also honoured with the Zik Prize for Political Leadership&semi; Borno State Governor&comma; Professor Babagana Zulum &lpar;Good Governance&rpar;&semi; Oyo State Governor&comma; Mr Seyi Makinde &lpar;Good Governance&rpar;&semi; Secretary to Government of the Federation &lpar;SGF&rpar;&comma; Mr Boss Mustapha &lpar;Public Service&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Others were Founder of Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries Limited&comma; Dr Stella Okoli&semi; Managing Director of UBA Plc&comma; Mr Kennedy Uzoka &lpar;Professional Excellence&rpar;&semi; and Executive Vice Chairman&comma; Nigeria Communications Commission&comma; Prof&period; Umar Danbatta &lpar;Professional Leadership&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Receiving the award at the Civic Centre&comma; Lagos&comma; Senator Okowa said that the honour done him by the PPRAC would spur him to do more in the areas of skills acquisition&comma; contributory health insurance scheme&comma; micro credit&comma; widows’ empowerment and total infrastructural upgrade in different sectors of the state economy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Represented by Secretary to the State Government&comma; Mr Chiedu Ebie&comma; the governor said &&num;8220&semi;I am impressed with the recognition of our modest contributions to the development of our state and I want to assure you that we will expand the frontiers of all the programmes that earned us this award&comma; in 2021&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;In spite of the present global economic hardship&comma; our administration will continue to adopt best practices in project conception&comma; execution and implementation of policies and programmes&comma; even as I thank all Deltans for their support in moving the state forward&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The late Dr&period; Nnamdi Azikiwe was a great patriot&comma; bridge builder and a role model of note&comma; and I therefore call on Nigerians to sustain his legacies by promoting positive traits that he radiated while on earth&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Okowa stated&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In his remarks&comma; the SGF&comma; Boss Mustapha&comma; who received Zik&&num;8217&semi;s Public Service award at the event&comma; equally lauded Governor Okowa for his inspiring contributions to the overall growth and development of Delta and Nigeria&comma; especially for his role in liaising with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While commending the organisers of the ceremony for the honour done him and other recipients&comma; Mustapha called on Nigerians to put the interest of the nation above self as late Nnamdi Azikiwe did and was called Zik of Africa&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He used the forum to call on Academic Staff Union of Universities &lpar;ASUU&rpar; whose members are currently on a protracted strike&comma; to shift ground in the interest of students and their parents by suspending the action&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said that the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">Federal Government<&sol;a> would do its best to resolve the differences to enable students go back to school&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Also speaking&comma; Nobel Laurette&comma; Prof&period; Wole Soyinka&comma; who was the Chairman at the event&comma; disclosed that Zik was a rare gem that believed very strongly in the unity and progress of <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The man Zik is worth celebrating&comma; I owe him a lot of gratitude and any opportunity I have to pay him debt of gratitude&comma; I will definitely maximise such opportunity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;As I congratulate recipients of various categories of the 2019 Zik Prize&comma; I must also laud the organisers of the programme for sustaining the annual event since its inception 25 years ago&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In his welcome address&comma; Chairman of the Advisory Board of PPRAC&comma; Chief Marc Wagbara&comma; said that since inception 25 years ago&comma; Zik Prize had emerged as the most respected award in Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to him&comma; PPRAC established the Zik Prize in Leadership Awards as part of its annual lecture series to further highlight the great Zik&&num;8217&semi;s monumental legacy of patriotic fervour and nationalist vision&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He stressed the need for Nigeria to continue to work for every citizen irrespective of ethnic&comma; religious and political affiliations&comma; and congratulated recipients of the Zik Prize in Leadership&comma; even as he implored them to remain committed to the noble ideals of good governance which earned them the awards&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He restated that Zik believed in one Nigeria&comma; adding that size&comma; diversity and demography of Nigeria&comma; makes it one of the most important countries in the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The Zik Prize has continued to attract interest from Nigeria and beyond because the organisers have been led by great Nigerians of impeccable honour and integrity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The personality of the man whose honour the award was instituted has also contributed to the great successes recorded by the Zik Prize since it was founded in 1995&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;To put Nigeria on the path of progress as envisioned by Zik and other great nationalists&comma; justice&comma; equity and fairness must be observed by leaders in all ramifications&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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