Tony Elumelu Wins 2017 Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Entrepreneurship Award

Group Chairman of United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) and Founder of Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony Elumelu has emerged winner of the 2017 Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Entrepreneurship Award.

With this honor, Mr. Tony Elumelu becomes the first African to receive the coveted award.

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Entrepreneurship Award was given to both Mr. Elumelu and Bill Marriott, Chairman, Marriott International Inc.

The award was presented to the Nigerian business mogul and his counterpart by the Business council for International Understanding (BCIU), a non-profit US Business association dedicated to forging relationships and promoting dialogue between business and government communities across the globe.

The 2017 Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Entrepreneurship Award was conferred to Mr. Tony Elumelu in recognition of his outstanding work in promoting entrepreneurship on the continent of Africa and across the globe.

Mr. Tony Elumelu, through his Tony Elumelu Foundation, has funded over 3,000 African entrepreneurs to date with his $100 million commitment to 10,000 entrepreneurs over a period of 10 years.

These entrepreneurs are expected to create a million new jobs and over $10 billion in revenue as a result of the initiative of Mr. Elumelu’s Foundation.

At the award’s gala, former American President, Mr. George W. Bush, acknowledged the efforts of the African entrepreneur saying:

“I am impressed with Tony’s philanthropic initiatives which are powering job creation and entrepreneurship in a region (Africa) that is very dear to Laura and me.

To receive an award founded by President Eisenhower has added meaning. Eisenhower provided example in leadership, which we can all learn from.

Additionally, his belief in promoting international understanding is a vitally important responsibility.”

Speaking on the reason why Mr. Elumelu was selected as the recipient of this prestigious award, Peter Tichansky, the CEO of BCIU said:

“Mr Elumelu’s bold approach and can-do mindset are exemplary characteristics of a visionary entrepreneur.

He embodies the idea that companies must take the lead in bringing business and society together. His advocacy is proving that businesses, acting as businesses and not charitable donors, are the most powerful force for addressing social challenges and economic development.”

Indeed, this is the philosophy of Mr. Elumelu, founder of the concept of Africapitalism, which essentially states that Africa’s private sector must play a leading role in the development and growth of the continent as both governments and the private sector come together to make this happen.

Mr. Elumelu, who was presented his award by Kip Forbes and Anne Eisenhower (the granddaughter of President Eisenhower), in his acceptance speech, stated that:

“President Eisenhower was a man of many dimensions and most important is his leadership.

Being recognized today as a recipient of the inaugural global entrepreneurship award is an honour that resonates with so many people in Africa. What our entrepreneurs in Africa need is powerful leadership to further energise, encourage and motivate them to transform the continent.

I hope this will further spur on other Africans and friends of Africa, to make sure we work together for an inclusive prosperity.”

Mr. Elumelu dedicated his award to his wife and children as well as the staff of UBA, Transcorp, Heirs Holdings, the Tony Elumelu Foundation and all the other companies within his group of companies. He thanked BCIU on behalf of entrepreneurs in Africa saying:

“On behalf of the over 3000 entrepreneurs who have benefitted from the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship programme, I say thank you very much.”

Elizabeth Ezekiel Wins 2017 NIMASA Maritime Essay Competition

Elizabeth Ezekiel, has emerged overall winner of the 2017 Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA maritime essay competition.

The 2017 NIMASA maritime essay competition commemorates the 2017 World Maritime Day (WMD) celebration.

Miss Ezekiel’s essay was adjudged the best out of 180 entries by an independent panel of judges on the topic “Connecting Ships, Ports and People”, which is the theme for the 2017 WMD celebration.

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Jamiu Azeez & Bose Odusanya Win 49th Asoju Oba Molade Okoya-Thomas Table Tennis Cup

Jamiu Azeez and Bose Odusanya have won the 49th Asoju Oba Molade Okoya-Thomas Table Tennis Cup title in the men’s singles and women’s singles respectively.

Jamiu Azeez, a semifinalist in 2015 dominated David Fayele to emerge victorious above the Union Bank Sports Club Fayele.

According to Jamiu Azeez on winning the 49th Asoju Oba Molade Okoya-Thomas Table Tennis Cup men’s single:

“I am so happy that my dream of being part of the winner of the prestigious competition came to pass. I have been featuring in this competition as a cadet player and I also took part in the junior event which I had won several times. But I have never won the senior title as I came close to the title in 2015 but I was edged out in the semifinal stage. Now my dream has come true and I could say that it was a bit easier for me to claim the title.”

Bose Odusanya won Ayinla 4-0 to retain her title in the women’s singles.

According to the chairman of the grand finale, Oba Otudeko:

“I must commend the children of Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas for upholding the ideal of their late father by ensuring that the tournament continues three years after the exit of their father. Sports is a unifying factor in Nigeria and table tennis is not an exception. I hope and believe we can get more superstars from this competition after the likes of Atanda Musa, Bose Kaffo and Funke Oshonaike came through it.”

NSCDC Emerge 2017 Korean Ambassador’s Taekwondo Champions

The taekwondo team of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) emerge winners of the 2017 Korean Ambassador’s Taekwondo Championships held in Abuja.

The two-day 2017 Korean Ambassador’s Taekwondo championships, organised by the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) and sponsored by the Republic of Korea Embassy, had about 150 athletes in attendance. They were from three countries, namely: Cameroon, Niger Republic and Chad, as well as 11 Nigerian states, two clubs and the para-military.

NSCDC, who are the defending champions and have dominated the last four editions of the tournament, once again emerged as champions.
The para-military team won with three gold, one silver and four bronze medals ahead of Q-Madi Club of Lagos, which came second with one gold, one silver and one bronze.
The third position went to the Niger Republic national team, which clinched one gold and one bronze medals, with Team Lagos winning one gold medal for the fourth position.

Also, in the senior male -58 kg, Abdumujeeb Sanusi of Q-Madi Club took the gold medal, while Charles Okon of Kebbi State settled for silver.
Chukwuka Okon of Delta State and Abdufathi Sanusi of Q-Madi were joint third and took home the bronze medals.

In the senior male -80kg, Djibo Kadri of Niger Republic claimed the gold medal, while Paul Ogundele from Kebbi State finished as a silver medalist.
Raymond Tiamiyu of NSCDC and Cameroon’s Bassonyam Blaise were joint bronze winners.

Results in the senior male -68kg category, had Seyi Olowookere of Lagos State claiming the gold, while Ajayi Ifeoluwa of Q-Madi took silver.
Muhammad Lawal of Kano State and Jingri Rachiduo of Niger Republic were joint bronze medalists in the category.

In the senior male +80kg, Sunday Onofe of NSCDC took gold, while Kenneth Ogbu of Plateau State settled for the silver.
Sadiq Abdulrahman of Plateau State and Ali Mohammed of Borno State finished in the third position.

The senior female -49kg category saw Sekinat Adebayo of Kano State claiming gold, while Laadi Luiser of Nasarawa State took silver.
Adeyanju Khadijat of Ahmadu Bello University of Zaria and Faith Etokhana of Kebbi State finished as joint third.

It was a clean sweep for NSCDC in the senior female +67kg as Uzoamaka Otuadinma, Chiamaka Onumonu and Pamela Orji took the gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.
Joy Ikpeamaeze of the Federal Capital Territory also finished joint-third to settle for the bronze.

Margaret Binga, the NTF President, said the event had been a huge success, adding that a lot of talents were discovered at the end of the 2017 Korean Ambassador’s Taekwondo championships.

In her words:

“This event has been a huge success and it represents how emphasis on youth development will be at the core of our strategy.

In fact, the goal of my administration is simple — to add more value to taekwondo practitioners through robust programmes.

There is no state in this country where we will not reach and no one will be left out, from the grassroots to the national level.”

FirstBank Obtains PCI DSS Version 3.2 Recertification

First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) has successfully recertified to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) version 3.2. The Bank obtained the PCI DSS certification in 2014.

Recently, FirstBank was named the first financial institution in Nigeria and the West-Africa sub-region to issue 10 million cards to customers across the country. This makes FirstBank the second bank in Africa to achieve this feat. With this milestone, the bank has maintained a 95 percent active card ratio and currently processes about 33 percent of card transactions in the entire banking industry.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements designed to ensure companies that process, store or transmit credit/debit card information, maintain a secure environment thereby guaranteeing the protection of cardholder data throughout the transaction process.

The award of this certificate is a strong indicator that FirstBank consistently has its customers’ interest at the core of its business operations, is committed to securing customer information as well as maintaining a safe and secure environment for customer transactions.

Consequently, the Bank presently has a card transaction volume of over 2,700 per minute with one in every three card transactions being a FirstBank card.

According to the Managing Director/Chief Executive, First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Subsidiaries, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, the bank’s recertification is a testament to the high level operational standards and its strict adherence to international security standards and other regulations.

In his words:

Chinasa Ufodu Emerge UNN Best Graduating Student [2017]

Chinasa Ufodu has emerged the overall best graduating student of University of Nigeria, Nsukka from department of Pharmacy with a CGPA of 4.903 on scale of 5.00.

Miss Chinelo Okafor also emerged the best graduating student (Faculty of Health Science) at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) [2017].

She graduated with a first class in the department of Medical Rehabilitation.

Miss Chinelo Okafor is the Best graduating student in the Faculty of Health Science & Technology, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.

Miss Chinelo Okafor received several Awards for her excellent academic performance at the Award ceremony held at Princess Alexandra Auditorium, UNN.

The awards were presented to her by the Vice Chancellor of University of Nigeria, Professor Benjamin Ozumba.

How Great Is Nigeria! By Olawale Lekan Christopher

How Great Is Nigeria! By Olawale Lekan Christopher

Many people would say that Nigeria is a great country because of its population that stands at a whopping figure of 191 million: the 7th largest in the world and the largest in the African continent. I may as well offer this rejoinder that there are countries in the world with significantly high population, which have never been esteemed with the word greatness or any such similar word. I would rather I did not mention peculiar cases.

Other people would say that rather than strength and greatness in sheer number, Nigeria is great because of her rich minerals resources. Indeed, Nigeria is blessed with abundant natural resources. Nigeria is the number one oil producing country in Africa and the 12th in the world; it has the 2nd largest oil reserves in Africa and has, in addition, ample quantities of natural gas, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, zinc and arable land. But what do all these mean? They are merely circumstantial. The entire Africa continent seems to be encrusted in natural resources. From gold and diamond in Ghana and DR Congo respectively, to a substantial quantity of crude oil in Angola and Libya, just to name a few, Africa is hugely endowed with human and natural resources. However, in the world at large and in Africa in particular, only few countries can lay claims to greatness even when the touchstone is Nigeria.

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