Air Peace Wins NIPR “National Carrier of Repute” & “Nigerian Crew Member of Repute” Awards [2018]

Air Peace and six of its crew members have been honoured with the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) “National Carrier of Repute” and “Nigerian Crew Member of Repute” awards respectively for delivering flight services with exceptional efficiency.


President of NIPR, Dr. Rotimi Oladele presented the awards to the airline and its crew members during the annual conference of the Institute in Umuahia, Abia State. 
Air Peace, he enthused, had brought honour to Nigeria in the aviation industry and proved that the nation had the capacity to fix its challenges.

Oladele affirmed that the carrier’s on-time performance, customer service, safety and fleet maintenance reputations were unparalleled.
 The NIPR boss commended Air Peace’s crew chosen for the “Nigerian Crew Member of Repute” award – Capt. Adesola Arasi, First Officer Violet Enahoro, Ademola Olowolade, Ann Otiede, Yemisi Beckley and Paul Ijeh – for distinguishing themselves in their engagements with members of the flying public.

He justified the choice of Air Peace and its crew for the awards, saying they were practically assessed by NIPR teams without their knowledge.

He said a total of 20 airlines were covertly assessed by the Institute’s teams on board 29 flights and at the carriers’ offices. Air Peace and its crew, he said, emerged winners after securing a total of 67 percent of the votes.

Responding on behalf of Air Peace, its Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah assured that the carrier was driven by a passion to project the name of Nigeria globally through exceptional flight services.

From seven aircraft and five routes at launch in 2014, he said Air Peace had increased its fleet to 24 aircraft and taken its flight operations to 12 domestic and four regional destinations.
 Iwarah said the airline was set to broaden its regional route network with the addition of Monrovia (Liberia), Lome (Togo) and Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) in the next few weeks.
 He assured that the airline, which recently set a record as the first Nigerian carrier to acquire a Boeing 777 aircraft for its long-haul operations, would soon prove the mettle of the country on the global aviation scenes with the launch of its Houston, London, Guangzhou-China, Dubai, Sharjah, Mumbai and Johannesburg services.

Mr. Chris Iwarah commended NIPR for rewarding merit, assuring that the awards would spur Air Peace and its crew to further raise the bar of service in the nation’s aviation industry.

Winners Of Lagos State Secondary Schools Hockey Championship [2018]

Eletu Odibo Senior High School, Bariga and Okemagba Senior High School, Epe have emerged winners of the second edition of Lagos State Secondary Schools Hockey Championship, which ended at the Campus Mini Stadium on Lagos Island.

Continue reading Winners Of Lagos State Secondary Schools Hockey Championship [2018]

Oluwatofunmi Oteju Awarded Augsburg University’s 2018 Emerging Leader Of The Year Award

16-year-old Oluwatofunmi Oteju has been awarded the Emerging Leader of the Year award for 2018 by Augsburg University, United States of America.

The Emerging Leader of the Year award recognizes students who participated in the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) during 2017 fall semester and a platform used by the University to celebrate students who demonstrated active involvement in student activities, student governance, and student life at Augsburg during the academic year.

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ColdHubs Wins 2018 NEF Africa Energy Ideas Competition

ColdHubs Nigeria has emerged as the overall winner of the 2018 Africa Energy Ideas Competition at the Nigerian Energy Forum (NEF) with its Solar Cold Room innovation.

Nigeria Future Energy Group (NiFEG) received the 2nd place award.

Nugenesis Energy emerged third and was awarded a cash prize of ₦200,000.

15 finalists emerged out of the 72 entries received. Nigeria had nine (9) entries out of the 15 finalists.

Continue reading ColdHubs Wins 2018 NEF Africa Energy Ideas Competition

Winners Of The GOtv Boxing Night 14 [2018]

Winners have emerged in the GOtv Boxing Night 14.

22-year-old Rilwan Babatunde (aka Baby Face), has won the West African Boxing Union (WABU) welterweight title at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.

Rilwan Babatunde defeated Djossou Agoy Basile from the Republic of Benin at the Gotv Boxing Night 14 in a fiercely contested bout via a fifth-round knockout.

The feat saw the young boxer winning the Mojisola Ogunsanya Memorial Trophy for the best boxer as well as a cash prize of ₦1 million.

On the feat, Rilwan Babatunde stated:

“I can’t be happier, I have given myself a birthday gift ahead of my 24th birthday but all I can say is that Basile put up a good fight but I was stronger and I was able to end the fight between the third and fourth round.

I have been working hard to get a title outside the shores of Nigeria and I can tell you that this is just the beginning of greater things to happen in Nigerian boxing because I will make history.”

Waidi “Skoro” Usman won the African Boxing Union (ABU) featherweight title by knocking out Michael “Shaka” Nyawade of Kenya in the 11th round.

Rilwan “Real One” Oladosun defeated Kehinde “Ijoba” Badmus to win the national lightweight title.

A national challenge bout in the category also saw the ABU champion, Oto “Joe Boy” Joseph defeat a hard-fighting Prince “Lion” Nwoye.

In the cruiserweight category, Abiodun “Finito” Afini knocked out Razak “Hyena” Ramon.

Sulaimon “Olags” Adeosun saw off Majesty “Majesty 1” Maduka in their light heavyweight challenge duel, while Chukwuebuka “Wise King” Ezewudo defeated Semiu “Jagaban” Olapade.

Peters Emuze Elected To UN CESCR [2018]

Ambassador Peters Emuze has been elected to the United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) to represent the African continent for a four-year tenure, in a keenly-contested election held at the UN Headquarters, New York.

CESCR is the body of 18 independent experts that monitors countries’ compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of citizens by its States parties. The committee was established under the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Resolution 1985/17 of May 28, 1985, to carry out the monitoring functions assigned to the UN ECOSOC.

Peters Emuze, who entered the race barely two months to the election, beat candidates of six other countries; Algeria, Sudan, Niger, Uganda, Cameroon and Mauritius, who had been campaigning for upward of one year. His victory, in securing the first of the two seats for Africa is seen as a ‘feather’ for Nigeria which would also improve Nigeria’s future “diplomatic leverage”.

However, Cameroon withdrew at the last minute while Mauritius’ candidate defeated Algeria’s in a run-off to secure  the second seat for Africa.

Fielding candidates for CESCR would require the country’s permanent mission to the UN. In this instance, the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the UN at New York and Geneva, in conjunction with all the 54 Nigerian missions in ECOSOC member states, coordinated the process and canvassed for votes for the position.

Nigeria’s Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande, wrote to all the 54-Member States of ECOSOC, seeking their support for Nigeria’s candidate.

Nigeria’s Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Samson Itegboje, said it became impossible to get countries to step down for Nigeria, as all of them wanted to “go for broke”.

According to Nigeria’s Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN:

“The victory has raised our profile on the international stage. I don’t think there are many countries that can pull such outing, two months to the election. We can call it a miracle but it was a result of hard work, strategy and good relations.

Also, we presented the best, as our candidate has got the required experience including being the former Charge d’Affaires at the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the UN Offices in Geneva.”

After the election, Ambassador Peters Emuze pledged:

“Nigeria long signed the treaty and that means Nigeria is ready to comply with various international human rights instruments as a responsible member of the international community.

It is also fulfilling one of its foreign policy options.

Nigeria is also in tune with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Charter and the African Human Rights Charter.

So, Nigeria cannot be aloof to these issues of human rights because they are contemporary, modern times.

Nigeria has always believed in the covenants of the United Nations with regards to human rights.”

Peters Emuze, a retired career diplomat for 33 years, rose to become a Special Grade Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as Head of Mission at Nigeria’s Permanent Mission in Geneva.

Emuze had also served in Nigeria’s diplomatic missions in Zambia, the Netherlands, Italy, Hong Kong, and proficient in human rights issues.

He was President, Conference on Disarmament and Coordinator of the African Group of Ambassadors on World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), leading to the establishment of WIPO offices in Nigeria and Algeria.

Winners Of The Asian Banker – West Africa Awards 2018

Winners have emerged in the Asian Banker – West Africa Awards 2018.

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) and its two affiliate countries – Nigeria and Ghana – have emerged winners in three strategic categories of The Asian Banker – West Africa Awards 2018.

The annual awards saw ETI winning the Best Financial Inclusion Initiative Application or Programme with its innovative Xpress Account, while Ecobank Nigeria carted home the Best Transaction Bank in Nigeria, West Africa award. Ecobank Ghana also won in the Best Transaction Bank in Ghana, West Africa category.

ALAT by Wema Bank, won the Best Digital Bank in Africa; the Best Wealth Management Bank in Nigeria went to Standard Chartered Bank while the Best Mobile Payment Service and The Digital Wallet of the Year went to Guaranty Trust Bank, among others.

According to the Chairman, The Asian Banker, Emmanuel Daniel at the Asian Banker – West Africa Awards 2018 ceremony in Lagos:

“These awards are the most rigorous, prestigious and transparent awards programme for financial technology, retail banking and transaction banking in West Africa today. We recognize the deepening and increasing maturity and sophistication of the industry in this region.

Ecobank’s aggressive digital push produced a first innovative mobile payments solution, the Masterpass QR with MasterCard to push financial inclusion in Nigeria through its new, smart, card-less, contactless and cashless payment solution. This bank also launched an integrated electronic banking platform that has on-boarded four million customers within a short space of time”.

In his comment, Charles Kie, Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria thanked the Asian Banker Award Team for painstakingly creating an opportunity to celebrate hard work by members of the banking community.

Represented by Korede Demola-Adeniyi, Group Head, Personal Banking, the Ecobank Managing Director stated:

“We are using digital technology to combat many of the financial inclusion barriers faced by those on the continent.

I use this opportunity to dedicate this awards to all hard working staff of the Ecobank Group, who have tirelessly worked to see the success of the bank. And also to all Africans who believe in us and have continued to encourage our efforts by adopting our products”.