Udoma to receive high Japanese honour for promoting trade between Nigeria, Japan

Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie has announced that Udoma Udo Udoma, founder of the firm, will on February 12, 2020, be decorated by the Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, on behalf of the Japanese Emperor, with the insignia of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.4

The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star is one of the highest orders awarded in the name of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, and Udoma will be the first Nigerian to be so honoured.

In the November 2019 announcement of the Autumn Imperial Decorations, Udoma was named an international recipient of this honour in recognition of his role in improving bilateral relations and promoting friendship between Japan and Nigeria.

This award recognises the work done by Udoma, over the years, to deepen the economic and social ties between Japan and Nigeria.

From 2011 to 2015, when he served as the Honorary Consul of Japan in Lagos, he contributed to the promotion of bilateral trade and Japanese investment in Nigeria, thereby generating wealth for both economies.

In addition, Udoma has been a strong proponent of Japanese development assistance to Nigeria and by 2015 Japan had become the 3rd largest donor in Nigeria.

This growing Japanese support for Nigeria was further enhanced when he served as the Minister of Budget and National Planning from 2015 to 2019.

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During this period, Udoma helped in securing the support of the Japanese Government for the development plans of the country as set out in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, a plan which Udoma effectively marketed to the Japanese, and other foreign governments and development partners.

Some of the Japanese development projects during his time as Minister include Japanese financing of a project for the emergency improvement of electricity supply facilities in Abuja in 2016.

Another project was the emergency rehabilitation and reinforcement of the Lagos Transmission Substation in 2018.

There were also a number of projects in the Health sector including the provision of 43 ambulances in 2017 and 2018; and funding support to strengthen the diagnostic capacity of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency provided extensive support to a number of States as well as the Federal Government in water sanitation, agriculture, vocational training and technical transfer programmes. Japan also contributed to the rehabilitation and recovery programme in the North East.

The formal conferment of the award will take place in Abuja on Wednesday 12, February 2020.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.