ARDA honours Obasanjo with 20th Anniversary Special Recognition Award

The African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARDA) yesterday in Abeokuta honoured former President Olusegun Obasanjo with its 20th Anniversary Special Recognition Award.

The award was presented by a delegation of ARDA executives from major African countries under its President and Managing Director of Société Multinationale de Bitumes in Côte d’Ivoire, Marie-Josephine Sidibe.

Sidibe lead ARDA delegation including
Evans Mauta, Vice President,  Anibor Kragha, Executive Secretary, Joel Dervain, President Emeritus, Abdulwasiu Sowami, Ardova Plc Group Executive Chairman  and Tope Shonubi, Sahara Group Executive Director  who facilitated the visit and the former president’s participation at the latest ARDA Week in Cape Town.

Sidibe, while describing Obasanjo as a statesman, noted that his lifetime of leadership has consistently advanced the ideals of African unity, economic transformation, good governance and self-reliance.

She noted that the honour recognised not only his address during ARDA’s 20th anniversary celebration but also Obasanjo’s enduring contribution to Africa’s development.

“Your voice has never ceased to remind us that Africa’s greatest opportunities lie in Africans working together to build strong institutions, develop our industries and secure our shared future,” Sidibe said.

She noted that ARDA’s mission of strengthening Africa’s downstream oil and gas sector through collaboration, investment, innovation and knowledge sharing aligns with Obasanjo’s long-standing advocacy for Africa to develop its own resources, build its own industries and create prosperity for its people.

According to her, the commemorative award, crafted from African wood and shaped in the outline of the continent, symbolises resilience, unity and the vision of an Africa capable of refining its own resources, powering its own economies and shaping its own destiny.

Responding after receiving the award, Obasanjo urged African leaders to rethink the continent’s development financing model, arguing that declining global development assistance requires Africa to rely more on its own resources.

“The future of Africa lies in Africa itself. We must build a new financial architecture that enables the continent to mobilise resources, attract investment and finance its own development, drawing on both domestic and international capital while ensuring that greater value is created and retained within Africa,” he said.

According to him, sustainable development will depend on Africa’s ability to generate and retain wealth rather than relying primarily on foreign aid.

“The reality is that Africa can no longer depend primarily on foreign aid for its development,” he said.

Obasanjo also commended the transformation of AP, now Ardova Plc, describing it as proof that African companies can achieve global standards through deliberate planning, innovation and persistence.

“The lesson from that success is simple: anything can be done. Success does not happen by chance. It is built through hard work, careful planning and persistence. When you achieve success, you should not become complacent. You must keep pushing forward because excellence is a continuous process,” he added.

His remarks echoed the message he delivered during ARDA’s 20th anniversary celebrations, where he described energy security as the foundation of Africa’s industrialisation.

He had warned that no nation could power industries, build infrastructure or modernise agriculture without reliable and affordable energy supplies, stressing that industrialisation without energy security rests on a fragile foundation.

Obasanjo also urged African governments to pursue African-led solutions to the continent’s energy challenges by strengthening refineries, expanding distribution networks and building integrated logistics systems under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Citing the geopolitical disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war and tensions in the Middle East, he argued that external dependence poses a threat to Africa’s economic sovereignty and underscored the need for greater investment in pipelines, storage facilities and refineries to shield African economies from global supply shocks.