BusinessDay Media Limited, organisers of the prestigious annual BusinessDay Excellence in Public Service Awards, yesterday announced the awards ceremony will now hold on January 31, 2019.
The 2018 edition of the awards which was earlier scheduled for December 10, 2018 was postponed “due to unavoidable circumstances”, according to the Awards Committee.
“The 2018 BusinessDay Awards, the second in the series of the awards, is aimed at recognising ministers, heads of government departments and agencies in Nigeria who have recorded remarkable successes in executing the mandates of their individual institutions.
This year, the Awards Committee, has extended the awards to members of the National Assembly who have also distinguished themselves in the performance of their duties both as lawmakers and representatives of their individual constituencies’, the committee said.
The Committee noted that the glitz and glamour associated with the awards ceremony will not be diminished on account of the postponement. Over twenty-five individuals had been penciled down for the awards before the postponement.
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Last year, 19 persons received the awards at a grand dinner chaired by former head of State, and a retired army general, Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Public office holders icluding six ministers and 13 heads of federal parastatals on November 30, 2017, received the BusinessDay 2017 Excellence in Public Service Awards for showing exceptional performance in public service.
The Excellence in Public Service Awards is organised by BusinessDay Conferences, an arm of BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay and BD Sunday newspapers, as part of its leadership thought initiative and commitment to the development of the nation, to reward, recognise and celebrate some distinguished ministers, heads of departments and agencies for their selfless services to the nation.
The 2017 Awardees were Kayode Fayemi, former minister of mines and steel development and now executive governor of Ekiti State; Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, minister of petroleum resources; Audu Innocent Ogbeh, minister of agriculture and rural development; Enyinnaya Okechukwu Enelema, minister of industry, trade and investment; Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), minister of power, works and housing; and Adebayo Shittu, minister of communications technology.
Godwin Emefiele, governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Aliyu Abdulhameed, managing director, NIRSAL; Umaru Ibrahim, managing director, Nigeria Deposit Insuance Corporation (NDIC); Maikanti Baru, group managing director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corpoartion (NNPC); Yemi Kale, Statistician General of the Federation, National Bureau of Statistics; and Patience Oniha, Director General, Debt Management Office (DMO) bagged the awards for their exceptional performance.
Others were Boboye Olayemi Oyeyemi, Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC); Sharon Ikeazor, Executive secretary, The pension transitional arrangement directorate (PTAD); Mohammad Babandede, Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS); Yewande Sadiku, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) and Uche Orji, managing director, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).
The management and staff of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), led by Hadiza Bala Usman, also won the excellence award.
