Kwara State is honouring indigenes with ‘outstanding performance’ in their different fields of endeavour, as well as those who have contributed immensely to the development of the state.
Abubakar Sadiq Buhari, the state commissioner for information and communications, who briefed journalists in Ilorin, said the awards slated for Friday, December 23, are in 25 categories, with each nominee picked on merit for their contributions to society.
“This award is a symbolic acknowledgment for all the awardees that the state truly appreciates them for what they have done or continue to do for their communities, their feats and exemplary achievements in their career paths, and their contributions to the growth of this state and national development. It is a token of appreciation from the state government.
“We want to add that this state is immensely blessed with great people — young, old, female, male, professionals, artisans, whether dead or alive. We are by this means showing our profound respect and appreciation to all, wherever they are, living or dead. In other words, the distinguished nominees for the various categories of the 2022 edition are only representatives and ambassadors of these great minds of Kwara State origins. More and more of these great people will be formally recognised in the coming years for their huge impacts and footprints in the sand of time.
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“There are 25 categories in this maiden edition of the Kwara State Merit Award 2022. These include lifetime achievements, posthumous award, most outstanding Kwara State indigene in the world, friends of the state.
“Most outstanding media house, most outstanding online media personality, most impactful MDA of the year, overall best student in Kwara State institution, best student of Kwara State origin in Nigeria, among several other categories.
“Nominations for these awards were made by different sub-committees based on criteria relevant to each. There are at least three distinguished nominees for each of the categories except the Lifetime Achievements and Posthumous Awards.
“For the Lifetime Achievements Award, we have 25 distinguished personalities who have done so much to earn their stripes and are accordingly being honoured by the government of Kwara State. There are also 20 great personalities who were giants in their own rights during their lifetime and are to be honoured even in death.
“This list transcends all cleavages, and goes to show the unanimous opinions of the panels that these were outstanding individuals with clear footprints in Kwara/Nigeria. Following the nominations in the other 23 categories, online voting has since begun to determine the winners for each category. Voting ends at 12 noon on Thursday, December 22.
“Nominees with the highest votes will be announced at the award ceremony, which is to be held on Friday, December 23,” Buhari said.
