The sun awards 2016: ...The winners

By Abdulfatah Oladeinde

Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has emerged The Sun Man of the Year 2016.
The Sun Board of Editors voted the two-term governor as winner of the flagship prize in the 14th edition of The Sun Awards after deliberations, which lasted two days.
Also, Barrister Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers State, takes over from his Anambra counterpart, Chief Willie Obiano as winner of 2016 Governor of the Year Award.
Amosun and Wike, will, among other distinguished winners, be honoured at a grand ceremony, holding at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos on Saturday, February 18, 2017.
The Ogun State chief executive will be taking over the coveted award from the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was the winner in 2015.
In a statement yesterday, Managing Director/Editor-in-chief, Mr. Eric Osagie, said the selection process was painstaking and robust, as the Board of Editors considered nominees, who made indelible marks in their respective endeavours this year.
According to him, the nominations were debated and where the panelists were not unanimous in their choice, a decision was reached by vote.
Mr. Osagie emphasized that the rigorous process was a tradition, which had preserved the integrity of the awards since inception in 2003.
The Sun MD paid glowing tributes to the winners, noting that they earned the honours for their worthy contributions in their various endeavours.
Amosun was selected for re-engineering the finances of Ogun State to rank among the top in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), despite not being an oil producing state and also, for his developmental strides.
Wike was also unanimously selected for his infrastructural revolution since assuming office, as attested to by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) during its biennial conference in Port Harcourt and other prominent Nigerians including the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum.
The 14th edition of The Sun Awards will also parade many other eminent Nigerians in public and private sectors, who made great contributions and have become success stories.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara; Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, will be honoured with Political Icon of the Year and Courage in Leadership Awards, respectively.
Chief Tony Ezenna was voted Manufacturer of the Year for breaking new grounds with the production of ‘soap noodles’, a basic raw material for internal consumption in his company, Orange Drugs Limited and for other companies in the same industry within and outside Nigeria.
Dr Cosmas Maduka of Coscharis Group, who has painstakingly taken up the challenge to go into agriculture with a total of 2,899 hectares of land for rice farming in Anambra State was voted Investor of the Year, while Mrs. Stella Chinyelu Okoli, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, emerged as Businessman of the Year for her resilience and leadership role despite the harsh operating environment.
Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe is Banker of the Year.
The Hospitality Firm of the Year Award went to Alhaji Tajudeen Owoyemi’s Avalon Intercontinental Nigeria Limited owners of Protea Hotel, Ikeja GRA, Protea Hotel Victoria Island, Avalon Hotel, Offa, Kwara State and Renaissance Lagos Ikeja Hotel.
For the Lifetime Achievement Awards, The Sun Board of Editors chose six eminent Nigerians. They are: renowned Professor of Biology and Nigerian National Merit Award winner, Professor Anya Oko Anya; Respected economist and two-time finance minister, Dr Kalu Idika Kalu; Founder and Chairman of First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Otunba Subomi Balogun; left wing politician and Second Republic governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa; Industrialist and Founder, Eleganza Group of Companies, Chief Razak Akanni Okoya and two-time minister and industrialist, Chief (Mrs.) Nike Akande.
Sports Personality of the Year Award went to Shehu Dikko, Chairman of the League Management Company (LMC), which organizes the Nigeria Professional Football League.
The duo of rave hip hop artiste, Olamide Adedeji (Olamide) and rapper, Azubuike Chibuzo Nelson (Phyno) were voted joint winners of the Creative Personality of the Year, while popular actress, Rita Dominic, was adjudged Nollywood Personality of the Year.
The Nigerian Hero of the Year Award went to Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Abu-Ali and other fallen Nigerian soldiers who paid the supreme sacrifice in the war against Boko Haram insurgents.
Winners were not announced for two award categories this year, which the Board of Editors found the nominees not to have performed sufficiently to deserve the diadems. They are Public Service Award and Most Supportive First Lady.
Past winners of the prestigious The Sun Man of the Year Award include, former EFCC chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; Chairman of Globacom, Dr Mike Adenuga; President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Minister of Transport, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, former governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, former governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, former governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Danjuma Goje, former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio and former governor of Kano State, Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
A comprehensive profile of the award winners and other details of The Sun Awards 2016 will be published in the Sunday Sun of November 27, 2016. Watch out.

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