Efio-Ita Nyok|1 August
The Executive Governor of Cross River State, His Excellency Sen. Prof. Benedict Ayade has won an Award of Excellence from an international Pan African Organization —#FahamuAfrica —a Kenyan based Civil Society Organization (Nairobi) with office in Oxford, London and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The award was presented by Mrs Sienna Barley, the Programme Officer of FahamuAfrica on Saturday 30 July; she has been in Nigeria for about a week now for the grand finale of the Uhudari Student Proposal Writing Competition (The award was presented to the S.A on Student Affairs and Youth Mobilization). She was also a guest on Goodmorning Cross River Programme in CRBC earlier on Friday.
Sen. Prof. Ayade was also awarded with a Kenyan artefact and three books on African studies for his role in ensuring youth participation in governance and his efforts at revamping the educational sector of the state and as a pace setter in this perspective in the federation.
The Uhudari initiative is focused on harnesing ideas from students of tertiary institutions across Africa to solve problems in thematic areas like agriculture, education, security, youth development etc.This proposal will be formulated into documents and followed for implementation. Prizes are awarded to the five best entries in each of the six African country.
The competition is hosted in six countries in Africa and Nigeria happens to be one of the host countries and this year event was successfully hosted in the University of Calabar, Calabar, Cross River State out of the 36 states in the federation.
Prince Michael Nku Abuo, JP, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Student Affairs and Youth Mobilization played the governmental facilitaion role for the successful hosting of the event and emphasized with proves why Senator Ayade deserves the said award. He received the award on behalf of His Excellency the Governor and appreciated their magnanimity while stating the state government willingness to partner individuals and groups to advance the fortune of the state.
Winners won prices worth over two thousand United State dollars and will be assisted in pursuing a realization of their proposal. The 2016 competition was hosted in partnership with a Nigerian based NGO called Voice of Reason.
Photo clips shows the Program Officer-Mrs Sienna Barley; the President Voice of Reason-Mr David Ejim and trophies to be presented to winners of the Nigerian edition and the panel of judges.
Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger & the Editor of Negroidhaven.org (Negroid Haven)
