The Sun Publishing Limited, publishers of The Sun titles, on Saturday, February 24, 2018, conferred the Public Service Award for 2017 on the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, as part of its 15th Annual Awards ceremony.
The award, according to the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of the Sun Publishing Limited, Mr. Eric Osagie, was in recognition of current policies championed by Emefiele aimed at strengthening the country’s economy.
Osagie listed Emefiele’s policies to include various interventionist programmes geared towards poverty eradication and, which have continued to engender sustainability and restoration in the Nigerian economy. He particularly noted that under Emefiele’s watch, the country has witnessed a massive drop in the volume of rice importation and an upscale in rice self-sufficiency, leading to relaxed pressure on foreign exchange. Presenting the award to Emefiele at a ceremony held at the Eko Hotels and Suites, the Governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo, lauded the efforts of the CBN Governor and his team for stabilising the economy and moving it forward.
In his brief acceptance remarks, Emefiele thanked the Sun Publishing Ltd. for finding CBN worthy of the award and dedicated the award to all staff of the bank, stressing that CBN has the best crop of personnel capable of competing with those at other central banks from any part of the world.
Other awardees included the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, who bagged the Sun Man of the Year Award; the Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, who received the Governor of the Year Award; Dr. Bukola Saraki, who was honoured as Outstanding Politician of the Year; and the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, who received the Sun Award for being the Most Supportive First Lady of the Year. Also honoured were Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State and his Gombe State counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu, for their outstanding performances in agriculture; the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi, for his courage in leadership; and Mr. Peter Amangbo, the Group Managing Director of Zenith, as Banker of the Year.
One major highlight of the night was the posthumous conferment of Hero of the Year on the late Sergeant Chukwudi Iboko, who was killed in February 2017, while guarding a branch of Zenith Bank in Owerri, Imo State.