Wale Olaoye, CEO of Halogen Security, has received the Icon of Excellence Leadership Award 2017 from the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS). Olaoye was recognized for his professional acumen that has been utilized in piloting the affairs of Halogen Security Limited which has led the performance, growth and leadership of the risk management company. The student body presented the award to Olaoye at the Halogen Lagos office on Friday 18 August 2017.
The Naps Icon of Excellence Leadership Award 2017 is an offshoot of an annual event that was institutionalized over a decade ago by a general assembly of all Nigerian students to serve as an impetus for encouraging and motivating individuals and institutions that have contributed positively towards the growth of the nation. The award is for leaders who are purpose driven, credible and serve as examples to the younger generation.
Speaking at the award presentation ceremony, the Chief of Staff, National Association of Polytechnic Student (NAPS), Oluwasegun Taiwo, said Olaoye’s personality was indeed admirable and that his selection for the award was strictly on merit and without lobbying. He said “the CEO of Halogen Security Limited was chosen based on his track record of no controversy, professionalism and for the fact that Halogen is a huge employer of labour and the leadership quality he exhumes that has given birth to an unprecedented achievement in the area of security management in Nigeria”.
Addressing the students, Olaoye said he was delighted to be confirmed as a NAPS fellow and inducted into NAPS Hall of Fame as Comrade Wale Olaoye, CONS (Commander of Nigerian Students). He spoke on how Halogen Security Limited is a 25-year-old business that started with just 20 manned guards but which now provides direct employment to more than 20,000 Nigerians. The company also supports local content, enabling local suppliers that produce boots, uniforms and other paraphernalia that are used by the security operatives. “In the past, we have taken some of our chain of suppliers abroad to learn and come back home to begin to produce locally, while applying all that they have learnt. Our quest is to empower people and businesses,” he said.
While sharing his thoughts about the educational sector in Nigeria, Olaoye spoke about the dilapidating state/ standard that discourages students from learning, acquiring and applying knowledge. “The more education is aging in Nigeria, the worse it seems to become. It falls to leadership that enjoyed the privileges of education in the past; rather than rejuvenate the system, they leave it worse off,” he said, adding that “there is a lot to do in our educational space.”
He also added that the company, through the Halogen School of Security Management & Technology (HSSM) is poised to ensure that individuals begin to chart a course in learning and the application of knowledge in relevant security fields.
Olaoye said the country has very few graduates who can apply what they have learnt and that is what Halogen intends to address. “At HSSM, we intend to raise the consciousness that there is a new profession in risk management,” he said, adding that “from inception HSSM has trained over a million Nigerians and has moved from an academy to a full institution; At the end of the month (August 2017), HSSM is signing an agreement with Babcock University to activate a Master’s degree programme with the new session that is starting in October, 2017.”
NAPS is an umbrella body of Nigerian Students in Polytechnics, Monotechnics, Colleges of Technology, Colleges of Education, and every other institution that awards national diploma and higher national diploma certificates respectively, both at home and in the diaspora. Their responsibility as student leaders is to promote unity and leadership development among their members.
They have as part of their activities, orientation, advocacy, capacity building and constructive agitations. Their endowment fund is used to assist intelligent but less-privileged students and create awareness through periodic symposiums like “Save the Student against Violence Everywhere (SAVE)” – raising awareness against alcoholism, prostitution, hooliganism, cultism, internet scams and money rituals.
