The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has received “The Kwame Nkrumah Award” from the All African Students Union (AASU), for outstanding performance in office and exemplary leadership.
James Oduadu, Deputy Director, Press and Public Affairs, Ministry of Transportation, said this in a statement he signed in Abuja on Monday.
The President of the union, Akinyele Olasunbo, who presented the award to the minister in Abuja, said the award it was also in recognition of the minister’s contributions to the growth of the aviation industry.
These contributions, he further said, were not only in Nigeria, but also the African at large.
“It is not all about who you are, but about what you do when given a position of trust and service to the people. We are here today to tell the world and to showcase your good performance in office as the Minister driving the vehicle of transformation in the aviation sector,” he said.
Responding, Sirika expressed gratitude to the students’ body for recognising his humble contributions to the industry, assuring that award would serve as a catalyst for him to do more.
He advised the body and other civil society groups to endeavour to make public office holders accountable to the society, by not only highlighting their achievements, but also their inadequacies.
Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), who the award was named after, led Ghana to independence from Britain in 1957 and served as its first Prime Minister and later President.
An influential 20th-century advocate of Pan-Africanism, he was also a founding member of the Organisation of African Unity, (OAU), now Africa Union,(AU) and the winner of Lenin Peace Prize in 1962.
