The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has been honoured by the Businessday Newspaper with an Excellence in Public Service Award for providing leadership that has ushered Nigeria into “its longest period of uninterrupted supply of white products”.
Giving the award at the maiden Businessday Excellence in Public Service Awards 2017 Thursday in Abuja, the publisher and Chief Executive Officer of the newspaper, Mr. Frank Aigbogun, said the awards marked the beginning of Businessday’s contribution to nation-building in the form of recognition and celebration of selfless service by public servants who have braved all odds to distinguish themselves.
He said the awardees were painstakingly selected by the Businessday Intelligence Group, stressing that the awards were linked to specific action or work done by each of the awardees which had positively impacted on the lives of Nigerians.
Also speaking at the event, former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who was the Guest of Honour, commended Businessday for instituting the award to recognize public servants who were usually not valued until after they had left office.
He congratulated the awardees for taking the decisions and actions that culminated in the feats for which they were honoured even in the face of criticisms and distractions.
The NNPC GMD was honoured along with 18 others amongst whom were the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu; Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelama; and Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), among others.
The award was received on behalf of the GMD by the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Ventures, Dr. Babatunde Adeniran