BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

TO encourage the younger generation to go for excellence against all odds, Ndigbo in Lagos, will on May 10 honour immediate past governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, and eight other Igbo sons and daughter who distinguished themselves in the service of the nation, Professor Anya O. Anya, has said.

Anya, who is the president of Ndigbo Lagos and a delegate to the ongoing National Conference, said they were honouring Obi and others because “we have in decades past witnessed many NigeriaN men and women who left office without leveraging opportunities of their positions to positively impact on the nation and communities they served.”

Holding in Lagos, the event, which will be chaired by Chief Emeka Anyaoku, with Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe, as the royal father of the day, will have in attendance the governors of Abia, Anambra, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states as guests of honour.

Others to be honoured are General Azubuike Ihejirika (former Chief of Army Staff), Admiral Dele Ezeoba (former Chief of Naval Staff), Professor Bath Nnaji (former Minister of Power), Princess Stella Oduah (former Aviation Minister), Mr. Reginald Chika Stanley (former PPPRA Executive Secretary), Mr. Reginald Ihejiahi (Managing Director,CEO of Fidelity Bank), Mr. Chima Ibeneche (former Managing Director, NLNG) and Mr. Ken Igbokwe (former managing partner, Pricewater House)

Anya said:  “Former Governor Peter Obi not only brought the discipline and prudence of corporate governance in top public service but through the simplicity of his lifestyle removed the pernicious ogre of domineering arrogance which others in such positions have been identified with over these years.

“General Azubuike Ihejirika and Admiral Dele Ezeoba are proud officers and gentlemen who even as they respectively commanded the Nigerian army and Nigerian Navy over the last few years brought humility, loyalty and dignity to the service of their fatherland.

“Professor Bath Nnaji was not only the trailblazer in appreciating the lead role of the private sector in power development in Nigeria. As the founder of Geometric Power Company and former Federal Minister of Power, Professor Nnaji more than any other person has redefined the industry.”

Professor Anya also spoke glowingly of Mr. Reginald Chika Stanley, in his role as the executive secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, and Chima Ibeneche’s stint as the chief executive of the NLNG

Reginald Ihejiahi, Ken Igbokwe’s tenures as chief executives of Fidelity Bank and Price Waterhouse Coopers respectively were also highly profiled, while Princess Stella Oduah, for her impact on Nigeria, and opening up the South-East to world aviation, also received adulation.