By Rotimi Ojomoyela

Wife of Ekiti State governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, has won the 2018 Zik Leadership Prize for humanitarian Leadership. This was disclosed by the organisers of the annual prize in Lagos.

Fayemi

Other winners of the 2018 Zik prize in leadership, as announced by the organisers, include former Ghanaian President, John Mahama, and immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie- Oyegun, who won in the political leadership category.

Also the governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, and his Niger State counterpart, Abubakar Sanni- Bello, emerged winners in the good governance award category.

The Zik Prize in Leadership Awards was instituted 25 years ago in honour of the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first President of Nigeria.    It was set up, among other things, to encourage and nurture leadership on the African Continent and in the Diaspora.

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Announcing the winners at a news conference in Lagos, Executive Secretary of the Public Policy Research and Analysis Centre (PPRAC), Prince Emeka Obasi, and a member of the advisory board of the Centre, Prof Pat Utomi, disclosed that the winners were carefully selected after an exhaustive appraisal of nominees in the various award categories.

Utomi described Erelu Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi as a reputable feminist activist, gender specialist, social entrepreneur, policy advocate and writer, who has devoted her time, talent and resources to the promotion and defence of rights of women and the girl child.

“Erelu Fayemi co-founded the African Women Development Fund (AWDF) – the first Africa wide grant making foundation for women and chairs the program committee of the Global Fund for Women, USA, and has remained at the fore front of the economic empowerment of women as a platform for sustainable socio-economic development of the African continent.”