Obaseki bags Governor of the Year, Extraordinary Personality awards

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has been honoured with the 2019 Governor of the Year award by two national newspapers, Daily Independent and the NewsDirect.

The governor also received the Silverbird Group’s 2019 Extraordinary Personality award.

Receiving the notification of the awards during the State’s Weekly Executive Council Meeting held at Government House in Benin City, the governor said it was a call to continue to prioritize the welfare of Edo people.

He said, “We had a clear vision in November 2016 that our concern was to prioritize the welfare of our people. We are transforming the nature and structure of our state, using the basic principles of governance of accountability and transparency to optimise our God-given resources. Our response is that the people we are working for know what we are doing.”

Obaseki, who reassured that his administration would not relent in serving the people of the state, noted that Edo people are his prime priority, which is driving his motivation to build durable infrastructure.

Presenting the letters containing the notification of the awards, the three media houses said the awards to the governor was in recognition of his transformational strides in human capacity development, job creation, healthcare and education sectors, infrastructural development, among others.

The Chief Creative Officer, Silverbird Group, Mr. Jacob Akinyemi, said the Silverbird Man of the Year award started in 2005 and was initiated to recognise the contributions of outstanding persons in the country.

He said Governor Obaseki and the former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu were the two persons recognized with the Silverbird extraordinary personality award of the year.

Managing Director, News Direct Newspaper, Prince Samuel Ibiyemi, said the governor is being bestowed with the award after the newspaper’s assessment of governors’ performance in the country for the year 2019.

Earlier, the Editor, Independent Newspaper, Don Okere, said the governor’s steadfastness and multidimensional approach in addressing issues in Edo propped him up for the award.

“Edo has been recognised as a model in education in the country under the Governor Obaseki-led administration. The governor has improved the socio-economic conditions of the people in the state,” he said.