The former governor of Ogun State and chairman of Krestal Laurel, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, recently emerged as the Most Courageous People-Focused Bridge Builder at the just concluded maiden edition of The Freelanews Leadership & Entrepreneurship Awards, TheFLEA Awards, in Lagos.
The awards, which was an initiative of Freelanews, a general news magazine, was held at Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja and according to the founder of the awards, Victor Ojelabi, Otunba Daniel’s selection was reached after a review of top political leaders in Nigeria, analysing their major political decisions in light of the motives and convictions behind such moves.
“The committee after meticulously reviewing major political interactions and positions of key leaders, identified those who have risked it all to follow their people-oriented convictions and maintain the grounds of their beliefs in the face of dire consequences.
“This TheFLEA Awards category was created to celebrate such leaders who stood unwaveringly for fundamental values and have inspired the nation through acts of selfless courage. And in our ranking of listed leaders, OGD was determined to be the most courageous in his political decisions, associations and thought leadership about Nigeria,” Ojelabi said.
It is worthy to note that since his ingress into politics in 2003, after decades of meritorious service in the engineering field, OGD has been noticed to pursue causes that are for the common good of the society; always willing to take an unpopular stand even if doing so may jeopardize his political gains, cast him in unpopular light or even cause him to lose juicy political associations.
“Otunba Daniel has demonstrated the willingness to act authentically and speak up when silence would mean colluding with the problem, and always not miss out on the opportunity to boldly project actions that tangibly improve the human condition, even when not politically correct.
“In light of all these, the former governor and an astute businessman’s acts of courage was determined to project the most impact on the Nigerian society if sustained over the next decade. Hence, the Committee unanimously agreed to award this category rightly to you,” Ojelabi stated.
On the need for TheFLEA awards, Ojelabi explained that the event was a child of necessity which arose from the thirst to encourage exceptional political leaders, hardworking entrepreneurs and intending ones especially in the country for spending their hard-earned funds in an unstable economy like ours, which is beset with multi-taxation, policy somersaults and lukewarmness on the part of government in protecting its citizens’ investments.
“We recognise that the government can’t do everything for us, especially in terms of flattening the unemployment curve. Hence, we came together and decided to encourage willing entrepreneurs making positive impacts in the lives of ordinary Nigerians despite the pandemic and other business threatening economy policies. And our criteria are very simple to attain; as a brand, you need to have a business making impacts in the lives of over 500 Nigerians with a projection of 10years, and as a public servant, your impacts in the lives of the citizens must be astounding and verifiable. Then you’re a candidate,” he explained.
Speaking further, the Freelanews boss said:
“And as you could see from the event, these individuals received a symbolic gift to remind them of what our collective futures hold because of what they do.
“The vision of TheFLEA Awards is to reduce the awards itself to a symbol of remembrance of what our collective future holds if they persist in their good works.”
TheFLEA Awards is an initiative of Freelanews and through its website, www.Freelanews.com, the newspaper strives every day to make the lives of readers better by keeping them informed and advocating on their behalf.
The awards event plans to hold annually in encouraging creative, wealthy and selfless Nigerians in the acts of making positive impacts in the lives of average Nigerians.
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