By Victoria Onehi
The immediate past Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Prof. Suleiman Elias Bogoro is the winner of the prestigious Nigerian Prize for Leadership (NPL) 2021, carting away N25 million as reward for emerging the best among many.
The organisers of the Nigerian Prize for Leadership (NPL) said that Bogoro emerged prize winner based on his sterling leadership qualities exemplified during his service in government and in the academia.
During the Investiture ceremony which held at the Abuja Continental Hotel on Monday, the Chairman of the Governing Board of NPL, Prof Anya O. Anya, recalled that the prize winner during his tenure in TETFund recommended to the agency’s Board of Trustees (BOT) the creation of Department of Research and Development Centres in TETfund to show that the future of universities is not in theoretical journal publication but in innovations and Research and Development and that the recommendation was approved, amongst other achievements.
Bogoro, who is a Professor of Animal Science, is a renowned researcher with over 65 International and local journals publishing his work and has delivered over 80 public lectures and keynote addresses. He is a fellow of over 8 Institutes.
In his acceptance speech, the prize winner said the Nigerian Prize for Leadership symbolizes a lead reference in identification and rating merit platforms in Nigeria and beyond given the calibre and integrity of members of the Governing Board.
Bogoro said: “As role models, they have all it takes to mentor the newly inaugurated 17 Fellows as leadership mentees.”
In his remarks at the event, the Executive Secretary of NPL, Dr Ike Neliaku, said the Fellowship was designed to be a rigorous and advance course with four modules holding each quarter.
The Executive Secretary clarified: “During the programme,the NPL Ambasadors in training get a chance to learn from and interact with some very reputable Nigerians who have broken grounds in different spheres in the society.”
He congratulated the new fellows on this feat, adding that 36 of the NPL Ambassadors enrolled for the Fellowship course but 17 of them successfully scaled through to become Fellows.
While the Chairman of the Programme Development Committee of the NPL, Prof Vincent Anigbogu received the 17 Ambassadors turned Fellows, the Vice Chairman of the NPL Governing Board and Chairman Prize Presentation ceremony, Prof Jerry Gana, conferred on the 17 Ambassadors the Fellowship of the NPL.
