Do Sumthing Positive Africa - DSPA - 11 Influential Nigerians

11 INFLUENTIAL NIGERIANS IN THE PAST ELEVEN YEARS BY OGEDENGBE AYO MOSES

1. Sports

Nwankwo Kanu (Most Crowned Nigerian Soccer star) Nwankwo Kanu is indeed a Nigerian sports man with a difference. Having survived a heart surgery that threatened his career, he rose beyond the incident to proclaim his place in the history of Africa and global soccer. Known simply as Kanu and nicknamed Papilo, Kanu is the most highly-decorated African footballer in footballing history, having won a UEFA Champions League medal, a UEFA Cup medal, three F.A. Cup Winners Medals and two-time African Player of the Year awards amongst others.

He is the only current Premiership player to have won the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, Premiership, FA Cup and an Olympic Gold Medal. He started Kanu Heart Foundation to cater for children with heart defects and have so far sponsored the medical bills of over 400 patients suffering from various heart defects who could not otherwise afford to foot their bills. Kanu Nwankwo is also a UNICEF ambassador.

Samuel Peters WBC heavy-weight world champion Good things come to those who work hard and wait patiently for their time. One Nigerian knows this very well and it is evident in the life he leads. Samuel Peters is presently the world heavy weight boxing champion. Growing up, Peters had a preference for soccer and only had the opportunity to be a boxing hero the day some boxers came to train in his school. He quickly asked if he could train with them.

He was given the opportunity and the rest is history today. Samuel Peters is the first Nigerian to be named world heavy weight champion and has won 30 out of his 31 fights in professional boxing career. He is working to build a world class training facility for boxers in his native town in place Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. He lives in Nevada Las Vegas, in the United States but maintains a very strong tie with his homeland Nigeria.

2. Music & Entertainment

Dapo Oyebanjo (DBanj) Popularly known as DBanj, Dapo is a Nigerian musician/ Entertainer with an amazing harmonica playing dexterity. He has won several awards among which are: Best African Act (MTV Europe Music Awards 2007), Most Promising Male Artiste (KORA All African Awards 2005), Hip Hop World Revelation (HIP HOP WORLD AWARDS 2006 hosted by Hip Hop World Magazine), Artist of the year (Nigerian Music Awards (NMA) 2006) He is the founder of Koko Foundation for Youth and Peace Development and a UN YOUTH AMBASSADOR (World Federation of United Nations Association).

Dapo is more than a mere musician, he is a philanthropist as well as an entertainer extra ordinaire and has set aside a huge amount of his wealth to fund university education bills for a select students in Nigeria.

Innocent Idibia (2face) AKA Tuface, is one guy who has played a major role (Midwifed by the duo of Kenny Ogungbe and Dayo Adeneye of Kenny's Music) to revolutionize the Nigerian music scene. He has won several awards which are: MTV Europe Awards 2005 - Best African Act ,MOBO Awards 2007 - Best African Act ,Channel O Music Video Awards 2005 - Best male Video and Best African Video (both for "African Queen"),KORA Awards 2005 - Revelation of the Year ,Hip Hop World Awards 2006 - Special Recognition Award ,Nigeria Entertainment Awards 2006 - Special Recognition Award, Nigeria Breakthrough Artist of the Year ,Nigerian Music Awards 2008 - Album of the Year and R&B Song of the Year .

Tuface has set up Hyperthek Entertainment and is the CEO. Regardless of the myriad of controversies arround the guy, he remains significantly relevant in the entertainment business circle.

3. Fashion

Deola Sagoe In a world characterized by established male designers, there is one great Nigerian that has achieved tremendous respect for what she does and loves doing well, that person is Deola Sagoe. She is a haute couture fashion designer from Ondo State in Nigeria. A mother of three who studied at the University of Miami and University of Lagos with a Masters in Finance and Management, Sagoe began designing in 1998 and has gained international acclaim for her lively and colorful designs. She was recently appointed to represent Nigeria in a new international campaign organized by the United Nations World Food Program. The campaign, titled "Catwalk the World: Fashion for Food." began in Nigeria in April 2006 and recently staged an event in Ghana which brought celebrities like Damon Dash, his wife, designer Rachel Roy, and Ghanaian-born, London-based designer Ozwald Boateng. The campaign's goal is to raise money towards halving the number of hungry people in the world, particularly children, by 2015.

Sagoe frequently exhibits her couture collection at Cape Town Fashion Week and has been an invited guest of New York Fashion Week in the past. Sagoe has won the "Africa Designs" and the MNET/ Anglo Gold African designs 2000 awards for which she was nominated by Andre Leon Tally, US Vogue editor. She also has famous fans such as Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith.

4. Corporate Nigeria

Jim Ovia Jim Ovia is Co-Founder and pioneer Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc. He has over 25 years banking experience. He is the Chairman of the Nigeria Software Development Initiative (NSDI) and also Chairman, National Information Technology Advisory Committee [NITAC]. He is a member of the Governing Council, Nigerian Investment Promotion Council [NIPC] and also a member of the Honorary International Investor Council. Jim Ovia is a member of the Governing Council of Lagos State University, Lagos and also a member of the Board of Trustees, Redeemer's University for Nations, Lagos. He is the proprietor of the proposed University of information and Communication Technology, Agbor, Delta State; he served on the board of American International School, Lagos [2001 -2003].

He is the founder and Chairman of Mankind United to Support Total Education (MUSTE), a philanthropic organization focused on providing scholarship for the less privileged, of which some of the beneficiaries are now qualified Medical Doctors, Lawyers, and Engineers etc. Jim Ovia is also the chairman of Visafone Telecoms with a strong market subsector leadership potential.

Niyi Elumaro Niyi Elumaro is the CEO of MoneyBox Africa and also the GMD of Investcorp. He is the founder of Investcorp Capital, a private equity investment firm with significant holdings in one of Nigeria's foremost investment banking groups; Integrated Capital Services Limited. He has about two decades of broad range work experience covering both consultancy and financial services, and spanning Andersen Business Consulting, Price Waterhouse Coopers, and UBA Insurance group(UBA is Nigeria's and one of Africa's largest banking groups) where he served as Vice Chairman/Group CEO.

Niyi Elumaro is also the chairman of eCredit Limited and is presently working alongside other Nigerian entrepreneurs and foreign partners to build a pan-African financial ecosystem that will sit on mobile technology to deliver financial services to the highly un-banked Nigerians while enhancing the lifestyles of the banked. Adeniyi Elumaro and his resourceful team at ICSL have tremendously grown the fortune of Integrated Capital Services Limited from a mere multimillion Naira business into a Multi- Billon Naira enterprise.

5. Business Moguls

Aliko Dangote Recently named by Forbes to be the 334th richest man in the world (The first Nigerian to be so named) Aliko Dangote born April 10, 1957, is a businessman based in Nigeria. He is the owner of the Dangote Group, which has operations in Nigeria and several other countries in West Africa. The Dangote Group, originally a small trading firm founded in 1977, is now a multi-billion naira conglomerate with operations in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo. Dangote's businesses include food processing, cement manufacturing, and freight. The Dangote Group dominates the sugar market in Nigeria, as he is the major sugar supplier to the country's soft drink companies, breweries, and confectioners.

Dangote Group has moved from being a trading company to Nigeria's largest Industrial group, including Dangote Sugar Refinery (the most capitalized company on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, valued at over $3 billion with Aliko Dangote's equity topping $2 billion), Africa's largest Cement Production Plant: Obajana Cement, Dangote Flour amongst others. The Dangote group presently employs thousands of Nigerians.

Otunba Mike Adenuga Talk about a dogged fighter, a never-say-die business man and just right next to you is the result of such tenacity and positivity as exemplified by the business achievements of Otunba Mike Adenuga. Mike Adenuga is the chairman/CEO of Globacom, one of Nigeria's biggest telecommunications Company with a vision to build the biggest and best telecommunications company. Adenuga first applied for a GSM license August 2000 and was denied a license for some reasons. He retained the staff of his company and continued to pursue his dream.

2 years later, he got a license to operate as a Second National Operator in Nigeria and his company, Globacom; one is the first to renders per second billing system while others said it was impossible. So many people believe that Mike Adenuga is the richest Nigerian today regardless of his ratings by Forbes (Which has its own rating parameters) For his tremendous contributions to sport development in Africa, CAF awarded Adenuga, the Pillar of Sports in Africa 0n 11th February 2007.

6. Public Service

Earnest Ndukwe CEO and Vice Chairman, National Communications Commission Engr Ernest Ndukwe is currently the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria's Telecommunications Regulatory Agency. Prior to his appointment in February 2000, Ernest Ndukwe, a telecommunications engineer with over 27 years of international experience, had held several senior management positions in leading telecommunications firms companies. He had also served in various Committees set up by the Nigerian government to formulate policies for a liberalized telecommunications industry in Nigeria.

Engr. Ndukwe serves as current Chairman of the Administrative Council of the African Telecommunications Union and Chairman of the West African Telecom Regulators Association (WATRA), an organization he pioneered. He is also the recipient of several industry and civic awards, including the OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC (OFR) honor, one of Nigeria's most prestigious national honors.

Dora Akunyili Finding a public servant with such gusto and determination is usually a scarce commodity. Dora Akunyili is a different kind of public servant. She has saved many a life and has stood for what she knows to be right. For want of words, Dora can be equated to a selfless humanist in the light of the many dangerous activities she has undertaken to deliver on her job.

Dora Nkem Akunyili is the Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of Nigeria. She is a pharmacist, professor and governmental administrator who has gained international recognition and won hundreds of awards for her work in pharmacology, public health and human rights.

Since Akunyili took over leadership of NAFDAC, she has established as a top priority the eradication of counterfeit drugs and unsafe food. Before Akunyili assumed duty, Nigeria became a place where fake and substandard foods and drugs were being dumped without any form of regulations. She became angry because "so many of (her) countrymen and women (were) fighting killer diseases like malaria and tuberculosis with little more than sugar syrup and chalk tablets, cynically packaged to look like the real thing." Although Akunyili has faced considerable risk to her personal safety in order to combat the issue of fake drugs, she, at a great risk to her life, continues to battle the scourge of fake drugs and she has been collecting awards all over the world appearing with whoever has a smile to share.

Some of the awards Prof. Akunyili has received are:
» Time Magazine Award 2006 ("One of the eighteen heroes of our time") - Time Magazine Inc.
» Person of the Year 2005 Award - Silverbird Communications Ltd, Lagos, 05-01-2006
» Award of Excellence - Integrated World Services (IWS), Dec. 2005
» Award of Excellence - Advocacy for Democracy Dividends International, Lagos, 17-12-2005
» Meritorious Award 2005 - St. Michael's Military Catholic Church, Apapa, Lagos, 04-12-2005
» African Virtuous and Entrepreneurial Women Merit Award 2005 - African Biographical Network, Dec. 2005
» Award for the Best Government Parastatal - National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), December 2005
» An Icon of Excellence Award - The African Cultural Institute and Zenith Bank Plc, 08-12-2005
» 2005 Grassroots Human Rights Campaigner Award - London Based Human Rights Defense Organization. 08-12-2005
» Most Innovative Director Award - Federal Government College, Ijanikin, Lagos. Oct. 2005.
» Integrity Award 2003 - Transparency International

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