Spotlight
PDP vice presidential candidate: See Peter Obi’s intimidating profile
Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has selected ex-Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi as his running mate.
Insiders say Atiku made wide consultations before the decision.
Obi had declared the emergence of Atiku as a good sign for the country ahead of the 2019 general election.
Lamenting that Nigeria had derailed off the paths of development, Obi said that going by “Atiku’s wealth of experience, track record of wealth-creation, knack for identifying excellence among excellent people, detribalised nature and perfect understanding of the ills of the country”, the former VP had all it takes to restore the nation’s glory.
“Having personally followed him in the past six months, listened and interacted with him on a number of issues negatively affecting our society, I observe in him a person who has the burning desire to leave a footprint in the sands of time”, he added.
Below is Obi’s profile
NAME : Mr. Peter Gregory OBI, (CON)
DATE OF BIRTH : 19th July 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH: Onitsha, Nigeria
NATIONALITY: Nigerian
MARITAL STATUS: Married with two children
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ATTENDED
- Christ the King College, Onitsha (W.A.S.C.)
. University of Nigeria, Nsukka (B.A. Philosophy)
· Lagos Business School, Nigeria (Chief Executive Program)
- Harvard Business School, Boston, U.S.A. (Mid to Mid Marketing)
- Harvard Business School, Boston, U.S.A. (Changing the Game)
- London School of Economics (Financial Mgmt/Business Policy)
- Columbia Business School, New York, U.S.A. (Marketing Mgmt )
- Institute for Management Development, Switzerland (Senior Executive Program)
- Institute for Management Development, Switzerland (Break-Through Program for CEOs)
- Kellogg Graduate School of Management, U.S.A. (Advanced Executive Program)
- Kellogg School of Management U.S.A. (Global Advanced Mgmt Program)
. Oxford University: Said Business School, (Advanced Mgmt& Leadership Program)
. Cambridge University: George Business School (Advanced Leadership Program)
PREVIOUS POSITIONS
- Governor, Anambra State of Nigeria (2006-2014)
- Honorary Special Adviser to the President on Finance (till May, 2015)
- Member, Presidential Economic Management Team (till May, 2015)
- Vice-Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum (2008-2014)
- Chairman, South-East Governors’ Forum (2006-2014)
. Former Chairman: Board of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- Former Chairman: Fidelity Bank Plc.
- Former Chairman: Guardian Express Mortgage Bank, Ltd.
- Former Chairman: Future Views Securities, Ltd.
- Former Chairman: Paymaster Nigeria Plc.
- Former Chairman: Next International (Nigeria) Ltd
- Former Director: Guardian Express Bank Plc.
- Former Director: Chams Nigeria Plc.
- Former Director: Emerging Capital Ltd
- Former Director: Card Centre Plc
MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS
- Member, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG)
- Member, Nigerian Chartered Institute of Bankers
- Member, British Institute of Directors (IOD)
MEMBERSHIP OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEES
In my capacity as the Governor of Anambra State, I served as a member of:
*Federal Government Committee on Minimum Wage
*Federal Government Committee on Negotiation with Labour on Subsidy
*Federal Government Committee on Mass Transit
*Federal Government Committee on Natural Resource
*National Economic Council Committee on Power Sector Reform
*National Economic Council Committee on Sharing of MDGs Funds
*National Economic Council Committee on Accurate Data on Nigeria’s Oil Import and Export
*Agricultural Transformation Implementation Council
*Sub-Committee on Needs Analysis of Public Universities in Nigeria
*National Economic Council Review Committee on the Power Sector
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
2015: Golden Jubilee Award from Catholic Diocese of Onitsha for outstanding contribution to quality healthcare delivery in St. Charles Borromeo Hospital in particular and Anambra State in general, on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee celebration of the hospital.
*2014: Nigerian Library Association Golden Merit Award for remarkable improvement of libraries in Anambra State, exemplified by our Government’s construction of the Kenneth Dike Digital State Library, remarkable upgrade of the Onitsha Divisional Library, and provision of library facilities in secondary schools across the State.
*2014: Champion Newspaper Most Outstanding Igbo Man of the Decade.
* 2014 The Voice Newspaper (Holand) Achievers Award for Outstanding Example in Leadership and Governance.
*2013: Silver Bird Man of the Year (with Governor BabatundeFashola of Lagos State).
*2012: Business Hallmark Newspaper Man of the Year.
*2012: The Golden Award on Prudence – by the Methodist Church of Nigeria as the Most
Financially Prudent Governor in Nigeria.
* 2012: Leadership and Good Governance Award by The Ezeife Leadership Foundation Award for restoring peace and harmony to Anambra State.
* 2012: Best Performing Governor on Immunization in South-East Nigeria – by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
* 2012: Outstanding Financial Planner and Manager – by the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion for my resourcefulness and creativity in governance.
*2011: Zik Leadership Prize.
*2010: ICT Governor of the Year – by the West Africa ICT Development Award.
*2009: Champion Newspaper Nigeria’s Most Trustworthy Governor Award.
*2009: Thisday Newspaper Most Prudent Governor in Nigeria.
*2007: The Sun Newspaper Man of the Year Award.
**The Nigerian MDGs Office/UNDP Best Governor in the Implementation of the MDGs in Nigeria
INTRODUCTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND OTHER MAJOR CHANGES IN NIGERIAN POLITICS
*He was the first gubernatorial candidate in Nigeria to legally challenge to its logical conclusion, his governorship electoral victory that was denied him. He won in the Courts and reclaimed his mandate.
*He was the first Governor in Nigeria to legally challenge his wrongful impeachment and was reinstated by the Courts.
*He was the first Governor in Nigeria to seek the interpretation of tenures of Governors when INEC allowed elections to take place in Anambra State when his tenure had not expired; the election already concluded was cancelled and he was allowed to complete his tenure.
*He was the first Governor to serve a 2nd term in both the new and old Anambra State, that is, almost 40 years after creation of the State.
*He was the first Governor, whilst still in Office, to be appointed a Special Adviser to the President.
*He was the first serving Governor to be appointed into the Presidential Economic Management Team.
*He was among the first Governors to be honoured with a National Award in 2011, while still in office.
*Though the only Governor whose political party was in government in only one State, he was elected Vice-Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum twice.
*Though the only non-PDP Governor in the South-East (made up of 5 States), he was elected by the other 4 PDP Governors as their Chairman for 8 years rather than the usual one year.
Served as a member of:
*Federal Government Committee on Minimum Wage
*Federal Government Committee on Negotiation with Labour on Subsidy
*Federal Government Committee on Mass Transit
*Federal Government Committee on Natural Resource
*National Economic Council Committee on Power Sector Reform
*National Economic Council Committee on Sharing of MDGs Funds
*National Economic Council Committee on Accurate Data on Nigeria’s Oil Import and Export
*Agricultural Transformation Implementation Council
*Sub-Committee on Needs Analysis of Public Universities in Nigeria
*National Economic Council Review Committee on the Power Sector
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
2015: Golden Jubilee Award from Catholic Diocese of Onitsha for outstanding contribution to quality healthcare delivery in St. Charles Borromeo Hospital in particular and Anambra State in general, on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee celebration of the hospital.
*2014: Nigerian Library Association Golden Merit Award for remarkable improvement of libraries in Anambra State, exemplified by our Government’s construction of the Kenneth Dike Digital State Library, remarkable upgrade of the Onitsha Divisional Library, and provision of library facilities in secondary schools across the State.
*2014: Champion Newspaper Most Outstanding Igbo Man of the Decade.
* 2014 The Voice Newspaper (Holand) Achievers Award for Outstanding Example in Leadership and Governance.
*2013: Silver Bird Man of the Year (with Governor BabatundeFashola of Lagos State).
*2012: Business Hallmark Newspaper Man of the Year.
*2012: The Golden Award on Prudence – by the Methodist Church of Nigeria as the Most
Financially Prudent Governor in Nigeria.
* 2012: Leadership and Good Governance Award by The Ezeife Leadership Foundation Award for restoring peace and harmony to Anambra State.
* 2012: Best Performing Governor on Immunization in South-East Nigeria – by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
* 2012: Outstanding Financial Planner and Manager – by the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion for my resourcefulness and creativity in governance.
*2011: Zik Leadership Prize.
*2010: ICT Governor of the Year – by the West Africa ICT Development Award.
*2009: Champion Newspaper Nigeria’s Most Trustworthy Governor Award.
*2009: Thisday Newspaper Most Prudent Governor in Nigeria.
*2007: The Sun Newspaper Man of the Year Award.
**The Nigerian MDGs Office/UNDP Best Governor in the Implementation of the MDGs in Nigeria
Spotlight
Concerned citizens appeal to Gov Sanwo-Olu, Dangote Foundation, Banks, MTN Foundation, NNPC, others to assist journalist for brain surgery
Some concerned citizens including media and corporate affairs practitioners have appealed to Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Banks, Dangote Foundation, MTN Foundation and other notable organizations and citizens to help provide financial assistance for Kolawole Kuforiji, a Nigerian journalist who requires Deep Brain Stimulation surgery that is expected to cost $35,000 (USD) about N57 million in Turkey.
Specifically, friends of Kola Kuforiji that initiated moves to seek financial support from concerned organisations and citizens have so far sent SOS For Journalist Kola Kuforiji requesting for financial assistance to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, Dangote Foundation, MTN Foundation, All Nigerian Banks through the Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB), NNPC Foundation, Chevron Nigeria Foundation, Guinness Nigeria Foundation, Nigerian Breweries Foundation, Shell Nigeria Foundation, Total E&P Nigeria Foundation and Babcock University.
Beside the calls for institutional supports to save the life of Kola Kuforiji, the group of friends have opened an bank account with Polaris Bank (Name of Account: SOS FOR JOURNALIST KOLA KUFORIJI/ Account Number: 1790322317) and have started making individual donations.
Donations to the fund from as little as N1,000 donor to N150,000 donors has rising to N842,940.00 from the last count.
The life of Kola, a 54-year-old husband and father of two, who had worked for about two decades with Rhythm FM (Sliverbird Group) reporting business was turned upside down when he was diagnosed with a drug-resistant, Parkinson’s disease with pronounced difficulty in walking and tremor has been very ill for more than two years and the severity and debilitating nature of his illness has depleted the finances of his family.
He was initially treated at Ikorodu General Hospital, Lagos, where a presumptive diagnosis of his medical condition was made.
He was over a year ago referred to LASUTH, but there has been little improvement in his health.
Medical treatment abroad now offers the best option for his recovery with a recommendation from Atasehir Medicana International Hospital – Atasehir / Istanbul, Turkey confirming that he will need a Deep Brain Stimulation surgery.
Over the years Kola has explored his media platform as a strong tool to drive financial inclusion and expanding frontier of knowledge of Nigerians on the activities and stride of the energy, banking and finance sectors at large to national development.
Despite his illness, Kola remains hopeful and determined to overcome.
Spotlight
Teresa Anania Joins Sophos as Chief Customer Officer
Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today announced that Teresa Anania has joined the company as Chief Customer Officer (CCO).
Anania will play a key role in accelerating Sophos’ customer and partner success initiatives to maximize value of Sophos’ portfolio of cybersecurity solutions and services, including Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services and endpoint, network, email, and cloud security.
Anania has more than 25 years of experience in leading customer satisfaction and sales growth across public and private sectors, excelling in both direct and indirect sales channels.
Joining Sophos from Zendesk, Anania was responsible for the management and development of its global client base of more than 110,000 customers from small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB) to enterprises. During her time at Zendesk, Anania led all post-sales functions, including Professional Services, Customer Support, Customer Service, Customer Success and Renewals, to deliver top line growth and measurable impact for customers. Anania has extensive experience specializing in scaling post-sales customer engagement for enterprise, commercial, and volume segments, delivering significant Return on Investment (ROI) and driving revenue.
As CCO, Anania will be responsible for developing a stronger customer-centric culture, working together with channel partners and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to deliver a seamless experience for Sophos’ growing customer base of more than 600,000 organizations worldwide. This vision also provides assurance that smaller customers, which are a prime target for attackers, have access to the same innovative security solutions and industry-leading threat intelligence as their larger counterparts, a critical overall mission for Sophos in 2024 and beyond.
“Sophos is in an exciting phase of its business growth, and I am eager to bring my career success building positive customer experiences to the company,” said Anania. “Sophos has a stellar reputation for continually innovating cybersecurity technology and managed security services that help organizations defend their businesses against ransomware, data breaches and other potentially business-ending cyberattacks. I will be working closely with channel partners, MSPs, and the global team, to advocate for Sophos’ customers and their security defenses and to drive value for partners from Sophos’ entire portfolio of solutions and services.”
“The threat landscape is always changing, and organizations need regular, interactive assessments of their overall IT environments to determine how to most efficiently and effectively adapt to defeat active attackers. To help facilitate this, security vendors need to take responsibility to ensure that customer investments in their products and services are providing real value to them, which requires engagement throughout contract lifecycles. This also requires world-class customer experience (CX) for renewals and upgrades to the most relevant and appropriate technologies and services, and an awareness of the full potential already available in existing licenses. The best tool is of little value without the right operation, so these components are critical to properly and consistently defending against modern attacks,” said Joe Levy, CEO of Sophos. “To provide this pathway, we’ve hired Teresa, who has an impressive track record building post-sales relationships and delivering experiences that increase customer satisfaction and drive topline growth. Her knowledge and expertise will allow us to further put customers at the center of our business, alongside our channel partners and MSPs. Most importantly, Teresa’s new role will help keep our customers as secure as possible, which is always our top priority. We are delighted to welcome Teresa to the Sophos team.”
Spotlight
Ijesha Digital Innovation Hub Set to Graduate First Cohort Trainees
Ijesha Digital Innovation Hub has announced the graduation ceremony of its first cohort of trainees.
The landmark event will take place on Monday, July 8th, 2024, starting promptly at 2:00 PM at the Royal Park Hotel on the beautiful campus of Olashore International School, Iloko-Ijesa.
In a press statement on Friday, Dr Adewale Alonge, Vice President, IGAD, said that after six months of intensive and globally benchmarked courses of study, “the hub is proud to graduate 48 trainees who have completed rigorous programs leading to certification in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, and UI/UX Design. The graduating class includes 10 trainees in UI/UX Design, 23 in Cybersecurity, and 15 in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning”.
The ceremony will feature a keynote address by Sir Aladekomo, Chairman of SmartCity Resorts Plc and Founder of Chams Plc, a pioneer in the Nigerian tech industry.
“The event will be chaired by Asiwaju Yinka Fasuyi, the esteemed Asiwaju of Ijeshaland, who will also deliver remarks celebrating the achievements of the graduates and the impact of the Innovation Hub.
“The media is invited to cover this significant event, which marks a new chapter for the 48 graduates as they embark on their professional journeys equipped with cutting-edge skills and knowledge. This graduation is a testament to the hub’s commitment to providing skills development training today so that participants can build tomorrow”, Dr. Alonge said.
The Ijesha Digital Innovation Hub, an initiative of the Ijesha Global Alliance for Development (IGAD), is dedicated to advancing the social, economic, and industrial development of Ijesaland in Nigeria. IGAD, a Florida, US-registered tax-exempt non-profit organization, mobilizes the resources and talents of Ijesas across the globe to foster the development of their homeland.
About Ijesha Digital Innovation Hub
The Ijesha Digital Innovation Hub is committed to equipping individuals with the skills necessary to thrive in the digital age. Our mission is encapsulated in our motto: “We provide skills development training today, so that you can build tomorrow.” #WeGuideTodaySoThatYouCanBuildTomorrow
About Ijesha Global Alliance for Development (IGAD)
IGAD’s mission is to mobilize the resources and talents of Ijesas across the globe to promote the social, economic, and industrial development of Ijesaland. IGAD is a registered tax-exempt, non-profit organization based in Florida, USA. IGAD’s Board of Directors, is chaired by Prince Bimbo Olashore, and it includes: Dr. Adewale Alonge, Pastor Laitan Obileye, Dr. Babatunde Ojo, Alhaji Lateef A. Bakare, Sir Ademola Aladekomo and Professor Olowookere.
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