Ugwuanyi honoured in Ireland for outstanding leadership *Invites Nigerians in the Diaspora, others to invest in Enugu

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu state has been honoured in Dublin, Ireland for his outstanding leadership both as governor of the state in the past months and as chairman of Nigeria’s House of Representatives committee on Marine Transport for eight years.

The governor garnered the international leadership award along with other awardees, including a female Irish professor and women rights activist, Fionnuala Waldron and former Charge d’Affaires of Nigerian Embassy in Ireland and a former Nigerian ambassador, Benedict Onochie Amobi, at the event put together by Metro Eireann, Ireland’s first multicultural newspaper.

The event which held at the weekend at Radison Blu Hotel in the capital city came two days after scores of investors gathered at Dublin City’s Westin Hotels to brainstorm in a mini investment summit which offered the Enugu state delegation to Ireland the opportunity to lay bay the vast investment opportunities that abound in the coal city state of Nigeria.

The investment summit also organized by Metro Eireann which is run by Metro Publishing Consultancy Limited, the primary source of news and information on Ireland’s growing immigrant and ethnic communities and run by a Nigerian, Chinedu Onyejelem, opened up a lot of vistas for the Enugu delegation to enter into concrete and temporary agreements on mutual cooperation in the areas of agriculture, education and commerce and industry.

During the awards night, Governor Ugwuanyi who featured in the international category told the elite gathering made up of diplomats and serving and former Irish government officials as well as members of the Nigerian community in the European country, that his 11-man delegation was in that country specifically on an investment drive in view of the scary situation in the global oil market which is currently putting Nigeria’s economy on edge.

He told the gathering which was also addressed by a former Irish minister of Trade and Development, Mr. Joe Castelo, that he was dedicating the awards to the good people of Enugu state back home, whom he described as the true heroes of democracy in view of their support and decision to join his administration in a current stoic philosophy of belt-tightening to shore up the economy of the state.

Nigerian Embassy’s Charge d’Affaires in Ireland, Mr. Olusola Iginla attended both the investment summit for Enugu and the awards night and on both occasions commended the exemplary drive of the Enugu governor during the three-day working visit, saying it is the needed disposition for all political office holders in Nigeria in view of the current economic gridlock staring the nation in the face.

Chairman of the state Economic Advisory Committee, Prof. Monsgr. Obiora Ike, who was also on the delegation read the citation of the governor at the awards event and told the gathering that the coal city state was lucky to have Governor Ugwuanyi at the helm of affairs at this critical period and declared that with his wealth of experience as a parliamentarian for 12 straight years and a visible combination of clusters of virtues of good leadership and disarming humility, there was no doubt that the people of the state are in for good governance.

Apart from Mr. Terence Modebe, a Nigerian-Irish who is already working on a range of investments in agriculture in Adani, Enugu state as well as in other economic ventures in the state, the Enugu delegation held very crucial talks with other prospective investors who look good to storm Enugu shortly.

For instance, president of the Dublin City University, Prof. Brian McCraith, whose institution had earlier signed a memorandum of understanding with the Enugu Government on education development, would be attending an Economic Summit being put together by the state government in March this year. A good number of investors and other businessmen who held talks with the government’s delegation have expressed readiness to participate in the summit.

The awards night featured multi-cultural displays by cultural troupes with backgrounds of the Igbo of Nigeria, India and the Congo of East Africa and they added colour to the event.