Back from Paris, President Buhari bags Polio Champion Award; Receives Rotary International, Guinea Bissau Presidents; LADOL Logistics team (See pictures)

Back from the Paris, France Peace Forum, President Muhammadu Buhari has had a busy schedule, including hosting the Rotary International President, Mr Barry Rassin Gates, who conferred on him the Polio Champion Award.

He has also received the President of Guinea Bissau, H.E. Jose Mario Vaz, unveiled the “Buhari Unity Band” and received in audience a delegation of LADOL Integrated Logisitics Enterprise.

President Buhari was conferred with the prestigious Polio Champion Award in recognition of his uncommon commitment and leadership in the polio eradication programme in Nigeria by Mr. Rassin Gates.

Mr. Rassin Gates, who is on a four-day official visit to Nigeria, according to a statement by Femi Adesina,
Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity), presented the award to President Buhari, Thursday, at State House, Abuja.

The Polio Champion Award was instituted by Rotary International in 1995 to recognize and appreciate Heads of Governments and organisations that have played a key role in polio eradication around the world.

The last recipient of the Award was Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada. Other past recipients include Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

Receiving the award, the Nigerian leader, while thanking Rotary International for the honour, lauded their commitment to humanitarian work across the globe.

‘‘Rotary International is well known to my generation. Your work is really humanitarian; no amount of materialism can pay you for what you have been doing and we thank you very much.

‘‘I am pleased with the efforts of Rotary International, you are champions of the weak, and I pray that God will abundantly pay you for your humanitarian services. I am also pleased that I have a competent Health Minister, who supervises the work,” the President said.

Earlier in his remarks, Mr Rassin, while commending the President for providing significant leadership in the efforts to eradicate polio in Nigeria, advocated increased political and financial commitments at all levels for routine immunization and primary health care strengthening.

He also commended President Buhari for his commitment to Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) by expanding the presidential task force on polio to include state governors shortly after he took office in 2015.

‘‘You are an inspiration to your country’’, the Rotary president, who was accompanied by his wife, Esther, and other senior Rotarians in Nigeria, told President Buhari.

He said Rotary has contributed $1.7 billion to the global effort to eradicate polio, of which $270m was expended in Nigeria.

‘‘We have come a long way from 1985 when polio was crippling 350,000 children annually in 125 countries of the world to 27 cases in two countries. But even one child paralysed by polio is one child too many. We need to end polio now,’’ Rassin said, adding that Nigeria has not recorded any case of polio in the last 27 months, nine months away from ‘‘possible certification of eradication.’’.

Speaking at the State House, Abuja on Thursday while receiving the Chairman and Management of the LADOL Integrated Logistics Enterprise on a courtesy visit, President Buhari  said that his administration will continue to implement policies that attract investment and spark competition in critical sectors of the economy for employment creation and growth.

In a statement by Garba Shehu, his Senior Special Assistant (Media & Publicity) President Buhari

commended the company for taking full advantage of the pro-business policies put in place by his administration and aimed at bringing domestic and direct foreign investment which are yielding prosperity to the people of the country.

“Your competitive and aggressive activity has brought you success. I am pleased that you are investing in a critical area, the oil industry, in which I have developed interest. I am happy you are training Nigerians and giving them respectful jobs. What you are doing shows that whoever tries will succeed.”

The Chairman and Chief Executive of the company, Chief Oladipo Jadesimi said they had come to thank President Buhari for creating an enabling environment and anti-corruption regime that have enabled their business to create a 10 billion Dollar investment and 50,000 new jobs.

On her part, the Managing Director, Dr. Amy Jadesimi, informed the President that their investment had a mission to attract local and international companies that will help reduce the cost of off-shore support services.

According to her, “policies initiated by this government by abrogating monopoly, thereby allowing IOCs (International Oil Companies) to use any facility in Nigeria, yielded immediate positive result for the Nigerian economy by reducing costs by 50 percent.”

She said that in the near future, seven more FPSO (floating production storage off-loading) units will be built in Nigeria, bringing USD 100 billion investment, thousands of jobs and a diversification of the economy due to 70 per cent local content.

The Managing Director expressed the determination of LADOL to turn Nigeria into a hub for logistics and heavy lifting in the sub-region by providing non-stop, 24 hours, seven days a week support services in the Lagos area.