Former US President Bill Clinton

Former US President Bill Clinton will grace the 17th THISDAY Annual Awards for Excellence holding on Monday, February 13, 2012. Announcing this yesterday, THISDAY Board of Editors also disclosed that the newspaper's readers have nominated 10 additional women to be honoured along with the 45 originally nominated by the editors.

This is in addition to the 25 senior citizens who will be conferred with the THISDAY Lifetime Achievement Award.

The new female nominees as chosen by the cross section of readers are Oby Ezekwesili, Maryam Inna Ciroma, Muni Shonibare, Funke Osibodu, Amina Az-Zubair, Sally Udoma, Pamela Olayinka Adedayo, Aderonke Kale, Mayen Adetiba and Aruma Oteh.
Below are their profiles.

Oby Ezekwesili
As Senior Special Assistant Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence to the President of Nigeria from 2003-2005, Mrs Ezekwesili earned the nickname “Madam Due Process” for creating transparency in government procurement processes and being the architect of the Bureau for Public Procurement legislation. She was Minister of Solid Minerals, 2005-06, and Minister of Education, 2006-07. A chartered accountant, she was a co-founder of Transparency International, and served as one of its pioneer Directors. Obi has been Vice-President, Africa Region, World Bank, since 2007, and will disengage in May 2012.

Hajia Maryam Inna Ciroma
Hajiya Ciroma is the National Women’s Leader for the ruling People’s Democratic Party. She is a strong advocate for the rights of women and children and was Minister for Women’s Affairs in from 2005-2007. Before she left office, the Federal Government approved the National Gender Policy in pursuance of gender equality and children welfare in the country. She has been very vocal about the marginalization of women in Nigerian politics and, before the 2007 elections, called for a percentage of electoral positions to be reserved for women. Hajiya Ciroma is a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University.

Muni Shonibare
Mrs Muni Shonibare is the founder of Interior Options Ltd a leading interior design and furniture manufacturing company in Nigeria with over 20 years experience outfitting homes, offices, hotels, airport buildings, showrooms and boutiques, and major projects, locally and internationally for clients such as AGIP, Mobil Producing Unlimited, and Hilton Hotels. Interior Options was founded in 1987 and has grown from a one-room showroom in Kaduna to a 2002m2 factory; offices and showrooms in Lagos and Abuja employing over 100 people. Mrs Shonibare is a graduate of the Instituto Per Arte E II Restauro, Florence, Italy, and also runs and manages Ethiniki, an African inspired furniture and accessories company.

Amina Az-Zubair
Hajiya Amina Mohammed Az-Zubair is Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a role to which she brings a wealth of experience.  She was a partner in Afri-Project Consortium, which designed framework for Petroleum Trust Fund in the 90s and later national coordinator for Education-For-All (EFA). She later joined the team that designed a mechanism on how to spend the gains of the Debt Relief, which the country acquired in 2005 for poverty related programmes. Hajiya Az-Zubair is a Member of various global institutions including Expert Group on Education of the Global Governance Initiative of the World Economic Forum and Technical Expert on numerous UNESCO activities. She is also advisor to the Bill Gates Foundation.

Funke Osibodu
With a reputation for making a mark in every office she has held, Mrs Osibodu was appointed Group Managing Director and Chief Executive of Union Bank PLC in August 2009. With 27 years banking experience under her belt,  she has been Managing Director of two other banks, MBC and Ecobank Nigeria PLC.  In November 2011 she was selected and named by a global jury of experts constituted by the Financial Times of London, as once of the 50 leading businesswomen in the world. Mrs Osibodu was chosen in recognition of her impeccable turnaround of Union Bank where the jury noted she was “responsible for strengthening the management of the bank, improving discipline and ensuring transparency”. Mrs Osibodu is the only African woman to have made the top 50 businesswomen’s list.

Sally Udoma
Mrs. Sally Udoma is General Counsel Chevron Europe, Eurasia & Middle East Exploration & Production (CEEMEEP) a post she has held since late 2009. Chevron CEEMEEP is active in 13 countries and headquartered in London. Mrs. Udoma joined Chevron Nigeria Ltd in 1995 as General Counsel and held the position for just under 13 years, after which she was moved to the company’s London offices and has variously been Legal Manager at Sasol Chevron Consulting Limited; and Managing Counsel, Legal Shared Services, London at Chevron Global Upstream. Sally Udoma began her career in the oil industry in 1982 at Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd and Societe Nationale Elf Aquitaine, Paris. She is a graduate of both Kings College London and the University of Cambridge from which she obtained her LLB and LLM degrees respectively. She also obtained a BL certificate from the Nigerian Law School and was called to the Nigerian Bar the same year

Pamela Olayinka Adedayo
An industrialist, role model and philanthropist, Pamela Olayinka Adedayo embodies the typical African woman’s resilience in modern times. She is a pioneer in the rapidly growing fast food industry in Nigeria, providing employment for teeming population of young Nigerians. Her interest in fast food business was kindled during her brief stint at the famous Kentucky Fried Chicken Chain in Chicago, USA. Mrs. Adedayo’s business acumen was released following her voluntary retirement from the federal public service in 1990 after which she established the Tastee Fried Chicken Chain of Fast Food outlets across Nigeria.  A multiple award winner, Mrs Adedayo is the President of the Association of Fast Food and Confectioners of Nigeria. She runs an NGO called the Pamela Olayinka Adedayo Educational Foundation.

Aderonke Kale
Major General Aderonke Kale, (Rtd), is the first female military officer to attain the rank of a Major General, a two-star general in the Nigerian Armed Forces. While in service, she was the highest ranking female officer in the Nigerian Armed Forces. Major General Kale trained as a medical practitioner before enlisting in the Nigeria Army as an officer, at a time when it was uncommon to find women in uniform. A pacesetter and a mentor to several women in the armed forces, General Kale rose through the ranks to command the Nigerian Army Medical Corps before she retired from service in 1997. 

Mayen Adetiba
A thorough bred professional; Engineer Mayen Adetiba is one of Nigeria’s most celebrated female engineers. A fellow of the Nigeria Society of Engineers, (NSE), Adetiba was one of the first female engineers to set up an engineering practice in Nigeria. Mrs Adetiba has contributed in several ways to pave the way for women engineers in a male dominated field. She was elected the first female President of the Association of Consulting Engineers. She also served as the Vice President of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC)

Arunma Oteh
Currently leading the transformation of the Nigerian Capital Market to enable Nigeria realize its economic potential, Otteh is the first female Director General/CEO at the Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission. She served as the Vice President of Corporate Management & Corporate Services of African Development Bank (ADB) between 2006 -2009. She worked in corporate finance, consulting, teaching and research. Ms. Otteh served as the ADB Group's Treasurer for five years from 2001 to 2006, with overall responsibility for its fund raising and investments in major international capital markets. She holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School and a first class honours degree in Computer Science from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.