Foremost indigenous ship owner and dockyard operator, Mr. Greg Utomwen Ogbeifun has been honoured by All Africa Students Union (AASU) with the African Leadership Award, for his exemplary and altruistic vision for the youths.
Apart from being one of the key actors in the shipping sector of the economy, Ogbeifun, a marine engineer is also the President of the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) and Chief Executive Officer of the STARZS Group.
The AASU (PAN-AFRICAINE DES ETUDIANTS) is a continental representative organization of democratic students’ unions founded in 1972 at University of Science and Technology, Kumasi Ghana with 54 member unions from Francophone and Anglophone African countries.
An affiliate of the International Union of Students (IUS),the body indicated that the award was sequel to “good recommendations” made by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) nominating Ogbeifun, for the “2015 Africa Leadership Award” as “Beacon of Hope for Africa’s Development.”
“We are glad to inform you of your ratification by the congress of AASU for the conferment of the “2015 Africa Leadership Award” and your subsequent induction into the AASU Hall of Fame”, the Continental body with a consultative status with UNESCO, ECOSOC, UNICEF, ECOWAS, and the African Union stated in its letter signed by its Secretary General, Mr. Awaah Fred.
Known for its impeccable and stringent selection process, the AASU was in July 2006, hosted by the then President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria, South Africa where the former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and former Governor of Nassarawa State, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu represented former President Olusegun Obasanjo to receive this prestigious honour.
In 2008, at the Koffi Annan Conference Centre, Osu, Accra, Ghana President John Kuffour alongside Governors Ikedi Ohakim and Emmanuel Uduaghan of Imo and Delta States respectively were amongst recipients of the 2008 Kwame Nkrumah Leadership Award Series.
The body said it prides itself on the fact that it only bestows awards on “eminent sons and daughters, institutions, and corporate concerns of African origin, who have distinguished themselves in their various fields of endeav
