THE AUTHORITY Awards for Excellence & Good Governance PROLOGUE

No country or society can be lifted meaningfully or journey safely in an environment where merit and excellence are not sufficiently recognized. In such milieu, a danger of moral recession, loss of faith and indifference to quality governance, optimal industrial and product/service delivery come to the fore.
Although 2016 provided a tapestry of heroes and villains, today in Nigeria, civilization remains a work in progress. THE AUTHORITY Awards For Excellence & Good Governance is a sober effort to recognize and fete merit and excellence in diverse arenas of human endeavour in our country.
Cut to the bone, no society can live without its dreamers and achievers. It's perhaps in recognition of this that former US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt noted that, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
As it were, the personalities and institutions that were singled out for these awards represent men/women/institutions that logged onto this timeless truth and as a consequence - astonishingly leveraged their profiles in Nigeria and beyond. They come from disparate backgrounds. Their trajectories traverse banking/finance, energy, regulation, governance, information/communication technology, transportation and good old merchandising/manufacturing sectors.
The award recipients today lay no claims to sainthood or any special Solomonic wisdom. Nevertheless, it could hardly be denied that their passion for excellence, commitment and often larger-than-life image single them out for recognition of merit and make them ready models for emulation by many.

At times when there is palpable decline of faith in the nation's common destiny, their sheer energy and imagination represent beacons of hope. Like adroit alchemists, they wove a delicate balance between the ethics of commerce, governance, responsibility and conviction. From this philosophical quartet, they derived a flight plan that has put them in the arena of prestige, recognition and accolades.
If the awards represent a message, then THE AUTHORITY Newspapers Group is the messenger. The awards were instituted as a veritable reward for excellence in business and recognition of integrity in governance. The awards traditionally celebrate leadership, innovation and creativity in Nigeria. It highlights human icons/institutions/products/services that are driving positive changes in the nation’s march forward.
In arriving at the nominees for all categories, nominations were called for from the membership of THE AUTHORITY Board of Editors over a one month period. At the end of this period, the board met to debate the nominees in their various categories. THE AUTHORITY Board of Editors then reviewed the period and considered people, institutions, products and services that impacted most on Nigeria and its citizens within 2016, the period these particular awards covered.
It is usually an event defined by dispute and dissension. Because this board is made of enlightened professionals, the choices and outcomes are taken seriously. In this exercise, we lay no claims to infallibility but believe that objectivity and reason should always guide the actions of institutions that monitor society. The 2016 award recipients essentially turned mettle into gold, achieving what ancient alchemists had sweated but failed to do with metal.
Beyond acquitting its quintessential mandate of agenda-setting in society,beyond the traditional panache, a bit of swagger, glitz and glamour, THE AUTHORITY Awards for Excellence shares in the dream of a new, prosperous, secure and equitable society. At a fundamental level, this is not merely a pious wish, but a necessity and imperative for our nation’s civilized survival.
Welcome to THE AUTHORITY Awards for Excellence & Good Governance.