Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi will take part in Mini Investment Summit and receive award for outstanding leadership

The Governor of Enugu State is to visit Ireland in January 2016.

Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, one of Nigeria’s leading politicians, will participate in Enugu State Mini Investment Summit for prospective Irish investors, highlighting various opportunities available to foreign investors across the agriculture, mining, education and energy sectors, among others.

The three-term former member of the Nigeria Federal House of Representatives will also receive the Metro Éireann International Outstanding Leadership Award for 2015. 

According to organisers, the award is in recognition of Gov Ugwuanyi’s “visionary” leadership as a former legislator, and the “inspiring and meaningful” impact that his governance is having on the lives of all people in Enugu State since he became governor in elections on 28 March 2015 – coincidentally monitored by Irish Ambassador to Nigeria Sean Hoy.

Speaking on the accolade, Chinedu Onyejelem, editor of Metro Éireann and programme director for the International Outstanding Leadership Award, said that Gov Ugwuanyi would be honoured for “living and strengthening democratic change, which he achieved during his 12-year membership of the House of Representatives, where he served at different occasions as deputy chairman of the house committees on public service matters and pensions, as well as chairman of the house committee on maritime transport.”

During this time, Gov Ugwuanyi sponsored the bill that became law as the Pensions Act of 2004, championed a complete overhaul of the maritime sector, and made some of first moves for the establishment of the Institute of Maritime Studies at the Enugu Campus of the University of Nigeria.

“I am looking forward to coming to participate at the Mini Investment Summit for prospective investors and to receive the award,” Governor Ugwuanyi – also known by his chieftaincy title, Dunu Gburugburu of Orba – told Metro Éireann.

The governor added that his administration plans to create “new and sustainable opportunities” as part of a four-point agenda for employment generation; enhanced social services and good governance; rural development; and security and justice.

The International Out-standing Leadership Award is an initiative of Metro Éireann, Ireland’s only multicultural newspaper, organised in conjunction with Kingdom Media Ireland (Kingdom Media Network Inc Nigeria).