John Dramani Mahama, former president of Ghana and John Odigie Oyegun, immediate past national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, have won the year 2018 Zik Prize in political leadership, while Udom Emmanuel and Abubakar Sanni-Bello, governors of Akwa Ibom State and Niger State respectively won the prize in good governance.

Prof Pat Utomi, a member of the advisory board of the Public Policy Research and Analysis Centre, PPRAC, organizers of the awards, disclosed this at a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday, April 24.

According to Utomi, Femi Otedola, chairman of Forte Oil and Arthur Eze, billionaire business won the prize in business leadership just as Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum and Shyngle Wigwe, an elder statesman and veteran broadcaster won the prize in public service.

Other winners of the prestigious prize for the year 2018, according to Utomi are, Oye Ibidapo Obe, a distinguished professor of Systems Engineering and Philips Oduoza, former group managing director of United Bank for Africa, UBA, and chairman/founder of NOVA Merchant Bank Limited who won the prize in professional leadership, while Bisi Fayemi, wife of Kayode Fayemi, the Ekiti State governor, won the prize for humanitarian leadership.

Utomi recalled that The Zik Prize in Leadership Awards was instituted 25 years ago in honour of Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first president of Nigeria and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

According to Utomi, the Prize was set up as an embodiment of the leadership values the Great Zik of Africa represented.

“Thus, its purse has always been to encourage and nurture leadership on the African continent”, Utomi said.

He clarified that the final list of awardees was arrived at by the advisory board of PPRAC after “an exhaustive appraisal of the nominees in the various award categories.”

The Zik prize was instituted 25 years ago in Nigeria in honour of the country’s first president, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and is “an embodiment of the leadership values the Great Zik of Africa represents”.