A national daily, Daily Trust, has called for nominations of exemplary personalities for the coveted African of the Year 2023 award.
Nominations are open from 11 September, 2023 to midnight of 16 October, 2023.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, the group chief executive officer of the Media Trust Group, proprietors of Daily Trust and Trust TV, Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, said ideal nominees should be “ordinary Africans who have made extraordinary contributions to humanity in any field from any part of the continent.”
Gwarzo disclosed that the award consists of three components, namely, a permanent plaque, a certificate of merit, and a cash reward in aid of the awardee or his/her chosen charity project.
He said valid entries for the 2023 award will be for works, events, or activities undertaken by the nominee between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023, and nominations are to be made online at award.dailytrust.com.
He said the eventual winner will be selected by a six-member prize committee chaired by former president of Botswana, Mr. Festus Mogae.
He said other members of the committee, who represent Africa’s regional blocs are: Ambassador Mona Omar (North Africa), Mr. Amadou Mahtar Ba (West Africa), Ms. Gwen Lister (Southern Africa), and Pastor Rigobert Minani Bihuzo (Central Africa).
The chairman of the Board of Directors of the Media Trust Group, Mr. Kabiru Yusuf, represents the award promoters.
The group CEO emphasised that a winner will emerge, strictly based on the selection criteria and not the number of entries submitted on his/her behalf.
The statement recalled the various incidences of building disasters across the country, adding that the Ogun State government will not fold its arm and allow and such occurrence.
It noted that many of such disasters, such as fire outbreaks at Ikorodu, led to the loss of precious lives.
According to him, what the government did in partially pulling down the defective building was to be proactive.
Abiodun challenged the owners of the structure to produce evidence of government approval in their possession.
He said that for a commercial building of that status, there must be parking space to accommodate vehicular traffic within and outside the facility for workers and visitors. The provision of the law is for 45 to 50 per cent of available land for construction as a buildable area.
The permanent secretary added that the building lacked stage certification, which is usually issued at every stage of construction.
He said that owners were served the necessary notices, including abatement, contravention, stop work and demolition between May and October 2022, which were ignored.
According to the statement, DATKEM Enterprises Limited submitted application for an office building, located along Ibadan Road, Ijebu Ode in 2009 with registration number CB/05/299/2009.
“The proposal was for five (5) floors with airspace of 3 metres at the right, 5m at the left, 5metres at the rear and a setback of 32.5516 metres to the middle of Ijebu Ode/Ibadan Road, Ijebu-Ode.
“The Zonal Town Planning Office observed during routine monitoring that the construction on site did not conform with the plan granted as there was a deviation from the airspaces and setback.
“In addition, the building had been modified and enlarged with an additional storey building at the back thereby becoming over density.
“In view of the above, the following actions were taken. Contravention Notice with Serial No. 0106983 was served on 24th May 2022. Stop Work Order with Serial No. 000623 was served on 24th May 2022.
“Another Stop Work Order with Serial No. 001065 was served on 22nd July 2022 when the first notice was ignored. Demolition Notice with Serial No. 0007549 was served on 11th October 2022. Notice to seal with Serial No. 000815 was served on 4th October 2022.
The statement noted further that despite all these notices, the developer was recalcitrant and continued with the construction work.
