The management of Verbatim News Network Limited, Publishers of Abuja-based Verbatim news magazine and Verbatim Online Newspaper, yesterday, announced two governors, Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State as winners of their prestigious Governor of the Year award, an annual programme that recognizes and honours personalities and corporate organizations for excellence and success in particular areas of business and vocation.
In a press statement containing outcome of an assessment carried out by the Board of Editors of Verbatim, the Editor-in-Chief, Tobs Agbaegbu, explained that Governor Sule was voted for his widespread implementation of transparent policies in Nasarawa State and also ‘’for being a truly futuristic and thoroughly insightful servant leader, one who thinks locally but acts globally.’’
In the case of Governor Matawale , the publisher of Verbatim stated that the Board of Editors made him a co-Governor of the Year award winner, ‘’in full recognition and appreciation of his numerous achievements in issues about security and the delivery of other dividends of democracy in Zamfara state’’.
He also announced Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum as the most outstanding Minister of the decade, and five agencies of the federal government as award winners in Integrity in Service category.
The corporate award winners were named as the National Examination Council (NECO), the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the Nigeria Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA), the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE and their Chief Executives)
Winners of award at individual category level were also named as Professor Gregory Ibe, Chancellor, Gregory University, Uturu in Abia state, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, a former Senate Deputy Minority Leader, Barrister Emmanuel Njoku; Alhaji Usman Adamu Tubo, Managing Director, Al-Tubo Power Integrated Limited, and Darlington Ozurumba, Abuja based lawyer and public affairs analyst.
The publisher of Verbatim explained that all the award winners will formally be unveiled and presented with symbols of honour at a historic event coming up on Thursday, October 20, 2022 at Sheraton hotel Abuja, as key component of the 10th anniversary of the Media group.
He stated also that the anniversary of Verbatim will witness the unveiling of the maiden edition of a daily newspaper called Verbatim Special which he assured will be ‘’a special brand with unique style of reporting and news presentation’’, and a public lecture on Leadership Challenge and State of the Nigerian Nation.
Going down memory lane, Agbaegbu said Verbatim magazine was established in 2012 by former editors of Newswatch, Nigeria’s foremost investigative newsmagazine founded by four famous journalists, Late Dele Giwa, Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese and Yakubu Mohammed.
He stated that in the tradition of Newswatch , Verbatim has churned out many award winning editions since the past 10 years, and also publishes online editions, adding that it was in furtherance of the successes which the media group has recorded in the publishing industry that the management of Verbatim is now veering into daily newspaper publication.
