LEADERSHIP Awards: Celebrating Excellence, Honouring Achievement

By Baba Dantiye

Some awards come and go with the excitement of a single evening, while others gradually become part of a nation’s institutional history. The LEADERSHIP Newspapers Annual Awards belong increasingly to the latter category.

For close to two decades, the LEADERSHIP Annual Awards have provided a platform for recognising Nigerians whose contributions to public service, business, politics, governance, professional excellence, and national development deserve acknowledgement.

The 2026 edition, the 19th in the series, is a significant milestone in a tradition that has become an important feature of Nigeria’s public and media calendar.

Awards matter because recognition matters. In a country where public discourse can sometimes be dominated by controversy, disappointment and cynicism, it is useful to pause occasionally and celebrate people who have distinguished themselves through hard work, courage, innovation, public service and achievement.

That is what makes the LEADERSHIP Annual Awards significant.

But there is another reason the awards deserve particular commendation: the quality of leadership behind the institution today.

That quality becomes particularly important when a newspaper organises an annual awards programme.

An awards platform can easily lose its value if the public begins to suspect that recipients are selected because of friendship, political connections, financial influence or institutional convenience. Once that happens, an award may retain its ceremony but lose its meaning.

The LEADERSHIP awards have continued to command attention because Nigerians expect a serious editorial organisation to apply serious standards.

This is particularly relevant at a time when the media industry is facing unprecedented pressures from social media, misinformation, commercial interests and the growing competition for public attention.

For an award to matter, the recipient must be able to look at it years later and say, “This was deserved.” The public should be able to do the same.

That is why the calibre and integrity of the recipients of the LEADERSHIP Annual Awards deserve particular commendation. The 2026 choices provide a compelling example.

Among those honoured are Prince Nduka Obaigbena, the respected media entrepreneur and founder of THISDAY and ARISE News, and Abdul Samad Rabiu, Chairman of BUA Group. Both have made substantial contributions in their respective fields and have become important figures in Nigeria’s economic and institutional landscape.

For those of us who have spent considerable portions of our lives in journalism, Nduka Obaigbena’s recognition has a particular resonance. His long career in Nigerian media, his capacity to build media institutions and his investment in journalism and broadcasting represent a significant contribution to the profession.

Abdul Samad Rabiu, on the other hand, represents the transformative possibilities of Nigerian enterprise. Through BUA, he has built major businesses, invested in manufacturing and infrastructure, created employment and contributed significantly to philanthropy and social development.

Other recipients across the different categories further demonstrate the breadth of the awards and the effort to recognise excellence in different spheres of national life.

The recognition of public officials, business leaders, professionals, and other Nigerians who have distinguished themselves reinforces the idea that leadership and contributions to society do not belong to one profession, one region, or one sector.

That is important.

The media is traditionally regarded as society’s watchdog. But the media also has another responsibility that is sometimes overlooked: society’s mirror.

A newspaper does not only report what is wrong. It should also identify what is right. It should document those who are making a difference. It should preserve the record of people and institutions that have contributed to society’s progress.

In this regard, the LEADERSHIP Annual Awards serve a useful purpose beyond the glamour of an awards night. They constitute part of the newspaper’s institutional record of the people and organisations it considers worthy of national recognition.

Interestingly, I have never had the opportunity to attend the LEADERSHIP Annual Awards ceremony itself. My appreciation of the institution, therefore, does not come from having sat in the hall, received an invitation or been part of the ceremony’s audience. It comes from watching, over the years, what the LEADERSHIP Annual Awards have become and the people and institutions they have chosen to honour.

The citations should become part of the historical record. The achievements being celebrated should inspire others. The awardees should understand that recognition brings responsibility as much as prestige. They can also inspire the younger generation to believe that achievement is worth pursuing.

A newspaper that can disagree with power without becoming reckless, and recognise achievement without becoming sycophantic, performs an important public service.

The LEADERSHIP Annual Awards have survived long enough to become more than an annual gathering. They are now part of Nigeria’s media and public-service culture.

– Baba Dantiye, MON, mni, FNGE, Former Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Kano State, and former President, Nigerian Guild of Editors (2003–2008).