By Tejiri Ebikeme,

Chevron Nigeria Limited’s (CNL) corporate value of integrity was celebrated recently when the organizers of the Emerging African Leaders Integrity Award (EALA), a non-governmental organization, honoured Mr. Sola Adebawo, CNL’s Communications Manager with the Emerging African Leaders Pinnacle Award on account of what the organizers described as his “impeccable achievements towards the development of Africa as a people and continent”.

Our Correspondent reports that the event took place at De Renaissance Hotel, Obafemi Awolowo Way, Ikeja.

Stephanie Afolabi, CEO/Founder, Emerging African Leaders Academy, said the award is aimed at inspiring and training African youths and emerging African leaders in programs that promote the values of integrity, and entrepreneurial spirit.

“This is a Pan African initiative to discover and showcase some of our shining stars on the continent. Our emphasis is on leadership because we have realized that Africa can only fulfil its potentials if we are able to build effective leaders. We have come to understand that leadership can only be developed by strengthening the connection between, and alignment of the efforts of individual leaders and the systems through which they influence organizational and social operations,” she said.

She said the adjudicating panel nominated Mr. Adebawo for the award having monitored his career in the workplace and the role he has played in the society especially in the area mentorship and leadership training for young people. “He is a mentor and inspiration to many young people. We also monitored his activities on social media and identified him as someone many young people can learn from. It was for this reason that he was also slated to be one of the Guest Speakers at the Award Ceremony. The Pinnacle Award, she said, was a celebration of his meteoric rise in his chosen career. “His commitment to the cause is clearly evident through his social activities and dazzling strides in his chosen field of endeavor.”

Mr. Adebawo who thanked the organizers for the recognition used the occasion to speak on Chevron’s commitment to the values of integrity, trust, partnership and high performance among others. Speaking on “Impact of Oil and Gas on Livelihood in Africa,” he gave an insight into the contributions and impact of the oil and gas industry on the African Economy.

He harped on the various opportunities the industry has provided Africa with and urged the youths present to take advantage of these opportunities to develop themselves and the continent at large, using the occasion to highlight Chevron’s social investments in Nigeria in the areas of education, health and economic development. He highlighted the importance of the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) process in promoting sustainable development communities around its areas of operation.

The GMoU, he said, was designed to create participatory development processes to address needs of the communities. According to him, the GMoU has not only cultivated transparency and accountability into the governance of projects and programmes by encouraging stakeholders to operate within designed frameworks; the GMoU has also given community leaders the platform to enhance their visibility.

“Active Regional Development Committee (RDC) members are being appointed into key government roles as a result of their demonstrated leadership and measurable contributions to community. We are very proud of what our various RDCs are doing in ensuring sustainable development in their communities. The participatory, capacity building approach of the GMoU is visibly changing our communities. The GMoU process has yielded positive results for the communities and has gained credibility as an innovative community engagement model,”  he said.

Mr. Adebawo cited numerous Social Investment projects donated by Chevron that have contributed to the socio-economic development of the various communities. He later fielded questions from the young achievers and aspiring leaders who sought to learn from his experiences, especially in the areas of self-development and empowerment.

The Emerging African Leaders is a prestige leadership network and academy dedicated to promoting excellence and building effective leaders from Africa living at home and abroad both in private and public sectors. It forms partnerships with other organizations to promote educational and technological advancement of African youths and emerging leaders.

PHOTO CAPTION: Sola Adebawo receiving the Pinnacle Award from Stephanie Afolabi, CEO Emerging African Leaders Academy