THISDAY Alumni Association has honoured the Director of Corporate Affairs of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Pius Ughakpoteni with Distinguished Alumni Award.
He was honoured at a public ceremony in Abuja in recognition of his outstanding public service to the country.
Ughakpoteni is a management expert, a skilful writer with insightful and analytical skills, acquired during his many years in journalism practice.
Over a period of 30 years, he has garnered a wealth of experience that spans journalism, management, public relations, and practice-driven research across Nigeria’s private and public sectors, as well as universities in England and Switzerland.
Born on 26th June 1964 in Eruemukohwarien, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, Ughakpoteni started his academic career as a home boy in St Paul’s Primary School, Ughelli, from where he moved on to the Government College, Ughelli.
That humble beginning has today blossomed and taken him into the international arena where he is now a doctoral candidate at Business School Lausanne, Chavannes, Vaud, Switzerland, working on Business Administration, Business Transformation and Entrepreneurship, C-Suite Leadership for Corporate Sustainability Performance Advancement.
Ughakpoteni’s research interests lie at the intersection of leadership, sustainability, innovation, change and strategy implementation.
The NDDC image maker is fascinated by collaboration and constructive engagement for change as well as by questions around how to work with top executives to advance corporate sustainability performance for the good of all.
Passionate about continuous professional development, Ughakpoteni earned three Master’s degrees from three universities in England in six years.
These are: Master of Science in Business and Management Research from Henley Business School at University of Reading (2017); Master of Business Administration in Leadership and Sustainability from the University of Cumbria (2014) and Master of Arts in Leading Innovation and Change from York St John University (2013).
He had earlier bagged the PR Academy, Maidstone House, Maidstone, United Kingdom Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Diploma Public Relations in 2012.
He earlier earned a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Management from the University of Calabar in 1991. That was more like a consolidation, as he started his higher education at the Auchi Polytechnic, where he graduated with a National Diploma, Business Administration in 1983.
Ughakpoteni began his working career in 1991 as a Management Assistant. Two years later, he veered into journalism as a Researcher/Reporter at Nigeria’s THISDAY newspapers, where he worked on the Business, Energy and Politics desks, and eventually became Associate Editor of LEADERSHIP newspapers.
While in journalism, he collaborated successfully with his professional colleagues as a member of the pioneer teams that established two thriving national newspapers in Nigeria: THISDAY and LEADERSHIP. This reinforced his strong need for achievement and ability to work efficiently with others in a team as well as equipped him with work attributes that are transferable to other settings.
Since joining the public service in 2004, he has risen from the position of Senior Manager to Director Media Relations at the NDDC, an organisation set up by an Act of the Nigerian parliament to facilitate the sustainable development of the country’s Niger Delta region.
Ughakpoteni has over the years worked with his colleagues to refocus and strengthen the employee-oriented newsletter and the Oyster magazine, NDDC’s external stakeholder-oriented publication. The title is a reliable medium of communicating with the organisation’s diverse publics to elicit their understanding and support.
His roles in different capacities included contributing to broadening and deepening the commission’s media coverage by working in collaboration with colleagues within the organisation as well as with external print, electronic and new media practitioners to foster and improve public awareness of, and support for, the Commission’s development projects and programmes.
Ughakpoteni believes in applying his knowledge, skills, and abilities, working in concert with others, to conduct research and undertake activities that will position NDDC in the minds of government officials, opinion leaders, youths, private sector executives, statutory funding organisations and foreign aid agencies as an organisation that delivers projects and programmes, which align with the Sustainable Development Goals, to meet the needs of the people in a cost-effective, efficient, timely and transparent manner.
Right from his university days, Ughakpoteni has won several awards. These include: Utuks Group of Companies Prize for Best Graduating Student in the Department of Management Studies; United Bank for Africa Prize for the Best Graduating Student in Business Administration; Niger Delta Development Commission Best Senior Staff Award 2007 (Corporate Affairs Department), as well as the Dean’s List Student, York St John University at Robert Kennedy College, Zurich during Master of Arts, Leading Innovation and Change Studies in 2013.
He is the author of the book, Making the Niger Delta Work: Strategy Execution Tips from the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan.
He also has several other publications in academic journals, including Top Management and Leadership Antecedents of Corporate Sustainability Performance: A Scoping Review.
He is happily married and blessed with children.
