Creative artists under the aegis of the Great Ekenhuan Alumni Association, Abuja, on Friday honoured leading personalities in the country.
The association is made up of graduates of Theatre Arts, Fine and Applied Arts, and Mass Communications departments of the University of Benin, Edo State.
At the event, which marked the Patrons’ Investiture and Award Day, as part of the 10th anniversary of the body, insignias of office as patrons of the association were handed over to Chairman of Police Service Commission, who was also Inspector General of Police, Dr. Solomon Arase; former Chief of Defence Logistics of the Nigerian Army, General Joel Unuigbe (rtd.); a former lecturer at the Federal College of Education, Katsina, who is also a Fellow of the Society of Nigerian Artists, Dr. Sam Akpara; an Abuja based priest, Bishop Great Eromosele; while Mr. Peter Dokpesi, a son of the late founder of DAAR Communications, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, received a Certificate of Appreciation for his “sincere, cordial and inspiring affiliation with Great Ekenhuan Alumni Association, Abuja”.
The association also used the occasion to confer awards on some its members for meritorious service. Among those honoured were a seasoned journalist, who served as Director of Research and Documentation in the Presidency, Mr. Nnamdi Okosieme. He was the initiator of the association. Okosieme. A former Chairman of the association, Okosieme has the distinction of being the longest serving chairman in the history of the group having held office from 2014 to 2019.
Other members conferred with awards included a businessman and pioneer chairman of the association, Pastor Princewill Ihedigbo; Artrepreneur and President of Association of Professional Creative Artists and Designers, Chief Kingsley Okafor, current chairman of the association, Andrew Izirein; and the body’s Legal Adviser, Dele Ahamisi. Other recipients were: incoming chairperson of the association, Mrs. Stella Nwabuche; Osazuwa Ehibor; and a journalist, Emmanuel Ohiomokhare.
Represented by Mr. Matthew Okpeku, General Unuigbe said he was delighted to associate with the group, especially given its commitment to using the arts to grow the Nigerian economy.
In his keynote, Chief Okafor stressed the primacy of the creative arts over many other disciplines, noting that globally it rakes in more income than many other well know fields of human endeavor. He said:
“Statistics from the World Economic Forum of 2021 show that all the 11 creative and cultural sectors combined generated $3,500 billion in revenue, about 4.8 percent of the entire world GDP. This is a progression from the three percent revenue in the 2019 statistics. In terms of job creation,, the creative industry employs more people than the automotive industry in the entire USA, Europe and Japan combined!”
He noted that Nigeria’s creative sector is a thriving industry driven by young and talented individuals and that despite facing many challenges, it has contributed significantly to Nigeria’s GDP with revenue projections estimated to hit $105 billion this year.
