2014 CLASS OF MMS PLUS HALL OF FAME’S EVENT

INDUCTEE’S PROFILE

• Hon. Nkiruka Onyejeocha
• Prof. Dora Akunyili
• Ms. Valentina Mintah
• Dr (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
• Mrs. Monica Mbanefo
• Hajia Salamatu Umar-Eluma

Nokricious Nkiruka

Hon. Nkiruka Onyejeocha

House Committee Chairman on Aviation

Born on the 23rd of November 1969, to the family of His Royal Highness, late Eze Bob Ogbonna in Isuochi, Umunneochi L.G.A. of Abia state, Hon. Onyejeocha graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with Barchelor of Arts (B.A. Hons) Degree and later obtained a Masters Degree in International Affairs and Diplomacy; and currently a PhD Degree candidate in Political Science.

Hon. Chief (Mrs.) Nkeiruka Onyejeocha is gifted with special qualities that have set her asides as a rare breed and a passionate advocate of the people.

She is currently serving the nation at the National Assembly as the House Committee Chairman on Aviation, having been elected in 2007 by the people of Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency to represent them at the Federal House of Representatives, Abuja.

Her passion for politics and leadership dates back to her university days where she was not only active in Students’ Union politics with numerous positions to her credit, Hon. Onyejeocha established herself as a political leader with charisma.

Before joining the core of our elite law makers, she served her state in different capacities as Commissioner for Resource Management and Manpower Development in 2002, Executive Transition Chairman, Umunneochi L.G.A. in 2003, among others.

Her years of service to the people under different appointed and elective positions have translated to giving her people/s lives a meaning, with streams of Federal projects attracted to her constituency and scholarship foundation instituted for deserving students in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.

Among her fifteen monumental projects in the constituency are: yearly free medical treatment for Isuikwuato and Umunneochi people; construction of classroom blocks and supply of school furniture in eleven different secondary and primary schools; she built a health centre at Umuchieze and Eziama Nneato; built houses for widows.

In recognition of her visionary leadership, she has been honoureed with numerous awards and recognition some of which are: International service Award of Rotary Club of Maryland by Enugu Rotary International; Merit Award in Visionary Leadership by National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS); Onunekwuru Oha 1 of Uturu Ancient Kingdom; Adaugo 1 of Isuikwueto L.G.A.

Chief (Lady) Onyejeocha is a member of National Council of Women Society (NCWS) and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Shipping (ACIS).

Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you Hon. Chief Nkeiruka Onyejeocha as a member of 2014 Class of MMS Plus’ Woman of Fortune Hall of Fame

Daring Dora

Prof. Dora Akunyili

Former Minister, Information and Communications

Nigeria has produced a countable number of powerful women since the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates into what is today known as Nigeria, but not many have experienced first hand, the actions and fearless activities of a daring amazon in recent times as Dora Nkem Akunyili displayed at a time when Nigeria was at the precipice of national disintegration.

Born 14th July 1954, in Makurdi, Benue State, but brought up in Nanka in Anambra State of Nigeria.

Her illustrious educational career started at St. Patrick’s Primary School, Isuofia, Anambra State where she passed the First School Leaving Certificate with Distinction in 1966,after which she proceeded to the famous Queen of the Rosary Secondary School, Nsukka, where she again obtained grade 1 distinction in the West African School Certificate examination in 1973.

On account of her exceptional results in the primary and secondary school leaving Certificates,  the Eastern Nigerian Government sponsored her secondary education while the Federal Government of Nigeria offered her Undergraduate Scholarship.

With a First Degree in Pharmacy B.Pharm (Hons) in 1978 and PhD in 1985 from U.N.N. Dr. Akunyili was a Post Doctorate Fellow of University of London and a Fellow of the West African Post Graduate College of Pharmacists.

Prof. Akunyili’s unlimited intelligence attracted the attention of WHO/UNDP/World Bank who Sponsored, training on Senior Management skills Course in RIPA, London and Computer Education Programme in 1998 and 1994 respectively. Akunyili has enjoyed many academic awards and recognitions.

Akunyili started her working career as a Hospital Pharmacist from 1978–1981, in the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (U.N.T.H) Enugu, then moved into academics as a Graduate Assistant (Research Fellow) in Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, U.N.N. from 1982–1986.

She became a Consultant Pharmacologist in 1996, a position she held until April 2001. Perhaps what defined and prepared Akunyili for national assignments was her four years stint as Zonal Secretary of Petroleum Special Trust Fund (P.T.F.), where she coordinated all projects in the five South Eastern States of Nigeria and showing an uncommon propensity to be dangerously transparent.

Dora will dutifully return any unspent budget, a rare practice in public service.

When Dora became the Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), she took transparency to an enviable height difficult to match in Nigeria. She took the fight for the eradication of counterfeit drugs and unsafe food, to the door step of organized fake drugs importers. Dora Akunyili was undaunted at the risk of her personal safety in her fight to combat fake drugs, Dora came face to face with death several times, dared death in the face and came out victorious

Prof. (Mrs.) Dora Nkem Akunyili, who assumed office on 12 April 2001, as the Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), is a Pharmacist, Pharmacologist, Erudite Scholar, Seasoned Administrator, and a visionary leader. She was a Senior Lecturer and Consultant Pharmacologist in the College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (U.N.N.), Enugu Campus, before she became the NAFDAC boss.

As minister of information, Dora pioneered the reengineering of the nation’s battered image , she told the truth in government not minding the ethno religious implication, it is on record that but for her bold effort at telling Nigerians the state of affairs as it concerned the ailing Nigerian president, President Jonathan may never have been President today.

This daring and fearless amazon was internationally recognized and won several awards for her work in pharmacology, public service and human rights. Some of the awards include but not limited to the:

*Time Magazine Award 2006( “One of the eighteen heroes of our time”) by Time Magazine Inc.

*Person of the Year 2005 Award – Silverbird Communications Ltd

*Award of Excellence – Advocacy for Democracy Dividends Internationl, Lagos, 2005

*African Virtuous and Entrepreneurial Women Merit Award 2005 – African Biographical Network

*Award for the Best Government Parastatal – National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), 2005

*2005 Grassroots Human Rights Campaigner Award London Based Human Rights Defense Organization.  2005

*Integrity Award 2003 – Transparency International.

Akunyili was a devout Catholic and married to Dr. J.C. Akunyili, of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu and blessed with 6 children.

Dr Dora was a fighter, as she again defied death to answer a national call to serve as a member of the national conference for the restructuring of Nigeria. She made her contribution to the national discuss before she surrendered to the will of God in an India hospital on 7 June 2014 after a battle with Cancer.

For her dodgedness, gallantry, intellectual sagacity, and an unparalleled petroitism, Dr Dora Nkem Akuyili is today post humously presentedas amember of 2014 class of MMS and Woman of fortune Hall of Fame

 

Valentine Valentina

Ms. Valentina Mintah

MD/CEO TechnoBrain-WestBlue Consulting

Ms. Valentina Mintah is the Managing Director/CEO of TechnoBrain-West Blue Consulting, a firm with expertise in Information Communication and Technology (ICT) and trade facilitation.

Valentina, as the driver of the firm is an internationally recognized expert in ICT, trade facilitation, public sector modernization and private sector development, with a strong focus on processes and automation.

Valentina has 16 years of ICT industry experience in areas of Project Management, Management Consulting, Public Sector Modernization & Private Sector Development among others.

She has worked in various ICT Projects in Europe, Central Asia and Africa delivering quality outcomes in challenging circumstances. She was previously the CEO of West Blue Consulting and has also worked in the United Kingdom with Crown Agents UK Ltd & IBM UK Ltd in different capacities. She has a solid network in the industry and is an accomplished people manager, with the ability to rapidly build credible relationships at all levels in diverse environments, inspiring confidence.

Valentina is a prominent thought leader, having been a speaker, presenter and panelist at various International fora across the world, speaking about trade, business and technology. She is an active member of a number of international working groups including UN CEFACT and the African Alliance on e-Commerce.

Valentina is currently pursuing her Doctorate at Birkbeck, University of London and holds a Masters in Business Systems Analysis and Design from City University, UK.     Valentina, no doubt, has demonstrated in Nigeria that she could make a difference, following the exploit of her firm in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) administration of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) application in international trade facilitation involving comprehensive risk management system.

Today, the successful application of PAAR is a product of partnership between NCS and TechnoBrain-West Blue Consulting. And one of the visible successes is the existence of a functional trade information portal

(www.nigeriatradehub.gov.ng) to aid trade compliance.

No recognition could be more ennobling to capture the depth of positive impact the Valentina-led TechnoBrain-WestBlue Consulting has had on Nigeria’s economy than the World Customs Organisation (WCO) endorsement of the Nigeria Customs Service Trade Hub as a worthy veritable tool for utilizing international best practices, and as such has been referring other countries’ customs administration to Nigeria as a case study.

For her untiring efforts at building a solid ICT based Project Management, Public Sector Modernization, Private Sector Development and improving the Nigerian economy

Valentina Mintah is today inducted into the 2014 class of MMS Plus Woman of Fortune Hall of Fame.

No – Nonsense Ngozi

Dr (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Minister of Finance

Born in 1954, to a king, Professor Chukuka Okonjo, from the Umu Obi Obahai Royal Family of Ogwashi-Uku,  Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala studied economics at Harvard University, and earned a PhD in regional economics and development from MIT in 1981. She joined the World Bank, where she spent 21 years as a development economist. She became intimately familiar with the economies of East Asia, putting in two tours in the region, and acting as country director for Malaysia, Mongolia, Laos and Cambodia.

DR Okonjo Iweala would always be remembered for the fiscal discipline she brought to the nation’s finances when She returned to Nigeria in 2003, at the invitation of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

As his Finance Minister, she arranged the cancellation of US$18 billion of Nigeria’s debt to the Paris Club, a group of creditor nations, in 2005. The remaining $12 bn. of debt was paid the following year with money saved in budget reforms she enacted.

Okonjo Iweala attacked corruption and accelerated privatisation and liberalisation. She signed Nigeria up to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a voluntary standard for petroleum and mining industries. On her watch, Nigeria’s inflation more than halved. In June 2006, Obasanjo shook up his cabinet, giving Okonjo-Iweala the Foreign Ministry but allowing her to keep an eye on external debt. When this responsibility was taken from her a few months later, she resigned from the government.

In July 2011, on account of popular demand, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, reappointed,  Dr. Okonjo-Iweala as Nigeria’s Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the economy. Since assuming office the second time as the chief pilot of our econmy, Nigeria has witnessed stupendous progress in the econmy, chiefly amongs them id the recent rebasing of the economy that saw the world bank name Nigeria as the biggest economy in Africa and the 26th largest in the whole world.

Dr, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, has received many Honors and awards including but not limited to

*Silverbird Man of the Year. 2012

*Time Europe Hero 2004

*This Day Nigeria Minister of the Year 2004

*Euromoney Magazine Global *Finance Minister of the year 2005

*Financial Times/The *Banker African Finance Minister 2005

*Nigerian of the Year 2006.

*Honorary Doctorate from Brown *University, Providence, USA.

*Honorary Doctorate from Trinity *College, University of Dublin, Ireland.

*Honorary Doctorate from Colby   College, Maine, USA.

*Honorary Doctorate from Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica.

*Honorary Doctorate from Amherst College, Amherst, USA.

Married to Dr Ikemba Iweala, from Abia state, Dr Okonjo Iweala id blessed with 4 successful children

For her effort at revamping our economy and reinventing budgetary processes of our fiscal policies, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala is today honored as a member of the 2014 class of MMS plus woman of fortune hall of fame

 

Monalicious Monica

Mrs. Monica Mbanefo

Director, International Maritime Organization (IMO)

Barr. (Mrs.) Monica Nkechi Mbanefo, a Director with the International Maritime Organisation is an example of such success story of women in corporate life.

A legal luminary, Barrister Nkechi Mbanefo has shown herself an able and worthy Nigerian Ambassador in the maritime sector and a pride to womanhood.

She began her sojourn into the maritime industry in 1984 when she became the Legal Adviser and Head, Legal Department of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Aviation. Before her appointment she had served on the board of the now defunct National Maritime Authority (NMA). She has a proven track record of an understanding of maritime matters which prompted her inclusion to the Nigeria Delegate 3, Legal Committee Meetings of the IMO from 1984-89.

In 1987 Mbanefo was drafted as the Project Coordinator to oversee the review of the Nigerian Maritime Legislation. In addition, she represented the NMA as an expert on the Nigerian Shipping Policy in Brazil and United States of America between 1988 and 1990. Mbanefo was a member of the Nigeria Delegation to all the meetings of the intergovernmental group of experts of IMO and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 1988 and 1989.

One of the principal achievements of the Mbanefo led delegation and UNCTAD was the conception and implementation of special tariff concessions to promote exports of manufactured and some agricultural goods from developing countries. She was also on the Nigerian delegation to all the UNCTAD Committee of Shipping meetings for the period spanning 1988 to 89, negotiating and contributing to policies formulated to aid development of all aspects of trade, aid, transport and technology for developing countries in general and Nigeria in particular. She is a member of the Association of International Federation of Women Lawyers, the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON), Nigerian Maritime Law Association (NMLA) and the International Law Association (ILA)

Currently director of the IMO conference division, she worked for the Federal Ministry of Justice of Nigeria from 1973 to 1991, drafting laws and representing Nigeria in various international organizations. In 1991 she was appointed senior deputy director/head of the legal office of IMO. In this capacity she was secretary to the IMO Legal Committee and to several diplomatic conferences which, amongst other things, oversaw the successful adoption of the 1992 CLC and Fund Protocols, the HNS Convention and the Arrest of Ships 1999 Convention. Mbanefo also restructured the Legal Office of IMO to improve its efficiency.

For her exemplary efforts at repositioning the maritime industry globally and Nigerian in particular Barr. (Mrs.) Monica Nkechi Mbanefo,is today inducted into the 2014 Class of MMS Plus’ Woman of Fortune Hall of Fame.

Ladies and gentlemen, Barr. (Mrs.) Monica Nkechi Mbanefo !!!

Saladious Salamatu

Hajia Salamatu Umar-Eluma

Executive Director, Human Resources, FAAN

Hajia Salamatu Baiwa Umar-Eluma΄s quest for education began at the Islamiya Primary & Quranic School, Anyigba from where she proceeded, on merit, to Community Secondary School, Ejule and then to the prestigious Federal Government College Ugwolawo as a part of the pioneering set of graduates. Salamatu was admitted first to the Federal Polytechnic Idah for her National Diploma (ND), and later, the Kaduna Polytechnic where she was awarded Higher National Diploma (HND), Upper Credit, in Hotel & Catering Management. Her thirst for higher education also saw her through the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, where she earned an MBA in Management.

Her professional career began as a Youth Corper at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers where she served with the Training Department and was subsequently deployed to the Front Desk having been absorbed as a full staff on completing her Service. She was later to go back to the Training Department as the Officer in charge of that management function. On this desk, she was privileged to attend well over twenty International Courses in different countries of the world thereby acquiring invaluable exposure to global best practices both in the hospitality industry and in management.

Desiring to experience a balanced career in both the Private and Public Sectors, she joined the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, in 2001 as an Assistant General Manager in the Training Department after a keenly contested recruitment exercise conducted by Accenture (former Anderson Consulting). In recognition of her meritorious contributions to the development of that department through pro-activity, ingenuity and selfless dedication, she was recommended for special promotion after two years as an Assistant General Manager to the position of a Deputy General Manager. She was promoted General Manager Training & Manpower Development in 2006 and distinguished herself in this position which she transformed from cost centre into a revenue generating arm of the organisation. It therefore was no surprise that she was promoted Executive Director, Human Resources of FAAN in September 2012. This is her current position.

In recognition of her contributions to the development of various aspects of the Nigerian society, Hajia Salamatu B. Umar-Eluma has received a number of awards. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

Chartered Fellow, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, 2014; Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered), 2014; Ambassador for Peace Merit Award by the Commonwealth Students/Youths Federation for peace, 2014; Award of Excellence by Women in Logistics and Air Transport, WILAT, 2012.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you Hajia Salamatu Baiwa Umar-Eluma as a member of 2014 Class of MMS Plus’ Woman of Fortune.