Queen honours Nigerian
A Nigerian, Alache
Ode, who is an aide to the Minister of National Planning, has been
awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE), by Queen Elizabeth. The
OBE is an equivalent of Nigeria’s Order of the Federal Republic (OFR).
Minister of State
for Information and Communications, Labaran Maku, who spoke to pressmen
at the presidential villa after the weekly federal executive council
meeting, said Ms. Ode was honoured because of her humanitarian services
to the UK communities. “She committed nearly 18 years building the
capacity of over 50 organisations to become effective,” he said. “She
also developed a programme that attracted three million pounds sterling
to send to over 600 skilled UK Diaspora professionals to work in about
18 countries of Africa and Asia.” He also said Ms. Ode developed the
capacity for “funding and building framework for an 18 million pounds
(DFID) grant to small and Diaspora organisations, and that she has been
advocating at over 30 international conferences perspective and
approach to development to become mainstream.”
The minister said the federal government is touched by the woman’s
passion for service and urged other Nigerians to emulate her spirit. He
added that the intriguing thing about Ms. Ode’s work was that it was
done for free as inspired by her passion for service for global
inclusion of disadvantaged personsl; and that she dedicated it to all
the unsung heroes of Nigeria, her native Benue State, the people of the
Middle Belt, and to God Almighty.
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