The trio of the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; Minister of Aviation and Aerospace, Festus Keyamo and Minister of Works, David Umahi, have jointly won the Ireland-based newspaper, The Street Journal’s Super Minister award.
The publisher of StreetJournal Newspaper, Mogaji Wole Arisekola, who is also the National Chairman of the Association of Online Media Practitioners in Nigeria (AMPCON) disclosed that the trio emerged winners after collectively winning the majority votes in the online poll organised by the newspaper.
While Tunji-Ojo garnered over 80,000 votes, Keyamo and Umahi both garnered over 70,000 votes.
The publication hailed Tunji-Ojo, who immediately hit the ground running with his reforms in the interior ministry.
“From uncovering 2,400 foreigners with fake National Identity Numbers (NIN) attempting to acquire Nigerian passports to home delivery of international passports to several other reforms too numerous to mention, the fruitful actions of the 42-year-old former House of Representatives member hasn’t gone unnoticed,” the publication stated.
It added: “Keyamo on the other was given little to no chance when he assumed office but he didn’t let that deter him as he has quickly showed that he is up to task with the enormous responsibilities associated with the ministry of that magnitude.
“He has succeeded in restoring dignity and confidence to the sector with innovative reforms in line with global best practices by always promoting national security interests.
“On his part, Umahi, a trained engineer can be said to be a round peg in a round hole in the Tinubu’s administration.
“His pragmatic and courageous reforms in the ministry aimed at addressing road infrastructural deficit in Nigeria using locally sourced materials such as cement for road construction cannot be over-emphasised.
“By spearheading Nigeria’s prospect in building sustainable and cost-efficient and effective roads with cement concrete which is less expensive and more durable than those built with asphalt, Umahi won the hearts of the voting public.”
Reacting to the result of the poll, the publisher of the newspaper, Mogaji Arisekola, congratulated the ministers for emerging joint winners of the online poll which he said was put together as his contribution to national development and as a means of spurring the ministers to become outstanding in their duties and not just remain sitting ducks.
“The poll is credible, cannot be manipulated or influenced. The poll has been designed in such a way that one cannot vote more than once, and one can see how the votes are cast. So, voters can be rest assured that their votes will count,” he said.
The inaugural edition of the award saw Minister for Women’s Affairs, Uju Kennedy Ohaneye, emerging winner for the month of October.
She came top in the poll which had four other ministers such as Umahi, Edu, Anete and Tunji-Ojo, all contending for the ‘Super Minister’ of the month award.
The second edition saw the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, emerge winner.