Frontline Int’l marks 10th anniversary

Frontline International will on June 15, 2013, celebrate its 10th anniversary of effective coverage of Nigeria economy, even as garlands of honour will be given to captains of industry and other eminent Nigerian citizens to reconise their respective contributions to national development.
In a statement, the Chairman/Executive Director, Frontline Media International, Chief Joseph Mbanefo Okoye, stated that the event will feature a lecture titled: Optimal Utilisation of the Potentials in Nigeria Economy: The Shipping Sector Perspective.
Okoye further disclosed that the lecture team is chosen against the backdrop of the fact that many nations of the world are moving fast in harnessing the idle potentials in other sectors of their economies, with greater emphasis on shipping and solid mineral development, as a veritable instrument for job creation.
Okoye stated that, over the years, Nigeria’s dependence on oil had made the leaders of this nation lose sight of the inherent opportunities in shipping, solid mineral development, agriculture and information technology, adding that a team of World Bank experts will join Nigerians who are professionals in the relevant sectors in identifying the growth inhibiting factors with a view to finding a way to fully optimise the potentials in the aforementioned sectors of the economy.

Still harping on the danger in relying on oil as major source of national income, he said that the fact that national revenue always drops each time there is any form of disaster around the oil regions is a mandate for experts in shipping and other relevant sectors to brainstorm and put on track the future of Nigerian economy.
He said that the event which will have Prof. Peter Ebigbo of University of Nigeria, Enugu, as Chairman, will have the Ministers of Transport and Finance, Agriculture and Solid Minerals Development giving keynote addresses, while the Chief Executives of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) will be special guests at the event.
Industry captains slated for the publication’s Peace Awards include: Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar; Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala; Comptroller-General Customs Dikko Inde Abdullahi; NIMASA Director-General, Mr. Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi; NPA Managing Director, Mallam Habib Abdullahi; and Managing Director, Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ISOPADEC), Prince Henry Uzor Okafor.
Notable private sector practitioners also slated for the awards are: Chief Executive Officer, Sifax Group, Dr. Taiwo Afolabi; Chief Executive Officer, Ordrec Seplat Petroleum Development Company, Dr. A.B.C. Orjiako; APM Terminals Apapa Limited; Chief Executive Officer, Ausken Royal Furniture Limited, Sir Augustine Okolie; and former Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju,among other others.
The event, which will hold at Welcome Centre Hotels, International Airport Road, Lagos, will also feature the intellecual inputs of the Chairman, Ports Consultative Council (PCC), Otunba Kunle Folarin; Mr. Segun Musa of Widescope International Logistics; and Mr. Ikechukwu Elechi, a solid mineral consultant.