Abdulsamad Rabiu, the business magnate and Chairman of BUA Group, has been honored as the recipient of the 2023 Man of the Year Leadership Excellence Award, Igbere TV reports.
Rabiu emerged as the top choice in a week-long Leadership Excellence Awards poll conducted by Nigerians on online platforms, under the observation of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), surpassing three other nominees.
Rabiu polled a total of 568,247 votes to defeat other nominees including Chief Allen Onyema, Chairman, Air Peace, Alhaji Auwalu Rano, CEO A.A Rano Nigeria Limited and Aloysius Ikegwuonu, Founder, Ebubechukwuzo Foundation; who polled 478,117; 286,374; and 68,352 votes respectively.
The prestigious Leadership Excellence Awards (LEEX Awards), the fifth in a row, is organised annually by IgbereTV that recognises and honours the outstanding impacts of leaders across both the public and private sectors in Nigeria.
LEEX Awards also promotes outstanding leaders and personalities, whose impacts have been felt in Nigeria’s political, social and economic spheres.
Rabiu, who was born Aug 4, 1960, in Kano State, is widely known and recognised for his philanthropy across the African continent, through his foundation, the Abdul Samad Rabiu Initiative Africa (ASR Africa).
Rabiu was equally nominated for the ‘Man of the Year’ award category by Nigerians during the last two editions but lost out to Mr. Peter Obi in 2022 and Obi Cubana in 2021.
He recently came to the aid of Nigerian educational system with a 5.5 billion naira grant for infrastructural development to 22 universities and other tertiary institutions. The grant came under the ASR Tertiary Education Grants Scheme.
NAN recalls that the new recipients brought to 30 the number of Nigerian higher institutions that have benefited from the scheme.
Before the new set, eight Universities in Nigeria had benefited from the Scheme, receiving billions of Naira in grants with some of their targeted projects nearing completion.
The LEEX Awards was endorsed in 2020 by the African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (AU-ECOSOCC), and in 2021 by the African Union Film Institute (AFI).
Rabiu will receive the award on November 4, 2023, alongside fellow winners from different categories. The event will take place in Abuja.
