The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has dedicated the 2017 Silverbird Special Achievement Award conferred on him by the Silverbird Group to all the staff of the CBN.

Emefiele received the award at a grand ceremony held at the Eko Hotels & Suites, Lagos, on Friday. The Governor, who was accompanied by the Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability (FSS), Dr. Okwu Joseph Nnanna, and other top staff of CBN, attributed the successes recorded by the apex bank to the staff of the bank who, he said, worked very hard in spite of the challenges facing the country.

While thanking the Board and Management of the Silverbird Group for considering him for the award, he said the award would further spur CBN to work even harder for the benefit of Nigeria and Nigerians.

Presenting the award to him earlier, the Minority Leader at the Nigerian Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, described Mr. Emefiele as a humble silent achiever who had done his best to maintain the global integrity of the Central Bank and to make the Naira stable. Senator Akpabio also used the opportunity of the night to disclose that the senate had passed a bill to domicile the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in the CBN, in line with global practices.

Awardees across different categories on the night included the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who was awarded the Silverbird Man of the Year; the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, who received the Silverbird Personality of the Year Award; the Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, who received the Legislative Award alongside the Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila of the House of Representatives; and the Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler, who was awarded the Public Servant of the Year Award.

Other recipients included Dr. Ola Orekurin-Brown, who received the first Extraordinary Business Achievement Award for pioneering air ambulance services in Nigeria and other countries across Africa; Leo Stan Ekeh, Deji Alli, Biodun Shobanjo, Alhaji Samad Rabiu, Chief Abba Folawiyo, Stella Chinyelu Okoli, Dame Maiden Ibru and Senator Daisy Danjuma.

The trio of late Dr. Olusola Abubakar Saraki, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and Chief Moshood Abiola all received posthumous awards for their respective contributions to the Nigerian project.