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By Uche Henry
The Voice News Magazine, a Netherlands-based publication, is set to acknowledge and reward 35 prominent Nigerians for their excellent and outstanding legacies recorded in Nigeria and beyond.
At a media parley in Lagos, publisher of the magazine, Holland-based Pastor Elvis Iruh, said the Voice Achievers Award slated for November 28 in Lagos, would gather many Nigerians in diasporas in a bid to rebrand the country for economic rebirth.
He affirmed that the vision of the magazine is to positively project the image of Africa and work towards its advancement.
“This award event held in Nigeria is the 14th edition, after successfully hosting in the Netherlands severally, once in Dubai, twice in Kenya and The Gambia, I felt it was time to come home.
“I know and understand the challenges at home but I felt we should still celebrate our hard work and legacy and look beyond the problems in order to keep hope alive. A people without hope is dead, we would continue to play our part to keep hope alive,” he stated.
He explained that the first segment of the event would be a business dialogue centred on the Dutch/Africa strategy plan from 2023 to 2032, with the theme, “Debunking Notions, Reshaping Mindsets In Doing Business In Africa.”
In collaboration with the Dutch Embassy in Nigeria, he maintained that the programme would involve a cross-pollination and fertilisation of ideas, knowledge, networking and the understanding on how best to have mutual trust for the benefits of Africa and Europe.
“We would be looking at the various misconceptions and mostly wrong or misinformed notions about Africa and Europe, using Nigeria and the Netherlands as case study.
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“We have speakers like Cissy Nulamansia, a young filmmaker and a story teller from Uganda, who is the brain behind the project, ‘Debunking Notions and Reshaping Mindsets,’ and myself.
“With our Dutch journalist friend, Marc Broere, they are working with us to bring this across the African and European nations. We realise whatever affects Nigeria/Netherlands relationship affects the rest of the African continent and the West.
“Other speakers are the Consul General of the Dutch Embassy in Nigeria, Michel Deelen while the keynote speaker, Dr Eniola Ajayi, Nigeria’s former ambassador to the Netherlands would speak on “Shaping Intercontinental Business between Africa and Europe.”
He noted that a panel session would reveal deep insight to boost Nigeria’s economy.
The panelists, according to Pastor Iruh, are Dr. Kenneth Gbandi, CEO of Africa-German information Centre, Germany; Michel Deelen, Consul General of the Kingdom of The Netherlands Embassy in Nigeria; Mrs. Thessa Bagu, Managing Director of Commercium Africa in Nigeria and Ehi Braimah, Director/CEO of Neo Media & Marketing consultant.
Berneditha Rijssel-Omusuo, who will speak on ‘Leveraging the Africa Diaspora for Nigeria’s economic development,’ said the group would work with the Nigerian government to ameliorate the plights of women, especially the widows and single mothers during the yuletide.
“We are sharing knowledge and I believe, hopefully, in the next 10 years, Nigerians in the diaspora would come home frequently.
“What l love about women is that they are always ready to help others. This time, we are going to the rural areas to provide them with Christmas goody bags during the business dialogue. We are not waiting for the government, and as such, we have decided to pool our resources together to make an impact among these women. It would be inspiring, motivating and fulfilling with fun.”
