Queen honours Nigerian

A Nigerian, Alache Ode, who is an aide to the Minister of National Planning, has been awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE), by Queen Elizabeth. The OBE is an equivalent of Nigeria’s Order of the Federal Republic (OFR).

Minister of State for Information and Communications, Labaran Maku, who spoke to pressmen at the presidential villa after the weekly federal executive council meeting, said Ms. Ode was honoured because of her humanitarian services to the UK communities. “She committed nearly 18 years building the capacity of over 50 organisations to become effective,” he said. “She also developed a programme that attracted three million pounds sterling to send to over 600 skilled UK Diaspora professionals to work in about 18 countries of Africa and Asia.” He also said Ms. Ode developed the capacity for “funding and building framework for an 18 million pounds (DFID) grant to small and Diaspora organisations, and that she has been advocating at over 30 international conferences perspective and approach to development to become mainstream.”

The minister said the federal government is touched by the woman’s passion for service and urged other Nigerians to emulate her spirit. He added that the intriguing thing about Ms. Ode’s work was that it was done for free as inspired by her passion for service for global inclusion of disadvantaged personsl; and that she dedicated it to all the unsung heroes of Nigeria, her native Benue State, the people of the Middle Belt, and to God Almighty.