Amb. Hadiza Afegbua, Others Bag Peace Ambassador Award for Humanitarian Services

Amb. Hadiza Afegbua, Others Bag Peace Ambassador Award for Humanitarian Services

JOEL OLADELE, Abuja

An Assistant Commander with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the state lead for the Nigerian Bar Association Women’s Forum, FCT chapter, Amb. Hadiza Afegbua, alongside other distinguished Nigerians have bagged the Peace Ambassador Award.

In a ceremony held in Abuja on Saturday, the inaugural class of 1000 Peace Ambassadors of Nigeria was officially launched, celebrating individuals who have made significant contributions to humanitarian efforts and economic development in the country.

The event, themed “Bridging the Gap for Humanitarian and Economic Investment in Nigeria,” brought together awardees, dignitaries, and community leaders, all united in their commitment to fostering peace and progress.

Speaking exclusively with NATIONAL PERICOPE at the event, Afegbua expressed her gratitude for the recognition, stating, “The Peace Ambassador Award is a very prestigious one. It is given in recognition of what you have been able to contribute to society in all spheres of life, especially the humanitarian area.”

She emphasized the importance of community service, saying, “It is fulfilling because if you are doing your own thing in your own modest way, you never know people are looking at you. For them to recognize me and consider me worthy of this Nobel Award, it’s a fulfilling one.” Afegbua pledged to continue her efforts in promoting social justice and supporting the less privileged, particularly those living with disabilities.

“I am a lawyer and I have put in over 17 years in service. In EFCC,  we’ve been able to fight corruption to a stand still. We are still doing more and we’re going to do more. So that is exactly what I’m going to continue to do, to give back to the society, to help uphold the rule of law, to help fight corruption, and to help the less privileged, especially the people living with disability.

“And this I have been doing. My platform, the MBA Women Forum, is basically a platform that is predicated on promoting the interest of Nigerian female lawyers. And then if you are promoting the interest of the Nigerian female lawyers for success, you are building them. It means you are invariably preparing them for leadership positions, for them to go out there to the society and be well equipped, well equipped to fight, gender-based violence, social injustice, and then gender parity,” she said.

She expressed readiness to partner with other relevant organizations to achieve a common goal of building an all inclusive society.

“We’ve been able to build younger lawyers, we’ve supported some initiatives, and then under my leadership,  our utmost priority is in carrying out the mandate of the MBA Women Forum. I try to operate an all inclusive administration. Everybody is on board, once you are a Nigerian female lawyer, you are on board automatically.

“So I try to encourage you and try to build you up and we do a lot of collaborations with other agencies, even this Peace Ambassador, we can partner with them because we do a whole lot for our lawyers living with disability in Abuja. We’ve been doing quite a lot and I’m happy that the same is recognized and appreciated and I’m considered worthy of this award. I accept it and I promise I’m going to do more inshallah,” Hadiza promised.

Another awardee and CEO of HMO Multidynamic Ventures, Engineer Adetola Idowu, also shared his thoughts on the significance of the event.

“It’s a privilege receiving this award, and I believe it’s a platform where we can explore and use it to help humanity in our society,” he remarked.

Idowu highlighted the collective responsibility of the community, stating, “It’s not only about ourselves alone; it’s about the community itself. We need to put up the energy and the concept of helping humanity.”