Ministers of Water, Environment Make Top 100 Environmental Professionals List

Ministers of Water, Environment Make Top 100 Environmental Professionals List

A list of foremost 100 living Environmental Professionals in Nigeria have been unveiled by Environment Africa Magazine and TwoFourSeven Communications Company.

Environment Africa Magazine will publish the profiles of the listed professionals highlighting their individual capacities in a digital issue while certificates of recognition will be presented to them at a ceremony to be held in Lagos on 16th of December, 2022 during the magazine’s SEA Awards of Excellence.

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Prominent on the list are the Ministers of Water Resources and Environment, Engr Suleiman Adamu and Barr. Mohammed Abdullahi respectively; alongside other well known names like Pa Akintola Williams, Co-Founder of Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF).

 Others include Chief Idoniboye-Obu, Founding Member and Pioneer President of Nigeria Environmental Society (NES), Prof. Sunday Ajayi, First African Professor of Wildlife Ecology, Prof. Magnus  Onuoha, First African Professor of Green Economics, Desmond Majekodunmi, Gbemisola Akosa amongst others.

Surprisingly, names not readily associated with the environment such as Naomi Nwokolo, Nigeria Country Director, UN Global Compact, who leads business-led sustainability initiatives and oversees 129 top corporate organizations in Nigeria and Bekeme Masade-Olowola, founder CSR-in-Action, who has developed an enviable capacity in sustainability processes and reporting also made the listing.

The organisers seek to recognize those who contributed as pioneers to the shaping of the country’s environmental sector and those who have through dint of dynamic initiatives are paving new pathways and strengthening the growth of the sector.

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Principal Consultant of TwoFourSeven Communications, Stephen Ipalibo Lawson, says, “It was really a case of nail biting and hair pulling.

There are so many professionals in the sector who stand out with so many innovative solutions, interventions and drive”

“At the end, we had to do a balancing act to figure out who could stay on the list or not. And obviously, that balancing act meant we had to go beyond the traditional and be quite dynamic on representation”, he concluded.

“For instance, we focused more on those offering much more dynamic interventions within the sector than just one facet of it.

Or pick someone based on actual influence on policy and representation with real time impact than otherwise, in as much as that impact is felt locally”

The key criteria include practice, advocacy, influence and mentorship.

The list also covers professionals who invested in climate action, waste management, green energy, remediation activities, corporate sustainability, environmental infrastructure,policy and advocacy.

“So, we do believe with this wealth of experience, capacity, youth and determination; the brain and grit trust in the environmental industry is alive and available for use here in-country”, says Editor of Environment Africa Magazine, Sam Nwosu.