From left, Professor James Ogbonna, his wife Christiana, Ambassador Yutaka, Professor Dauda’s wife Hajara and Professor Mohammed Dauda after receiving the Japan Foreign Minister Commendation award
By Anthony Maliki
The Japanese ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Kikuta Yutaka said his country’s foreign minister’s commendation awards to two Nigerians is a symbol of growing bilateral relations between the two countries.
He stated this on Monday, February 15, 2021 in Abuja during the formal award presentation to the recipients. The awardees, the first Nigerians to so honoured, are Professor James Ogbonna of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Professor Mohammed Dauda, President, Nigeria-Japan Alumni Association (NAIJAA).
The ceremony also commemorated the birthday of the Emperor of Japan and presentation of awards to young Nigerians won the Japanese Language competition.
The ambassador stated that the professors played an unparallel roles for many years in improving the Japan-Nigeria relationship.
Professor Ogbonna contributed to the concluding inter-university exchange agreements with Hokkaido University, University of Tsukuba among others and introduced the Japanese language course at the University of Nsukka in 2018 during his tenure as Deputy Vice-Chancellor.
For Professor Dauda, the envoy said, he established the Nigeria-Japan Alumni Association (NAIJAA) in 2016 as well as Japanese culture clubs at the University of Abuja and Baze University, Abuja. Also, as President of NAIJAA, he contributed immensely to expanding Japanese culture in Nigeria.
Mr. Yutaka hoped that the foreign minister’s award will bring great hope to future generations and young people will shall follow in the footsteps of the two pioneers so people-to-people exchanges between Japan and Nigeria will continue to expand.
The ambassador also expressed delight to find there are so many bright youngers learning Japanese in Nigeria and hoped that the Japanese speech contest started by the embassy this year will continue to help expand circle of Japanese language learners.
Ambassador Yutaka also announced that he will be leaving Nigeria soon on another posting after two and half years and will depart with fond memories.
In his acceptance speech, Professor Ogbonna expressed delight that his little efforts were being recognized in this way and called for increase in number of postgraduate scholarships to Nigerians.
On his part, Professor Dauda described Ambassador Yutaka as architect of modern Nigeria-Japan relations and the award not for him alone but for the country. He also called for more educational opportunities to young Nigerians.
The Japanese language contest was won by Esther Oluwaferanmi Akanbi, Medinat Olamide Olabode was second and Stella-Maris Mmasi Nnamani came third. Others who got the “Embassy special award” for Japanese language are Paul Okeleye, Frank Jotham Aromoro, Aminu Ashiru and Patience Ukamaka Ezeani.
