It comes in different appellations – Personality of the Year; Person of the Year; Man or Woman of the Year – depending on the preference of the media house. For instance, Time magazine started off with Man of the Year in 1927, but changed to Person of the Year in 1999 to show gender neutrality, in a society that is highly gender-sensitive in everything.
Popularised by The Time magazine, many credible Media establishments across the world, including Nigeria, have established their version of the award. The award is the most prestigious that media houses give to one individual in recognition of not just his or her accomplishmentsbut also contributions to societal development in their chosen fields. In some cases, the award is given to an individual whose activities impact on society, whether positively or negatively. In 1986, Newswatch magazine gave its Man of the Year award to then military president, General Ibrahim Babangida for the Structural Adjustment Programme of his administration, even though the consensus among Nigerians was that it impacted negatively on the country.
The award comes with its advantages when viewed from many perspectives. For recipients, it rewards excellence by publicly drawing attention to their contributions to the betterment of society, perhaps in a manner they did not know they were doing. It also puts them on the spotlight to do even better, knowing public attention would, after the award, be focused on them, especially from people who may want to determine the justification for the award, in the first place. This belief is evident in the fact that recipients almost always say the awards would encourage them to do more. There is also the perspective of encouraging others to put in their best in whatever they do, knowing they may be under scrutiny without their knowledge, for possible public reward.
Within the first three months of 2025, many media houses rolled out the drums to celebrate their chosen personalities of the year 2024, at different colourful and high profile occasions. In line with its tradition of innovation, The Top10 Magazine, one of the media houses that held the awards, has decided in this article to do a roll call of personalities of the year 2024, highlighting the factors that gave them the awards.
President Bola Tinubu, Thisday/Arise TV and TheWill Man of the Year
The reaction of many Nigerians to the choice of President Bola Tinubu as Thisday Newspaper Man of the Year was more of a mixed feelings, anger, and commendation. The reason was not difficult to fathom. Nigerians are still reeling under the pain and hardship brought upon them by Tinubu’s inauguration day announcement of the removal of fuel subsidy which triggered sudden increase in the cost of transportation and, consequently, cost of food items. As if that was not painful enough, the floating of the exchange rate a few days after the administration came into existence shot the price of the dollar out of the rooftop, making the cost of manufactured goods unaffordable to the generality of Nigerians. Many, therefore, considered it insensitive for a media house to choose Tinubu as man of the year.
But in defending its choice, the board of editors of Thisday said Tinubu demonstrated the courage and political will that none of his predecessors showed by confronting the monster of petroleum subsidy that had been a cog in the country’s wheel of progress for decades. They commended him for the bold step of floating the exchange rate to allow the naira to find its level with other currencies, especially the dollar, in order to guarantee stability in the market.
The newspaper said it took a man of strong convictions like Tinubu to embark on reforms he knew would be unpopular with Nigerians and could potentially bring down his government even before it took off, and still went ahead to do it.
Experts, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have commended Tinubu for the reforms, though they unanimously agree it would take time before there bear the desired fruits.
TheWill newspaper also chose Tinubu as its Man of the Year for the same reasons.
Vice President Kashim Shettima, Daily Asset Manof the Year
The choice of Vice President Kashim Settima as Man of the Year by Daily Asset newspaper was based on the fact that over the last two years, he has provided the much-needed support President Bola Tinubu needs to be able to tackle the multi-faceted problems bedeviling Nigeria, especially in the areas of economy and insecurity. The vice president has, on several occasions, represented the president effectively within and outside the country, when the latter was engaged in equally important functions of national and international significance.
Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Thisday Woman of the Year
Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization, emerged Thisday Woman of the Year because of the reforms she embarked on during her first term in office, which have impacted positively on world trade through innovation and fairness, especially access to critical resources for marginalized economies. This has led to economic recovery for many developing nations. Her reforms ensured promotion of climate-friendly trade policies that help to stem the tide of climate change. These reforms earned for her a second term, long before she completed her first term.
Okonjo-Iweala has been a strong advocate for women empowerment globally, which saw the rise of female entrepreneurs in different parts of the world in 2024.
Senator George Akume, Top10 Magazine Man of the Year
The Top10 magazine honoured Senator George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, with the award of Man of the Year citing the stability he brought to the government of President Bola Tinubu through an expert execution of his functions in what is the clearing house that is critical to the success of the administration. “This has been manifested in the unprecedented harmony which you have enabled between the three arms of government thereby deepening democracy, rule of law and accelerating development; and prompt filling of vacancies in government that has enhanced uninterrupted service delivery across board,” the board of editors of the magazine said in the letter conveying Akume’s nomination to him.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Leadership Person of the Year/Daily Asset Man of the Year
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Industries, had the unique honour of being celebrated by two newspapers, as Person of the Year and Man of the Year, respectively, by Leadership and Daily Asset. Without doubt, and quite expectedly, Dangote won the awards because of the ground-breaking achievement of launching the $20 billion Dangote Refinery – the world’s largest single train refinery – in 2024.
The honours were quite significant because Dangote, a man who is not known to chicken out in the face of competition, overcame all manner of obstacles thrown his way to deliver a refinery that changed the narrative in Nigeria’s oil industry and discouraged the unending importation of petroleum products that kept the country in the firm grip of corrupt industry regulators for decades.
Dr. Adedeji Adeleke, Vanguard Personality of the Year
The 2024 Vanguard Personality of the Year, the newspaper’s highest award, went to Dr. Adedeji Adeleke, Chief Executive Officer, Pacific Holdings Limited. Adeleke, founder of Pacific Energy Limited, won the award because of his outstanding contributions to the quest for energy sufficiency in the country, accounting for 15 percent of current energy supply. His company is currently building a $2billion, 1,250 megawatts power plant – Nigeria’s largest thermal plant – that would significantly contribute to the country’s energy supply, boost economic growth and create jobs.
Governor Seyi Makinde, Daily Independent Man of the Year
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State won the Independent newspaper Man of the Year because of his outstanding leadership, which has brought impactful developments to the state, especially in the areas of infrastructure, healthcare delivery and education. His people-centric administration has transformed Oyo State in a manner that the people had not seen or felt in a long time.
In accepting the award, Makinde said he was more committed than ever before to improving the quality of life of the people of the state and creating a more conducive environment for businesses to thrive, and a safe state for residence.
Governor Biodun Oyebanji, Silverbird Man of the Year
Silverbird Group was one of two electronic media houses that celebrated achievers for 2024, the other being Arise News. The television house awarded Governor Biodun Oyebanjo of Ekiti State Man of the Year, citing his remarkable leadership qualities that have manifested in the development of the state in areas such as infrastructure, education, agriculture, economic empowerment, etc. Oyebanji dedicated the ward to the people of Ekiti State, whose support and collective vision for the growth and development of the state spurred him into doing something that attracted the attention and notice of Silverbird Group.
Mrs. Catherine Ifejika, Dr. Jayne Onwumere, Sun Man of the Year
The Sun newspaper broke the tradition to honour two women – Mrs Catherine Ifejika, Executive Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Brittania-U Nigeria Limited and Dr. Jayne Onwumere, Group Managing Director of Property World Africa Network (PWAN) – as joint Man of The year, sticking to the use of the male gender in a generic sense.
The newspaper said Ifejika is the first and only woman to serve in her capacity in an upstream oil exploration and production company in Nigeria, under whose stewardship the company has grown rapidly, expanding operations across the oil and gas industry value chain and providing critical services in hydrocarbon exploration, drilling, surface engineering, shipping and downstream operations.
Onwumere clinched the award for growing PWAN from a small, first-of-its-kind real estate network company in the world into a group of companies, grooming executives in the network marketing segment of the industry, in just 12 years. Her emphasis on the 5×5 matrix approach has created a network of over 300,000 independent real estate professionals known as PWAN Business Owners (PBOs).
Mele Kyari, New Telegraph Man of the Year
Mr. Mele Kyari, the immediate past group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) won the New Telegraph newspaper Man of the Year for repositioning the company to be able to drive the country’s energy future. Under Kyari, NNPCL was in the forefront of leading Nigeria’s gas transition programe after the removal of petroleum subsidy which shifted focus from fossil fuel to gas, in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Presidential CNG Initiative (PI-CNG).
In furtherance of the objectives of the gas initiative, NNPCL, in collaboration with partners, delivered three strategic gas infrastructures that were commissioned by Tinubu on May 19, 2024. The projects are the AHL Gas Processing Plant 2 (GPP – 2) – 200mmscf/d which is an expansion to the Kwale Gas Processing Plant (GPP – 1) the AHL Gas Plant, being developed by AHL Limited; an incorporated Joint Venture owned by NNPC Limited and SEEPCO and the ANOH-OB3 CTMS Gas Pipeline Project.
Wada Kachako, Media Trust Unsung Hero of the Year
The Media Trust Group, publishers of Daily Trust and owners of Trust Television, gave the award of Unsung Hero of the Year to Wada Kachako, for over three decades of providing skills to thousands of people in his community through his Amar Waqf Foundation. The Foundation provides skills acquisition in carpentry, electrical work, make-up artistry, etc. The programme has transformed lives through provision of sustainable livelihood to many who would otherwise be wallowing in poverty and disease. He also runs schools that provide free education to indigent pupils, with 680 students currently set to graduate and pursue higher education in various institutions. “if you can dedicate 10 per cent of what you earn in an endowment and use it to empower somebody, that is all it takes,” Kachako said, while accepting the award.
