We must project Africa’s rich values – Arts enthusiast

The President, Africa LAMPS Awards, Mr Shina Phillips, says there is a need to project core African values of honesty, industry, ingenuity, enterprise and integrity.

LAMPS stands for Legends of Arts, Management, Politics, Science, Sports and Security.

Phillips spoke with journalists on Friday in Lagos, while shedding light on the reasons behind the LAMP awards, an initiative of Lenders Consult International.

Phillips said that identifying and celebrating Africa’s brightest stars in such key areas of human endeavours would help in highlighting African rich values.

He said the initiative was designed to unearth the human rich potentialities on the continent.

According to him, contributions of many men and women of African descent to global history of civilisation and development in critical areas have not been properly projected.

“What is now imperative is for us to talk about and project the rich human capital resources and the contributions African professionals, scientists, managers, artistes and athletes have made to humanity,” he said.

Phillips said the initiative was expected to inspire leaders to return to the drawing board to restrategise on their commitment to innovation, knowledge acquisition and purposeful leadership, among others.

He added that it was important to encourage and reward hard work among Africans.

Phillips said that deserving Africans in 14 areas would be recognised at the Africa LAMPS Awards for which plans were ongoing.

He said that nine categories would be for individuals, four for institutions and one for a global leader who had shown exceptional commitment to the development and wellbeing of the continent.

Phillips said that nominees and eventual winners would be decided by votes cast by a college of voters comprising top editors and journalists in all 54 African countries, to ensure its integrity.

He said that an accounting and auditing firm would manage a dedicated online platform for the voting.

“It will also collate, audit and verify the votes and results.

“The credibility of any award platform rests primarily on the availability of an explicitly stated criteria to guide voters and on the credibility and transparency of the award process,” he said.

Phillips said that Nigeria or Rwanda were likely countries to host the awards, but did not rule out other countries on the continent.