AHA To Honour Industry Icons, Architects Musa Sada, Sonny Echono With Life Achievement Award
The promoter of the one of its kind annual event, Africa Housing Awards, Festus Adebayo has announced that this year’s event will honour two distinguished Industry Icons with the Life Achievement Award tomorrow during the prestigious awards ceremony at the International Conference Centre (ICC) Abuja.
The two winners of the award category are Architect Sonny Echono, Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), and Architect Musa Sada, Former Minister of Mines & Steel Development.
Architect Sonny Echono, the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and former President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects is no doubt an Icon in the housing and construction industry. He is the man who many have described as an accomplished technocrat with a diverse wealth of experience spanning Infrastructure, business administration, procurement management, ICT, and the education sectors.
Architect Echono who is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects was inspired by his father’s legacy of service and integrity as a quintessential civil servant. Between 1987 and 2005, he served in various management capacities at the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing including: Secretary, Implementation Committee on National Housing Policy -1991 to 1995, Secretary, Special Projects Task Force – 1992 to 1995, Secretary, Committee on Lands and Housing -1993 to 1995, Chief Executive Architect in charge of Administration of the Department-1993 to 1994, Special Assistant to Permanent Secretary-1999, Head, Council Affairs and Parastatals- 2003 to 2004, Secretary, Ministerial Tenders Board- 2004 to 2005.
A thoroughbred Civil Servant, with nearly 35 years of exemplary service, Arc. Echono enjoys the admiration and respect of his peers. During the period, he has been at the epicentre of Policy Formulation and Reforms in the Nigerian Civil Service and its agencies including National Housing and Urban Development Policies, National Maintenance Policy, and National Building Code among others. His unparalleled humility, qualifications, influence, and in-depth knowledge of governance speaks volume.
Arc. Musa Sada, the Former Minister of Mines & Steel Development is another industry Icon, he attended Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, and gained a B.SC in 1982 and M.Sc in Architecture in 1984. He earned an MBA from ABU in 1998. He practiced as a professional architect until being appointed Commissioner of Works, Housing and Transportation for Katsina State in 2007 and also was appointed Nigerian Minister of Mines & Steel Development on 6 April 2010 by Former President, Goodluck Jonathan.
He is also known for his promotion of public-private partnerships to boost housing delivery in Nigeria when he served as Supervising Minister of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development in 2013.
Meanwhile, His Excellency, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State will be receiving the Housing Friendly Governor of the Year award for his giant strides in providing affordable housing and construction of over 2,000 Housing units across his State.
Adebayo revealed that nomination and voting for the about 31 categories of awards up for grabs at the prestigious event this Thursday were independently collated with the use of enhanced innovative and technology-driven, voting and judging processes.
The event, widely recognised as the most credible and prestigious award in Africa’s Housing Industry, will be attended by top players in the mortgage/housing/construction industry, and chaired by Surveyor Suleiman Hassan Zarma, Former Minister of Environment with Arc. Mike Onolememen, CON, Former Minister of Works as one of the Special Guests of Honour.
The award is an annual event celebrating excellence in the housing and construction industry while recognizing the success of companies and individuals setting the pace in innovative construction, high industry standards, market expansion, and development of the national economy.
