2025 Excellence Awards: CIAPS Celebrates Top Achievers, Graduates 37 Professionals 

Funmi Ogundare

For their remarkable achievement in leadership and unwavering commitment to excellence, the Commonwealth Institute of Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS) Thursday, awarded the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; first female Managing Director of Federal Airports Authority of Nigerian (FAAN), Mrs Olubunmi Kuku; Senior Partner, PKF Nigeria, Tajudeen Akande; Director General of Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Prof. Eghosa Osaghae; as well as Miss Nafisa Abdullahi, who emerged as the best English Language student in the world.

A total of 37 professionals from different fields of endeavour also graduated from the institute and received their certificates.

Speaking at the end of year award ceremony and public lecture themed, ‘Creating a Culture of Excellence’, held at NIIA, Lagos, the Director of the Commonwealth Institute for Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS), Prof. Anthony Kila, called for a national and institutional shift towards deliberate excellence.

He stressed that true progress in organisations and society, begins with a conscious decision to pursue superior standards.

Kila explained that many Nigerians embrace the idea of excellence but few intentionally practice it.

“Research shows that less than one per cent of people consciously choose to excel. This statistic is alarming for a country eager to improve productivity and global competitiveness.

“Excellence may sound attractive, but very few people actually decide to pursue it,” he said. “In most organisations, schools, even religious settings, people rarely declare, I want to be the best. At best, they simply do their work. But excellence requires a conscious decision, and that decision is itself a revolution.”

He said the institute is deliberately positioning its graduates to compete on the global stage, adding that excellence, not geography, must define their ambition and output.

The Professor of Strategy and Development said its initiative is designed to help future professionals understand the qualities required to thrive internationally by exposing them to real-world achievers whose feats transcend regional or national boundaries.

“The kind of success we want for our graduates is not something any government or circumstance can give or take away,” he said. “We deliberately selected awardees whose achievements are global so that our students can see that people like them, people from their own nationality have done it. That way, nothing feels impossible.”

He emphasised that the CIAPS awards are purely merit-based, with no applications or nominations.

According to him, the institute independently follows individuals who exemplify the qualities it seeks to instill in its students.

“We appreciate the awardees because they inspire our graduates,” he noted. “In a way, it’s a parasitic relationship, we use their success to fuel the ambition of our own students. One of the awardees here today is a young girl who emerged the best English Language student in the world. Our hope is that in less than 10 years, she will be the one delivering these lectures.”

Kila explained that the event aims to demonstrate that abstract ideals, excellence, diligence, vision which are not mere theory, but qualities embodied by real people whose examples students can follow,” he said.

On how CIAPS plans to sustain the initiative, he revealed that the institution will now operate a full-year planning cycle to ensure that the annual event becomes a permanent fixture in Nigeria’s intellectual and professional landscape.

“Starting January 2026, we will begin the building blocks for the December 2026 event,” he said. “You pray, yes, but after that, you work. We intend to set up a standing committee to ensure continuous public lectures like this, so the vision does not fizzle out.”

Kila added that with the challenge from the public to maintain the initiative, CIAPS is now more than ever committed, to making the annual lecture and awards part of Nigeria’s national consciousness.

He thanked the media and stakeholders for their support, noting that their continued engagement would help keep the initiative strong and impactful.