“Anambra State has the State Awards, and they have the imprimatur of the State Government. The Government therefore clarifies that it is not aware or associated with the so-called ‘Anambra Awards,’” the statement said.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Anambra State Government has distanced itself from an upcoming event captioned Anambra Awards.
Christian Aburime, Press Secretary to Governor Charles Soludo, in a statement on Sunday cautioned the organisers of the award for not properly naming the award so as not to confuse the public.
The statement said, “The attention of Anambra State Government has been drawn to the existence of some phantom awards being promoted by some groups or NGOs with a bogus caption as ‘ANAMBRA Awards’ —- a caption that confuses or deceives the public.
“The said ‘awards’ are scheduled to hold on 1st July, 2023 at the Stanel Event Centre, Awka.
“The Government has received several calls from unsuspecting persons who assume that the Government is involved in the ‘awards’.
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“We respect ‘free speech’ and the right of any individual or group to express their opinions about anyone through recognitions or ‘awards’, and for whatever ‘purpose’. But the title of such awards or recognitions, must not leave anyone in doubt that such represent the personal/subjective ‘opinions’ of the awarding group or NGO.
“Reputable newspapers and organizations give their annual ‘man of the year’ awards but they are sincere to appropriately caption them as: ‘The Sun Man of the Year’, ‘Vanguard Man of the Year’ etc. They do not caption their awards in a manner to confuse them with Nigeria’s National Honours— exclusively awarded by the Federal Government, as approved by the National Council of State.
“Anambra State has the State Awards, and they have the imprimatur of the State Government. The Government therefore clarifies that it is not aware or associated with the so-called ‘Anambra Awards’.
“The State Government has a responsibility to guard against any misuse of the name of the state, especially to the unsuspecting public.”