Along with other global personalities like Pope Francis of the Vatican, Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe and Mayor of Warsaw, Poland, Hanna Gronkiewicz-waltz, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) was at the weekend named one of the 100 Top Global Thinkers for 2013 by a global personality assessment organization, Lo Spazio della Politica (LSDP).
Lo Spazio della Politica, based in Italy and Brussels, is an independent Think Tank fashioned after the prestigious Foreign Policy (FP), which lists personalities, organizations and institutions that have made significant impact on the lives of people as well as objects, research projects and public policies which have inspired thinking globally. It is founded by young Italian Scientists and scholars.
In their list titled "The LSDP Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2013", the organization said it listed Governor Fashola "Because he made Lagos an African hub of innovation, launching the Lagos Innovation Advisory Council, with the help of the Harvard Kennedy School".
The organisation, which named Pope Francis as number one"because he reminded the world that the Catholic Church is a Global Power", and the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, as 31 on its list "Because 2013, for better and for worse, has been the year of Abenomics", said its list was an opportunity to identify some of the trends in global Politics, Science and other aspects of life for any particular year.
The organisation stated that the lists emphasizes mostly political leaders, scientists, businessmen, academics and intellectuals even as it tries to balance the geographical representation between Europe, the United States, Africa and other continents adding, however, that the balance varies on yearly basis.
The President of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye, was also listed "Because she has created a Ministry of Science and Future", while Nigerian’s Adefunke Ekine, Fellow, Echidna Global Scholars, Nigeria, got on the list "For her experience in teaching and directing schools in Africa; in particular for the promotion of Science among female students".
Three women, Jenet Yellen, Elvira Nabiullina and Karnit Flug from the United States, Russia and Israel respectively, took the second position in the list "because they showed that the Central Bankers’ Club is not ‘Men Only’ anymore while Brazilian Scientist, Ruth Nussenzweig, made the third position in the list "for her research on Malaria and her will to work again with her husband in Brazil at the age of 85".
Also included in the list are Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and King Albert 11 of Belgium, "for their role as Monarch innovators in Europe", the famous Japanese Film Director, Hayao Miyazaki "because he keeps making adults and children dream even in the years of his retirement" and Bill Maris, the Managing Director of Google Ventures, United States, "Because he was the first to use a Quantitative and algorithmic approach in the field of venture capital.
Other personalities on the organization’s 2013 list include Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov " for his diplomatic skills shown in the discussions over Syria", Human Rights Activist, Musimbi Kanyoro of Kenya "for her career defending women’s rights which brought her to the Head of Global Fund for Women, Vice President of the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank, Inger Andersen, "for her work on sustainable development", and Professor Calestous Juma of Harvard Kennedy School, Kenya, "for his Faith on new Africa-based on innovation, science and research", among others.
Governor Fashola has, in the last seven years, received numerous awards, both local and international, as well as recognitions by prestigious global bodies for his innovative and people-oriented leadership. Such awards include the 2009 Good Governance Award from the United Kingdom-based African Business Magazine, 2010 Award for Excellence in Leadership of the Martin Luther King Jnr. Foundation.
His dogged pursuit of renewal of the infrastructure of Lagos as the critical strategy for economic growth and poverty alleviation has also won the State honours from as far away as Australia for undertaking the fastest infrastructure renewal ever in Africa.
Here In Nigeria, Governor Fashola is the recipient of The Guardian, The Vanguard and the SUN Man of the Year Award 2009 and the Champion Newspaper Man of the Year, 2010, the Corporate Governance Award 2012 from the Governing Council of the Institute of Directors, the Most Labour-friendly Governor’s Award 2012 from the Lagos Zonal Council of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the City People Governor of the Year 2012 and Best Run State in Nigeria 2012 Awards among several others
