The Executive Director of Heath of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, has been listed on the 2023/2024 edition of Portraits of 100 Foremost Nigerian Thought Leaders.
Bassey was listed alongside retired general and philanthropist, Gen. T. Y. Danjuma; billionaire businessman and chairman of Glo, Chief Mike Adenuga; publisher of The Guardian newspapers, Dame Maiden Ibru; Chief Afe Babalola; Dr Adedeji Adeleke; Harcourt Adukeh; Henry Odein Ajumogobia; Chief Adebisi Akande; Professor Bolaji Akinyemi; Archbishop Margaret Idahosa; Federal super Permanent Secretary, Philip Asiodu; and former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah among others.
Bassey was also recently conferred with the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Fellowship at the ANA 42nd International Convention (ANA@42) on November 2, 2023, at the Chinua Achebe International Conference Centre, Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village, Mpape, Abuja.
Similarly, Bassey was conferred an honorary Doctor of Law in recognition of his environmental advocacy work, writings and general contribution to humanity’s advancement by the York University in Toronto, Canada, in 2023.
“These among many other awards give us a glimpse of Dr. Bassey, Nigeria’s most visible environmental advocate and the most outspoken on the debacle of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria where the rich endowment of fossil fuel has morphed into a multileveled resource curse amidst gross environmental degradation of the area in addition to other socioeconomic fallouts of oil find,” submitted HOMEF in a statement made available to EnviroNews on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.
The 65-year-old Bassey is not just a trained architect but a strong advocate for food security, a writer, columnist, profuse poet, and author, authoring almost 20 books from poetry, and architecture to environmental subjects. They include popular titles such as “We Thought It Was Oil But it Was Blood” (poetry), “To Cook a Continent: Destructive Extraction and the Climate Crisis in Africa” (environmental discourse) and “Living Houses” (architecture).
The group added: “Listing him as one of Nigeria’s top 100 for the year 2023/2024 is absolutely a well-deserved laurel, knowing his contribution to the protection of mother earth, through the famous Health of Mother Earth Foundation.”
Portraits of Patriots: 100 Foremost Nigerian Thought Leaders is an elite listing of accomplished Nigerians who have contributed to the development of the country.
