Professor Calestous Juma Awarded the coveted Lifetime Africa Achievement Prize (LAAP)
On October 10th, 2014 at a ceremony held in Akwa Ibom State in Uyo, Nigeria. Professor Calestous Juma was recognized and awarded the distinguished Lifetime Africa Achievement Prize (LAAP). Calestous Juma is a professor of the practice of international development and director of the Belfer Center’s Science, Technology and Globalization Project.
The professor is a world acclaimed authority in the application of science and technology to sustainable development worldwide. For his great contribution in his professional career, he was awarded the “Prize for Food Security, Agro Processing Development and Quality.”
The LAAP Prize awards are organized by the Millenium Excellence Foundation every two years to outstanding personalities who have: “displayed leadership within critical areas of socio-economic development in Africa, which they have championed and which impacted the lives of African for the better”.
Prof. Juma was among other 15 equally distinguished LAAP 2014 Laureates, who were nominated for the award by members of the Board of Governors of the Millennium Excellence Foundation. Those in attendance at the award event included academicians, industry leaders from across the African continent, diplomatic corps, African heads of state and political leaders.
The activities at the event ran for a whole week and culminated with the LAAP Prize award ceremony. It also featured exhaustive debate and deliberation on a number of critical issues such as Africa’s food security and the Ebola virus outbreak 2014.
For the year 2014, the Millennium Excellence Foundation intends to issue a communiqé to all African heads of state with the recommendations from experts and leaders of industry.
Other distinguished personalities who have won the LAAP Prize Award before include Aliko Dangote, Koffi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, late President John Atta Mills, Wole Soyinka, Isamil Seragelding, Godswill Akpabio, James Wolfensohn and former President Mwai Kibaki.
