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Dr. Kole Shettima:  Anti- Corruption Investor is 60 Years Today

Dr. Kole Shettima: Anti- Corruption Investor is 60 Years Today

“We had no pipe borne water, no electricity and no roads but we had human beings with soul”-  Dr. Kole Shettima, Director, MacArthur Foundation, Africa Office, Abuja,( Vanguard Newspaper, March, 2011)

Join me to celebrate an anti-corruption investor and entrepreneur, Dr. Kole Shettima who marks 60 Years today. We share the same birthday month and also background.

My first encounter of Dr. Kole Shettima was through his work and the MacArthur Foundation and since then I have been following him as he becomes the first African to rise from humble beginning to invest in ending the driver of Corruption and Impunity in Africa through the MacArthur Foundation.

This quintessential development activist and anti-corruption angel investor have single-handedly built an anti-corruption activists empire in Nigeria through the MacArthur Foundation. From SERAP, Centre LSD, HEDA, CISLAC, Wole Soyinka Centre for Journalist, Premium Times Centre,  to ANEEJ, the footprint is visible. MacArthur Foundation investment in anti-corruption work in Nigeria has helped to sustain the fight against corruption across the Country.

Like Dr. Kole Shettima rightly noted during the interview with Vanguard Newspaper when he was nominated as the man of the week in 2011, fighting corruption as individuals and by governments would help to bring services to the poor and improve their living condition and there is no doubt that through the MacArthur  Foundation and personal engagement in the civil society sector in Nigeria and internationally, he has validated his core belief that God should not give him something he can not share with others.

As only child of Mallam Karagama and Ya Amsatu, he has devoted all his life to the cause of Social Justice and the common good of mankind which we are all beneficiaries. What do we own this great man today than to pray to God Almighty to give him more years and good health as he continue to support the work that promote the common good of our society.

Dr. Kole Shettima’s support for the anti-corruption work in Nigeria is transformative and will remain a reference point as we look for a creative tools to end the problem which has negatively affected our development.

Finally, on behalf of my family and ANEEJ, I wish you good health and God’s protection, Amen.

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