Nnimmo Bassey Honoured by Alumni Association for Societal Emancipation
By Ekemini Simon
50 years after he graduated from the Holy Trinity College, HOTRICO, Mbiakong in Uruan, Akwa Ibom State, the Alumni 1975 Class of the school has honoured the International Environmental Activist, Dr. Nnimmo Bassey for his sustained and unwavering struggle for the emancipation of the society from environmental degradation.
Nnimmo Bassey, the Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) is a cerebral, courageous environmental activist whose intervention has led to several victories for hydro-carbon polluted communities coupled with sustained enlightenment into the dangers of the colonisation of Africa’s food system.
The conferment of the honour through an award of excellence presentation on Dr. Bassey on Saturday was part of activities lined up to mark the Golden Jubilee of the 1975 Class of HOTRICO.
Reacting to the honour, Bassey said he sees the award as a treasure especially as it came from people he grew up with.
“The significance for me is that my classmates (people I grew up with) found some of us worthy of recognition. This makes the award a very special treasure”, he said.
Dr. Bassey has a plethora of honours to his name for societal emancipation through environmental justice activism. The multi-award winner was honoured by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2014 with a National Honour of Member of the Federal Republic (MFR). He was a co-recipient of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize. He has bagged Honorary Doctorate Degrees from the University of York (UK) in 2019, another from the York University (Canada) in 2023 and in 2024 decorated with the Raoul Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan, USA.