·Organisers says Mayor of Housing showing strongly in 2023
By Ignatius Chukwu
The creation of DMOMA awards series is to attract business attention to the South-South and South East, according to the chief executive officer of the organizing group, Mr Chidiebere Okoye.
The DMOMA Award series, according to Mr Okoye, said it is an online media award engineered by over 14 bloggers.
Mr Okoye said the award is staged in Port Harcourt every December 4th, and is staged to put the region on the spotlight once every year. He also said it unifies a lot of people and values.
Mr Okoye, who is the Rivers State chairman of bloggers association of Nigeria, said the DMOMA Award is open to all of Nigerian but is dedicated to promoting excellence.
He said: “Nominations for 2023 are already coming in from outside Nigeria such as Kenya and Poland. Its open to the world but Nigeria is the focus, for now. It targets brands and individuals who have achieved uncommon excellence.”
Mr Okoye said the award series seeks to close the economic gap between regions and to unify regions and people as well as bring focus to Port Harcourt.
He said: “It brings all professions together and seeks to unify the nation between the north and south. It also focuses attention on Rivers State as the host state. It beams Rivers State to the world.
“Many personalities that came to Rivers State for the 2022 edition and saw the development and dizzying infrastructure were impressed. This annual event thus promotes the South.”
On unity, the organisers said DMOMA awards series takes nominations from the all over Nigeria and thus, the South East and South-South get some visibility. “Winner of music for 2022 is from the north. It brings celebrities and brands together to the south.”
Saying the award is in 4th edition, DMOMA chief said there is a lot of clout about the winners. “The Mayor of Housing won as the brand champion of the year. His brand is unique. He competed with big names but beat them. Some of them thought size is brand, but people voted for those whose lives were impacted the brands.
“Big brands wondered why, but they were shown evidence. You do not sit in your house and win. It has processes. People nominate you, vote for you, etc.”
He said the Mayor of Housing represents the new face of branding where you connect with the youths, the entertainment players, and those who want to grow, the startups.
“So, it is about excellence and impact on people or community. It’s about impact to lives and businesses. Popularity is good but it must be followed by impact.”
Showing how the winners are assessed, Okoye said there are ways of verifying the nominees. “Some 14 bloggers are behind this contest. They take their time. They look at the names nominated and then shortlist those that met certain standards.
“Last year, some big brands contested in the brand of the year category which attracted 21 nominations but only four were shortlisted by the award academy. Then public voting followed.”
Looking back, the CEO said the winners were always the best. “In 2022, Bro Felix Obuah won the choicest person of the year. It is evident that people love him.
“The man who won Engineer of the Year is known to be loved by workers; other engineers know him. They testified.”
On the Mayor of Housing, he said: “This brand is steadily making waves in Nigeria and Port Harcourt especially. His brand powers music, comedy and entertainment. One artist powered by Mayor of Housing is now abroad, and is an award winner now.”
For the 2023 edition, Mr Okoye said the Mayor of Housing seems to be flying high again. “Anybody can nominate anybody. Its open, and it’s going on. There are 37 categories.
“The person that built the UPTH won an award last year. He said since he built it, he is just being mentioned and recognised. The award will continue to run because we want to use it to fish out good patriots and those who help the youth.”
Over all, he said, the essence of the award series and brand promotion is to bring attention to the economy of the South-South and South East and attract the return of businesses and investors to the region by giving them the fast business life in Lagos and create business intensity back to the region.
The hunger for businesses to try the east and south-south seems to be growing bigger everyday going by efforts to promote the east and encourage those in Lagos to think about relocating their businesses east of the Niger. The activities of unknown gunmen and pressing for Sit-At-Home seems to push returnees more to Port Harcourt.
With the coming together of the likes of the Mayor of Housing, the east especially Port Harcourt may be on fire again and compete with Lagos and most other happening centres in Africa like Cairo and Johannesburg.
