French President Emmanuel Macron has conferred Globacom chairman, Dr Mike Adenuga with the highest French National honour of Commandeur ordre national
French President Emmanuel Macron has conferred Globacom chairman, Dr Mike Adenuga with the highest French National honour of Commandeur ordre national de la Legion d’honneur (Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honour). This he did after he commissioned the Alliance Francaise Mike Adenuga Center, a non-profit organisation whose statutes and activities in the training of Nigerians in French language and culture have been approved by the Alliance Française Foundation. Describing the Globacom chairman as one of the best friends of France, President Macron gave detailed accounts of Adenuga’s stupendous and mutually beneficial investments in France and saluted his tenacity and can do spirit.
A preview of the designs of the Alliance Francaise Mike Adenuga Centre shows that it surpasses other such centres in Africa. Established and led by a Nigerian board after 1959, and functioning also as the headquarters of the General Delegation of the French Alliance in Nigeria, the centre provides a variety of programmes, and today sees the registration of about 3,000 students annually. Working closely with both the Alliance Française Foundation in Paris and the Nigerian government in promoting French language and culture, the centre is supported by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Under the terms of a ten-yearly renewable agreement with the Lagos State Ministry of Education, it also runs a continuing education programme for French teachers of the state.
While the organisation retains ten sister locations elsewhere in Nigeria – at Enugu, Ibadan, Ilorin, Jos, Kano, Kaduna, Lagos, Maiduguri, Owerri and Port Harcourt, serving nearly 7,000 students, the Lagos Institute is one of the largest such centres in Africa. Since its inception, Alliance Française Lagos has been focusing on three key missions:
– Teaching French.
– Promoting French and Francophone cultures as well as cultural diversity.
– Offering visibility to up-and-coming Nigerian artists.
With the refurbishment and preservation of an old colonial house situated in extensive grounds at 9 Osborne Road, Ikoyi in Lagos, and the addition and architectural incorporation of a modern building alongside it, the new Alliance Française Lagos is taking its activities into a new era.
With far-sighted architectural as well as cultural vision, the historic villa on the property has been preserved for the benefit of future generations of Lagosians. At the same time it will provide a space that is fully integrated with that of its brand-new counterpart, purpose-built for the cultural and educational programmes of the Alliance Française. It contains a reception area, three administrative and leadership offices, a cultural office, a campus France office space, restrooms, as well as an art gallery, a library, a cinema, an artist studio, an amphitheater and a kitchen.
