Renowned philanthropist and football administrator, Barr. Paul Edeh is currently basking in honour of many recognitions amidst outpour of commendations by globally rated organisations.
The latest of these acknowledgements came from All-Africa Students Union (AASU) during an elaborate event staged at the prestigious Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
At the event where other distinguished Africans, including the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Malam Mele Kolo Kyari, and top conglomerate as well as reputable continental corporate bodies were recognised, Barr. Edeh, President of Ratels Sports Development Foundation (RSDF), was singled out for accolades by the International President of AASU, Osisiogu Enyinnaya.
“Barr. Edeh is such an amazing young man who uses personal hard-earned money to touch lives and give many hopes of better tomorrow. We have been following his activities just like other awardees. He has been consistent with human development programmes.
“As a matter of fact, he is the only sports personality who is so visible in genuinely uplifting mankind,” Enyinnaya said.
The AASU President also said the awardees were recognised for contributing “positively to Africa’s quest for development in their various fields. And we’re doing this to encourage them to do more so that we have a better Africa.”
Responding, Barr. Edeh, the only Nigerian football administrator who founded and funds two Women Football Clubs – Naija Ratels FC and Honey Badgers FC, with the former playing in the top flight of Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) said, “For me, I’m passionate about helping people find true essence of their existence. Yes, I could use the funds available to me to build structures and so on, but I would rather invest it in humans.
“By the Grace of God, I have done this for years, and I find self-fulfilling doing it. I’m so committed to it. I want to use this opportunity to appeal to anyone who has access to material resources to use it judiciously for the betterment of fellow humans instead only focus on setting up physical infrastructures that you will not need after sometimes.”
Only recently, Barr. Edeh, who is also the Chairman of Benue State Football Association, was crowned Most Sports Philanthropist Man of the Year by the Sports Legendary Awards.
The dosage of awards which have been presented to the highly revered Sports Administrator and Legal Luminary turned Real Estate Czar within one month continued to rise with the Law Faculty of Benue State University (BSU) also honouring him for his contributions to the development and growth of both Law Study and the well-known Citadel of Learning.
Aside from donating annual updated Law Reports to the Faculty, Barr. Edeh has an increasing list of students in BSU under his scholarship scheme.
There are other students outside BSU who are equally in schools, courtesy of his scholarship benevolence.
Within the sports sector, over 100 persons, including young footballers (men and women), club officials are under his employ.
He equally sponsored scores of coaches from Benue State and beyond for various capacity building programmes/courses in the previous and present Nigeria Institute of Sports (NIS) academic sessions as well as other special professional development projects.
