Mr. Soji Apampa is one of those Nigerians who have been at the forefront of change in the real sense of it for decades and decades after continue to drive reforms without the noise often associated with most activists who are more about the fame than the essence of their activism. He has taught and inspired me as a person over the years. Not only have I been privileged to work with him, his organisation trusted me to facilitate Social Media trainings long before today that that seems to be the norm. His organisation also gave me my first speaking opportunity in the city of Abuja. I have gone on to do tens and twenties of them but his was the first. You don’t forget things like that. You don’t forget those who saw earlier what others came to see later. Very few people can say they have been there for me at my most trying and telling times, ‘Uncle Soji’ like I call him is one of those few. Celebrate with me, Soji Apampa, a jolly good fellow indeed. You can read up on his biography below. He is the ultimate ‘Gentleman.’ Mentor-in-Chief! – Joshua Omojuwa
Mr Apampa is co-founder of the Integrity Organisation, 1995 and one of the initiators of the Convention on Business Integrity (CBi), launched in Lagos, 1997 to promote ethical business practices, transparency, and fair competition in both the private and public sectors. His involvement with Integrity designing, resourcing and supervising programme implementation has helped to make the strategy of “empowering people, their transactions, systems and institutions against corruption” relevant to Nigeria.. His experience covers training, research, consulting and management in the private and public sectors and civil society. For the last 20 years he has designed and implemented anti-corruption initiatives in Africa.
Mr. Apampa is fascinated by the question, “why?” and this has blossomed into a key interest in political economy studies. He has been involved in political economy studies for a number of donor funded programmes at Federal and State levels in Nigeria.
As a former Managing Director at SAP Nigeria Ltd, he is both articulate and persuasive. At SAP, Mr. Apampa championed the concept of ‘ICT supported public sector reforms’. Through his direct efforts, SAP Africa won an award for their role in the take-off of the Information Society Partnership for Africa’s Development (ISPAD) an initiative of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission. Working in concert with a number of his colleagues in Walldorf, they succeeded in persuading the German Government to make an offer of Technical Assistance and ICTs to the EITI process of several countries, including Nigeria, and Azerbaijan through the Gtz. He is a 2008 Fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative West Africa (of the Aspen Institute, Aspen, Colorado).
He was appointed in 2008 to the International Working Group of the UN Global Compact on the 10th Principle (anti-corruption). He was on the editorial board of the 2009 TI Global Corruption Report and was member of the Organizing Committee of the 12th International Anti-Corruption Conference which took place in Guatemala City, Guatemala. He led the effort to develop a Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS) launched November 2014, which forms the foundation of the new Premium Board for the Nigeria Stock Exchange.
Soji APAMPA has championed the concept of finding viable alternatives to corruption as route to markets, finance and know-how as a way of dealing with the problem. In concrete terms, over the last 4 years he has been Country Director for the Business Innovation Facility that provides technical assistance to companies implementing inclusive business models targeted at supporting people at the base of the economic pyramid as suppliers, consumers, distributors, employees and so on. His current work also includes the development of a new Due Diligence Portal and e-Learning Platform for Director anti-corruption/corporate governance education.
