The National Publicity Secretary of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Ken Robinson, who is also the Coordinating Secretary of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF), has been conferred with an honorary doctoral Research Fellow Award by the Corporate Institute of Strategic Research Abuja-Nigeria, for his outstanding leadership roles over the years as well as commitment to social justice and peace.
Ken Robinson, a former trade unionist, passionate and selfless, is bestowed with decades of high level progressive experience from the public sector and regional-community- based strategic leadership. He was Chairman of the Rivers State Council of Radio, Television and Theatre Arts Workers Union (RATTAWU) from 1998 to 1999, and was at the same time, Chairman of the Rivers State Civil Servants Joint Forum.
He worked with the Rivers State Broadcasting Corporation for over twenty-five years and rose to the position of Assistant Director before voluntarily retiring to run for the office of Mayor of Port Harcourt (Chairman, Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, Rivers State) in 2011.
Ken also at different times, between 2007 and 2017, served as Secretary of Rivers Ijaw Consultative Assembly; Secretary of Rivers Ijaw Elders and Leaders Forum; Secretary of Oil Rivers State Creation Movement and Chairman of Ijaw National Congress, Eastern Zone; he was also Secretary of Rivers State Elders Reconciliation Committee in 2014.
Ken was a member, and later acting Secretary of the Central Working Committee (CWC) of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, the apex socio-cultural body of the Niger Delta Region, and later Assistant National Secretary in 2018, before becoming the National Publicity Secretary of the body in January 2020. He is also, presently, the Coordinating Secretary of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum, a coalition of socio-cultural bodies in the country.
Ken Robinson was a member of the federal government’s Inter-Ministerial and Agency Technical Committee for the development of the Strategic Implementation Work Plan (SIWP) for the Niger Delta – a consolidated approach to project conception and implementation in the Niger Delta Region by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the federal government as well as International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the region.
He was also the Chairman of a non-governmental peace building initiative in Rivers State, Peace Architecture Dialogue (PAD) between May 2019 and February 2021. PAD was a state-level platform that focused on creating mutual understanding of conflict and security issues in communities and coordinated responses from Government, Security, Civil Society and Community leaders – to deepen Peace in the communities. PAD was facilitated by Search for Common Ground, an International NGO.
A 1997 graduate of engineering from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, now Rivers State University, Nkpolu, Port Harcourt, Ken has attended several trainings, conferences, seminars and workshops on non-violent/strategic communication, leadership, peace building, conflict resolution, transformative dialogue, Digital and Artificial Intelligence.
Born on 19th December 1965; he hails from Ido Community in Asari-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria.
Ken Robinson expressed extreme delight and gratitude to the Corporate Institute of Strategic Research, CISR, for the honor. The event was held on Saturday, 25th March 2023 at Grand Palazzo Hotel, Gwarimpa, Abuja.
The Corporate Institute of Strategic Research, CISR, is saddled with the responsibility of providing quality leadership education, manpower development, training, consultancy, research and development in leadership, diplomacy, management and economic issues arising from factors within the emerging global challenges.
