Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Japan, Prof. Mohammed Gana Yisa, added another feather to his cap as the Government of Japan announced him as one of the foreign recipients of the Asian nation’s 2021 Autumn Imperial Decorations.
Prof. Gana Yisa will receive The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, one of the highest orders awarded in the name of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan.
This, the government said, is in recognition of his contributions to strengthening bilateral relations and promoting friendship between Japan and Nigeria.
The Government of Japan, in a press release by its embassy in Nigeria, said, “Prof. Mohammed Gana Yisa, Former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Japan, is among this year’s foreign recipients.”
By the feat, Prof. Gana Yisa becomes the third Nigerian to receive such Order from Japan, after Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, Former Minister of Budget and National Planning and Prof. Isaac Folorunso Adewole, a former Minister of Health.
Contributed to strengthening bilateral relations and promoting friendship between Japan and Nigeria Name: Prof. Mohammed Gana Yisa Major Title: Former Ambassador of Nigeria to Japan, Prof. Gana Yisa was a Professor at the Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Minna, between 2005 and 2007.
The Kwara-born politician served as the Ambassador of Nigeria to Japan from 2017 to 2020.
During his tenure as Ambassador to Japan, Prof. Gana Yisa contributed immensely to the strengthening of people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, by facilitating a number of high-level visits to Japan including the President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and other Ministers.
The former Deputy Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, was instrumental in Kisarazu city becoming the Host Town for the Nigerian Olympic and Paralympic team, thus contributing to mutual understanding between the two countries through sport exchanges.
The University don was also described as “pro-Japanese and an intellectual, having originally obtained his PhD in Agricultural Engineering from Hokkaido University, Japan.
“Due to this background Prof. Yisa visited various Japanese universities and contributed to strengthening academic exchanges between the two countries.”
The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star is one of the orders under the Order of the Rising Sun, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji.
