Speech: Launch of NGC’s National Heroes Project 2018
Good evening.
It is my singular honour to welcome you and bring opening remarks this evening, on behalf of NGC, as we launch the 2018 edition of NGC’s National Heroes Project. Ask a child to name a popular hero and many will return with Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, maybe Martin Luther King, or quite likely, a superhuman of ‘Avengers’ fame. Iconic heroes, all of them, but they do not belong to us.
NGC is a state enterprise that has built a world-class business on the industry and talent of local people, and we truly value the human capital of Trinidad and Tobago. What we as a people have been able to achieve in various fields of endeavor – energy, sport, music, art – is regarded with awe and respect the world over.
However, as a country, we too often fail to recognise and celebrate our own. The NGC National Heroes project, in some small way, is intended to teach our children to recognise and celebrate our own by having exhibitions such as these open to visits by students from all schools and walks of life. The men and women who have given their lives in service to this country may fade from memory, but through these projects, we intend to immortalise them with tribute.