Four Nigerians will be presented the
inaugural Queen’s Young Leaders Awards, on Monday, at the United
Kingdom’s Buckingham Palace.
The awards will be presented by the Queen
of England, Queen Elizabeth II. The four Nigerians are: Isaiah Owolabi,
Kelvin Ogholi, Nkechikwu Azinge and Oladipupo Ajiroba.
According to a statement issued by the
QYL, the awards are being given to exceptional young people from across
the Commonwealth. Apart from the four beneficiaries from Nigeria,
Canada, India, Cameroon and South Africa have three winners each.
The
award winners aged between 18 and 29 are being recognised by the UK
monarch for taking the initiative to support others, raise awareness and
inspire change on a variety of different issues including education,
gender equality, mental health and disability equality.
“We are very much looking forward to
welcoming the first Queen’s Young Leaders to London on the 22nd (of
June). It will be such an honour to witness these exceptional young
people receiving their awards from Her Majesty the Queen for their
incredible work in their countries and across the Commonwealth,” the
Executive of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, Dr. Astrid
Bonfield, said.
One of the winners, Owolabi, a co-founder of Hacey’s Health Initiative, told SUNDAY PUNCH,
during a courtesy visit on Wednesday by the British High Commission
represented by Theresa Adeniyi and the QYL Nigerian ambassador,
Stephanie Okereke-Linus, that the QYL award placed further
responsibilities on him.
“The success is collective. I am happy
and also surprised by the award. I see the award as a bigger
responsibility and an opportunity to further impact on the life of
others. This award will provide needed boost to our efforts at the HHI
to continue to engage the public and private sectors and the people on
the need to pay more attention to health, women and girls issues in the
society,” he said.
In addition to meeting the UK monarch,
the winners before receiving their awards at the palace will meet the UK
Prime Minister, David Cameron, visit the UK headquarters of Twitter and
the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Punch
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