Queen of England honours four Nigerians

Queen Elizabeth II

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 us, 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.