Queen Elizabeth II will, on Monday, June 22, present the inaugural Queen’s Young Leaders Awards to four young Nigerians at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London, Britain.
Kelvin Ogholi, Oladipupo Ajiroba, Nkechikwu Azinge and Isaiah Owolabi are among 60 exceptional young people from across the Commonwealth who have been recognised by The Queen for taking the lead in transforming the lives of others and make a lasting difference in their communities.
Twenty six-year-old Kelvin Ogholi from Benin City, Edo State, a social entrepreneur, has been recognised for his social enterprise project that halved the cost of feed for farmers.
Twenty eight-year-old Oladipupo Ajiroba from Sagamu, Ogun State, has been selected in recognition of his work to champion environmental issues.
Twenty six-year-old Nkechikwu Azinge from Abuja has been acknowledged for her efforts to encourage young people to get tested for sickle cell anaemia, and 27-year-old Isaiah Owolabi from Lagos was also selected in recognition of his health initiative which helps disadvantaged women and children to lead healthy lives.
Before receiving their Award at Buckingham Palace, the winners will meet the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, at 10, Downing Street, visit the headquarters of global social networking company, Twitter, and meet with senior executives at the BBC World Service.
Ogholi said: “I am so happy to be one of the first recipients of the Queen’s Young Leaders Award. To be recognised for my work and be presented with an Award by Her Majesty, The Queen at Buckingham Palace, is such a huge honour. I can’t wait to meet all the other Award winners in London and get involved in all the exciting activities that are taking place throughout the week.”
This year’s Award winners are aged between 18 and 29 and are working to support others, raise awareness and inspire change on a variety of different issues including education, climate change, gender equality, mental health and disability equality.
Following the ceremony on June 22, Award winners will spend four days in the UK to take part in a residential development programme as part of the prize.
The programme includes workshops at Cambridge University, meetings with UK businesses leaders, and visits to life changing social action projects.
