In recognition of his contributions to youth development in Nigeria and beyond, the West Africa Youth Council (WAYC), recently, honoured the Assistant Governor-elect of Rotary International District 9125 Nigeria, Dr Idowu Adewunmi with the Nelson Mandela Leadership Award Of Excellence And Integrity/ECOWAS Youth Ambassador.
West Africa Youth Council (WAYC) is the youth arm of the Economic Communities of West African States (ECOWAS).
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune shortly after receiving the award, at a ceremony held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Adewunmi, who expressed delight about the award noted that he never takes the award and the special recognition for granted, saying: “I feel great and happy. When you’re working and at the end, you are specially recognised and commended for some of your works, it is actually a plus.
“In the area of youth development, we have been able to do our best. When we now have a whole body of West Africa coming together to recognise us is a very huge thing and we cannot take that for granted. I’m happy and delighted about it.”
When asked what he intends to do as a youth ambassador, Adewumi said: “We have done a lot like vocational training for youth, agribusiness for free, seminars, ICT training for free and we will continue to do more in that area to make sure that we get it right.
“Now that we have the recognition that cuts across Africa, we will be able to extend some of these things like scholarships, organising training, among others to neighbouring countries like Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and the rest.
“To me, every congratulation means another challenge and I know it’s for another work or job to be done and God helping us, we will try our best to do better in that area.”
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While advising the youths, Adewumi said youths should be good representations and ambassadors to their families, organisations and institutions.
“The increasing trend on internet fraud among the youth will be looked into, in terms of orientation, and also giving vocational skills to reduce the menace of internet fraud,” he added.
Another awardee, Amb Lanre-Oke Femi, also expressed his joy and excitement for the award.
He said, “It’s a great one. For me, it’s recognition of commitment and a motivation to do more.”
Lanre-Oke added, “We have a lot of responsibilities to do. Before now, I’ve been concentrating on helping the Nigerian youth, particularly the out-of-school children, getting them back to school, that’s what my foundation and scholarship work on.
“Now, I think I have more responsibility to go beyond Nigeria and to look at West Africa. This is a call to do more beyond the sphere I’ve been working on to do greater than what I’ve been doing.”
and then