WAYC Honours Dr. Funmilayo with Nelson Mandela Leadership Award

Chiamaka Ozulumba

In recognition of her contributions to humanity, youth empowerment and development in Nigeria, the West Africa Youth Council (WAYC) has presented the Nelson Mandela Leadership Award of Excellence and Integrity, to the MD/CEO, Funmiayinke Nigeria Ltd, Dr. Funmilayo Waheed-Adekojo.

Funmilayo, according to a recent statement from WAYC, was considered deserving of the award for her hard work, goal oriented personality, leadership dexterity, integrity and passion for entrepreneurship and philanthropy.

The statement read: “We are gathered here to celebrate achievement, dedication to duty, industriousness and to appreciate and salute and encourage an apostle of positive change, a lover of youth, education and a philanthropist par excellence.

“We salute the actualisation of your dream in propagating the message of peace, national integration, and human capital development in all areas to the world and your leadership acumen both physically and spiritually to develop and make the world a better place.

“A woman that stands up as first among his equals, a woman that have and still contributing his quota to nation building, humanity and the promotion of youth development, educational system, employment and empowerment of youths which remain the best legacy that can be bequeathed on the children of the common man in any society.”

Speaking with THISDAY after the presentation, the latest ECOWAS Youth Ambassador, Dr. Funmi, who is also an engineer by profession, said her first agenda with her new office would focus on properly orientating African youth to believe in themselves.

According to her, “When the youth have knowledge of who they are, and their abilities, they will believe more in themselves, and then we take it from there.

“I’ll try as much as possible to see how we can educate them, especially our girl child, so they know they also deserve the front sit.

“And as to Nigeria as a whole, the vision is to see how we can leverage on this platform as provided by ECOWAS, and influence the government to do more for its citizens, including those in the most interior parts of the country.

“This is the only way we can bring out the best from every Nigerian youth, so they can do more for themselves, get involved in national development, and also give back to the country.

“Our role as leaders is to ensure the youth enjoy good education by improving on the country’s educational system, infrastructure and the security architecture of the country; in summary, the basic needs of our society.

“I always say this, I poor man automatically is an hungry man. By God’s grace, the goal is to find more ways to empower our people. We will provide more platforms for them to acquire new skills, or even improve on their skill sets.”

She added that her focus would continue to be on agriculture, education, and technical skills which “we know are a quick fix to poverty alleviation. And government must be willing to do more than they are currently doing in these areas,” she said.

Speaking on the personality of the Dr. Funmilayo, the Commissioner III, Ogun State Teaching Service Commission, Hon. Majekodunmi Olanrewaju described her as a philanthropist par-excellence.
“It’s not a gainsaying that Eng. Funmi has been a philanthropist of par-excellence, and a type that is ready to give everything she has to make others happy.

“She has been a kind person with a large heart, and very deserving of this award. Her humanitarian services span across the length and breadth of Nigeria and it’s a good thing to see her being recognised by ECOWAS as an ambassador on this day,” he noted.