Kennedy Joseph Ekezie, an alumnus of the University of Calabar was on Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at the Buckingham Palace, England, honoured by Queen Elizabeth as one of 61 leaders from 38 countries with the “Queen’s Young Leaders Award” for his work with the Calabar based “Youth Council for Women’s Rights and The Girl Generation”, which creates advocacy against gender-based violence and female genital mutilation in Nigeria.
The 20 year old Philosophy graduate of Unical stated on his Facebook page that, “the most graceful moment of my life happened yesterday when I received the Queen’s Young Leaders Award from Her Majesty The Queen of England in front of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and David Beckham. It was a nerve-racking moment for all of us, filled with a mix of emotions, and that wink of support from the Duke of Sussex while waiting to be called went a long way to grounding my belief that this was real!”
He also added that, “this award wouldn’t have been possible without God, my loving and sacrificial parents, my siblings, my family all around the world, my network of friends who continuously are my support system and incredible team @cycwr_ng. You all are my world. As a (recent) 20-year-old, this award is a huge responsibility for me and everything I represent. I hope to keep living up to it and to continue to inspire the hell out of young people all over the world.”
While two other Nigerians, Isaac Damian, 27, and Hauwa Ojeifo 26, from Lagos, were also among the 61 recipients, Ekezie told www.calitown.com that he is “honored to be a recipient of the final ever Queen’s Young Leaders Award from Her Majesty The Queen. As a budding global leader, this award is a huge responsibility for me moving forward to continue to live up to this award and leverage all the opportunities it presents to develop my society. I have been able to meet other Award winners and the incredible work they are doing across the commonwealth and have learned so much from the Residential week in the UK. I am sure that is only the beginning.”
The “Queen’s Young Leader Award” is an annual award given in recognition of leadership skills by young persons between the ages of 18 and 29. It was launched in 2014.
