Youth Advocate, Areola Bags Jet Age Nation Builders Award

Youth/gender advocate and former special Assistant to Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Ann-Melody Oluwakemi Areola has been conferred with the Jet Age Award for nation building.

The award was presented to her by the Minister of Labour and Skills, Ethiopia, Hon.Nigusu Tilahun,during the 5th edition of the ‘Africa We Want Youth’ parliament conference at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

This is the second award in two weeks for Ms Areola, after she was recognized in Ghana for her contributions to youth empowerment projects, discourse and being a voice for the voiceless youth across Nigeria, and Africa at New Africa Leaders Summit and Honours in Accra .

She has been at the vanguard of creating opportunities for youth across Nigeria and Africa and worked on a template that opened vista of job creation across the nooks and cranny of the continent.

In October 2022 she was part of the Nigeria Federal Government delegation that led a group of youth to Kigali, Rwanda’s capital where Nigeria government reiterated her commitment to promote entrepreneurship and strengthen youth policy, which is the subject of sectoral policy letter focusing on citizenship, volunteerism, social cohesion and employment of young people and women.

She also made it possible, through her decisiveness, that Nigeria joins YouthConnekt Africa, a youth forum that brings together young people from across the African continent, which solidifies the partnership between Nigerian youth and the youth across the African continent under the umbrella of youthconnektafrica

The Jet Age Nation Builders Award is a testament to her commitment to improve the standard of Nigerian and African youths, create a platform for exchange of ideas and make the world a global village .

Speaking on the award Oluwakemi Ann-Melody Areola commended the body for finding her worthy to receive the award

“This is really amazing, few weeks back, I was in Ghana to receive an award and today I am in Ethiopia to receive another award while in October I will be in Abu Dhabi as a guest speaker and honoree at the DOERs Award which will be hosted by The Africa Chamber of Digital Commerce in Abu Dhabi,UAE.

“These are just too beautiful to be true but I am trying to remain calm and keep working like a duck on a river where everything appears calm on the surface but underneath I am doing a whole lot of work and this recognition is a testament of the hard work done in darkness”

The Jet Age Nation Builders Award is one of the most revered awards in Africa with the likes of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Dr Akinwumi Adeshina and other major players in African business and politics being recognized