Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, the 51st and current Ooni of Ife has disclosed that one of his greatest legacies on the throne is the Royal African Young Leadership Forum the (RAYLF).
RAYLF, which is in its fourth year, aims to recognise and honour exceptional 100 young people from 39 African countries who have demonstrated significant impacts in governance & leadership, innovation & technology, entrepreneurship and empowerment, creative culture and academic excellence.
Speaking during a press conference recently, the Ooba said one of his greatest legacies is bringing the young minds of the African descent together to build the continent.
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“Five years ago, we came up with a concept called Royal African Young Leadership Forum (RAYLF), a forum for young minds both in the private and public sector who are leaders that carry the empathy, social relevance and qualities to make a vibrant Africa better.
“For me, royalty needs to be redefined and to the glory of God, I am doing my best to redefine royalty. Royalty has to do with very good leadership and followership. For me, RAYLF is a very strong and formidable platform that brings young minds together to network and do great things in terms of how they can better their immediate community and their nation as a whole.
“I have taken several sojourns to major African countries meeting the leadership of these countries both from the private and public sectors. I realized that the neo-colonisation for us Africans is still real. It is a very deep and endemic issue. We need to believe in ourselves, network, see ourselves as one, improve ourselves and take Africa to another frontier,” the Ooni said.
According to him, Africa has the youngest population in the world and the trajectory is so enormous such that in another 30 to 40 years, no population would beat the continent in the world.
He said in the past 20 to 25 years, Nigeria has doubled and has increased to over 70 million people, yet still growing and needs to create a better future.
He assured that RAYLF is very focused and driven in terms of measuring success, its spread, network and using the platform to make the nation a better place.
“Our members are between the ages of 18 to 40 years. We have been able to do great and formidable things amongst ourselves. I have very good hands and have been working on it together. We have a lot of mentors and leadership initiatives that can support members across different nations. We are expanding our frontier beyond Nigeria and making a lot of progress,” Ooni of Ife said.
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He also disclosed that another success story that will emerge from RAYLF 2024 is the Royal Africa Chamber of Commerce.
“We know the strength of leopards and it is a very common phenomenon to each nation. The African leopards will turn around things both in the African nation and others. This is a very formidable platform. My greatest joy is the success stories that RAYLF has produced in the last five years.
“We have challenged young minds that they can do it and make their indelible mark in the corporate world and organised sectors. We are redefining things and putting them in the right perspectives.
“A lot of innovations and technology are springing up now. We do not want to lag behind. We like the new initiative of the free trade agreement. We must encourage a lot of strong affiliations among young minds who do not have opportunities. This platform doesn’t discriminate and is focus driven to ensure value is created from one level to the other,” he explained.
Themed, ‘Africa of the Future: Better Together,’ this year’s forum is a week-long event, and is being held in Nigeria from July 9-14, 2024.
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