Amid not too impressive stories back home in Nigeria in recent times, a Nigerian, ambassador, Olasubomi Iginla Aina (MBE) has been elected as one of the Directors of the Global NGO Executive Committee (GNEC) for the 2021–2022 dispensation.
Iginla, as fondly called, won a worldwide election to become a Director of the Global NGO Executive Committee (GNEC) which is the representative organ for all NGOs associated with the United Nations Department for Global Communications (UNDGC).
She is the only Nigerian on the GNEC which is made up of representatives who were elected by civil society organisations that are officially associated with the United Nations Department of Global Communications (DGC).
Alongside other 17 individuals who form the GNEC, they act as the liaison between the NGO community and the UN through the Department of Global Communication of the UN.
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Iginla, a Nigerian youth philanthropist and advocate, is the CEO of the renowned Lightup Foundation, an NGO that has the mandate of improving child rights and the empowerment of the youth and the disadvantaged.
The organisation acts as a fortress and inspiration for young people by providing support, advice, assistance and organising educational programmes as a means for advancing in life. LightUp Foundation also has resources for helping young people by developing their skills, capacities and capabilities.
The foundation, which started in 2000, has impacted tens of thousands of beneficiaries that cut across Africa and Europe.
Aina, an alumnus of the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University (Ile-Ife) and a former students’ union acting President of the university, has been around for a while creditably representing Nigeria on the world stage and making Nigeria proud by her selfless, focused social work through the Lightup Foundation.
The contribution of this amazon in the UK has not gone unnoticed which is why it came as no surprise that Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom appointed her with the distinguished insignia as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), among thousands of nominees on the 26th of November 2019 in honour of the Queen’s birthday.
She continues to blaze the trail and leave communities and young people better than they were with her initiatives.
The United Nations works closely with the worldwide network of the Non-Governmental Organisations in achieving a vast majority of her programmes e.g., the Sustainable Development Goals. She pursues these through the coordinating effort of her subsidiary of communication – The Department of Global Communication. (DGC)
The UNDGC works through the global NGO umbrella of the Global NGO Executive Committee (GNEC) which represents all the global organisations in association with the United Nations Department of Global Communications.
Statutorily and in partnership with the UNDGC, the Executive Committee organizes the annual UN Civil Society Conference which facilitates collaboration among NGOs, empowers civil society, and increases public understanding of the United Nations’ critical efforts on issues of economic and social development, climate justice, human rights, the rule of law, peace-building, and other SDGs.
The Executive Committee also provides civil society with abundant opportunities to become more knowledgeable about the UN and the NGO sector through its popular Communications Workshops and other activities throughout the year.
Gathered from an interview with Olasubomi, she indicated that she received an inspiration in 2015 while on a course at the University of Oxford, stressing that the inspiration had since been used to resolve several issues relating to children and young people.
The project, tagged Bag of Hope (BOH), which has already broken a world record, found its place in the Guinness World Record and made impacts in the lives of several thousands of people across the world.
