The Central Working Committee (CWC) for
The Future Awards, which the World Bank has called “The Nobel Prize for Young
Africans”, has again decided to unveil the long list for the biggest award, Young
Person of the Year before the full list.
As is the tradition, the nominees for
Young Person of the Year have been taken out of the various categories as
always and identified as trailblazing role models for young Nigerians – all
except for the Science and Technology categories; and that is a deliberate
exception to encourage and spotlight more high-impact activity in those
sectors.
“All of the Young Person of the Year
nominees are winners,” Atafo said. “They are honorees and will yet again all be
given plaques. Also, they will not go through the four stages of judging for
the awards, only one stage for voting and one stage for judging. These guys
inspire us!”
Young Person Of The Year Honourees
2012:
Bankole Wellington [Banky W] (Musician/Entrepreneur/Activist)
31
Known primarily as a musician, Banky W has however
transcended that label: emerging not just as one of the nation’s leading
talents, but also building an inspiring business with Empire Mates
Entertainment that has created superstars like Wizkid. Banky also leads the
stage as an activist passionate about Nigeria – proving this with his
involvements in everything from the What About Us? Youth Debate to
#OccupyNigeria. Banky is not just an entertainment personality. He is a
national figure of hope and love of country. He is a leader.
Chinwe Njoku (Engineer) 26
Njoku recently won the The
Sir Robert Martin University Prize at the Loughborough University in the United
Kingdom, which is the premier award of the University and consists of an award
of £1,500 plus a commemorative medal. Beyond that, Njoku stands out for
including significant published research that has benefited the wider
community. In total she has 12 peer-reviewed publications (10 as 1st author).
This includes the IEEE Transactions on Antennas &
Propagation Journal
(the most prestigious journal in the field) and the IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation
Letters (Special Issue on Metamaterials). This groundbreaking research will continue in a major
£600,000 major interdisciplinary government grant.
Dapo Oyebanjo [D’banj] (Musician/Entertainment Entrepreneur) 32
D’banj is not just an artiste – he is an idea. Having broken
every single boundary in the Nigerian, and African, music industry through
Mo’Hits Records, he has became a trailblazer for artistes reaching for an
international market, with his exploits with GOOD music and his newly formed
D’banj Records. As he told the UK Observer, “I see what I’m doing now as the bridge that we’ve been
looking for from Africa to the mainstream world. I want others to see the
potential in my country, other than our oil and natural resources.” He’s on his
way to achieving that.
Jason Njoku (Media Entrepreneur) 31
Njoku is at the forefront of Nigeria’s digital revolution –
he didn’t begin it, he doesn’t own, but for much of the world he impressively
represents it. With his sexy Iroko TV brand tagged the ‘Netflix of Africa’, he
is the world’s largest
distributor of African movies. His company raised $8 million in venture capital
from Tiger Global Management, a New York based Private Equity and hedge fund
run by billionaire Chase Coleman, has distribution deals with Dailymotion,
iTunes, Amazon and Vimeo and has been said to be worth as much as $30 million
dollars.
Peter and Paul Okoye [Psquare] (Musician/Entertainment Entrepreneur)
31
This inspiring brothers are easily the #1 in African music. That
success is apparent in their high-profile shows/tours across the continent,
their endorsements and the mega-launch of their last album in 2011. Their video
featuring American super-star Rick Ross continues to be a talking point across
the music industry; and in addition to signing with Akon’s Konvict Muzik, they
are also signed to the
Universal Music Group. Currently, this music duo is the artiste with the highest YouTube video views
of over 25,000,000 in the continent.
Linda Ikeji (Blogger/Media Entrepreneur) 31
She is the most influential Nigerian online – and it is a
position she has wielded with flair and a keen sense of history. There are
those who see Linda as a blogger peddling soft stories, but she has become much
more than that, influencing issues, driving conversations and doing good.
Linda’s influence can be seen in her spotlighting #ABSURape, involving a young
woman in Abia State, profiling Oke, the young man who almost lost his leg due
to complications from diabetes, and taking up the cause of Blessing Effiom.
These three issues caught the attention of the nation – and it was because
Linda took it seriously. She is a phenomenon.
Idris Akinbajo
(Journalist) 30
Starting with NEXT Newspapers and now
as Head of the Investigative Desk at Premium Times, he has worked quietly and
stealthily to reveal most of the rot in Nigeria’s politics and economy – with
exclusive revelations in aviation, campaign finance and more. That work has not
gone unnoticed; winning him awards including African Investigative Journalist of the Year, Nigerian
Investigative Journalist of the Year, Best Nigerian investigative story in
print, and Second best Nigerian investigative story (online). He has now been
announced a finalist for the CNN/Multichoice African Journalist 2012. Akinbajo
is a journalist’s vision.
Raheem Temitope Bell (Scientist) 19
Bello has two undergraduate degrees – in Astronomy and
Physics with Special Honours and is already a doctoral student; all before he
turned 19. For most of his undergraduate years, he conducted
research in a condensed matter physics lab; refurbishing the
thermal conductivity probe and fabricating unique thermocouples of 0.001” in
order to measure temperature gradient. During his 2+ years of research, he has
presented his work at various conferences and given an oral presentation at the
American Physical Society (APS). Presently, he is working on the devolvement of a
startup energy utility company, GeoUtill. GeoUtill leverages geothermal energy
to supply homes with clean, sustainable, and dependable energy. Since receiving
feedback from applying to startup incubator competitions, GeoUtill has
refocused on its mission.
GeoUtill believes that there is an abundance of
energy all around us, which can supply all of the energy demands. We are
currently working on the development of a new type of a low cost solar panel,
that may be deployed any where in the world without access to an energy grid.
And he is still in his teens!
“Note that, due to the adjusted The Future Awards calendar -
it was moved from its traditional January to August, the period in review is
October 2010 – May 2012,” Atafo added. “Nominees who were still 31 years as at
March 2011 (six months into the period in review) are therefore eligible.”
Previous Young Person of the Year winners include malaria
scientist Ify Aniebo, award-winning writer Chimamanda Adichie, NASA scholar
Tosin Otitoju, amongst others. Last year, agriculture entrepreneur and advocate
Nnaemekan Ikegwuonu beat Genevieve
Nnaji, Don Jazzy, Psquare and others to clinch the top prize.
Released By: The Publicity Arm
Released By: The Publicity Arm
