By Paul Ukpabio
Lagos
born Princess and Ambassador for Peace of the Universal Peace
Federation at the United Nations, Princess Moradeun Ogunlana is a woman
with so many titles and international recognition. Fondly called ‘The
Bridge,’ by friends and associates, Princess Moradeun Ogunlana may have
lived and grown up in the back streets of Lagos Island in Nigeria, but
today, she is what is easily referred to as ‘a citizen of the world.’
My lineage
“I grew up here in
Nigeria. I was born and bred in Lagos Island. I lived a better part of my early life in Lagos. My father is the son of the late Obanikoro of Lagos, Oba David Ajasa Ogunlana. My uncle is the Late Pa Oyekan, the former Oba of Lagos. He was the Traditional Royal Father of Lagos. That is my lineage. I tell people who care to know that, I am what can be regarded as a four-side princess because my father’s mother is the granddaughter of a Late Akarigbo of Remo. So, I am bonded to Ogun State as well. And my mother is a Princess from the Republic of Benin. Her mother is a daughter to one of the prominent kings. Her grandfather is from Ilorin, his mother was a Fulani woman and his father was an aborigine of Ilorin. So, that is why I am classified as a four-sided princess.” So even in Africa, Princess Moradeun Ogunlana lineage is a royal network.
Growing up
Like her ever-traveling descendants, Moradeun’s father, found a livelihood being a personnel of Nigeria Air force. So, home was everywhere daddy worked or was transferred to! They lived briefly in Enugu, especially with their mother, and at another time, they lived in Zaria. “My mom had a house in Zaria, in Kaduna and also at some point while I was growing up, she had a cold room in Funtua.” She tried to recollect some of the memories. “Mother was a linguist who spoke almost seven languages including French, Ibo, Yoruba and Hausa. She was very fluent with her Hausa and that enabled her to do so much business in the northern part of Nigeria.”
Family Life
Back in her parents house in Lagos Island, if you choose to call young Moradeun a Tomboy, well you perhaps wouldn’t have been too far from the truth. She actually grew up with three brothers and the rest of the seven of them were girls. “I have a brother that is older than me and I have one that is right immediately after me. The other ones are younger. So the three of us older ones, saw ourselves as the ‘three musketeers.’ As the middle one, I was the troubleshooter and mediator between them. They are very gentle and not so troublesome like me. They later studied medicine, both in the medical fields; they are very quiet. I am the one always making the trouble in the middle. My younger brother has a clinic and they are both doing fine in their field. So, I am the one that will go out and say ‘we need some hospitals built over there.’ If my brothers hear, they say ‘okay, what can we do?’ and I will say, yeah, you can do this, and yeah, you can do that. I can get somebody there that will help us with this. That is one of the good things I do and I think that is one of the good things that has brought me this far, connecting people and connecting abilities.
Who did the princess really ended up taking after, her mother or her father? Her answer, “Both in a way! My father was ‘The Gentle Prince.’ That is what I called him. He was a man of courtesy who had deep respect for women. We were talking to a very prominent citizen during a recent meeting, and whenever I was getting inside the car, her son will open the door for me and I had to tell him, ‘you know, the last man that did that to me and the only man that ever done that for me was my father, while I was in Nigeria in the late 70s and even abroad.’ At a time, my father was in Canada and he came back. When he came to pick us at my grandmother’s place, he opened the door for me to enter the car. That image never left my mind ever and it is going to stay with me for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, my father passed away recently. We lost him. The last four years of his life, he lived with my brother and I, the three of us were all in Texas then. So, we all took good care of him. He was very proud of the fact that he was ill and we were able to stand by him and took good care of him.”
Her parents love story
“My dad was 70 when he died. But I will tell you the story of what is even more puzzling. It is the fact that exactly two years later, something happened. My father passed away in year 2014. He died on May the 19th at exactly 2:31pm in the afternoon. This year May the 19th at exactly 2:31pm my mother told my sisters that were there with her, that she was so tired and she wants to go and lay down. She lay down, and that was it; she passed away. Exactly same time, same day two years apart! that was how close they were. They knew each other when they were little, when they were young and they were really much in love with each other. So, when I got the call that she was gone, I was taken aback because I was even getting ready to make a post on the social media that two years ago, we lost a gem in the person of my father. I wanted to do something like that in his honor.
“I was getting ready to write that post when I got the call that my mother was gone. And all I kept saying was ‘the same day, the same day! The same time, and I kept on saying that in great bewilderment. She was exactly 70 as well. He was Prince Richard Adeniji Ogunlana and my mom Alhaja Jemlat Adeola Ogunlana. My mother a Muslim; while he was a Christian. They met in a very rare circumstance. My mother was born in Benin Republic and she came to Nigeria speaking only French and Yoruba and when she came over here she needed somebody to tutor her in English. That was how my father came into the picture, they fell in love and the rest is history. So, you can see they really lived and loved each other.
What I learnt from my parent’s lifestyle
A child’s parents they say, is a child’s first role models. So it has been with Princess Moradeun Ogunlana. “My mother used to say: be truthful to yourself, no matter what you do, be truthful to yourself. And my father always said: there are always good people, he said no matter how bad the situation could be, there is always a good thing coming out of it. Those two things I never forget. My biggest motivation while growing up was my maternal grandmother. She is a self-made woman; when my father and mother both left for Canada, we were living with my paternal grandmother. So, she turned out to be the one who left that impression of caring and making sure that not only do you get food on your table to eat but make sure people around you get to eat also. Make sure there is something always there for people around you. She left that impression in my mind. And that is one of the reason why we cannot just rest until people around the world get the desired peace they need. It has also left with me the ability to celebrate people all over the world. And we are doing a lot of the celebration with our group especially when we are talking about women all over the world.
Sojourn abroad
“I left Nigeria for the United States of America after my High School and I actually went to live at the State of Arkansas in the United States of America.” Little did she know that in this same place, fortune would shine on her, and sooner, in this same place, she rose to play in the big league of international society of commerce and diplomacy, very early in her sojourn in the USA. And ever since, she has not looked back.
Ambassador Princess Moradeun Ogunlana as she is today usually fondly addressed, is the President/CEO of Innovative Global Consulting Group of Companies. "It is an infrastructure, Energy, Business and Economic Development Corporation connecting businesses in Africa to the world.
"I was recently inducted at the Universal Peace Federation at the United Nations, as an Ambassador for Culture uniting USA and China by promoting culture, development and health wellness among women of the world, and equally promoting peace building. We have been doing a lot of things around the world since the last three years. I have also been a two term Commissioner with the Little Rock Cities Commission, Arkansas, USA and one of the first black women to make history in business and diplomacy in the city of Arkansas." Not an easy feat for a black woman to accomplish especially as she equally agrees that Arkansas was at a time, a tough racial spot!
“When I first arrived in Arkansas in the 80s, It was a very racially segregated city during that time. Now I look back at those days and recall some of the things I did then with nostalgia. Indeed, I did a lot of things. I was one of the first in terms of African-Americans to build relationships. I mean a person of color for instance, to have a clothing store there. I had a clothing store because I was so busy on African culture, taking my African culture to the world; that is what I sold to America. I was one of the first to have a black business in a major environment dominated by whites. So, I was the face of African business and of course, I had a network of great friends over there with which I did great exploits around the world. I mean beautiful people. Arkansas is a place I call ‘The Quiet Giant.’
"I call it that because, after we were able to break what I call the ‘racial ceiling’ we discovered that some of these acts were not even done deliberately; it was just because people didn’t know where their boundaries ended and where they needed it to begin. So, what I did was simple. I was the one that helped cross some of those boundaries. And after I crossed those boundaries, it was okay for everybody else to do the same. Both sides later found out and said, ‘oh, so, we could do this? These people are not as bad as we thought.’ When you really find time to know a White person, you find out that they actually love just like we do. So, we had to cross that bridge. I actually stepped into some zones because most of the time then, we stayed in our comfort zones and we didn’t want to step out of our comfort zone. So, that was what I did and I think that was my father’s nature in me that sprung out."
How she gained prominence in USA
“I graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1991 with a BA in Journalism. I later studied International Consulting and Public Health Policy from Southern California University. My activities at the Chambers of Commerce and how I was able to connect people and bring businesses together, thereby creating inter-racial relationship earned me the sobriquet “The Bridge”
“I was part of the new generation of black people who brought lots of innovations to Arkansas. I was later appointed as a member of the Chamber of Commerce. The very year President Bill Clinton was appointed, we were actually the one who hosted President Bill Clinton at that time. We had relationship with countries like China, South Korea and other like mind nations. We exchanged ideas for global socio-economic and socio-cultural benefit. I served my two-term tenure a total of ten years as a Commissioner with Little Rock Sister Cities Commission: I was then appointed by the Mayor of Little Rock: as a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador!
A Lady of different worlds
Having lived much of her early life in Nigeria and also grown and melted comfortably into the American society, we asked her what the peculiar differences are between the American society and Nigeria are, Princess Moradeun Ogunlana had this to say: “There are lots of differences and there are lots of similarities too. That is because, one thing is certain, people are people no matter where they live on planet earth. You have good people and you have bad people. When you are unique, you will make people buy into your ideas. So, you can connect ideas with maximum benefit and that is where I made a difference!
Her foundation
Ever energetic, Princess Moradeun Ogunlana set up The Global Summit Group Incorporated, which works in conjunction with international bodies across the world. The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of African Women’s Health Project International a role she also plays, is the Chairman of the Global Summit Group Inc. among many other global concerns, she’s active on.
Speaking on that platform, Princess Ogunlana commented that, “globally, a lot of our people in Diaspora and those living on the continent of Africa have come to realize that it is up to us to develop our continent.
“This is not about somebody coming from outside to come and help us change our fortune because all the human resources we need are all here for our development and most especially in Nigeria. Our country Nigeria is the central part of Africa and this is not a coincidence, if you even look at the map of Africa, you will see Nigeria lying directly at the epicenter. God has deposited so much on this land, so it is up to us to change our own destiny for good. It is up to Africa to stand for her own greatness. Whether we are Nigerians living here or in the Diaspora, definitely, we want to be part of a change in our country.
So, when Princess Moradeun Ogunlana came recently to Nigeria, she also came with a mission. Armed with a connection to another Princess, this time, a Princess from the ancient Bini Kingdom, Barrister Princess Mrs. Caroline Adeneye, wife of the Ogun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Dayo Adeneye, she came to deliver a message to Her Excellency, The First Lady of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, in her capacity as the Convener of the Global Summit on Women Empowerment.
"This year, the Global Summit on Women Empowerment in October, will showcase the good works of some First Ladies around the world. These will be 'Her Excellencies,' that are doing great things with their platforms as wives of state' executives or head of corporations and NGOs. First ladies that are actually doing things from their heart to develop humanity in their own sphere of influence. When we took an x-ray of such people in Nigeria, to see who could fit into our Hall of Fame to be the honorary recipient of the Global Lady Icon Award,
we discovered Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, the First Lady of Ogun State, who runs an NGO called the Uplift Development Foundation, which has shown genuine course to the development of ordinary people in Ogun state.
"For instance, her NGO Uplift Development Foundation is one of the biggest poverty alleviation movements in Ogun state that is changing lives in a rare manner. We went online and we saw pictures of great achievements she made with UPLIFT Development Foundation. Uplift Development Foundation has over 18 subs-derivatives that cater for various set of people in the various strata of the society. The one that gives a particular amount to aged women monthly is there, the one that gives skills acquisition strictly to the girl-child in the state is equally there, the one that de-worms school children in Ogun State, the one that discover talents and sharpen them up for success. Very amazing things we discovered about Mrs. Amosun and we said, of course, she is the one we think can conveniently stand with other female global achievers who have achieved something in their various endeavours. Can I share some testimonies we got while researching her with you?
"Do you know Akpan Udoh the best Nigerian under 17 Goal Keeper who brought Nigeria an Olympic medal recently was discovered by Mrs. Amosun through her Uplift Football Team in 2013? Now that singular act of patriotism revealed two things about Mrs. Amosun. One, her Uplift Football Team Project which is one of the over 18 Derivatives of her Uplift Development Foundation goes around the 3 senatorial districts in the state to search for skilled footballers and sport loving kids and sponsor their talents with her resources. That is another area Africa is lagging behind. Not every child wants to go to school, but there are lots of kids with hobbies that could be monetized in the long run. Mrs. Amosun is seeing this big picture and she is extending her gesture towards that. Secondly, Akpan Udoh is not from Ogun State. It is possible he is one of the many ordinary Nigerian from far flung distances who lives in Ogun State, yet Mrs. Amosun saw nothing bad in uplifting him and many others. She uplifted Akpan to the glory of her selfless service in Ogun State but today Akpan has given back to Nigeria. That is a milestone achievement we cannot take for granted.
"However, the one that really touched our heart the more was during her 50th birthday recently. Instead of going into a ‘receiving spree’ Mrs. Amosun decided to go into a ‘giving spree’ and that was extra-ordinary. She launched a Green Revolution project for rural women on her 50th birthday and invited the wife of the President and Vice President of Nigeria to the event. I learnt that the wife of the President asked other first ladies to emulate her ideas as it was something Nigeria needed at this moment; that is a presidential endorsement! Not only Nigeria is in need of a Green Revolution, in Arkansas, we cherish such lofty ideas because Arkansas is a farming state.
"On her 50th birthday, she also went under the bridge in Abeokuta, to pick women selling adire, traditional clothing, with no option of ever renting a shop in their lives, she rented shops for so many of them, just to take them off the hazards of selling their wares in public roads and equally empowering them. I personally have not seen that kind of passion for charity before. I am deeply touched and these among several other things we discovered about her, led us to our decision to honour her at the Global Council of Women for Development’s First Ladies forum and Economic Development Summit in Washington DC in October. She is one of the ambassadors of Global Change among ordinary people. She will also be a speaker at the First Ladies' Forum and Economic Development Summit, in Washington DC.
She told us more about what the Global Summit is about. "The objectives of the global summit are threefold. We have created an international platform for comprehensive evaluation of the socio-economic, political and intellectual development of women in the new millennium. Secondly, one of the most valuable things we want to get out of this event, is to conceptualize a platform, a neutral set of activities for a global collaboration on government businesses and organization for the continuous well being of women empowerment. The third one of course is to create a business summit for the appointment of women ambassadors in the global economy. We are using all of these as a platform because if you look at the United Nation’s sustainable development Goal 5, it is all about women empowerment.
"We are actually using that Goal 5 to guide us in the programme we are actually developing. So, it is about women leaders across nations coming together to see what we can do in our various localities and then going back to implement those ideas for the benefit of mankind. We are going to have pinning ceremonies on the last day of the summit, where we are going to be seated as Council of Women for the development of nations. And if you look around the world today, you will see that a lot is being done to better humanity by women in leadership roles. Women are taking up much more challenges and giving more solutions to the world. If you give a woman two, she can turn it to four. Women are multipliers by nature. Women have the 6th sense which makes it easy for us to provide leadership from cradle to creativity. We have to appreciate those men with the wisdom of King Solomon who are fast realising that women have the ace when it comes to giving the best leadership that will change the world into a better place.
And where does Princess Moradeun Ogunlana get the energy to connect people and make things happen? After some seconds of deep thought, she replied in a small quiet voice, "I think I came to this world with that because, some of the things we do are things that define humanity, like breaking new grounds in terms of idea and business innovation. It is our mission in life to give voice to the voiceless. There are some people that don’t have any voice. I know I wanted to do this since I was a little girl. My brothers can attest to that."
My lineage
“I grew up here in
Nigeria. I was born and bred in Lagos Island. I lived a better part of my early life in Lagos. My father is the son of the late Obanikoro of Lagos, Oba David Ajasa Ogunlana. My uncle is the Late Pa Oyekan, the former Oba of Lagos. He was the Traditional Royal Father of Lagos. That is my lineage. I tell people who care to know that, I am what can be regarded as a four-side princess because my father’s mother is the granddaughter of a Late Akarigbo of Remo. So, I am bonded to Ogun State as well. And my mother is a Princess from the Republic of Benin. Her mother is a daughter to one of the prominent kings. Her grandfather is from Ilorin, his mother was a Fulani woman and his father was an aborigine of Ilorin. So, that is why I am classified as a four-sided princess.” So even in Africa, Princess Moradeun Ogunlana lineage is a royal network.
Growing up
Like her ever-traveling descendants, Moradeun’s father, found a livelihood being a personnel of Nigeria Air force. So, home was everywhere daddy worked or was transferred to! They lived briefly in Enugu, especially with their mother, and at another time, they lived in Zaria. “My mom had a house in Zaria, in Kaduna and also at some point while I was growing up, she had a cold room in Funtua.” She tried to recollect some of the memories. “Mother was a linguist who spoke almost seven languages including French, Ibo, Yoruba and Hausa. She was very fluent with her Hausa and that enabled her to do so much business in the northern part of Nigeria.”
Family Life
Back in her parents house in Lagos Island, if you choose to call young Moradeun a Tomboy, well you perhaps wouldn’t have been too far from the truth. She actually grew up with three brothers and the rest of the seven of them were girls. “I have a brother that is older than me and I have one that is right immediately after me. The other ones are younger. So the three of us older ones, saw ourselves as the ‘three musketeers.’ As the middle one, I was the troubleshooter and mediator between them. They are very gentle and not so troublesome like me. They later studied medicine, both in the medical fields; they are very quiet. I am the one always making the trouble in the middle. My younger brother has a clinic and they are both doing fine in their field. So, I am the one that will go out and say ‘we need some hospitals built over there.’ If my brothers hear, they say ‘okay, what can we do?’ and I will say, yeah, you can do this, and yeah, you can do that. I can get somebody there that will help us with this. That is one of the good things I do and I think that is one of the good things that has brought me this far, connecting people and connecting abilities.
Who did the princess really ended up taking after, her mother or her father? Her answer, “Both in a way! My father was ‘The Gentle Prince.’ That is what I called him. He was a man of courtesy who had deep respect for women. We were talking to a very prominent citizen during a recent meeting, and whenever I was getting inside the car, her son will open the door for me and I had to tell him, ‘you know, the last man that did that to me and the only man that ever done that for me was my father, while I was in Nigeria in the late 70s and even abroad.’ At a time, my father was in Canada and he came back. When he came to pick us at my grandmother’s place, he opened the door for me to enter the car. That image never left my mind ever and it is going to stay with me for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, my father passed away recently. We lost him. The last four years of his life, he lived with my brother and I, the three of us were all in Texas then. So, we all took good care of him. He was very proud of the fact that he was ill and we were able to stand by him and took good care of him.”
Her parents love story
“My dad was 70 when he died. But I will tell you the story of what is even more puzzling. It is the fact that exactly two years later, something happened. My father passed away in year 2014. He died on May the 19th at exactly 2:31pm in the afternoon. This year May the 19th at exactly 2:31pm my mother told my sisters that were there with her, that she was so tired and she wants to go and lay down. She lay down, and that was it; she passed away. Exactly same time, same day two years apart! that was how close they were. They knew each other when they were little, when they were young and they were really much in love with each other. So, when I got the call that she was gone, I was taken aback because I was even getting ready to make a post on the social media that two years ago, we lost a gem in the person of my father. I wanted to do something like that in his honor.
“I was getting ready to write that post when I got the call that my mother was gone. And all I kept saying was ‘the same day, the same day! The same time, and I kept on saying that in great bewilderment. She was exactly 70 as well. He was Prince Richard Adeniji Ogunlana and my mom Alhaja Jemlat Adeola Ogunlana. My mother a Muslim; while he was a Christian. They met in a very rare circumstance. My mother was born in Benin Republic and she came to Nigeria speaking only French and Yoruba and when she came over here she needed somebody to tutor her in English. That was how my father came into the picture, they fell in love and the rest is history. So, you can see they really lived and loved each other.
What I learnt from my parent’s lifestyle
A child’s parents they say, is a child’s first role models. So it has been with Princess Moradeun Ogunlana. “My mother used to say: be truthful to yourself, no matter what you do, be truthful to yourself. And my father always said: there are always good people, he said no matter how bad the situation could be, there is always a good thing coming out of it. Those two things I never forget. My biggest motivation while growing up was my maternal grandmother. She is a self-made woman; when my father and mother both left for Canada, we were living with my paternal grandmother. So, she turned out to be the one who left that impression of caring and making sure that not only do you get food on your table to eat but make sure people around you get to eat also. Make sure there is something always there for people around you. She left that impression in my mind. And that is one of the reason why we cannot just rest until people around the world get the desired peace they need. It has also left with me the ability to celebrate people all over the world. And we are doing a lot of the celebration with our group especially when we are talking about women all over the world.
Sojourn abroad
“I left Nigeria for the United States of America after my High School and I actually went to live at the State of Arkansas in the United States of America.” Little did she know that in this same place, fortune would shine on her, and sooner, in this same place, she rose to play in the big league of international society of commerce and diplomacy, very early in her sojourn in the USA. And ever since, she has not looked back.
Ambassador Princess Moradeun Ogunlana as she is today usually fondly addressed, is the President/CEO of Innovative Global Consulting Group of Companies. "It is an infrastructure, Energy, Business and Economic Development Corporation connecting businesses in Africa to the world.
"I was recently inducted at the Universal Peace Federation at the United Nations, as an Ambassador for Culture uniting USA and China by promoting culture, development and health wellness among women of the world, and equally promoting peace building. We have been doing a lot of things around the world since the last three years. I have also been a two term Commissioner with the Little Rock Cities Commission, Arkansas, USA and one of the first black women to make history in business and diplomacy in the city of Arkansas." Not an easy feat for a black woman to accomplish especially as she equally agrees that Arkansas was at a time, a tough racial spot!
“When I first arrived in Arkansas in the 80s, It was a very racially segregated city during that time. Now I look back at those days and recall some of the things I did then with nostalgia. Indeed, I did a lot of things. I was one of the first in terms of African-Americans to build relationships. I mean a person of color for instance, to have a clothing store there. I had a clothing store because I was so busy on African culture, taking my African culture to the world; that is what I sold to America. I was one of the first to have a black business in a major environment dominated by whites. So, I was the face of African business and of course, I had a network of great friends over there with which I did great exploits around the world. I mean beautiful people. Arkansas is a place I call ‘The Quiet Giant.’
"I call it that because, after we were able to break what I call the ‘racial ceiling’ we discovered that some of these acts were not even done deliberately; it was just because people didn’t know where their boundaries ended and where they needed it to begin. So, what I did was simple. I was the one that helped cross some of those boundaries. And after I crossed those boundaries, it was okay for everybody else to do the same. Both sides later found out and said, ‘oh, so, we could do this? These people are not as bad as we thought.’ When you really find time to know a White person, you find out that they actually love just like we do. So, we had to cross that bridge. I actually stepped into some zones because most of the time then, we stayed in our comfort zones and we didn’t want to step out of our comfort zone. So, that was what I did and I think that was my father’s nature in me that sprung out."
How she gained prominence in USA
“I graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1991 with a BA in Journalism. I later studied International Consulting and Public Health Policy from Southern California University. My activities at the Chambers of Commerce and how I was able to connect people and bring businesses together, thereby creating inter-racial relationship earned me the sobriquet “The Bridge”
“I was part of the new generation of black people who brought lots of innovations to Arkansas. I was later appointed as a member of the Chamber of Commerce. The very year President Bill Clinton was appointed, we were actually the one who hosted President Bill Clinton at that time. We had relationship with countries like China, South Korea and other like mind nations. We exchanged ideas for global socio-economic and socio-cultural benefit. I served my two-term tenure a total of ten years as a Commissioner with Little Rock Sister Cities Commission: I was then appointed by the Mayor of Little Rock: as a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador!
A Lady of different worlds
Having lived much of her early life in Nigeria and also grown and melted comfortably into the American society, we asked her what the peculiar differences are between the American society and Nigeria are, Princess Moradeun Ogunlana had this to say: “There are lots of differences and there are lots of similarities too. That is because, one thing is certain, people are people no matter where they live on planet earth. You have good people and you have bad people. When you are unique, you will make people buy into your ideas. So, you can connect ideas with maximum benefit and that is where I made a difference!
Her foundation
Ever energetic, Princess Moradeun Ogunlana set up The Global Summit Group Incorporated, which works in conjunction with international bodies across the world. The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of African Women’s Health Project International a role she also plays, is the Chairman of the Global Summit Group Inc. among many other global concerns, she’s active on.
Speaking on that platform, Princess Ogunlana commented that, “globally, a lot of our people in Diaspora and those living on the continent of Africa have come to realize that it is up to us to develop our continent.
“This is not about somebody coming from outside to come and help us change our fortune because all the human resources we need are all here for our development and most especially in Nigeria. Our country Nigeria is the central part of Africa and this is not a coincidence, if you even look at the map of Africa, you will see Nigeria lying directly at the epicenter. God has deposited so much on this land, so it is up to us to change our own destiny for good. It is up to Africa to stand for her own greatness. Whether we are Nigerians living here or in the Diaspora, definitely, we want to be part of a change in our country.
So, when Princess Moradeun Ogunlana came recently to Nigeria, she also came with a mission. Armed with a connection to another Princess, this time, a Princess from the ancient Bini Kingdom, Barrister Princess Mrs. Caroline Adeneye, wife of the Ogun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Dayo Adeneye, she came to deliver a message to Her Excellency, The First Lady of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, in her capacity as the Convener of the Global Summit on Women Empowerment.
"This year, the Global Summit on Women Empowerment in October, will showcase the good works of some First Ladies around the world. These will be 'Her Excellencies,' that are doing great things with their platforms as wives of state' executives or head of corporations and NGOs. First ladies that are actually doing things from their heart to develop humanity in their own sphere of influence. When we took an x-ray of such people in Nigeria, to see who could fit into our Hall of Fame to be the honorary recipient of the Global Lady Icon Award,
we discovered Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, the First Lady of Ogun State, who runs an NGO called the Uplift Development Foundation, which has shown genuine course to the development of ordinary people in Ogun state.
"For instance, her NGO Uplift Development Foundation is one of the biggest poverty alleviation movements in Ogun state that is changing lives in a rare manner. We went online and we saw pictures of great achievements she made with UPLIFT Development Foundation. Uplift Development Foundation has over 18 subs-derivatives that cater for various set of people in the various strata of the society. The one that gives a particular amount to aged women monthly is there, the one that gives skills acquisition strictly to the girl-child in the state is equally there, the one that de-worms school children in Ogun State, the one that discover talents and sharpen them up for success. Very amazing things we discovered about Mrs. Amosun and we said, of course, she is the one we think can conveniently stand with other female global achievers who have achieved something in their various endeavours. Can I share some testimonies we got while researching her with you?
"Do you know Akpan Udoh the best Nigerian under 17 Goal Keeper who brought Nigeria an Olympic medal recently was discovered by Mrs. Amosun through her Uplift Football Team in 2013? Now that singular act of patriotism revealed two things about Mrs. Amosun. One, her Uplift Football Team Project which is one of the over 18 Derivatives of her Uplift Development Foundation goes around the 3 senatorial districts in the state to search for skilled footballers and sport loving kids and sponsor their talents with her resources. That is another area Africa is lagging behind. Not every child wants to go to school, but there are lots of kids with hobbies that could be monetized in the long run. Mrs. Amosun is seeing this big picture and she is extending her gesture towards that. Secondly, Akpan Udoh is not from Ogun State. It is possible he is one of the many ordinary Nigerian from far flung distances who lives in Ogun State, yet Mrs. Amosun saw nothing bad in uplifting him and many others. She uplifted Akpan to the glory of her selfless service in Ogun State but today Akpan has given back to Nigeria. That is a milestone achievement we cannot take for granted.
"However, the one that really touched our heart the more was during her 50th birthday recently. Instead of going into a ‘receiving spree’ Mrs. Amosun decided to go into a ‘giving spree’ and that was extra-ordinary. She launched a Green Revolution project for rural women on her 50th birthday and invited the wife of the President and Vice President of Nigeria to the event. I learnt that the wife of the President asked other first ladies to emulate her ideas as it was something Nigeria needed at this moment; that is a presidential endorsement! Not only Nigeria is in need of a Green Revolution, in Arkansas, we cherish such lofty ideas because Arkansas is a farming state.
"On her 50th birthday, she also went under the bridge in Abeokuta, to pick women selling adire, traditional clothing, with no option of ever renting a shop in their lives, she rented shops for so many of them, just to take them off the hazards of selling their wares in public roads and equally empowering them. I personally have not seen that kind of passion for charity before. I am deeply touched and these among several other things we discovered about her, led us to our decision to honour her at the Global Council of Women for Development’s First Ladies forum and Economic Development Summit in Washington DC in October. She is one of the ambassadors of Global Change among ordinary people. She will also be a speaker at the First Ladies' Forum and Economic Development Summit, in Washington DC.
She told us more about what the Global Summit is about. "The objectives of the global summit are threefold. We have created an international platform for comprehensive evaluation of the socio-economic, political and intellectual development of women in the new millennium. Secondly, one of the most valuable things we want to get out of this event, is to conceptualize a platform, a neutral set of activities for a global collaboration on government businesses and organization for the continuous well being of women empowerment. The third one of course is to create a business summit for the appointment of women ambassadors in the global economy. We are using all of these as a platform because if you look at the United Nation’s sustainable development Goal 5, it is all about women empowerment.
"We are actually using that Goal 5 to guide us in the programme we are actually developing. So, it is about women leaders across nations coming together to see what we can do in our various localities and then going back to implement those ideas for the benefit of mankind. We are going to have pinning ceremonies on the last day of the summit, where we are going to be seated as Council of Women for the development of nations. And if you look around the world today, you will see that a lot is being done to better humanity by women in leadership roles. Women are taking up much more challenges and giving more solutions to the world. If you give a woman two, she can turn it to four. Women are multipliers by nature. Women have the 6th sense which makes it easy for us to provide leadership from cradle to creativity. We have to appreciate those men with the wisdom of King Solomon who are fast realising that women have the ace when it comes to giving the best leadership that will change the world into a better place.
And where does Princess Moradeun Ogunlana get the energy to connect people and make things happen? After some seconds of deep thought, she replied in a small quiet voice, "I think I came to this world with that because, some of the things we do are things that define humanity, like breaking new grounds in terms of idea and business innovation. It is our mission in life to give voice to the voiceless. There are some people that don’t have any voice. I know I wanted to do this since I was a little girl. My brothers can attest to that."
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