L-R: Senior Group Head, Reignite Public Affairs, Tola Odusote; Speaker Ecowas Youth Parliament, Ghana, Rt. Hon Mensah Fred; MD/CEO, CMC Connect Burson Marsteller, Yomi Badejo -Okusanya; ED, CMC Connect Burson Marsteller, Raheem Olabode, and Deputy Speaker, Ecowas Youth Parliament, Liberia, Rt. Hon. Varney Maxwell, during the Ecowas Youth Parliament Award Presentation to Yomi Badejo -Okusanya, held in Lagos recently

The President of the African Public Relations Association (APRA) and Managing Director of CMC Connect Group, Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, has been honoured with the Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Leadership Award of Integrity and Transparency as the Most Outstanding African Personality of the Year.

Badejo-Okusanya was conferred with the award in Lagos recently by the ECOWAS Youth Parliament (EYP). He surpassed other nominees from Liberia, Ghana and Cape Verde to clinch the award after being nominated by the Nigerian Youth Forum.

He was commended for promoting African Image, exemplary leadership, distinct reputation throughout his business career. The award, titled “Championing the Course of the African Next Generation”, has made him a Grand Commander of the ECOWAS Youth Parliament.

Presenting the award, Speaker of ECOWAS Youth Parliament, Rt. Hon Mensah Fred noted that he was honoured with the award for his national recognition, his selfless service towards promoting Africa’s image, his good leadership qualities, integrity and transparent style of leadership, impactful nature towards the betterment of African citizens, educational development and advancement towards eradicating illiteracy in Nigeria.

Mensah said, “When others are standing, you are outstanding, we are so much happy about your disciplined personality towards making the youths and Nigerian communities better for good”.

“I was unable to read anything negative about you. I was so happy that this young personality has been leading a vibrant PR consulting firm for a long time and you have been doing well. In our last conference in Liberia, some of the Youth leaders from Nigeria nominated you to be decorated with the EYP Honour, when we were deliberating on who to award this year, and to the glory of God we made a reasonable and outstanding selection. It is wonderful that this award will be coming to Nigeria this time around”. Mensah noted.

L-R: Speaker Ecowas Youth Parliament, Ghana, Rt. Hon Mensah Fred and MD/CEO, CMC Connect Burson Marsteller, Yomi Badejo -Okusanya, during the Ecowas Youth Parliament Award Presentation to Yomi Badejo -Okusanya, held in Lagos recently

Receiving the award, Okusanya stated that he accepted the award because it has no monetary value attached. He commended the organisation for its commitment towards socio-economic development and charged them to set more goals in order to create a better future for ECOWAS.

“The future of this continent lies in the hands of young people like you and you need to have that vision for a better tomorrow. I am going to ask your organisation to please set a vision, communicate that vision, let all of us know about that vision, let us work with that vision. We don’t have to be in your organisation before we can support that vision and I believe that you can become the vehicle by which we can see a better ECOWAS”. Okusanya noted.

Speaking further, he applauded the organisation for appreciating his efforts, and urged them to continue on the path of integrity. He called on the ECOWAS Youth Parliament to join African Public Relations Association (APRA) in its quest to change the narrative of Africa in order to realise the full potentials of the continent.

Badejo – Okusanya is a perception manager who made his way into the Public Relations industry about 24 years ago and is successfully leading one of the top perception Public Relations firms in Nigeria, CMC Connect Burson –Marsteller. He is the current President of APRA, an umbrella body of PR practitioners in Africa and was a past Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Lagos State Chapter. He has consulted for many organisations and governments including the first female President in Africa, Ellen Sirleaf Johnson of Liberia.

The ECOWAS Youth Parliament, formerly the West Africa Youth Parliament, promotes youth empowerment, defending people’s rights, improvement of equity, democratization and equal access to education at all levels, and the fostering of academic freedom, freedom of research, and the promotion of democratic culture amongst various peoples.

EYP plays an integral role in advancing the youth development agenda and co-ordination of activities and policies of the ECOWAS in the field of youth. The council works for and represents the voice of all young people within the 16 ECOWAS nations.