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Three Nigerians, Olanrewaju Adeloye, Aladipupo Ajiroba and Olumide Femi Makanjuola, will each be conferred the Queen’s Young Leaders Award by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth for exhibiting exceptional leadership in their communities. According to a statement issued on Thursday by Comic Relief, a UK charity, the Award winners are working to raise awareness and inspire change on a variety of issues including education, climate change, gender, mental health and improving the lives of people with disabilities.

They will receive the Award at a ceremony at the Buckingham Palace, London on Thursday, June 23, together with other winners from 45 different Commonwealth countries in London for five days of high-level engagements, all designed to help them further their life-changing work.

The nominees from Nigeria were announced in December by Comic Relief, one of the organisers of the Award in partnership with the Royal Commonwealth Society, a network of Commonwealth individual and corporate citizens. The Award was established by the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust – a charitable foundation, established in 2012, to mark and celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s 60-year contribution to the Commonwealth.

Aged between 18 and 29, they will be recognised by The Queen for taking the lead in transforming the lives of others and making a lasting difference in their communities. The Award ceremony is part of the celebration of The Queen’s 90th birthday.

“I am so happy to be a recipient of The Queen’s Young Leaders Award," said Olanrewaju Adeloye, co-founder of SaferMom, a start-up which uses low cost mobile technologies (SMS, voice services and apps) to engage mothers with health information through pregnancy and their baby’s early years. "To be recognised for my work and be presented with an Award by Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham Palace is such a huge honour. I can’t wait to meet all the other winners in London and get involved in all the exciting activities that are taking place throughout the week.”

Before receiving their Queen’s Young Leaders Award at Buckingham Palace, the winners will visit 10 Downing Street and the UK headquarters of global social networking company Twitter, and meet with senior executives at the BBC World Service. They will also meet the Commonwealth Secretary General, take part in workshops at the University of Cambridge, have meetings with UK business leaders, and visit projects that are changing the lives of vulnerable people in the UK.

The application process to become a 2017 Queen’s Young Leader opens at 8:00pm BST on Friday 24th June 2016. The programme is looking for people aged between 18 and 29 who are dedicated to creating positive changes to the lives of people in Nigeria.

Details about how to apply to become a Queen’s Young Leader, together with information about the 2016 Award winners and Highly Commended runners up, is available at www.queensyoungleaders.com.