A Senior Secondary II student of Supreme Educational Foundation, Magodo, Lagos,Naomi Osemeeghonghon Odiboh has emerged The Voice Achievers Award Ambassador. The conferment done by Ambassador Elvis Iruh, the CEO, The Voice Achievers Award was witnessed by local and international audience, at the event which took place at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos gathering the crème de la crème of the business and diplomatic world in Africa and Europe
In her speech titled “Africa Deserves Better” and read out on stage, Naomi stated that it is impossible to deny that Africa deserves more and better. According to her, the continent’s struggles today are not because Africans lack potential, but because colonialism left deep wounds that still shape our realities.
To move forward therefore, she said“we must first acknowledge the history that held Africa back and still struggling which included colonial exploitation which drained resources and left artificial borders, broken economies and divided nations. Others she said included suppressed education and skillsfor Africans, preventing the development of a strong professional and technical classwith its effects still being felt.
The award ambassadors, however, insisted that even though colonialism left scars, “but let’s be honest with ourselves—that is not why Africa is still struggling today. At some point, she noted, the blame stops being history and starts being us”.
According to her, for centuries, our continent has been called rich— rich in gold, oil, diamonds and fertile soil, yet too often, that richness has not reflected in the lives of Africans and Africa remains a land of promise but also of paradox. “We are wealthy yet our wealth slips through fingers.“Africa is rich in resources but poor in profit because raw materials leave and wealth doesn’t return, we are vast yet our voices remain small on the global stage as Africa’s voice is often heard but not listened to in global politics and economies”.
Naomi told the audience that when independence came, it came with broken systems and borrowed dreams but we cannot blame the past alone noting that Africa still struggles because of internal wounds, corruption that eats the roots of progress, leadership that too often serves self before serviceand economies that export raw materials only to import finished products at ten times the price in a continent so full of brilliance but still begs for what it already owns.
Ambassador Naomi however, provided a ray of hope saying that “the youths, the heartbeat of this continent will not wait for handouts because they are coding apps in Lagos, building startups in Nairobi, producing art in Johannesburg and crafting policy ideas in Accra but needed systems that believe in them, governments that invest in them and nations that unite behind them and until we wake, until we rise with the fury of all who came before us, Africa will bleed while we pretend it’s not our neglect”.
She concluded that Africa’s struggles aren’t only because of colonial chains, as she put it “they linger because we let them define us and until we stop excusing ourselves and face our own hand in the mess, Africa will bleed, not just from the world’s cruelty, but from our own betrayal”. Africa,she said deserves more, Africa deserves better and we, her children, are the proof that she will have it.
Naomi is a consummate artiste: a Violinist, Dramatist, Dancer, Singer, Composer, Essayist, Poet, Writer and a Spoken Word Artist among others. She is a strong Christian and loves creativity, very serious with her education and wants to study Psychotherapy otherwise known as Talk Therapy at the university.
The Voice of Achievers Award event, sponsored by The Voice Magazine, Almere, The Netherlands, and The Embassy of The Netherlands, was the 14th Edition of the award but held for the first time in Nigeria. Previous editions of the awards were held in The Netherlands, Kenya, The Gambia, The United Arab Emirates. According to Ambassador Elvis Iruh, the organiser of the event, the next edition of the award is slated for The United Kingdom in 2026.
