Story By Emmanuel Elebeke

Two Nigerians, Uloma Ogba and Hauwa Balami, founders of  ‘Give Girls A Chance’  have been  presented with the prestigious Commonwealth Points of Light award for their voluntary and outstanding work for humanity in their local community, making them the 214th winners of the Commonwealth Points of Light award. 

The Award, which was personally signed by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth 11, was presented at a reception organized by the Commission at the British High Commissioner’s Residence for High Commissioners of Commonwealth countries with missions in Abuja, as part of actitivities to mark this year’s Commonwealth Day and to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 70th year on the thrown.  

Presenting the awards, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ms Catriona Laing CB explained: ‘‘Her Majesty, The Queen, as Head of the Commonwealth, launched the Award as a part of the legacy of the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London.  The Award recognises inspirational volunteers from across the 54 Commonwealth nations for the difference they are making in their communities and beyond them.”

In her response, Hauwa, who spoke on behalf of her ‘Give Girls A Chance’ co-founder Uloma, said, they are deeply honoured to have been selected for the Award. They promised to stay committed to their mission to improve access to quality education for girls across Nigeria.

 So far, over 2000 girls have directly benefitted from Give Girls A Chance since it started in 2016.