AYODELE OLAWANDE, Minister for Youth Development
Minister of the Year
Comrade Ayodele Olawande is a rare blend of vision, energy, and heart, a leader who has turned passion for youth development into measurable national impact. A construction engineer, community builder, and lifelong youth advocate, he has dedicated his career to one cause: empowering young Nigerians to dream, to create, and to lead.
When he assumed office as Minister for Youth Development, Olawande came with a simple but powerful conviction: that young people must be able to see, feel, and touch the government. Through his dynamic “Youth4Youth” agenda, he has translated that conviction into action, bringing government closer to the grassroots and giving millions of youths a sense of belonging.
He launched the Nigerian Youth Academy (NiYA), the flagship platform driving the “One Youth, Two Skills” campaign, a nationwide movement equipping young Nigerians with market-relevant digital and vocational skills. Under his watch, the Ministry has reached hundreds of thousands of youths with free training, mentorship, and funding opportunities.
Committed to access and inclusion, he introduced the Youth Help Desk Initiative to address youth profiling, harassment, and complaints in real time. He also launched the Corpreneur Support Initiative in partnership with Wema Bank, providing startup grants to outstanding corps members, and championed the Green House Initiative, a network of community-based centres to connect every youth with federal programmes at the grassroots.
His bold leadership earned Presidential approval for the establishment of a National Youth House in Abuja, soon to be replicated across all 36 states, a home for innovation, engagement, and inspiration.
A Harvard-trained leader, a Distinguished Fellow of the International Institute of Experts (Canada), and a passionate believer in the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Comrade Olawande continues to embody the values of accessibility, service, and transformation.
The pace at which Comrade Olawande is flying is obviously helped by his antecedents. The versatile young man attended the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti; Federal University of Technology, Akure; and University of Maiduguri where he studied Civil Engineering, Industrial Design, International Journalism, respectively, before earning a Masters degree in Project Management from Rome Business School.
Olawande commenced his career as an educator at the age of 28 and has since covered an impressive milestone, recording breakthroughs that surpass his age of 36. He worked variously with private firms, international organizations and government agencies, including serving in the office of the former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
He started politics very early in life as a member of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Now a core member of All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Olawande founded and co-founded several political groups and served in various party offices and committees in Ondo State, South West and at the national level. He the Deputy Director for Youth Mobilization in the APC Presidential Campaign Council in the 2023 Elections. Comrade Olawande was also the APC Youth Leader in Ondo State till 16th of October, 2023, when he was appointed Minister of State for Youth Development by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu before being reassigned and appointed the substantive Minister for Youth Development on 23rd October, 2024.
Olawande, a member of the Commonwealth Society of Nigeria, is well decorated with honours and recognitions in Nigeria and beyond. These include a PhD (Honoris Causa) in Leadership and Development by Eminence University, Denver, Colorado (EUDC), USA; and Distinguished Fellow and Global Expert of the International Institute of Experts on Political Economy and Administration (I.I.E.P.E.A, Canada). He is also an alumnus of the prestigious Harvard Ministerial Leadership Programme held in Boston, USA. Comrade Ayodele Olawande’s nomination as The Top10 Magazine’s Minister of the Year is in recognition of his transformative leadership as exemplified by his remarkable records of accomplishments as one of the star appointees driving president Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
