DR OLUSOLA AKINYEMI – is a Phd holder, Pastor, educationist, visionary, leader and mentor. For over 28 years Akinyemi has impacted the Nigerian community and the larger Italian society. The crisis that rocked the Deeper Life Bible Church, Italy in the last year has further straightened the hands of the man fondly known as Pastor Sola to foray into new territory. He left Deeper Life 14 months ago as the Overseer of Southern Europe where he planted many churches, raised leaders and made some audacious investments.
In the heat of that crisis and the odds stacked against him, he moved on to establish a new Church – Abounding Grace Christian Ministry, AGCM, with headquarters in Pesaro in central Italy. Within the short space of time piloting this Ministry Akinyemi is again blazing the trail as an innovator. Through careful application of wisdom the new Ministry acquired a 300 seating capacity theatre at its base in Pesaro with 80 per cent of the purchase price paid up without any loan facility. Branches of the new Church have also sprung up in these 14 months in such places as: Padova, Brescia, Rodigo, Melito, Rome, Maenza, Faenza, Torino, Prato, Como, Vimercate, Pescara, San Donna, Reggio Emilia, Cesena, Asti and Formia – 19 branches and still counting.
Akinyemi’s innate desire to raise champions and leaders that will make dynamic impact in Christendom and society has taken a new turn by positing and deploying a new tool to empower people in the act of leadership. Within this short time he has organised 57 Leadership Masterclasses. At a recently concluded AGCM conference, he was in the crowd as he watched different leaders, product of such Masterclasses address eight different sessions. Everyone, according to him, is fired up, and by October this year when the AGCM is two, the Ministry would have made bold strides.
MR ROWLAND NDUKUBA – the President of the National Union of Nigerian Associations in Italy, NUNAI, assumed office as the leader of the Nigerian Community, Italy in July, 2021. In that time he has succeeded in turning around the fortune of the community with NUNAI now listed in the Italian “Albo Dei Associazioni” to render services to Nigerians in sourcing jobs, housing, organising courses, documents, promotion of peace and humanitarian activities among others. On taking the helms, he met a paltry sum of €5,001(five thousand and one) in the coffers of NUNAI, but the Ndukuba led administration has generated “12 times this amount since.” In 2024, he’s instituting a Nigerian Cultural Day to be celebrated in May. Because of some reforms undertaken under his watch, NUNAI’s affiliate bodies across Italy have risen from 23 to 34 local communities.
Of note is the remarkable action taken by Ndukuba in the Summer of 2023. A homeless Nigerian Tina Akpan, who hails from Cross Rivers State, cried out for help and the Ndukuba led NUNAI responded. Akpan has a husband and four children in Nigeria and wanted to return home to her family. First, Ndukuba mobilised forces to take the woman off the street. A good Nigerian lady was persuaded to take Akpan in for two days whilst accommodation was sort for her. At the expiration of the two days, she was transferred to a hotel where she spent some days before a permanent accommodation with the Caritas was gotten for her. The NUNAI President then embarked on the arduous task of mobilising funds with which Tina Akpan was finally able to make the trip to be reunited with her family on September 19, 2023. “We’re Changing the narratives about our people,” enthused Ndukuba.
MRS LARAI MOHAMMED ZAKARI – made this honour list for her humane disposition to members of the Nigerian Community. She’s a Deputy Comptroller of Immigration attached to the Embassy of Nigeria in Rome. Some immigration officers attached to the Nigerian Mission are often viewed with suspicions in the community for obvious reasons, but not so with the person of Mohammed Zakari. Compatriots who have had cause to cross the path of this woman have praises for her humane and motherly predilection toward Nigerians. She won’t turn anyone away no matter the complexity of the problem. AfroLife Magazine Editor wanted to put to test what she heard about Mohammed Zakari, and went to the Embassy to loiter around her office. When she came out of her office and on citing our Editor went to her and wanted to know if she could be of any help. Larai Mohammed Zakari is even famed for welcoming Nigerians to her office with tea and coffee.
MR BRIGHT IRI – an entrepreneur and founder of Fulbright College, a pioneering language institution in the heart of Rome, had an eventful 2023. He has continued to project the Nigerian community to the larger Italian society in good light. His activities once again in the just ended year remarkably paved the way for many Italian youngsters to study in higher institutions in America, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. A workaholic and man of few words, Iri has earned an unparalleled trust in the society so much that his achievements announce him outside the shores of Italy. Clients in far flung places as Latin America sort the counsel and assistance of the Nigerian in placing their wards into prestigious institutions abroad. Iri projects that his work in Italy would gain more traction through expansion in 2024.
