U.S. Consulate General Honours 2018 Carrington Fellows

&NewLine;<p><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The U&period;S&period; Consulate General Lagos hosted a graduation ceremony on Thursday for 19 young Nigerians who formed the 2018 cohort of the Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative&period;<br>&NewLine;Speaking at the event&comma; which celebrated the fellows’ work in underserved communities&comma; U&period;S&period; Consul F&period; John Bray highlighted the positive impact the initiative has had on local communities since its inception in 2011&period; He also commended the graduating fellows for their selfless service and commitment to stimulating positive social change&period;<br>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Our fellows made us very proud again this program year&comma; as they executed group projects on improving civil liberty&comma; promoting economic empowerment&comma; education and health in different communities&period; Their smart planning&comma; hard work&comma; and passion have led to positive change and inspired others&comma; as they in turn&comma; developed strong leadership skills in the process&period;” Bray said&period;<br>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The CYFI program is near and dear to us at the U&period;S&period; Consulate General Lagos&period; Through it&comma; we are connected to Nigerian youth&period; CYFI gives us a front-row seat to witness and learn from their dynamism&period; The future of Nigeria is in the hands of young people such as these and we know that you will lead your country forward&comma;” he added&period;<br>&NewLine;The graduation ceremony saw the emergence of the health team&comma; &OpenCurlyQuote;Project Alafia’ as the Team of the Year&comma; while Hammed Alabi&comma; a leading member of the Education group&comma; won the Fellow of the Year Award&period;<br>&NewLine;In a goodwill message delivered at the event&comma; former U&period;S&period; Ambassador to Nigeria Walter Carrington and his wife&comma; Dr&period; Arese Carrington congratulated the 2018 cohort and urged them to remain exemplars of honesty and concern for the welfare of the less privileged&period;<br>&NewLine;Named after former Ambassador Carrington&comma; who championed civil liberties and democracy in Nigeria&comma; the Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative &lpar;CYFI&rpar; brings together Nigerian youth of exceptional vision&comma; skills and experience to design and implement projects that have a positive impact on Nigerian society&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;