The new District Governor of Rotary International District 9111 for the 2025-2026 Rotary Year; Prince Henry Olubowale Akinyele will be formally inaugurated on July 13, though he assumed office on July 1 in line with Rotary’s standard globally. In this interview with GBENGA SALAU, he provides insight into his journey in Rotary that has culminated in his upgrade as District Governor among other issues.

As 9111 District Governor for the year 2025- 2026, what are your expectations in the year?
FIRST of all, I am so excited and I am thrilled. July 1 is Rotary‘s New Year and I am so happy that God has spared our lives to see this day. I envision a district that is more grounded in our communities in terms of impactful projects at the end of the Rotary Year. Of course, I envision a district that is more strengthened and a formidable one, in terms of membership, and raising funds into the foundation. And taking Rotary to the door of every member of our society in terms of public image. So, those are some of the expectations for the year 2025-2026.

When a new leader comes into a place, though there are traditions, cultures, people still expect changes. So, what are the changes Rotary members should look forward to as you lead the team?
Rotary’s mission remains unchanged. What changes is leadership and there are quite a number of things that will go with this but everybody will bring his or her creativities, professional experiences and quite a lot of things into play.

We expect that having been in this organisation for 30 years with quite a lot of experiences, one has been able to be mentored by past district leaders.

And given the background of being a business person, and a trained statistician, we expect quite a lot of creativity, which we believe will also enhance our performance. Like my friend will say, we are stylish. So, we want to have a Rotary year that is full of impactful projects and fun. We want our Rotarians to experience what Rotary is all about.

And at the same time, we want to encourage our clubs, because they are domiciled in different communities, to do bigger and bolder projects. We want to encourage them to collaborate, to be able to do something that is big, which the society can feel the impact. We also intend to extend collaborations with corporate organisations for partnership because we believe that government cannot do it alone.

So, we want to bring all our resources and social capital into play by bringing them together to make sure that we are able to strengthen the district and be able to impact more on the society. So, these are some of the expectations in this Rotary year.

No doubt, you are looking forward to July 13 for the installation. Is it okay to refer to you as the District Governor since the formal handover has taken place?
Anyway, I have assumed office as the District Governor from 12.01am on July 1. Like I said, the club is so structured. I was trying to put a test to it, so, at exactly a few seconds after 12:00am on July 1, I was still awake and I opened my computer to look at my status. And I discovered that my immediate past District Governor has been removed and I have been upgraded.

So, what I am trying to say in essence is that I have assumed the position of the District Governor from July 1 and the necessary official handover has been done and I am the District Governor.

You have dubbed the installation ceremony on July 13 a Royal Installation; what is the concept behind it?
Like I said, we have quite a lot of eggheads in the club. I am from the royal background. I am a prince from a community in Ondo Kingdom. As a matter of fact, the first settlers in the present Ondo Kingdom. So, I am a direct priest. The committee came up with the idea that we must conceptualise a royal event to usher in a prince. But, in short, it is because of the grandeur, the excitement we want to put into the event.

What signature project are we expecting from the district?
Quite a number of projects are meant to be done. Like I said, the mission of rotary remains the same. There are avenues of service in the club and also what we call the areas of focus. Year in, year out,

Clubs are expected to run projects in all these areas of avenues and areas of focus. At the district level, the first thing is to monitor clubs to make sure that they carry out suitable projects that meet the needs of their community, organise trainings and learning sessions for club presidents, club leaders and this we have done before we assumed office.

We have star projects. Membership is key to the district. We believe the more we are, the better because we have so many hands to do the job. So, our main focus is going to be on membership. And that is why we have developed a mantra of ‘One Bring One’. So, it’s going to be a major project for the year.

Also, Rotary Club has a foundation, which has been adjudged one of the best foundations in the world. As a matter of fact, for 16 consecutive times, we have been given the highest rating as a foundation. So, we are going to encourage rotarians to make contributions into this foundation and also to make use of the money in the foundation by assessing every available grant.

For the star project, last year, the district initiated a peace study course in collaboration with the Olabisi Onabanjo University. And within that short period of one year, we have been able to graduate 100 peace scholars. It’s a three-month programme and we are looking at the long-term results of this. Let’s assume in the next 10 years or five years, we have about 10,000 peace activators in our communities. You know the implication, you know what it means.

So, this Rotary Year, the course is hybrid, and when participants go for the physical class they need to move from one department to one available study room. So, we want to put up an edifice that will be called Rotary Peace Centre at the university.

We want to encourage organisations, partners, rotarians to make contributions towards this, so that we can have this project executed and commissioned before the end of the Rotary Year. We are also going to run some other projects. We have also developed a project that will involve our clubs. We want to do a mass eye screening exercise for students in the public schools.

Many of these students are visually impaired but because of their background, attention is not paid adequately to it. If you notice of recent, when you get to private schools, you notice that quite a number of them are using glasses and when you get to public school, they are not. An ignorant person will say it is because they are from wealthy homes. But majority of the children in public schools can’t see properly.

They are impaired, but they don’t know. So, we want to do eye screening and provide eyeglasses for those who will need them. So, we are going to run this project through our clubs. They will identify public schools in their communities and we will collaborate to run this project. We are also going to get sick bays into some of these public schools.

I have met with the Commission for Education in Lagos State to see how we can train some specific teachers that can take charge of these sick bays. So, all these things are part of the little things we are going to run through our clubs. In this last Rotary Year, we did almost 1,000 cataract surgeries in one Rotary Year and as of the last count; we have done over 980 cataract surgeries.

What has been your experience in Rotary over the years?
I would say that Rotary has actually changed my life because when you see the structure of Rotary, you will understand. If a Rotarian is in any organisation, either in the church or on the street, you will discover a trait of leadership in him. So, I discovered that because I joined so early, the club has been able to change my life in terms of giving back to the society because what attracted me firstly was when I first saw the motto of Rotary, ‘Service Above Self.’

We have our creeds that if we are able to align with it, we will definitely be very righteous as a people. And it has shaped my life to learn how to give back to society, how to lead and connect. It has also built my social capital. So, I see that the journey has been so smooth. The journey has also been fun.

I have gone through all the hierarchy, from being just an ordinary member of a club to serving as a club president, serving as district officers at different levels, chairman of several committees and all that and now the district governor. It has really changed my life and it has really made me to impact so many lives.

Rotary is so beautiful. We do quite a lot of things for people who are in need that we don’t know. Rotary is so involved in what is happening in Ukraine and those that are displaced and all that. So, people put their funds, helping people that they don’t know.

That is the beauty of Rotary. That is why Rotary is different from any other club, because when you give to people on your street or your neighborhood, there is every possibility they will make you a chief. There is every possibility they will ask you to be the chairman of the Community Development Association (CDA) and all the rest. But in Rotary, we give to somebody that doesn’t even know us.