President Bola Tinubu has called for a stronger partnership between the Federal Government and Rotary International on healthcare, education, youth empowerment and community development.

He said Nigeria is celebrating the emergence of Rotarian Olayinka Hakeem Babalola as the second African to lead the global service organisation in its 121-year history.

Speaking at a presidential inaugural dinner held in Abuja on Sunday in honour of the new President of Rotary International, Tinubu described Babalola’s election as a historic achievement for Nigeria and Africa.

He said it demonstrated the country’s ability to produce leaders of global competence and character.

Represented at the event by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume, the President said Babalola’s emergence was “not merely a personal distinction” but “a national statement” that reflected Nigeria’s growing influence on the global stage.

Tinubu said the values of Rotary International—service, integrity, fellowship, diversity and leadership—aligned with the objectives of his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which seeks to improve education, healthcare, youth development, job creation and service delivery.

He noted that government alone could not achieve national transformation and invited Rotary International, under Babalola’s leadership, to deepen collaboration with Nigeria in primary healthcare, maternal and child health, education, literacy, youth skills acquisition and community economic development.

“If we align Rotary’s culture of community service with the Federal Government’s policy direction under Renewed Hope, we can create results that are measurable, local and lasting. We can deliver hope not as a slogan, but as a lived reality,” he said.

Tinubu also paid tribute to Rotary’s role in the global fight against polio, describing its contribution to Nigeria’s eventual eradication of the wild poliovirus as one of the greatest examples of international cooperation in public health.

The President, Rotary International, Olayinka Hakeem Babalola, said apart from EndPolioNow, the organisation has floated new programmes of “Together for Healthy Families and Healthy Communities Challenge” to address maternal, malaria and diarrhoea problems in the country.

Babalola said: ‘Rotary’s greatest achievements are not measured by the meetings we hold or the plans we make, but by the lives we transform and the hope we create.

“Nowhere is that impact more evident than here in Nigeria. For decades, Nigerian Rotarians have stood shoulder to shoulder with communities, governments, and global partners in one of humanity’s greatest public health campaigns- the fight against polio.

“Through persistence, sacrifice, advocacy, and countless hours of volunteer service, Rotary has helped bring Nigeria and the African continent to the threshold of a polio-free future.

“Yet, until polio is eradicated everywhere, our vigilance must continue, because every child, everywhere, deserves the chance to live free from this devastating disease.