By Onyekachi Victoria Philip
Popular Tourism icon and renowned resort builder, Otunba Wanle Akinboboye, has for years turned what should ordinarily be a personal birthday celebration into an annual humanitarian call, asking friends, family members, associates and well-wishers around the world that his greatest joy is not getting gifts for himself but contributing to the lives of the people at large, struggling for survival.
The long-standing custom repeated itself as people who would ordinarily have celebrated the tourism entrepreneur with personal gifts once again responded to his special request by taking gifts and donations to orphanage homes and other charitable organisations.
In several instances, loved ones who visited the homes told the beneficiaries that the donations were being made in honour of Akinboboye’s birthday, following his personal instruction.
The annual gesture has become one of the unusual ways the tourism icon chooses to mark another year of his life, not by accumulating gifts for himself, but by redirecting the goodwill of those around him towards the less privileged.
Hours before his birthday this year, Akinboboye announced that he would spend the occasion in quiet reflection and would not participate in meetings or transactions.
He also renewed his appeal to anyone planning to send him a birthday gift.
He said:
“I also, once again ask that, if anyone has thoughts of sending me a gift to mark the occasion that they instead donate something to a charitable / less privileged organization or home in my name and on my behalf.”
Otunba Wanle Akinboboye has used the initiative over the years to raise a much bigger question about what could happen if ordinary birthday celebrations across Nigeria were converted into opportunities to help people in need.
Sharing his reasoning, he asked:
“Will any homeless underprivileged child or people go to bed hungry if ten percent of Nigerians decided to celebrate their birthday my way, with friends family and associates donating just twenty thousand naira to the needy?”
The tourism icon also revealed that some of his associates had previously donated amounts ranging from 100,000 to 1 million naira to the needy during such initiatives.
Rather than people arriving with gifts for the celebrant, some have been turning up at orphanages and homes for the less privileged with food, gifts and other forms of support.
The beneficiaries, many of whom may never have met Akinboboye personally, have consequently become unexpected recipients of a celebration that was originally meant for one man.
That has become the defining feature of his birthday tradition.
For years, the tourism icon has continued to use the occasion to encourage people within his circle to transform personal goodwill into community impact.
And with his network stretching across different sectors and countries, the potential reach of such a simple request is considerable.
The message is particularly striking because it comes from a man whose career has been associated with building, from resorts and tourism destinations to platforms aimed at promoting Africa’s cultural and economic potential.
Yet, on his birthday, his recurring request is not for another possession.
It is for someone else to receive something.
Akinboboye’s annual appeal has therefore created a different definition of birthday celebration, one where the number of gifts received by the celebrant becomes less important than the number of vulnerable people who benefit from the celebration.
