17 Young Nigerians to be Honored by U.S. Consulate General

Consul General John Bray of the U.S. Consulate General Lagos will on Wednesday of March 2nd 2016, honor at least 17 young Nigerians who have in the last one year shown dedication and unequal committment towards advancing the livelihood of people in selected communities across the Lagos metropolis and Port-Harcourt.

These outstanding youths were about a year ago, admitted as Fellows into the Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative (CYFI); an initiative of the U.S. Consulate General Lagos launched in 2011 to promote the legacies of the iconic civil liberty champion, Ambassador Walter C. Carrington (Former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria). On a yearly basis, selected Fellows (known as CYFI Fellows) receives financial grants, mentorship and networking opportunities to aid them in successfully initiating and implementing a result-oriented project in a community of their choice. Most of the projects are centered around Civil Liberties, Economic Empowerment, Education and Health.

So, having successfully completed their one year CYFI projects, the following set of CYFI Fellows will be awarded with certificates among other prizes:
Hope Ogbologugo, Kasope Akinkuowo, Adeniyi Olayemi, Omozino Eguh, Laolu Alabi, Quam Akanni, Nwosu Chinedum, Nissi Madu, Adeniyi Oluokun, Bassey Rachael, Kayode Awokoya, Moshood Abdullateef, Olufunke Olasode, Pamela Akinboboye, Chibuike B. Emmanuel, Lewis-Wikina Sira, Victor Okechukwu
You can checkout the profiles of individual Fellows at CYFI Fellows 2015

The award ceremony will be held in grand style at the official residence of the U.S. Consul General with rank and file guests from all works of life confirmed to grace the occasion.

Attendance to the prestigeous CYFI Awards and Graduation Ceremony night is strictly by invitation. Fortunately for me, I have my invite already, yay! Hope to see you there.

Written by:
Ebenezer O. Akinrinade -- CYFI Fellow 2012
[Photographer| Writer| Social Worker]
Tweet me @gent2smile OR @EbenAkinrinade

Will Ayodele's Story Trend The World Like Jumoke?

There is a long standing popular assertion among the elite and older folks that the present generation of young Nigerians are lazy readers with no zest for book knowledge. Hence the reason for high rate of unemployment, terrorism and other social vices. But in the midst of all these negative characterization of the average youth, a graduating student from the Department of Psychology, Daniel Ayodele Dada, has proven to be a different crop of young Nigerian as he recently sets a new academic record as the first person ever to graduate with 5.0 CGPA from UNILAG. An historic and record breaking feat which has never being witnessed before since the establishment of the prestigeous university.

So many congratulatory messages has been going around the social media space in celebration of our newly discovered genius Ayodele for his academic achievement. More so, few questions have also being raised by concerned individuals on social media if it would ever be possible for Ayodele to have his story featured on CNN or at least trend across the world like that of Jumoke Orisaguna, the bread seller who turned a super model after being discovered by Ty Bello during a street photoshoot?

Because, unlike those in the entertainment industry who from time to time get endorsement deals, media attention and all the paparazzi, it seem Nigeria hardly recognizes or celebrates her own geniuses in the academic settings which of course is one of the reasons why an average kid would rather look up to Olamide YBNL as a role model than aspire to be like Professor Wole Soyinka. I so strongly believe that Ayodele's story will set a new standard for the average Nigerian child and youth, if the same banks, corporate brands and media giants who lavished attention and sponsorship on Olajumoke Orisaguna would extend equal generousity towards Ayodele by pushing him into the limelight so that many uninspired students can take a cue from him and ultimately aspire to be like him--breaking new records.

Daniel Ayodele Dada (image credit: UNILAG Student Portal)

Doing this is very vital especially in a country like Nigeria where there are reportedly over 10million out-of-school children. Projecting Ayodele's story to all and sundry will help build up the much needed motivation amongst young people.

Daniel Ayodele Dada

As an advocate of the Sustainable Development Goal 4, I am using this platform to join my voice in sync with millions of other vital voices to make a clarion call to the Nigerian government, corporate bodies, media houses, international organizations and civil societies to scale up the investment (and efforts) in bringing illiteracy down to zero level in Nigeria.

Many fingers are crossed to observe carefully what the coming days holds for the genius, Daniel Ayodele Dada. As someone said, "Will Nigeria raise more hawkers than scholars?"
I 'hopefully hope' that the question gets the right response.

Written by:

Ebenezer O. Akinrinade
[Photographer| Writer| Social Worker]
Tweet me @gent2smile OR @EbenAkinrinade