Speakers' Corner

On saturday October 17th 2005, i was privileged to attend an event called Speakers' corner organised by Fela durotoye of VIP consulting Ltd.the event held at terra Kulture, a unique meeting centre in the heart of Ikoyi in Lagos, Nigeria.

The event brought together over 300 people mostly the young and upcoming and it provided a good ground for people to meet, network and exchange ideas.

The concept behind the speakers' corner is to raise the world's most sought after speakers.

This vision can be seen in the quality of speakers and presentations at the saturday event which is the 3rd in its series.

Organisers of the speakers' corner have pledged to continue with the event on every 3rd saturday of the month at the same venue by 11.00 in the morning.

If yu want to be amongst the most sought after speakers in the world, then, be there!

Oh! What a summit

Youth leaders in Nigeria gathered in Nigeria's oil capital, Portharcourt on September 1 and 2, 2005 for the Nigerian youth Leadership Summit hosted by Development Partnership international (DPI). In my new role as Nigeria's goodwill youth Ambassadors on MDGs and co-founder of the Nigerian Youth Network on MDGs, i flew to the Integrated Cultural centre, Venue of the summit in Porharcourt.

Day 1.

I left Otta via Lagos for Portharcourt around 7.am. and it was so funny that i did not get to PH until 9pm...what usually should be a 9 hour maximum journey by road..took me more than 12 hours...It rained heavily...we had to go at a snail speed..and every other thing that could go wrong on a road journey, went wrong...let me spare you the details.

I missed the first day of the 2-day meeting, i however got a graphical recap of the whole day's event from my very good friend Dabesaki...who threw open his palatial room for me to spend the night and indeed my whole stay in PH.

Day 2.

We got to the venue of the meeting early enough...missing breakfast...I was prepared to make my short presentation on youth and MDGs in Nigeria, but unkowningly, i have more roles to play. I was drafted to chair the panel discussion on youth leadership and national development, which includes 4 presentations, and i ended up anchoring the whole days program.

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I met with one of my colleague and respected friend, martin mary, who works as a youth trainer on HIV/AIDS and does a lot of amazing work at the grass-root level. he gave a presentation also on starting an NGO...and shared his personal experiences.

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As soon as she mentioned her name, it rang a bell. Ada of the Girl Child Art Project...one of the many fantastic people janet Feldman e-networked me to.

We discussed a little and we're currently looking at where our work can intersect..

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You only need to see the communique which was released at the end of the two-day meeting for you to know that this time around youth leaders in Nigeria are ready for serious business.
One key issue that touched me was the consensus on moving from Words into action..which also was a major highlight in the pan african youth leaders meeting in Morocco.

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On my way Back...

I did a stop-over to see ibraheem (Ibghandi) in Benin where i spent the night...Ibraheem's has been one of TIG's power house since inception.

We spoke about ongoing projects, shared jokes, and swapped stories and on and on.

he dropped me at the Car-park where i boarded a bus to lagos on Sunday.!

Maroc '05 

rotimi Olawale with the Nigerian flag, harvesting peaches and apples in a farm in Morocco 

Nigeria's oil city

I will be at Nigeria's oil capital, portharcourt, tomorrow, where i hope to joing 150 young leaders in the country for the nigerian youth leadership summit organised by my very good friend Dabesaki.

I hopefully, will be making a presentation about youth and MDGs in Nigeria, and also campaign about the MDGs in Nigeria and what young people can do to help fast track the process.

I will keep yopu updated as the program goes...

Cheers

Meeting John Gage in Morocco

I must talk about this...

John Gage is the Chief Researcher at Sun Micro Systems and i guess (not too sure) he is one of the founders of the multi million dollar company.

John gage gave a very interesting presentation at the PAn African Youth Leadership Summit 11 (PAYLS2) in Morocco and he explained ICTs as clearly and as simple as if he was speaking to a room full of k-12 kids. It was interesting, especially his demonstration of Google earth (tried installing it on my system...wont install, my rickety old office system dont have the capacity)...he flew from one capital city in Africa to another using google earth, flew to his home in California...I sat mesmerised by his speech and with the ease with which he connected to a room full of young african leaders who have gathered to discuss on translating words into action in achieving the MDGs.

I said to myself, i must as a matter of must, speak to this man before he leaves Ifrane...

Later in the night, as we had dinner and exchanged jokes about Morocco's love for bread, John Gage silently sat two seats away from me althjough on the same table..and in a jiffy, we started discussions, i was marvelled about his indepths flow, he has so much geniune interest for the African continent and young people generally. we discussed for more than an hour!

That's not the gist..he pledged that Sun Micro system's staffs all over the world would (depending on some calculation and logistics) donate 1% of their time to help young people work out the technical details of their development projects as at and when due.

Then to the dance floor...you wont believe it....Dr. Djibril of the UNDP even had to name John gage the best dancer at the summit with the ease at which he manouvered and twisted his body on the dance floor.

You would think he was sweet sixteen!

From Left, Gbenga Sesan, Rotimi Olawale, Hauwa Umar and John Gage at the just concluded Pan African Youth Leadership Summit in Morocco 

Rotimi Olawale and Hauwa Umar, Nigerian Delegates to the Second Pan African Youth Leadership Summit in Ifrane Morocco, August, 2005 

everyone loves to be a star

Saturday started norma...sun blazing...I dressed hurriedly and rushed to the office to catch up on some work...i got there and was informed that it was the big boss birthday (my executive director).
I had to be there...we drove to his mansio in a convoy and when we got there, i became bartender, and paparazzi emeritus (snapped pix with my boss digital camera).

Now, the main story.

As i zoomed in on guests and clicked away, i saw adults (40s, 50s bla bla) readjusting their coats and their hair and waiting patiently for the flash of my nikon digital camera. And gues what, most of them would call me to want to catch a glimpse of themselves.
This brought back memories from Ifrane in Morocco when i took pictures of delegates at the second pan african youth summit...everyone loves the flash and like Hauwa would say, 'its my moment, i better live to to it'