Advocacy

Debo Adebayo

Debo Adebayo popularly known as Mr Macaroni, is to most people a content creator and a comically brilliant one at that. But in the past year, since the #Endsars protests, he has shown himself to be far more fascinating than we imagined. He has shown a burning desire to change the state of affairs in the country. During the #Endsars protests, Debo Adebayo came out on the streets to march, fight, and speak out against corrupt governance and corrupt security practices, a cause which he paid dearly for, having been arrested and tortured. With such an outcome you would think he would be deterred, however, he continues to use his platform to speak against corrupt governance and rally his followers to fight for change. Employing the use of Twitter, he advocates for social and political change, and has been a strong voice for Nigerians looking to see some positive change in the country.

Rinu Oduala

Rinu Oduala is an activist who rose to fame following the #Endsars movement. She describes herself as a Community Organizer, Digital Media Strategy-Policy Maker, which is honestly a spot on self-description. Her description as a community organizer is in reality, no exaggeration. She was huge in rallying young people during the protests against police brutality. Her voice was so loud, her opinions so profound, and her stand, unwavering, to the point where she was named a member of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality. She also uses her platform to spotlight major issues and draw support to the cause. She has become, in the past year, a bonafide voice of the Youths, and she continues to hold strong on her views against corrupt governance.

AlexGREAT Akhigbe

With the goal of seeing Africa’s human habitation become more prophylactic and sanitary than it has consistently been, and changing the general misconception that most of Africa is slum like, AlexGREAT Akhigbe came up with the initiative; Africa Clean Up Initiative. African Clean Up Initiative (ACI) is a non-governmental organization (NGO), working towards inspiring and engaging citizens of communities in Africa to be committed to environmental sustainability through the work they do. The work they do involves environmental clean-up projects, educating the public on healthy hygienic practices and advocacy programs. AlexGREAT Akhigbe is an Environmental Activist who has created a volunteer network that has reached over a hundred communities. Very recently his NGO recorded 51,391.7 kg recyclables recovered and 10,728.5 kg Solid waste recovered. He has also organized 126 major environmental clean-ups across Nigeria. With over 7,540 volunteers, ACI has been able to come up with a number of programs including advocacy on ovid-19 awareness, ACI Bottles for pad initiative, where recyclable materials like plastic bottles are used to make sanitary pads for girls in low income areas, and RecyclesPay Educational project which uses funds from recycling projects to pay for underprivileged children’s education.

Damilola Odufuwa

With a burning desire to free African women from the shackles of ugly and harmful narratives Damilola Odufuwa helped co-found what has become one of the most emphatic and preeminent feminist movements in Nigeria today; The Feminist Coalition. Damilola Odufuwa is a media professional who has worked with the likes of MTV, Universal Music Group, and National Geographic; and led teams at CNN, Zikoko, and Konbini. She is currently the PR Lead, Africa at Binance. Very recently, she made the made the 2021 #TIME100NEXT list! She was also listed by Vogue Magazine as one of the 6 women at the forefront of West Africa’s tech boom. Despite her many accomplishments she still sacrifices a great deal of her energy into the Fem Co Movement. She was the recipient of the 2020 The Future Awards Africa Prize for Leading Conversations, and she was included in the 2020 Vogue list of 12 women leaders That Changed The World. During the #Endsars movement, Fem Co managed to raise approximately N80 million which they distributed as relief funds.

Yasmin Belo-Osagie

Yasmin Belo-Osagie is the co-founder of the digital media company for the modern, millennial African woman: She Leads Africa. The outfit has been responsible for facilitating the growth of women leaders across different industries, advocating for women to build wealth in a male dominated society. Last year, the She Lead Africa community hit a milestone of 700,00 members, all comprised of African Women. They also held their annual Slay Festival event in Johannesburg South Africa for the first time in its history, and the event hosted 1200 entrepreneurs and professionals from across Africa. Yasmin Belo-Osagie is a former McKinsey consultant and is currently the Director at FSDH Holding Company. So she herself, being a career motivator and advocate, has a ton of expertise in the business world.

Omozino Eguh

Omozino Eguh is an educator and an advocate, on a mission to match talent with need in the job market. To achieve this, she founded Yudimy, a behavioral profiling algorithm that blends psychology and machine learning to help people and organizations make the best decisions backed by data. Omozino Eguh came up with the idea back in her NYSC days, almost a decade ago. Then, she spotted a problem with talent undervaluation. Kids were being forced into fields that simply was not their area of strength. Having seen such a nagging and prevalent problem, she decided to take on the responsibility of guiding people through the path right for them. Last year, she won the Top 5 startups award with a $10,000 grant from Standard Chartered Bank’s Women in Technology Incubation Program. She is an awardee of Standard Chattered Bank (2020) Women in Technology Award. She was also listed in the Guardians 100 Women Facilitating Sustainable Change Through Innovation and Future Africa Award Nominee for Young Changemakers Education Category.

Maryam Augie-Abdulmumin

This brave woman is an advocate in a region where advocacy can sometimes be met with hostility. She is an advocate for underprivileged children in northern Nigeria to get an education. She is also an advocate for female child empowerment. With a mission to explore innovative solutions that will transform communities through improved equity and excellence in education, she founded the LLMI Children’s Fund (ICF). ICF is a unique scholarship and livelihood Support program developed by Illmi Children’s Foundation which allows individuals to sponsor a child from anywhere in the world, at a click of a button. The goal of this foundation is to cut down on the absurd rate of illiteracy amongst young children in Nigeria. The organization targets Underprivileged, Internally Displaced, Almajiri and Out of School Children who live in communities that are often neglected and ignored.

Bukola Bolarinwa

She is an Analyst who provides analysis on Anglophone West Africa, focused on the political, security, fiscal and regulatory environment in the region. She is also a qualified legal practitioner with an LLM in International Economic Law from the University of Warwick and LLB from the University of Leicester. But asides her impressive career portfolio, she is a health advocate. She is the figure head in two major health initiatives, the Sickle Cell Aid Foundation (SCAF), where she serves as President, and the Haima Health Initiative, which she founded. Haima Health Initiative (HHI), is focused on improving the state of blood supply for patients in Nigeria. She is passionate about aiding sickle cell carriers owing to her own experience of living with the sickness. She was instrumental in delivering relief packages to SS carriers during the Covid-19 lock down. In the five years since the Haima initiative has existed, it has gotten approximately 1800 registered donors, 1387 donations, 800 blood requests and 30 partners.

Bello Bala Shagari

Bello Bala Shagari is an IT & Media Specialist, Documentary film producer/director, and Youth Advocate. He is a youth activist who was appointed the position of chairman of the National Youth Council of Nigeria Sokoto State Chapter back in 2017, but resigned last year. Despite his resignation, his efforts during his time on the seat have been greatly lauded. He was the recipient of the Award of Royal African Medal and Recognition in Governance & Leadership by Royal African Young Leadership Forum RAYLF 2020. The year before he received the Crans Montana New Leaders of Tomorrow, in Dakhla, Morocco, He continues to advocate for youth participation in governance. He is the Managing Director at Royal African Young Leadership Forum.

Seyi Taylor

He is the founder and CEO of Big Cabal, the company behind media platforms such as Ebolafacts.com, Techcabal, Africa’s response to TechCrunch and most notably Zikoko.

Asides the goal of creating an interactive platform that would give the audience an opportunity to air their thoughts and feelings, Zikoko was also created with the intent of creating a safe space for young people to be young. Zikoko has done a phenomenal job in normalizing sexuality no matter which it is. As a result, young people have been free to share their sexual experience on the platform without the fear of being judged. Seyi Taylor is also the Founder and Editor in Chief for the award winning lifestyle and entertainment Magazine; TaylorLive. He is a PR specialist and consultant who manages artists like, Yungsix, Dj4kerty and Horlarboi.