Tell
us about yourself?
I am Yusuf TemilolaNURUDEEN, preferred to be called OPTIMIST. A Lawyer, Mediator,
Where
did you see yourself in the next five years?
My career goal is to
advocate for human rights issues that will have direct positive impacts on
social problems and political concerns in Nigeria and Africa at large because I
realized that the most important thing in life is how my career moves and
touches people around me and how it carries forward to the next generation.
In the next five (5)
years, I want to be seen as successful lawyer who have rescued many from the
chains of poverty and human rights abuses.
I want to be seen raising many conscious citizens who have the skillsets
to hold the government accountable. Doing this, I want to strengthen the
instructional capacity of my NGO to continue its activities among the target
population and maximize impacts by providing result-oriented projects further
contribute my quota to social re-engineering of Nigeria by raising at least
5,000 active citizens from our campuses through the incubation and
cross-fertilization of ideas required to transform the larger society.
What
is your greatest strength and weakness?
I am inquisitive-a hunter for
knowledge, diligence,
resilience, exceptionally responsible and reliable. My weakness, I trust people easily and
I have suffered serial betrayals. Unfortunately, I am shy too.
What is your greatest
achievement?
My most significant
achievement was that I successfully championed the reversal from
N348, 750 (about
$1000) to N25, 000 ($70) when I was the President of the most vibrant students’
movement in sub-sahara Africa- Lagos State University Students’ Union in 2014.
We launched #SaveLASU movement and embarked on non-violent demonstrations. This
was an incredible
feat after 3 years of the fee regime that have shattered many dreams and dampen
young peoples’ hope of access to education as students were dropping out in
droves. In addition, we got refunds of over N800 Million (Eight Hundred Million
Naira).
LASU now admits more
than 5,000 students as against 1020 in the previous years. My activities got me
a number of honors. I was recognised as Most Achieving Young Advocate by World
Changers International, ICON of Struggles by the Union, and The Most
Outstanding Union Leader of the Decade by the university.
Who is your mentor?
In
the legal profession; Mr. Dele FAROTIMI, on socio-entrepreneurship; Jonah
Ayodele OBAJEUN and in politics, Mr. Babatunde Raji FASHOLA, SAN.
What did you want people
to know about you, your organization and what you are presently working on?
The PACEMAKERS, Action for Youth Africa is a youth and students (between
the ages of 16 and 35) advocacy platform is determined to establish pragmatic
strategies to approach the tormentors of the young people. We set out to break
the cycle of ineffective youth advocacy and raise torchbearers for the
sustainable development of Africa.
We are involved in:
Peacebuilding- #WagePeace, to raise the level
the of awareness and training to transform youth mental make-up to bring about
mental revolution towards redirecting our thoughts and strengths to forge a
common ground for mutual co-existence irrespective of their social and cultural
orientation.
2.
Advocacy- #Speak4Youth: call on leaders and people everywhere to join us in
listening to youth and educate them on their corresponding societal
responsibilities to increase the level of social welfare and overall
development of Africa.
3.
Climate Action-#ActGreen: because all our actions are carried out on the
planet, we take action to protect the planet and people. We are campaign for a
low-carbon future.
4.
Empowerment, #EnableTheYouth through education on Entrepreneurship and
Leadership. We are breeding young with the right skills-set that will make them
win seed funding for successful pitches of their business plan. On
leadership, we are nurturing a new generation of leaders that move beyond “business
as usual” and equip youths with the requisite knowledge to succeed in the 21st
century statecraft.
What is change to you
and how do you hope to effect change in your community?
Change
is when the status quo is abandoned. Relating it to the case of Africa, we will
glad to have changed when the endemic corruption is reduced to be barest
minimum, transparency and accountability in government, economic transformation
to mention a few.
How are you when you are
under pressure to achieve a goal?
I
maintain my tempo, take charge of the situation and put in my best without the fear
of failure.
A word of encouragement
for your audience?
Hunt
for knowledge always, at the end, it will pay off.
Your contacts?
Tel:
+234-808-102-3327 +234-706-228-7796
Social Media:
ACCOUNT: https://www.facebook.com/nytemilola1
Facebook: Optimist-Nurudeen Temilola Yusuf
Twitter: @nyt_optimist
Instagram: @iamoptimist
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