On Monday, 29th of May, Miss Azeezat Ogunleti, a final year student of the Department Urban and Regional Planning, and Secretary General of The Campus Ambassadors Lautech, Ogbomoso, Oyo state, Nigeria hosts fellow undergraduates in a one day capacity building seminar under her new initiative -Youth Art Initiative. The seminar with the theme THE BIG DIFFERENCE was aimed at orienting students understanding on proper Education.
Speaking at the event, the Keynote speaker, Dr (Mrs) Adeyeye Yemisi, the managing director of LifeFount Hospital, Ilorin, Kwara State delivered a lecture that bordered on how students can bridge the gap between Education and Schooling. Using herself as example, she narrated how she started earning support income while as an undergraduate -not minding that fact that she was a medical student. “I knew I was born to be great. But, how this will happen was really not clear. As a medical student from a very humble background, I knew I must be ready to overcome any challenges on my way to success. All that I was sure about at that time was that I must conquer.
“Moving from that lady that gets stipends from home to a lady that earns from her food business was a result of positive thinking, the drive to be different and a fulfilling spirit of Yes-I-Can Entrepreneurial skill.”
Dr Adeyeye revealed that “living a purposeful life is identifying a cause and entering into it with one’s person -body, mind and soul. A good way to identifying a cause is looking out into our immediate environment for wrong things and setting out to correct them because only those who can solve problems do the world celebrate. ”
After the inspiring session with Dr Adeyeye, the event entered into a panel session where participating students were privileged to interrogate with some of the most celebrated youth leaders in Nigeria -the likes of Ismail Sogbade (Capacity development personality and Coach), Gift Agboro (Founder of G7 Initiative) and Samuel Olushola Owonikoko (a Mandela Washington fellow).
Ismail Sogbade identified not settling for less as the secret behind his success. Lady Gift Agboro hammered on the need for youths to dream big but not minding to start small. She implored all to design a life mission and vision statement which must be reflected upon from time to time. While responding to some questions from the audience, Samuel Owonikoko shared his story, identifying Integrity, Faith, Excellence as some of his core values. “I had a dream when I was much younger. I dreamt I was addressing a large congregation. I was standing high until I could no longer see the last set of people I was addressing. For this to happen, I knew I must really work hard. Or, how possible will this be for a son of a shoe maker that I am? So, not until 2015, when I was invited into the White House to have a discussion with President Obama, I never believed the dream will come true. Hard work is key.
“Today, I have been part of numerous capacity development programmes. I have delivered talks on different platforms. So anything is possible in as much you believe and work towards it,” He revealed.
The seminar was a fulfilling one. For the Convener -Miss Azeezat Ogunleti, she was really excited at the number of lives touched through organising the seminar. In the closing remark by the Initiative’s Event Manager, Abdul Hafeez Aruna, he expressed his gratitude to God Almighty for making the event see the light of day. He appreciated the Guests and promised the audience to look out for more exciting and equally inspiring seminars from Youth Art Initiative.
