My full name is Rahman Olasupo Mogaji, an indigene of Ijebu-ode in Ogun State of South-Western Nigeria. Grew up in the city of Lagos. A graduate of Mechanical Engineering from Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo State. I am 32yrs old, 6 of a polygamous family of 10. A young visionary, peace advocate and a victim of circumstance. My passion is my country and my constituency – Youth, and with further interest in International Development.
In January 15,1996, during my first year in University, I was mistakenly detained for over two weeks in prison for an offence I never think of, talkless of committing. Before that, I had never been in any police station before, not to talk of detained. My initial understanding of people in prisons are said to be criminals but I was wrong as my own case be and many others. I had a very bitter experience in the prison custody and to my surprise the 95% of population of the inmates are youths. 75% of them are confirmed criminals while the rest were just victims. I have been trying to find answer to my question: Why YOUTH? I refused to accept my situation and therefore want to make a change.
However, my prison experience has widened my thoughts about different scope of life. Since then, I had devoted my time and energy in finding a lasting means of engaging youth in productive activities. From my involvement in the establishment of Crossworld International, FUTA in 1996 to the pioneering of Youth-Aid and Leadership Development Network (YALDNet) where Future Leaders Mentoring Session (FLEMS) program was first initiated by me in 2000. To my credit while in the University, I have written many articles that won recommendations both locally and internationally. Among them include: My Vision for Nigeria by 2040 (organized by ALF/DTN 2000), The Challenge of Nigeria Youth: home and Abroad (School Magazine- 1997), Global Responsibility: Our Responsibility (ISFIT-01 Norway), Our World: Our Choice and Future of Peace (ISWI-01 Germany) to mention a few.
In 2004, I had served as Youth Corp member in a village called Karaye in Kano State, Northern part of Nigeria during my National Youth Service Corp. I pioneered a peace program tagged “Walk for Peace” for the youth in the community to quell the aftermath effect of ethno-religion crisis that erupted between Kano and Jos in May 2004 with over 20,000 casualties and more than 2,500 death recorded during the crisis. I also initiated “Be The Change” Partners and served the community in providing free ICT training to over 20 local teachers as well as 50 students which helped the community in the on-line examination registration of their wards that year it was first introduced by the examination board.
In 2005 and 2006, our organization People To People International-Lagos, Nigeria Chapter was appointed the National Lead Agency for Global Youth Service Day celebration in Nigeria where I was made National Coordinator. Under my leadership, a national summit was successfully organized with no external funding, to unite all local agencies into one umbrella to jointly organize a National “Walk for Peace” Rally in 2006. This unity has not been recorded ever since GYSD celebration started in Nigeria.
To help the disadvantaged people achieve their dreams through which i find my own fulfilment.
To date, I have been an ardent advocate of peace, youth empowerment and leadership development. My dream is a very precarious one. I dream of a nation where thousands of people, youth in particular, will be working together, neither divided by tribe, religion nor economic circumstances towards the realization of “The Nigeria Dream” – A Peaceful and developed economy by the year 2020.
