1. Abdulhakeem Ibraheem Abdulkareem (AiA) is a Policy and Programs Specialist with over nine years of experience in cross sectorial fields of Communications, Training and Development, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation and Project Management. He provides strategic management support, project coordination and evaluation to top business organisations, non-profits and government agencies. Abdulhakeem is currently the Project Coordinator at Consultancy Support Services Ltd, Co-founder of Know COVID–19 Nigeria, Technical Consultant with the Business People Limited, founder of Demystifying Monitoring and Evaluations and the Lead Consultant at ScalingHeight Development Partners. He is a member of the Nigerian Association of Evaluators, Nigerian Institute of Management, Historical Society of Nigeria and the Association of Nigerian Authors.
He has conducted diagnostic assessments for the Bureau of Public Service Reforms and have experience working on World Bank-supported projects for the Nigerian Identity Management Commission, Federal Ministry of Education and Bureau of Public Service Reforms, among others.
He is currently a member of the ECOSOCC Civil Society Consultation on the African Union Theme of the Year working to develop a policy guide towards the implementation of the continental policies on art, culture and heritage.
He has facilitated and directly trained over 20,000 graduates in Management fields like Monitoring and evaluation, Human Resources, Environmental Safety Management, Project Management and Risk Management. He has also facilitated training for staff of government agencies and professional bodies like the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Abuja, Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) and Computers Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPrN).
He is a graduate of International Studies from the Nigerian Defence Academy (2020) and University of Ilorin (2015). He is also a pioneer student at the School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG) (2021). He has obtained certificates of continuous education inform several international institutions. These include certificate in Design, Monitoring and Evaluation for Programming in Fragile Environments from the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and Certificate in Public Health Lessons from Ebola: Preventing the Next Pandemic from Harvard University.
2. Hau
wa’u Jummai Matankari is a legal practitioner and an associate with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators licensed to practice in Nigeria. She ispassionate about good governance, sustainable legal institutions and upholding the rule of law. In recent times, she has worked briefly with Tawo E. Tawo SAN and co as a lawyer. Also, she is an avid researcher with a keen interest in writing reports, this was her role during her service year at the National Judicial Institute in2017.
She attended Ahmadu Bello University where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in Law in July 2016, before she proceeded to the Nigerian Law School Bwari to obtain her BL in 2017. She also has a master’s degree in International commercial Law from the prestigious University of Northampton in the United Kingdom. Hauwa’u enjoys travelling and watching tv shows.
3. David Aluga is a dedicated and result-oriented pharmacist with hands-on experience in pharmacovigilance, public healthcare, and clinical administration. David has a proven track record of excellence in developing and maintaining health/safety, clinical, and operational policies and procedures, delivering high-quality evidence-based pieces of public health work, and improving people, their health, and wider socioeconomic determinants of health.
David obtained a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria, and a master’s degree in Public Health (with distinction) from Teesside University, United Kingdom on a Commonwealth Shared Scholarship. He is a beneficiary of several scholarship awards and competition prizes. David is motivated by his desire to improve the health and well-being of populations in sub-Saharan Africa through the optimisation of digital technologies in public health for universal health coverage.
4. Jamila Idris is a Nigerian based international award-winning humanitarian. This is owing to the work she does in rural and semi-urban communities through her nonprofit organisation which focuses on mitigating the impact of climate change on women and youth. She is also an alumnus of the Lagos Business School.
Jamila is the creator of The Connection Matrix™ a framework for creating purposeful relationships and authentic connections for personal and professional growth, success and fulfilment. This framework can be deployed by individuals, businesses and organisations. Jamila is a PR strategist, behavioural scientist, emotional intelligence and productivity expert. She is a seasoned trainer, coach, speaker, facilitator and panelist.
5. Ramlah Ibrahim Nok is a vibrant Lawyer with a passion for gender issues. She attained her first degree in Law at the Prestigious Ahmadu Bello University in 2015 and proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Lagos campus for her Bachelor of Law (BL) in 2016.
She was a support staff to the Director of Budget and Monitoring Evaluation in the Ministry of National Budget and Planning, during her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). She has held positions as Company Secretary, Legal Officer and Administrator Officer for different Organisations over the years.
She is the Programs Officer of the JAM-Initiative, where she actively participates in issues dealing with Vulnerable Children, Civil Liberty and Voluntary Services. Through the Rule of Law and functional Governance, Ramlah hopes for an Egalitarian Nigeria.
6. Sani Muhammad is the Founder and Executive Director of Bridge Connect Africa Initiative. He is a development expert and young activist passionate about women’s rights and youth meaningful engagement, promoting gender equality and ending poverty in Africa. Sani is also interested in grassroots movements that promote transparency and accountability in health and education, using digital technology as a tool in advancing the sustainable development goals. He is an MSc. Student of Sociology (with Specialisation in Demography) from Bayero University, Kano. He holds a B.Sc. in Sociology where he made history graduating with a First Class, breaking a 36 years’ record from his faculty.
Sani has trained thousands of young people across Nigeria on sexual and reproductive health. He is skilled at community mobilisation for social action and has mobilised thousands of young people in some of the most successful policy and social behaviour change campaigns in northern Nigeria. He has great deal of experience working to formulate, review and create evidence-based strategies and policies that increases reproductive health services for young people, criminalise child marriage, strengthen child protection and improve livelihoods for the most vulnerable communities.
Sani serves as a Consultant for Population Reference Bureau on the PACE Youth Multimedia Fellowship program. He is currently a member of the Advocacy and Accountability Subcommittee for the International Conference for Family Planning, Thailand 2021; the Co-Chair of the Technical Sub-Committee of the SAYPHIN Conference 2021; a Women Deliver Young Leader 2020. He is a two-time ONE Champion with the ONE Campaign in Nigeria, and the only ONE global activist from Africa to meet with the ONE Board and Global Leadership Circle in Palo Alto, San Francisco in 2020. He was the lead Youth Consultant in Kano state for the dissemination of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) “Advocating for Change for Adolescents” by Education as a Vaccine.
Sani is a Fellow of the Study of the United States Institute on Social Entrepreneurship, California State University in 2016, learning from global institutions like the Kauffman Foundation, Ashoka, Creative Associates International and the Business School of the University of Missouri Kansas City. He is an Alumni of the International Citizens Service program with Voluntary Service Overseas 2018; a CHANEL Scholar and ONE Young World Ambassador, London 2019; and a Youth Social Media Advocate with the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) Nigeria 20192021. He has received numerous awards for his work and serve as a member on many youths focused organisations Boards.
7. Suleiman Abdulmajid is the first Nigerian nominee for commonwealth youth award of excellence for his efforts in combatting climate change. A result-oriented community development practitioner, climate change advocate and a farmer, Suleiman is also the State coordinator for Nigeria Youth for Peace Initiative, a youth-led organisation that working on conflict prevention and peace-building processes across communities in Nigeria and also works towards localisation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth peace and security. He is a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers as well as the Institution of Engineering and Technology. In addition to the Competent Communicator Prize of the Toastmasters International club, Suleiman is also the winner of Icon of Hope Award. He also serves as the chief volunteer of the World Merit Organisation and also an ambassador for the International Model of the United Nations.
Experience Kaduna State Coordinator, Nigeria Youth for Peace Initiative, 2021- present, Volunteer, World merit Organisation, 2021-present.
Education Master of Leadership Studies, Nigerian Defence Academy of Kaduna State, 2018 Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of East London Malaysia Campus, 2015
Memberships Member of Nigerian Society of Engineers and Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK.
8. Jemimah Justus is a humanitarian and developmental worker who over the last 4 years has built her expertise in areas of household economic strengthening, Agricultural livelihoods, market systems development, gender and protection and data management.
She has worked with reputable non-profit organisations on successful projects funded by USAID, EU, and BMGF and has implemented both simple and complex Projects from the design phase to the End of the project transition phase as an activist, Jemimah plans and co-facilitates the yearly 16days of activism against gender inequality with collaboration with relevant stakeholders. She is also a certified training facilitator and moderator of set up panels and workshops.
Jemimah is the founder of QIFA (Qarrah initiative for all) a growing initiative with the aim of building social-emotional intelligence in young adolescents by providing them with safe spaces and engaging them in activities that promote social cohesion. She holds a postgraduate diploma in Education from College of Education Waka Biu, Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Madonna University and currently running a master’s degree in public health at the National Open University of Nigeria.
9. Khalil Sadiq Abubakar is a graduate of the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University Zaria with a degree in Computer Science. A former President of National Association of Computer Science Students (NACOSS), Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic Chapter.
He was the PRO of Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic Corpers Association, a Graduate Member of Computer Professionals of Nigeria (CPN), a CompTIA A+ certified PC Support and Maintenance Technician.
He is the Founder /CEO of K-tech Solutions and Gayyata Designs, a former Head of Production Department at Yax Universal Network Production Limited. He is an IT Instructor, Programmer, Graphics Designer, Digital Marketer, Audio and Video Producer, an aspiring Poet, Voiceover Artist, and 2D animator.
He is also a Technopreneur and E-commerce solutions provider, he has helped businesses in building brand awareness, boost sales and ROI. His hobbies are Football, Research, Gaming, and Movies.
10. Chukwu Chukwuemeka is a biotechnologist and molecular geneticist. With an advanced degree in biotechnology from Nigerian Defence Academy Kaduna, he is passionate about creating a healthier and happier Nigeria/World through the positive use of genetic engineering and biotechnology as it applies majorly to health and agriculture. He is a member of the Biotechnology Society of Nigeria (BSN) and also an active researcher who believes in the power of education. He obtained his first degree in the field of Human Anatomy from Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka.
Chukwu is a lover of humanity and has never turned down an opportunity to volunteer or give back to his immediate community. Part of his volunteering experience includes one with College Education Trainers and Trainees (COLLETTE Ausbilder), which is an iNGO with the aim of improving the quality of education in Nigeria. He also was a volunteer with the Red Cross where he participated in the general immunisation of children across Cross-River state. In his free time, he indulges in various recreational activities which includes chess playing, swimming and reading/researching on various topics or issues outside his major field.
11. Eyitayo Oladejo is a Bachelor’s Degree holder in Physiology from Igbinedion University Okada, Edo state, with a widely accepted research article published on several international journals. She however, transitioned into business management after graduation, and worked in a consultancy firm that specialises in EEG (Export Expansion Grant) application for companies with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), and the waste management industry in Lagos, Nigeria. Eyitayo currently owns a waste management company, evacuating waste from highways in Lagos state under the umbrella of LAWMA (Lagos Waste Management Authority). She is passionate about broadcasting, fashion designing, culinary arts, creative writing, and wedding planning.
Eyitayo is also a member of trustee and volunteers as a secretary for an NGO called AtEase Foundation (Awareness And Tools For Education And Socioeconomic Evolution), whose aim to transform lives, began in 2019 in Lagos state through feeding disabled communities, children from slums, donation of clothes/various food items to communities within the state, and empowering young men and women with vocational skills.
12. Muhammad Aminu Kabara is a 2016 graduate of Computer Science from Bayero University, Kano. He also obtained a Certificate in Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management from the University of Virginia co-created with Coursera in 2018. Muhammad had a brief stint in the education sector before moving to Development work in 2018 where he joined a UK-DFID funded Programme, the Northern Nigeria Skills Development and Job Creation Programme, Mafita, implemented by Adam Smith International.
Mainly due to his ability to get things done, twice his contracts ended and each time he was called back to work on the programme which enabled him to hold four different roles in Finance & Administration, Logistics, Monitoring and Result Measurement (MRM), and core Finance units respectively. When it ended in July 2020, he moved on to volunteering where he worked with the Kano State Business Clinic, a brainchild of the Mafita intervention, as Data Analyst pro bono. There, he immensely contributed to ensuring its sustainability after it was handed over to the State Government. He later joined the private sector as Administrative Manager with LINX Spatial Systems Limited, a Geographic Information System (GIS) services firm in January, 2021.
A dedicated hard worker who is always committed to his duties strongly believes in whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well which earns him commendations in all the roles he holds. A moment with Muhammad will reveal to you how deeply passionate he is about good governance and Nigeria getting it right with its leadership and public service delivery. An avid reader with varied interests is always curious about learning new things and enjoys traveling.
13. Sumayya Iliyasu is a writer, program manager and an artpreneur. She is a Research Officer at the National Gallery of Arts where she specialises in contemporary arts in Nigeria, and actively participates in the curation of art exhibitions. She is a fellow of Arts Managers and Literary Activists Network (AMLA) 2018 in Uganda and holds a B. A in English from Umaru Musa Yar’adua University.
She worked part time as a Program Officer at the Yasmin El-Rufai Foundation where She was instrumental in their Creative Writing Program. During the period she supervised six secondary schools to develop creative writing skills in secondary school students within Kaduna metropolis. The project impacted 180 school children annually through provision of creative writing skills and the provision of mobile libraries to secondary schools. She curated and hosted the monthly YELF Literary evening, with prominent writers and artists as well as proposed and ran the Monthly Book club. She has experience in supporting the delivery, monitoring and tracking of programs.
She has knowledge of the Nigerian art sector, as the Creative Director for Open Arts, a literary collective hub she co-founded to use art as a form of expression in northern Nigeria. She has been invited to a panel at the Minna Books and Arts festival as well as the one-time Ahmadu Bello University Day of Literature. She has participated at the Kaduna Book and Arts festival, the 2019 Ake Book and Arts festival and the Kaduna Fashion and Arts Festival 2021.
14. Isah Jonathan Agiya is a young and passionate Nigerian with a firm background in the world of volunteering having worked as a Volunteer with The Centre for Family Health Initiative (CFHI) on HIV Testing and Counselling Service (HTS) before joining the same Organisation as a Field Support Staff in the Community Activation Project on ZINC+ORS Demand Creation in the 23 LGAs of Kaduna State, rising to the position of Project officer and subsequently heading the Nasarawa State Branch office. An indigene of Kaduna State, he holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from the prestigious Kaduna State University and is currently undergoing a Master’s program at the University of Abuja.
His passion for service to humanity has led him through the roles of being a Project officer on Catalysing Accountability for Maternal Death in Nigeria (CAMDIN) and a Data Collector with Health System Consult Ltd. (HSCL). Recently working with the FCT-Judicial Service Committee as Administrative Officer II. He has a vision for promoting economic growth through enhancing the Human Capital Development of the citizens of Kaduna State, and Nigeria at large. He is single and loves football as a sport.
Memberships and Honours: Member Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), Basic Project Management, Entrepreneurship Education International Council on Education (IFEE). Won one of the best performing Non-Governmental Organisation supervised by Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
15. Womiye Ojo is a community and development specialist with a focus on Conflict Resolution, Peace-building and Gender Based Violence. With over 10 years of work experience with international organisations and private businesses, she has carried out quantitative and qualitative research to monitor peace-building efforts.
She is a United Nations Friendship Ambassador with fieldwork and experience across Nigeria and other African countries, where she works on community development, sexual and reproductive health and rights and humanitarian services for underserved communities, especially for women and young girls, youths and vulnerable populations.
She is the founder of Imani Help Foundation, an NGO that aims to end Gender Based Violence and be a source of support towards healing for victims of sexual violence. Imani educates adolescents on Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health and empowers female breadwinners to become entrepreneurs.
Work Experience: She has worked as a Policy adviser at the United Nations appointed to the GA desk and as the Mediator at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. Ms. Ojo was also involved with the Responsibility to Project (R2P) in New York where she worked on matters relating to genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing. Certifications: She is a certified Mediator (2018) and has completed courses with Columbia Law School and The United Nations Institute on Training (UNITAR) on Empowering Women in the Peace Process, Mediation and Human Rights, and Conflict Resolution as a weapon against poverty.
She is currently the principal consultant at Yellow Star Consulting, where she holds group and one on one trainings and sessions on conflict resolution, effective communication and capacity building. She is working on a conflict mapping tool that will help create a flow and representation of conflict in Nigeria.
Education: Ms. Ojo is an alumnus of Nova Southeastern University (Florida), Birmingham City University (Birmingham, England) and Covenant University (Nigeria).
16. Khalid Haruna is the managing director of SAKA synergy limited – a limited liability company in the business of information & communication technology. He is a member, Board of trustees in Radiant Future Corporate Academy and City Sciences Islamic Schools. He is also a co-founder of Alfagachi Integrated Farms limited – a limited liability company in the business of agricultural products. He is a guest editor of Frontiers in Psychology journal under research topic “Social Commerce in the New Era” – ISI WoS/Scopus indexed (Switzerland). He served on the editorial board of the Data science research symposium 2018: Data analytics and its applications.
He is currently a senior lecturer in the department of Computer science, Kaduna State University (KASU), Nigeria. He was the deputy dean, faculty of Computer science and information technology, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. He obtained his PhD degree in Information systems from the Malaysia’s prestigious university of Malaya in 2018. He also holds B.sc and M.Sc degrees in Computer science from Bayero University, Kano, which he received in 2011 and 2015, respectively. His research interests include recommender systems, Internet of things, semantic web, big data analytics, sentiment analysis, soft set, and e-learning systems. In addition, as a teacher, he is particularly interested in technology enhanced learning.
He has published over 30 academic articles relevant to his research interests in a variety of venues, including ISI WoS/Scopus indexed journals with impact factors such as PLoS ONE, Children and Youth Services Review, Journal of Family Issues, Journal of Medical Virology, Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nano-science, Computers & Security, Computers & Education, Journal of Education and Human Development, Applied Sciences, Journal of Information Retrieval and Knowledge Management, Telkomnika, International Journal of Soft Computing, International Journal of ICT and Management, Scientometrics and IEEE Access.
He has served as an invited reviewer for over ten ISI WoS-indexed journals, including IEEE Access, PLoS ONE, KnowledgeBased Systems, International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing, Progress in Artificial Intelligence, Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience, Journal of Supercomputing, Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology, Journal of Ambient Intelligence & Humanised Computing, Information Processing and Management, etc. He has also served on the technical program committees of over ten international conferences, workshops and symposiums. He was invited to evaluate the research strength of universities in Computer science by the QS world universities ranking in 2019 & 2020. Presently, Khalid is supervising 29 M.Sc. students and 3 Ph.Ds. He graduated 4 M.Sc. students. He is a visiting senior lecturer at Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa, Jigawa state, Nigeria. He is also an instructional/tutorial facilitator and project supervisor at National Open University of Nigeria.
17. Bushrah Temitope Balogun is a Development practitioner, Youth Activist and Mental Health Lay Counsellor with interest in Gender & Youth Development, Politics, Policy & Governance, Social Justice, Public service, Mental Health and Freelance Communications. She is a thoroughbred student union activist and serial volunteer with 6 years of experience in advancing of women & girls’ rights and youth development in Nigeria and beyond through Peer interaction, Organising, Grassroots Engagements, Policy & Research and Advocacy.
Bushrah offers her skills, time and experience in designing and implementing various community development and social accountability projects, leveraging on technology and advocacy tools in order to bridge inequality gaps through social development and transformative public service. And, advancing the sustainable development goals I, 3, 4, 5 and 16, for a progressive, equitable and just society for all. She has worked with a couple of organisations with consulting on feminism focused programmes and gender policy and development projects. As a Young leader and global citizen, she has taken part in numerous youth capacity building, engagement and mobilisation programmes on local and international platforms.
She’s a member of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), Nigeria’s “Open Minds Young Voices” – Youth Activist Program that organises youth voices for social change, a “UNWomen Young Leader of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality & Women Empowerment, UNWomen-Nigeria and Federal Ministry of Women Affairs– 2020 March Women Shadowing and Leadership Program, a ONE Champion, global volunteer with ONE.org, ONE focuses on campaigns and advocacy for the eradication of preventable diseases and poverty so everyone can lead a life of dignity and opportunity. A mentee of Cohort II of Partner West Africa Nigeria (PWAN)” Young Women Political Leadership and Mentorship Program” and Vice-Chairperson of Young Women in Politics Forum, Abuja Chapter under the auspices of Women in Politics Forum.
18. Igube Veronica Pana is a Lawyer with a specialisation in Information Communications and Technology (ICT) Law. She is a digital rights champion, women’s and child right advocate passionate about human rights, education and youth empowerment. She is the Co-Founded, We Ignite Lives for Greatness Nigeria Initiative (WiLG), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) focused on promoting human rights especially the rights of women and children, advancing youth and women development. She holds a certificate from the Lagos Business School (LBS), Pan- Atlantic University, Nonprofit Leadership and Management. She is a fellow Margaret Ekpo Youth Fellowship (MEYF) Program, TIJ-UNODC Borderless Youth Fellowship, Mentee, Nigeria Women Trust Fund (NWTF), African Presidential Leadership Fellow (APLP) Egypt. She is a blogger and runs a Blog, Thinking Out Loud with Veronica, an educational, motivational, and life lessons blog. She touches on everything from motivational and inspirational stories, volunteering opportunities, global trends, trailblazers to sharing opportunities.
Experience Associate Counsel at Technology Advisors LLP (ICT Lawyers| Consultants), an Information Communications and Technology (ICT) specialised law firm in Abuja- FCT, 2015-till date, Director, Legal Affairs, Encrypt Africa, Executive Director, Fundacion Exito (FundELG Africa) 2018- 2019, SB Morgen Intelligence (2017-2019), Federal Ministry of Justice (Legal Drafting Department) 2013-2014.
Education Barrister at Law (BL), Nigerian Law School, Bachelor of Law (LL. B), University of Abuja 2006 -2012.
Membership Member of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and Nigerian Bar Association -Section of Business Law (NBA-SBL).
19. Modibbo Dutse is a graduate of accounting from the renowned Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He is passionate about education and it has shaped the framework of his life. After his NYSC he volunteered at a rural school for 6 months where he taught Accounting, Business Studies, Marketing and Commerce to young learners. This left an indelible mark in his life that he felt the urge to publish his first book titled Bookkeeping for Junior Secondary Schools which was published by Baraka Press LTD in 2018. Modibbo is also a member of the Community Outreach for Educational Change (COEC), a Not-for-Profit organisation that seeks to educate, empower and liberate children living in rural communities.
He is an evangelist of Agricultural Services and Training Centre (ASTC), an organisation that is revolutionising farming in his Local Government Area (Lere LGA in Kaduna State). Smallholder farmers are being exposed to new and improved varieties of seeds and are encouraged to embrace mechanised farming and modern farming techniques such as hydroponics, aeroponics, aquaponics and so on.
Furthermore, he is also into photography and graphic design especially as it relates to digital painting and photo manipulation. He has a certificate from the Wonderful Graphics Academy in Kaduna and has taught young people on how to use software such as Adobe Creative Cloud.
Lastly, he also writes a weekly blog on his medium page on societal issues and gives commentaries on trending topics from time to time. You can call him a renaissance man or a polymath, but one thing with Modibbo is that his curiosity is insatiable.
He is also a fan of stand-up comedy, and his lifelong dream will be to meet Trevor Noah either physically or virtually, but the former will be better.
20. Sharon Takim is a humanitarian with a passion for service and impact. She has served in different capacities including as an Ambassador and Team Lead in her institution for a DFID funded project – Purple, which was tasked with sensitisation and encouragement of equal opportunity and equity. She also served as the President of the UNILAG chapter of GEMSTONE, an organisation focused on building leaders with the right values. Her first love is education, and she served as a mentor in the Edu-Aid programme, which placed her with a public primary school child, to help her on the journey to achieving her full potential, regardless of her present circumstances. This grew into her committing two years of her life to serve as a public primary school teacher in Kaduna state, under the auspices of the Teach for Nigeria organisation. A graduate of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Lagos, she is presently pursuing a diploma in education from Babcock University and a Masters Degree in International Affairs and Strategic Studies from the Nigerian Defence Academy. She enjoys reading, writing, travelling, and imagining.
21. Umar Hamza Gado is a medical professional and has over five years of experience delivering clinical and high impact community outreach services in northern Nigeria.
He holds an MBBS degree from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and is currently a Clinical Psychiatrist in-training. At the intersection of policy reforms, politics and development, Hamza is passionate about building the future of Nigeria’s health system and by extension Nigeria’s economy. Hamza has held leadership roles – most recently he was the General Secretary of the Association of Resident Doctors, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Sokoto state. He is passionate about community service and currently volunteers for an NGO- ASIDO Foundation, that cater for people with mental health challenge.
Hamza loves to travel, play football and meet new people. He is skilled at advocacy, stakeholder engagement and conflict resolution. He sees the future of the Nigerian health system as one that will be anchored by robust policies and strong governance – where everyone will be able to seek quality health services without financial difficulty.
22. DADA YUSUFF is a political scientist with special interest in public administration, policy formulation and conflict management. Dada also has a rich experience in experiential marketing and brand activation. As an experiential marketer, Dada has worked for notable, local and international brands such as Google, MTN and Zolar Electric. He recently got certified by the University of Leeds’ institute of coding as a content developer and works with Zorch Concepts Limited -a Lagos based experiential marketing and brand activation company. As an education enthusiast, Dada works with the Oyo state Teaching Service Commission and currently serves on the board of Stem Education Development Foundation (SEDF) – an NGO that focuses on stirring genuine stem education interest among secondary school students. He is also a member of the board of Dmentor and You Inc- another NGO with special focus on youth mentorship.
Dada graduated from the prestigious University of Ibadan with First Class Honours and as the department’s best graduating student. He also studied education of the gifted and talented children and dramatic art at the Federal College of Education (special) Oyo, where he bagged a Nigerian Certificate in Education with distinction. He led over ten thousand students (10,000) as students’ union president at the Federal College of Education (special) Oyo and has equally served in various leadership positions both at the University of Ibadan and as an experiential marketer.
He is the author of many yet-to-be published books and a strong believer in the Nigerian project. He currently works on a pet project codenamed “My Dream Naija Initiative” -which is to be a platform for the mobilisation of Nigerian youths towards birthing the country that we all can be proud of.
23. Sharon Itua is a Digital Strategist with over four years of combined marketing communications expertise.
She also freelances as a project/an account manager, copywriter for businesses and people in the areas of web content writing and strategy, proofreading and editing, and content production and repurposing.
She has developed strategies, created content, and executed campaigns/activations for multinational corporations and reputable brands such as Komunitti Square, LEAP Africa, Honeywell Wheat Meal, Oraimo, Hero Lager, First Bank, Strepsils, Dudu-Osun, DurexNG, and WorldRemit, to mention a few.
Sharon is a formidable force in the workplace, and she uses her upbeat attitude and boundless energy to inspire people to work hard and succeed. Sharon enjoys traveling, watching movies, and playing video games in her spare time.
24. Jameelah Abdussalam Yusuf is a Lawyer and A Gender and Development Practitioner. She obtained her Bachelor’s in Law and Professional Certification from Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto and Nigerian Law school Abuja, respectively. She most recently obtained a post-graduate diploma in International Gender Studies from the University of Iceland through a UNESCO Fellowship Programme.
Jameelah is passionate about matters of social justice and this is evident in the various community development projects she has taken part in over the years both as an organizer and a volunteer. She has worked on several projects that advances the access of girls and women especially in Local Communities to Education. She believes that with enlightenment and the required support network, more women would be able to stand up to societal oppression and injustice.
