The immediate past Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, flagged off a new organisation, Future Perspectives, to boost education that addresses challenges facing developing countries.
A plethora of difficulties confronting emerging countries may be addressed with the correct teaching for young people. This was Prof. Yemi Osinbajo’s input yesterday during a virtual interactive debate entitled “EdTech for Transforming Education in Nigeria,” the inaugural public event of Future Perspectives, which he co-founded.
In fact, the virtual dialogue was a collaboration between Future Perspectives (an initiative of the immediate past Vice President and some of his young partners) and the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) to support the capacity-building component of the United Nations Global Youth Initiative in equipping young people with transformative education skills.
Six young teaching innovators and stakeholders from various backgrounds and degrees of EdTech participation, such as practitioners, creators, advocates, and policymakers, participated in a virtual panel discussion that discussed the difficulties confronting the Nigerian educational environment. Some of the solutions used by speakers to scale up their discoveries were mentioned.
Prof. Osinbajo stated during his keynote talk that “if there were a single issue that could address problems of poverty, joblessness, inequality, and even better health outcomes, especially in developing countries today, it would most likely be teaching.”
He added that teaching is the “cornerstone of our organisation’s work at Future Perspectives, as we recognize its profound impact on social change and youth empowerment.”
“Our mission perfectly aligns with the aspirations of the high-level UN Transforming Education Summit, a critical global summit held last September that responded urgently to the global education crises and placed education at the forefront of the global agenda.”
Recognizing the critical role that young people play around the world, the former VP stated that “no matter the resources available or the great ideas we have, very little of the change we desire can be accomplished unless young people step up to their roles as change catalysts and innovators.”
“This is why Future Perspectives, as an organisation, was founded to drive transformative change in Africa by harnessing the power and potential of African youth.”
Rachel Onoja, Head of Operations at AltSchool Africa and TalentQL; Afeez Saka, Founder of Community Tech Lab; Victoria Ibiwoye, Founder of One African Child Foundation; Oluwaseun Kayode, Founder/CEO of Schoolinka; Joy Ogbonna, Founder of Kareer Day; and Julius Ilori, Founder of Learner’s Corner, were the panellists at the virtual dialogue.
Mrs. Folashade Adefisayo, Immediate Past Commissioner of Education in Lagos State; Lanre Ogundipe, CEO of Imperial EdTech; Oyedayo Otokiti, CIO of Lagos Business School; Karimot Odebode, Founder of Black Girl’s Dream Initiative; and Rasheedat Sadiq, 1MT (3rd DAN), were among the guest speakers who shared their perspectives.
Ms. Bosen Lily Liu (UNESCO/IESALC Lead on Young People Transforming Education), Ms. Giulia Ribeiro Barao, education stakeholders, tech advocates, members of the diplomatic community, and the Executive Director of Future Perspectives, Mrs. Abby Asekun (who gave the opening remarks), participated in the dialogue. Olanrewaju Oniyitan moderated the event, and his Foundation delivers holistic solutions to help schools serving children from low-income families develop long-term routes to excellent education.
The Media Office of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President (2015–2023), said this in a statement, Chronicle NG reports.
Below are Prof. Osinbajo’s full remarks:
SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCE, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, THE IMMEDIATE PAST VICE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA, AT THE VIRTUAL DIALOGUE EDTECH FOR TRANSFORMING EDUCATION IN NIGERIA ORGANISED BY UNESCO AND IN COLLABORATION WITH FUTURE PERSPECTIVES ON THE 27TH OF JULY, 2023
Good afternoon, distinguished guests. It is a real pleasure to be here at this important dialogue on EdTech for Transforming Education in Nigeria. Future Perspectives is a new organisation and perhaps a new type of organisation. And although I am said to be the founding Chairman, I am actually a co-founder alongside some very young people, including Abimbola Asekun, who just introduced me.
The point really is that all across the world, it is becoming evident that no matter the resources available or the great ideas we have, very little of the change we desire can be accomplished without young people stepping up to their roles as catalysts and innovators of change. This is why Future Perspectives, the organisation itself, was established to drive transformative change in Africa through the power and potential of African Youth.
Our belief at Future Perspectives is that Africa’s young voices will not only be at the forefront of shaping crucial global conversations but also a driving force behind some of the most pressing challenges facing our continent. We will be hearing from some of these brilliant young innovators during our conversations today.
Today’s conversation is about teaching. Education is the cornerstone of our work at Future Perspectives. If there were a single issue that could address problems of poverty, joblessness, inequality, and even better health outcomes, especially in developing countries today, it would most likely be education.
Education stands as a cornerstone of our organisation’s work, as we recognize its profound impact on social change and youth empowerment. Our mission aligns perfectly with the aspirations of the high-level UN Transforming Education Summit, a crucial global summit held in September last year that responded urgently to the global teaching crises and placed teaching at the forefront of the global agenda.
A key achievement stemming from the Summit is the United Nations Global Youth Initiative (GYI). The Global Youth Initiative is the first multi-stakeholder, global initiative to enable young people to engage and take leadership in education policymaking.
Perhaps for the first time ever, young people are beginning to participate, become leaders in education policy-making, and, in effect, own educational policies and become architects of their own educational journeys. And we at Future Perspectives are proud to be key partners in this ground-breaking global initiative dedicated to ensuring meaningful youth engagement and leadership in teaching policymaking, empowering young minds to become architects of their educational journey.
I am particularly delighted about our collaboration with UNESCO IESALC, which leads the capacity-building component of GYI, to co-launch “Innovation to Transform Education Training (ITET)” in Nigeria later this year.
So Future Perspectives, in partnership with UNESCO IESALC, will work towards strengthening the capacity of youth and students, especially the most marginalized, to enable them to become agents of change in transforming teaching in their specific national contexts through “Innovation to Transform Education Training (ITET). This will involve equipping young education innovators with the essential skills of innovation, policy, and project implementation.
These skills will be essential in supporting their initiatives to engage meaningfully in educational practices and decision-making. With the large numbers of out-of-school children in Nigeria, the significance of this global initiative launching in Africa cannot be overstated.
And today, our dialogue on “EdTech for Transforming Education” is poised to be an eye-opening experience. We anticipate that this discussion will help contextualize the specific skills that our young EdTech innovators require to revolutionize education in Africa.
I am thrilled to be kicking off the UN Capacity Building Project through this dialogue, where we will have the privilege to hear directly from these young innovators. We will learn about their challenges and solutions, and we will witness their tremendous impact on society.
I look forward to hearing from these remarkable young innovators and other teaching stakeholders, and I extend my best wishes for a day filled with inspiration and insights.
