Gideon Olanrewaju

Gideon Oluwaseun Olanrewaju (born 10 July 1993) is a Nigerian social entrepreneur and educational development practitioner who created Aid for Rural Education Access Initiative (AREAi), non-profit organisation that creates multiple quality informal and alternative learning systems in rural communities and has facilitated access to education for over 6,000 disadvantaged children in Nigeria.

Gideon Oluwaseun Olanrewaju
Born
Gideon Oluwaseun Olanrewaju

(1993-07-10) 10 July 1993
Ikirun, Osun State, NIgeria
NationalityNigeria
EducationMcGill University
University of Sussex
Ladoke Akintola University
OccupationSocial Entrepreneur/Activist
Known forAdvocating for Quality Education

Early Life and Education

Olanrewaju was born in Ikirun Osun State on 10 July 1993.[1] In 1994, his family moved to Osogbo where he completed his primary school education and later attended Unity School in Ejigbo also in Osun State where he graduated in 2009. He proceeded to Ladoke Akintola University Ogbomosho[2] with a bachelor of technology degree in Biochemistry and then obtained Masters of Arts in International Education and Development at the University of Sussex in 2018.[3] He is currently conducting his Doctoral Studies with the Preventing Extremism through Educational Research (PEER) research group at McGill University Canada, on the inter-relationship between Violent Extremism and Girls Education in Nigeria.[4][5]

Career and Activism

Olanrewaju's mission is to see a world where every child, regardless of socio-economic status or geographical location have access to quality educational opportunities in Nigeria.[6][7]

In November 2014, Olanrewaju founded Aid to Rural Education Initiative (AREAi)[8] which aim to improve learning outcomes for poor and vulnerable children from low income families and in poor communities by empowering children in these communities,[9] as a youth activist his online and offline advocacy efforts are cemtered around key themes of educational development such as education finance, safe youths and youth involvement in local and global education policy-making.[10][11]

He has participated and represented Nigeria at high-level meetings such as the World Education Forum in Incheon, 66th UN/DPI NGO Conference in Gyeongju,[12] 16th UNESCO Asia Conference on Quality Education in Bangkok, 14th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Nairobi, 7th UNESCO NGO Forum in Riyadh, Under-30 Young Change-makers Summit in New York, and spoke at the 1st World Youth Forum Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt and the 8th UNESCO NGO Forum in Paris.[13][14] In September 2018, Olanrewaju was appointed UN DPI youth representative to the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly.[15]

In October 2019, as a Deloitte sponsored delegate to the One Young World Summit in London, Gideon was invited to the Windsor Castle as part of a group of 10 young leaders from across the world for a roundtable discussion with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Megan Markle of the British Royal Family. His engagement at this meeting dwelled on Education-in-bottles, an educational intervention of his organisation that provides basic educational infrastructure through waste plastic bottles to support access to quality education and empowerment for marginalised girls and vulnerable women in educationally-deprived communities.[16][17][18]

Awards and Nominations

In 2017, the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office awarded him a Chevening Scholarship to study for a Masters in International Education and Development at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom.[19] In November 2018, he was nominated and shortlisted as a part of five finalists for the Future African Awards Prize in Education.[20] In August 2019, he was also nominated for the SME 100 25 under 25 Awards under the Education Category[21]

gollark: How good *are* these "dual G5s"?
gollark: 2003 is 15 years ago.
gollark: "2003"
gollark: Would it not have been better to just get some more modern old server thing?
gollark: You can get modern fancy powerPC things at crazy prices now.

References
  1. "Candidate for the position of International Education and Development PGT - Rep | Sussex Students' Union". www.sussexstudent.com. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  2. "Gideon Olanrewaju: The food entrepreneur, with eye on healthy nutrition". Businessday NG. 11 March 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  3. Adebajo, 'Kunle (4 March 2018). "Prince Gideon Olanrewaju: a man of service; a life of impact". The Transverse. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  4. https://mcgill.ca/peer/who-we-are
  5. "DISE PhD Student, Gideon Seun Olanrewaju, Selected to Attend One Young World Summit". Faculty of Education.
  6. "The Prince of Education – Gideon Olanrewaju". learningonline.xyz. 23 January 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  7. Admin. "ESD youth leaders train to become change agents". UNESCO news. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  8. Ojo, Hannah. "UN assembly: Nigerian youths call for action on global education". The Nation NG. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  9. Editor (6 June 2018). "INTERVIEW: "How we're providing access to education for marginalized children in rural communities"". African Newspage. Retrieved 6 June 2019.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  10. "Gideon Olanrewaju Restores Hope of Learning In Rural Communities Through AREAi". Nigerian Bulletin - Naija Trending News. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  11. Admin. "Speaker Biographies" (PDF). UN DPI/NGO Conference.
  12. "Meet the 'lazy' Nigerian youths who absolved us at CHOGM 2018". TheCable. 3 May 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  13. Theirworld (6 June 2019). "What we learned about global education and the voice of young people at the UN". Theirworld. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  14. "Gideon Olanrewaju". www.globalpartnership.org. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  15. Admin. "Lanre At UN". UN.
  16. Durojaiye, Seun (28 October 2019). "Nigerian education advocate Gideon Olanrewaju meets with royal family in UK". Legit.ng - Nigeria news.
  17. "Nigerian education advocate explains out-of-school issues to the UK royal family". TheCable. 27 October 2019.
  18. "Behold: The British royals' guest". Latest Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Politics. 7 November 2019.
  19. .Adebajo, 'Kunle (4 March 2018). "Prince Gideon Olanrewaju: a man of service; a life of impact". The Transverse. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  20. "The Future Awards Africa 2018 Nominees List". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 5 December 2018.
  21. admin. "About 25 Under 25 Awards". Retrieved 19 August 2019.
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