ADEOLA AUSTIN OYINLADE; FACTFILES AND LIFELINES

The person

Thirty (30) year- old Adeola Austin Oyinlade is the President of ‘Know Your Constitution Initiative’ , an organization educating Nigerians and non Nigerians alike to know their rights and providing solutions to legal issues that arise in people’s daily activities free of charge.

He is a United Nations’ Young Ambassador for Peace and a resource person to African Union Commission, UNESCO and many other national and international organizations. He was born on 6th August, 1981 in Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria to the family of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Boluwaji Igbekele Oyinlade.

HOW HE IS USING LAW, SOCIAL MEDIA, RADIO AND MOBILE APPLICATIONS SUCESSFULLY AS TOOLS OF SOCIAL ENGINEERING AND PROBLEM-SOLVING IN NIGERIA AND ACROSS AFRICA

  Adeola is using Law, radio, mobile applications and social media as tools of social engineering and problem-solving in Nigeria. In 2009, Adeola designed Know Your Constitution Initiative to ask people from all walks of life about their level of awareness of their rights as contained in the Constitution of Nigeria and other laws in force in Nigeria.

Radio tool-: On the platform of the initiative is a radio programme on UNILAG 103.1 FM being received very loud and clear by millions of radio listeners in Lagos, Nigeria. It takes the form of a broadcast in which reputable lawyers are invited to the studio to educate people on the positions of law in solving legal issues that arise in the daily activities of listeners who are also allowed to call in through dedicated phone lines provided by Adeola.

  The programme is presented to Lagosians in simple language which is understandable to the ordinary man on the street, Seasoned legal practitioners that have featured on this programme to date include: Justice Muhammad Lawal Uwais, Former Chief Justice of Nigeria; Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, Immediate past president of the Nigerian Bar Association; Professor Akin Oyebode, a leading expert in International law; Professor Oyelowo Oyewo, Dean of the Faculty of Law University of Lagos; Mr. Bamidele Aturu, Human Rights Activist; Professor Ayo Atsenuwa; Mr. Akintayo Akinola, Mr. Malachi Ugwumandu, human rights experts, among other legal practitioners.

International Human Rights Conference 2011-: this also came on the backdrop of ignorance of the law among a lot of Nigerians, particularly the Nigerian constitution which contains their rights, and a consequent daily infringement. Many ultimately go to jail because pleading of ignorance of law is not a defense in the law court.

  He successfully convened a two- day Human Rights International Conference 2011 at the University of Lagos on 25th & 26th March, 2011 where 25 seasoned international and national legal luminaries empowered participants free. The list of Plenary speakers include; Mr. Tony Anene-Maidoh, Chief Registrar, ECOWAS Community court of Justice; Mr. Femi Falana, immediate past president of West African Bar Association; Nigerian lawyers lead by Mr. Joseph Daudu SAN, president of the Nigerian Bar Association .The conference was chaired by a leading international law expert in Nigeria, Professor Akin Oyebode. 2,000 Nigerians and Non-Nigerians alike at the Hall (Venue) were beneficiaries of the conference which was aired live to millions of radio listeners in Lagos, Nigeria on UNILAG 103.1 FM and was streamed online to millions of internet user globally via the official website of the conference: www.thenhrconference.org.ng. Participants were toured round five different sessions such as ‘The Powers and Functions of the Police vis a vis the rights of an Accused person’, ‘ Political Participation: A right or a privilege’, ‘ Rights of Non-Nigerians in Nigeria’, ‘ Alternative Dispute Resolution; Its application to infringement of Human Rights’, and ‘Contracts, What I need to know and Why I need a lawyer’. While Mr. Tony spoke on ‘The absolute nature of the rule against discrimination under international Law, implication for the ECOWAS member states’, Mr. Joseph discussed ‘An Assessment of the Performance of the Bar in Human Rights enforcement in Nigeria’.

Social Media-; in using social media such as Facebook and Twitter to solve legal problems in Nigeria, he created the facebook page of KNOW YOUR CONSTITUTION INITIATIVE ON UNILAG 103.1 FM for the benefit of people who could not receive him and be empowered on his Radio programme .It has about 2,000 fans of Nigerians and Non-Nigerian who email legal questions almost every day and get their legal questions answered by him and his Public Inquiries team who are young lawyers; Facebook Page.

Street Campaign and Humanitarian services-; He has taken this initiative to the streets of Lagos to educate and thereby empower Lagosians with knowledge of the law. In commemoration of the United Nations Human Rights Day 2010, he bought Ten thousand (10,000) copies of The Nigerian constitution which he, alongside his team members, distributed in 7 Local government areas of Lagos state in Nigeria. The streets exercise was coupled with illustrations on the relevance of the constitution to the people’s lives.

Mobile Application: - For millions of mobile phone users to reach him and have their legal issues solved at the push of buttons on their palms, he made the mobile application of the Initiative available to them to ask him and his team members of young lawyers legal questions that arise in their daily activities and get answers on their mobile phones without having to make phone calls. www.kycinitiative.org/mobile

  His immense contribution to expanding the frontiers of Liberty, Human rights, democracy and happiness of Nigerians and Non- Nigerians alike through the Initiative has fetched him recognitions and awards from many national and international organization and recently, the US Department of state featured him on the US Government blog in May 2011 for helping Nigerians know their rights and his immense contribution to the development of Africa. For details about the

US department of state recognition, kindly visit this link Click here..

Adeola was commissioned as United Nations’ Young Ambassador for Peace on 15th May, 2010. He was also appointed by the Lagos state government as the Youth coordinator, The Kuramo Conference 2010, an

 International Colloqium on law and development convened by Lagos state government which held in November, 2010 in Lagos, Nigeria.

EXTENSION OF HIS IMMENSE CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICA.

As a result of his contribution to national development in Nigeria, he was invited by the African Union Commission in April 2011 as a guest speaker at the plenary session of the African Youth Forum, 2011 where he addressed the forum on ‘Readiness to reform National Laws and Legislation in compliance with the African Youth Charter’. His recommendations were part of the Forum resolutions presented to the summit of Africa Union Heads of State at Malabo, Equitorial Guinea in July 2011.

  In view of his passion for International development, Adeola was authorized on 4th November, 2011 by the African Union Commission, Youth Division at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to develop mobile and facebook applications of the African Youth Charter in the six (6) African Union Official Languages: English, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Swahili and Spanish and popularize the Charter (just like the mobile application of the Nigerian Constitution he did in Nigeria early this year-2011) so that every phone user in Africa can have access to the Charter. The African Youth Charter enshrines the rights and duties that are critical to the survival of African Youths. Being an international treaty, it has to be signed, ratified, and transformed into the local laws by the African Union member- states before implementation. Many countries have not yet ratified the charter, not to talk of domestication. From the opinion poll carried out by Adeola in June 2011 on radio and online with support of his colleagues across Africa, he realized that about Eighty Five percent (85%) of African Youths had not heard about the charter, let alone engaging their government to sign, ratify, transform into local law and implement the charter. The implication is that our Youths cannot engage their leaders on the content of the charter because they are ignorant of their rights and duties contained in the document.

  His stepping out to digitize and popularize the charter will go a long way in making youths across Africa understand their Civil/Political rights, socio-economic rights and their duties towards national and international development. Moreover, it will, in the end, nudge all African Union member states to sign, ratify, transform into local laws and implement the charter in order to empower youths to get involved in the drive towards sustainable development in Africa.

UNIQUENSS OF HIS INITIATIVE AND HIS INVITATION TO SHARE IT BY UNESCO IN PARIS

  For solving problems through law, radio, social media and mobile application to the happiness of people in Nigeria, he was invited as a speaker to the African Parallel session of the 7th UNESCO Youth Forum on October, 2011 in Paris, France to give a testimony on youth- led social innovations from the perspective of his Initiative. He has been contacted by young people from about 18 countries on how to replicate such in their countries and has been of help to them in this regard.

  OTHER WORKS BY ADEOLA

  In October, 2008, Adeola did a legal research on the Freedom of Information bill( now Freedom of Information ACT) before the then National Assembly (Federal Legislative arm of the Nigerian government) and offered legal solutions to some ambiguities he discovered in the Bill that posed serious threat to the press as an Institution. His article was widely reported on the pages of Newspapers and generated debates on National Televisions in Lagos, Nigeria.

  Adeola has anchored many other international events in the area of human rights. He was the official broadcaster of the African Human Right moot court competition on his programme, Know Your Constitution, on UNILAG 103.1 FM; a competition hosted By the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos in August, 2009. The moot court competition had Law students from seventy (70) law faculties across forty (40) African Countries. He interviewed students from University of Ghana, University of Pretoria, South Africa, among other students from other African countries on How to become Apostles of the Rule of Law and promotion of Human rights in Africa.

  He has written many articles towards contribution to debates on national and international issues such as good governance in economic and social development, peace and security, Human rights, democracy, rule of law and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals which have been published in Nigeria and international print and online media.

  He was the official anchor of the first ever Dr. Nelson Mandela day organized by the United Nations Information Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos on 16th July, 2010 in line with the resolution of the United Nations to celebrate the African icon and true symbol of Freedom, Justice and Democracy in all UN member states.

  Adeola was a guest speaker at the Commonwealth ‘You- are- the- future national conference’ in Lagos, Nigeria which held between 7th and 9th June, 2010 under the auspices of ‘you are the future initiative’ of Commonwealth Secretariat, Youth Affairs Division. He spoke to about 5,000 youths at alongside seasoned speakers in Nigeria.

HIS WORKS ON MDGs SUBMITTED TO THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL, MR. BAN KI-MOON

  On 23rd December 2007, Adeola forwarded an article to the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon on ‘Millennium Development Goals; obstacles and ways of tackling them’ and got a letter of appreciation from the world body for his ‘interest in and support of the United Nations.’ In 2008, he sent another report to the United Nations Boss on ‘Contribution of Higher Institutions to achieving the Millennium Development Goals’. On January 2010, he presented another report: a one- minute awareness video on the importance and benefits of promoting United Nations eight MDGs through football tournaments organized by FIFA and other football governing bodies. This project was necessitated by an opinion poll Adeola carried out online and radio through which he discovered that although over 70 percent of the people could not list the eight (8) MDGs, they are very current about club and international football. In the video, he linked the MDGs with the spirit of football where goals count and asked the whole world to join him in scoring the eight goals to make the world a better place for all.

  Adeola is the National Deputy Director of Media and Publicity, Youth Federation for World Peace in Nigeria. YFWP is an affiliate of Universal Peace Federation, an NGO building a culture of peace , with special consultative status at the United Nations ECOSOG.

  He is an associate editor of DE QUINTESSENCE, The Nigerian Law students’ journal reviving the culture of Legal research towards intellectual capital development.

IMPACT OF KYCI

  Adeola has a number of lawyers who handle legal services pro bono (free) for the poor who cannot afford such legal fees to enforce their infringed rights, most especially Children and women.

  Through his Initiative, he has empowered Lagosians to make informed decisions on legal matters. Many people who had land issues now boast of valid titles over their land after legal assistance from his team of lawyers.

  The initiative has also created easy access to the Lagos state police in case of emergency and a corresponding effective response from Lagos state police command to the yearning of Lagosians. When Lagosians were laying complaints on his radio programme on abuse of power by police officers, Adeola invited the then Lagos state Police commissioner, ably represented by the Public Relation officer, Mr. Frank Mba, to the live programme to speak on 'the constitutional power of the police and its duties' and he also allowed listeners to call in live to clarify issues. On Adeola’s prodding during the interview, Mr. Mba disclosed the direct phone contacts of all the eight (8) police commands in Lagos state so that people could have direct access to the police in case of emergency.

  Because of the belief in some parts of Africa that brothers cannot take each other to court and still remain brothers, Adeola has adopted Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). He introduced ADR such as Conciliation and mediation into his initiative in solving disputes among people who do not want to go to court.

  Adeola and his team of young people have responded to over 68,000 inquiries and provided solutions to people’s legal issues via emails, phone calls and other social media since 2009. Legal issues Adeola and his team have responded to, in conjunction with Government and private institutions where necessary, include Land disputes, Tenancy issues, Matrimonial disputes, Breach of Contracts, Position of law on many legal issues, Rape cases reported to the police, among others.

COMMENTS ABOUT ADEOLA AUSTIN OYINLADE

“Dear Mr. Oyinlade,

Thank you very much for …….. your organization’s work to promote understanding and awareness of human rights in Nigeria.

……………………. Concerning your Human Rights Day activities, I am delighted to see that you used the theme ‘’Speak Up, Stop Discrimination” which was our global theme for the Day ….. I congratulate you and wish you every success in your continuing advocacy work.’’ Extract of a letter from Ms Navanthem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human rights to Adeola Oyinlade, dated 11th February, 2011.

“Adeola, I am immensely proud of those like you in your generation that are determined to surpass our record by pursuing purpose. Keep at it and may the Lord bless you always.”

  Online message to him from
Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwezili, Vice President, World Bank, on 28th November, 2009.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUNDS

Adeola enrolled at the Holy Saviors Primary School, Modakeke, Osun State in 1987 and finished his Primary School education with the first School Leaving Certificate in 1993 at Irotitun Community Primary School, Akure, Ondo State.

He proceeded to Akure Secondary Commercial School, Akure where he obtained his Senior Secondary School Certificate in 1998.

He Obtained his Advanced Level G.C.E in 2002.

He proceeded to the famous University of Lagos in 2006 where he graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Law (LL.B) in 2011.

He enrolled at the Nigerian Law School for His BL in 2011.

AWARDS/CERTIFICATES/RECOGNITIONS

• The Best Nigerian University presentation on the review of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (Member of the University of Lagos team) 2008 by Justice Muhammad Lawl Uwais Law students Foundation,

• The best speaker Awards (Justice Chukwudifu Oputa Moot Court Competitions; University of Lagos) 2008,

• University of Lagos Certificate of Excellence as a student leader, for his membership of the University student congress and Participation in the review of Student Union Constitution for the University of Lagos, on 7th April, 2009,

• Youth Achiever, 30th May, 2009(award by SATURDAY TRIBUNE, African Newspaper of Nigeria PLC)

• United Nations-UPF/YFWP Young Ambassador for Peace, 15th May, 2010,

• SUNSHINE YOUTH AMBASSADOR (award by CITIZEN REPORTERS, 9th August, 2010)

• Commissioned as Nigeria Leadership Initiative Associate on October, 2010,

• Nigerian Youth Leadership Awardee, 2010- LEAP AFRICA 7TH Annual Youth Leadership Awards.

• On 29th November, 2010, The Westerner Magazine in Nigeria , Vol.2 No.34

 named Adeola ‘FACE OF THE FUTURE’,

• On Tuesday 21st November, 2010, Adeola Austin Oyinlade was named ‘A MAN OF THE PEOPLE’ by NEXT NEWSPAPERS for his contribution to national and international development,

• Recognition by the U.S department of States for helping Nigerians to know their rights, 11th May, 2011,

• TOP 12 NATIONAL YOUTH AWARDS (winner of Democracy and Good Governance category) by YOUNG STARS FOUNDATION and Federal Ministry of Youth Development, Abuja, Nigeria on 2nd December, 2011 among others.