Temiloluwa Oyeniyi is a member of the Oyo State Youth Parliament (2nd Assembly), a community organiser, a public administrator, a changemaker, and a mentor. She is the programmes manager of the Ominira Initiative for Economic Advancement. In this interview by AWAU ADEGOKE, she speaks about her works and other issues.
You are a member of the Oyo State Youth Parliament, a member of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, a community organiser, a public administrator, a changemaker, a mentor, etc. Where did the passion for these engagements come from?
I am a member of the Oyo State Youth Parliament, representing Egbeda constituency. I’m not a member of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, but I once worked in the office of the Speaker of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, Dr Azeezat Yishawu.
My passion for these came from my willingness to be part of changemakers. That’s why I’m not fond of the ‘japa’ syndrome. I’ve built capacities in public and leadership sectors, and helped in policy drafting, I teach young Nigerians some of these legislative procedures. I’ve hosted 10-15 projects in Nigeria in the last two years and have advocated good governance, individual liberty, economic development, and political stability in the country.
My definition and perception of leadership is that “leadership is not just about who becomes what, but also who we are and what we have to offer.” In what capacity are we building the country? What are the objectives of the work we do? What are the struggles behind it, and what is your value system? Leadership is about selfless attributes and service, and how much we are willing to go with so much around us.
What are your roles as a member of the Oyo State Youth Parliament?
The youth parliament was created to empower and train young people to be public leaders, and to be passionate about policy, leadership, community mobilising, and project management. It was created to mirror the House of Assembly.
I’m a floor member of the Oyo State Youth Parliament (2nd Assembly) and have served on a committee for the media and publicity for the parliament. I’ve also volunteered on projects and moderated events for the parliament. I’ve been able to do some personal projects. I participated in the Legislative Mentorship Initiative Fellowship in 2022 founded by Femi Gbajabiamila (President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff). The most recent project was sponsored by the Nigerian Youth Futures Fund and Leap Africa, where I won a thousand-dollar grant award.
I am active and relevant to my local government chairman, vice chairman, and youth leader. I have a good relationship with them because I participated in some of their campaigns, and we have been able to work together on some projects.
You have engagements with the Ominira Initiative. What is the Initiative about, and what are your position and roles in the organisation?
Ominira Initiative for Economic Advancement is a non-governmental organisation, it is a ‘think tank’, working to increase freedom, good governance and prosperity across Africa. We have funding partners who fund some of our project ideas. They are usually international organisations like ATLAS Network IATP, and IEA.
Our core vision is to have a free and prosperous African society of responsible individuals with respect for human and property rights. Most of our projects focus on property rights and youth development. We have been able to achieve this through advocacy, fellowship opportunities, and research.
I work with Ominira Initiative as the programmes manager. I perform the function of overseeing all of our projects and programmes. I help in proposal drafting, gathering relevant resources, community mobilising, finding suitable guest speakers for intellectual discussions, etc. I also help in monitoring and evaluation. I ensure that there are sustainable partnerships and relationships among relevant stakeholders.
You were recently in Dar es Salam, Tanzania, for a programme. How were you able to attend the programme?
I was is Dar es Salam in August. It was a wonderful experience. I’m the National Coordinator at African Students for Liberty in the southwest/south-south region of Nigeria. I have participated in some of the virtual training organised by ATLAS Network, which is one of the requirements to participate in the physical training. So, when I saw the opportunity to apply for the training, particularly the Africa Liberty Forum in Dar es Salam, I applied and was recommended by Ominira Initiative to attend. That was how I got in. I also got a recommendation from the African Students for Liberty to attend the Top Leaders’ Retreat altogether.
At Dar es Salam, you spoke about ‘Politics of policymaking’. What were the major highlights of your speech?
I was able to speak to many young people across different African countries on the concept of politics and policies — finding common ground between the two concepts — using Nigeria as a case study, especially in the parliament. I talked about how politics is a means to an end, while policies and governance are the end in itself. I also talked about lobbying, and how parliamentarians and lawmakers lobby for their motions, views, and bills to be passed.
In one of your LinkedIn posts, you stated that “Community development starts with young people.” In what ways do you engage young people in your community or Oyo State to transform them into changemakers and leaders?
I believe we are leaders of tomorrow today. Sometimes, the future you don’t actively create will surprise you. The tomorrow that we prayed for yesterday is today. If we’re going to achieve sustainable development in our socio-economic and political fabrics, it’s important to encourage young people.
Whatever resources we are providing today, whatever challenges we are trying to fix today, whatever initiative or ideology we are trying to provide today must not affect tomorrow or the next generation of people. If we want this change to happen, we’re going to start involving young people. If young people don’t have an understanding of what leadership, politics, community mobilization, stakeholder engagement, resource management, and policy drafting look like, it becomes a problem because we’ll start raising generations of clueless people.
I tell young people in my network that they are privileged because most times I host webinars and physical programmes at zero cost to participants. I’ve also helped to facilitate programmes that would enrich young people. This year alone, I’ve hosted five physical projects and built over 1000 capacities for various events. It has always been my passion to build a community of professionals. That has always been my passion.
As a woman, you are active in leadership, with results people could see. However, other women are out there crying about socio-political marginalization and gender inequality when it comes to leadership and political matters. What is your take on this?
I believe in advocacy by action and I have had programmes where females are more than males. People are advocating, using campaigns and digital advocacy, and clamoring for equal opportunities for males and females. We have a number of them that we’ve partnered with. I’m also advocating for gender equality. Culture does not change people, people change culture. We can change the culture and the wrong perceptions of people about the female gender.
We need to keep advocating, not just to change the perception of men but that of women, especially women at the grassroots — changing their value orientation, telling them that they have a lot to offer in the socioeconomic and political sectors. I don’t believe in stopping this advocacy. No matter how much we try, we’ll still have more men taking leadership positions than women. It’s important and I agree to join in the advocacy.
We need women who will be at the table discussing policies, strategies, and ideologies to move Nigeria forward. Those are the kinds of capacities I’m trying to build.
Oyo State local government and councillorship elections are in the offing. Do you have an interest in the election or supporting a candidate? If you were to contest any election in Oyo State or Nigeria, which office would it be and why?
The local government election happened about two months ago. I’m loyal to my constituency because I have mentors, and some of them contested the election. I know their capacities. I know how much people believe in their leadership. I had to support them. Presently, they are chairman and vice chairman, and I participated in their campaigns, elections, and supervision. It was fun. For the counsellorship election, I didn’t have a particular supporter, but I knew a few of my friends who contested. Some won and some lost.
Whether I would love to contest any elections in Oyo State or Nigeria, I would love to work for the government and the people. I’m in between choosing an appointment or an elective position. In the near future, I’ll be looking at an appointment. Because of the course I read and my passion for public administration, I would love to work as the senior special adviser to the governor on local government matters, to see how I can help create development at the grassroots.
How would you rate Governor Seyi Makinde on youth engagement and development in Oyo State?
On a scale of 1 to 10, from what we can see, I’ll give him a six. This is because, since he became the governor, he has taken steps to ensure his cabinet is youth-inclusive. Over time, he has been doing a lot of work. During his first tenure, I think Seun Fakorede was the youngest commissioner, and we can see the Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly is young. It is just that the gender part is not reflective. Also, there have been youth initiatives and skill acquisition opportunities through the office of the director for youth agency and development. These are laudable.
However, there is the need to increase dialogues and interventions for young people in the state. Youth empowerment is beyond job opportunities. How prepared are the youths for the opportunities? We need them to be representing us out there, to be contributing to the development of our country. We need to provide sustainable initiatives so that while one generation is going, they will create more networks, communication, and communities, for the incoming young people.
President Bola Tinubu recently granted financial autonomy to all the local governments in Nigeria. As a local government and development studies graduate, what is your take on this?
It is a fantastic development. A lot of things would be better with the local government autonomy. Once we have achieved development at the grassroots, it won’t be difficult to achieve development at the national level. However, what is the state of our local governments in Nigeria? We can’t compete with local governments in many countries. This is because their local governments are structured in a way that their development solely depends on it.
So, while I agree that there is a need for local government autonomy, we need to look into it and ask ourselves about the state of these local governments. How much of the internally generated revenue initiatives do we have in the Nigerian local government system? What foundational challenges do we address at the local level? What is the leadership capacity of the local government chairmen? What are the monitoring and evaluating techniques to drive change? How are these local governments closer to the people? These questions must be answered if we must address issues associated with autonomy. I would like to be among the people who will promote the autonomy and the restructuring process.
Tell us about your book ‘Letter to My Past’.
‘Letter to My Past’ is a short nonfiction journal about people’s past. It’s my project. I reached out to people at a time when suicide, depression and emotional backlash were common in 2022. I reached out to young people to find out how they were faring, and what they wished to say about their past, and I received several responses. I published the book to encourage more people who have gone through something bad at some point in their lives to know that it does not mean they will have to carry it to the next phase. There is a need for us to celebrate our past even if we’re not comfortable with the result of what we did in the past. It was impressive. I received amazing feedbacks for it.
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