Patterns of Grace
“Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter”- African Proverb
One would have thought 2020 was a tough year until 2021 came around. No doubt, words will fail me if I am to give a detailed narration of my 2021 experience. However, this piece gives a summary capture of the year in a chronological sequence of events ranging from work to family and vice versa. After all, they say life is full of “ups and downs”- whatever that means, you sure will agree with me that we have all been through moments which can perfectly fit into those.
What is a man without his work?
2 Thessalonians chapter 3:10
Working with BudgIT for the past 5 years has been very eventful! The Organization spares no time in challenging one to become a better version of oneself. The zero-tolerance for lethargy is one thing that stands it out among peers. Just as the general template of University certificate reads; “with character and learning”, yes! that’s pretty much like it. My duty post(s) has given me different opportunities to display leadership and teamwork. I can most definitely tell you that it has not been a journey without its own challenges.
2021 is the year in focus for this diary of mine, so I will talk about the feats of the year and a little about 2020.
Civic Hive: This is BudgIT’s arm to raising civic tech leaders across Africa, we pride ourselves on being the nest of doers. What we have simply achieved at civic hive which I was opportune to lead for 3 years -with my recent transition back to BudgIT which I’ll talk about much more later in this piece- has been to build civic tech solutions, solve social problems and make governance more open with more tech solutions. Lest I forget, Civic Hive is part of the 5 years plan for BudgIT.
Churning out solutions every year was not an easy feat, it was a process of incubation, acceleration and development of MVPs for each idea that passes through the Civic Hive Fellowship program. Even if your idea does not scale through, the all-encompassing curriculum which we built will change your “DNA” as a person. We understood very fast that we are actually not only working on the ideas, but we were also working on the owners of the idea. This helped us iterate very quickly to get the desired outcomes that we wanted. The fellows will jokingly call me “Iyanuoluwa, jack of all trades, master of all” this was due to the fact that I had answers or let me say ideas that could help across the board to help their ideas scale into a proper solution. It’s a joy moment because, solutions like Citizens Gavel, Flemer Project, Eduplana etc all went through “fire baptism” to become outstanding solutions in their field today. I must not fail to mention that these solutions which are now full-fledged organizations have raised nothing less than $2m in donations and grants.
At the end of the year 2020, I kept asking myself, how was I able to handle two media fellowships at the same time? Welp! that was a very tough time to be a leader. However, Shakespeare said and I quote “uneasy is the head that wears a crown” I knew there was no room for failure, so it had to be done. COVID-19 had really impacted how we conducted programs at the Hive, there was little or no physical interaction at the time. I suggested to the leadership of the organization, “we can’t afford to stop our yearly fellowship because of the pandemic”. I didn’t know where the courage came from, however, we launched the 2019/2020 fellowship program which led to the training of 6 Journalists which cut across the traditional media and the new media. The Journalists were trained by seasoned coaches which helped them in the production of their human angle stories across the fellowship program.
The Atupa fellowship was another opportunity to train financial Journalists, it was supported by the Public Affairs Commission of the US Consulate Lagos. It had a record number of 25 Journalists who went through the program. The structure of the program made sure selected journalists were trained and went through a rigorous process for six solid months. The journalists were able to write human angle stories, investigative journalism pieces and financial stories. The financial journalists were taught by industry leaders from Bloomberg, Lagos Business School, Civic Hive, BudgIT, Media Executives and Data experts. In the course of these months, each fellow was able to produce one story per month. In the end, we saw more interest in organizations picking up these Journalists to work with them as they were more marketable. The fellowship program also had post-fellowship support which helped the journalists have access to very rich resources and hands-on support from BudgIT, these resources were used to tell stories. The program ended with a beautiful award ceremony which was headlined by the US Consul General, Claire Pierangelo.
Yorubas will say, “Ti afin gba o ba fin igba mo, eyin ti o ti fin sile kole baje” It was time to draw the curtains at Civic Hive and take on the next challenge at BudgIT.
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At BudgIT, I was throughout the year privileged to manage a portfolio of over $1m COVID-19 projects. While at Civic Hive, I took interest in understanding what COVID-19 entailed and how we could analyse the funds coming into the country and the utilization of these funds. This led to launching www.civichive.covidtracka, the rest they say is history.
One of our COVID-19 projects: CTAP, a partnership between CODE and BudgIT. A project was implemented in 7 African countries- Nigeria, Kenya, Liberia, Ghana, Siera Leone, Malawi and Cameroon. At BudgIT, we had the mandate to run this project in Liberia, Siera Leone, Ghana and Nigeria. As the Project Lead, it automatically became a responsibility to be at the project sites.
In Siera leone, I joined the in-country team to launch the CTAP Project. The country has few organizations which seek transparency and accountability, it became an important necessity to join our voice with theirs.
Ours became a journey that has made the feet of the organization stand firm. At the end of 2021, the Government of Siera Leone gave us the attention we needed to get the right answers to our questions.
Liberia was the next stop, landing there, memories of the work we did on Ebola accountability came rushing back to me, and yet again, we have another pandemic in our hands… A whole lot of questions I had asked during my stay in the country was drafted on the flight to Liberia.
Not to lose focus, launching CTAP in Liberia was the goal of the visit. However, I also used the visit to solidify our ground in Liberia. BudgIT understands the importance of its regional offices outside Nigeria hence its structure must be solidified. A part of which I played a very important role.
One goal our Principal Lead, Gabriel Okeowo, has really achieved this year was to continuously push all members of the team to go into the field and be part of the process which makes the project they are working on a success.
The next stop was the United States of America! Yes, I have always wanted to be part of the international office, well, that came to fruition in December 2021! In the last year, BudgIT has been having talks with some of its partners about the necessity of having a US office. Well, we are now at the Open Gov Hub! We can’t wait to see what the future will bring.
I am looking forward to greater responsibilities even in 2022. I have always believed that whatsoever that is worth doing at all is worth doing well. I will continue to push the limits, break boundaries and discover new possibilities.
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Last Last, your family is actually all you got!
Family is at the centre of God’s plan for the happiness and progress of His children. The Holy Bible teaches that God established families from the very beginning, and it shows us many examples of strong families. It also teaches us how to have a loving, happy family.
It’s important to note that without a happy family, all other parts of your life will feel the impact.
Nothing prepares you for the loss of a child! 10th of February, I was in a meeting at work, and got a call from my wife that I should hurry home, little did I know I was about to hear the worst of it all! I found my wife in serious pains, rolling on the floor, I drove like a mad man to Reddington Victoria Island, well, by the time we got to the ER, with ultrasounds done, the baby had lost heartbeat, I prayed! I prayed, however, we lost the baby… What kept comforting me at that time was the message preached by Pastor Poju Oyemade “Saying we should always give thanks in all and not say negative words in the heat of a storm” Paraphrased. My wife was inconsolable, however, we just had to give the things we could not control to God. I just remembered now, it was on this same day my Landlord choose to increase his rent by N100,000 without prior notice! It was a shitty day!
Well, today, I can boldly say the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. Psalm 126: 1–6
We now have a new addition to the family, Bethel O. Bolarinwa whose birth is a miracle to behold.
My sincere prayer for the new year is to continuously abide under the shadow of the almighty.
The Bad and Ugly
…of course, there are difficult times in life, however, we do not allow these times to define us.
The Obama Foundation Leaders Africa program! I was so pumped about this! The application, the long wait and the final interviews, I was just at the door. I was rejected after all stages. Well, I hope to try again in the near future.
Chevening Award! I got another L. You know how the rejection emails are written, once you see, we regret to inform you, that’s it!
Good Times
Cherish every moment because soon all moments turn into memories- Zac Ochsenbine
They always say there is light at the end of a tunnel. I was nominated to be a Pandemic Action Ambassador. We all know COVID-19 is here for the long haul, we all need people who will be committed to helping to keep the world safe from the pandemic.
It was a great opportunity meeting with Frank Nweke Jr. who was Minister of Youth, Minister of Information and then Minister of Information and Communications during the second term of President Olusegun Obasanjo. A small dinner that hosted me, Oluseun Onigbinde and our generous host Mr Frank himself. In the meeting, we discussed the future of Nigeria, what we need to do to salvage the country and pointed out places where we missed it as a country. In the same vein, I was able to have another seat down with Dr Obiageli Ezekweseli, a very big inspiration for the work we do at BudgIT.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading to this point, we will break ceilings again in the year 2022. I can’t forget to thank friends and family members who made 2021 awesome! I pray we all see the year 2022 and do wonderful exploits. Amen.
See you in my next medium post. Take good care of yourself.
