Some African-American leaders in education and media have expressed interest in the wealth development vision of Prince Adewole Adebayo, the Social Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.
The distinguished Americans made this known at a meeting with the presidential hopeful last week in Washington D.C.
The Honorary Ambassador Reverend Dr George E. Holmes, The Honorable Lezli Baskerville, PhD, attorney and President and CEO of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), Christina Royster, President and CEO of Big Media Agency, Dr Ky Dele, Public Relations Liaison and others were part of the meeting.
Media professionals from across the U.S. participated in the convening virtually, including Candace Wilson, Producer of WHUR/96.3 FM’s the Daily Drum, WLVS Radio/National Media Personality, Dr Renee’ Allen, and newspaper executives Denise Rolark Barnes, Publisher and Ron Burke, Director of Advertising and Marketing for The Washington Informer. Barnes and Burke also attended as representatives of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).
Recall that Adebayo had vowed to create 30 million jobs for Nigerians if elected president.
And the 50-year-old appears to have finalised plans to make this a success, having discussed how future opportunities for the people of his country could be created by greater exposure to education.
Prince Adebayo explained the power of storytelling to engage Americans with the importance of increasing educational opportunities for the people of Nigeria with all of the leaders in attendance.
According to a statement by Big Media, “He has already been using storytelling to engage audiences both in the U.S. and Nigeria. He founded Adewole Adebayo & Co., House of Law, in 2002, and KAFTAN TV (King Adebayo Film and Theatre Arts Network) in 2016. However, as the Nigerian presidential election approaches in 2023, he says it is paramount that Americans hear, connect with and share these stories with others so that together we can bring about the change his country so desperately needs. So he is meeting with educational organizations, media, and political entities to strategize how Americans can help move Nigeria forward.
“Prince Adebayo shared many stories about young people whose education was enhanced by educational benefactors, like the story of Kwame Nkrumah, a Ghanaian politician who became a student at the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU), Lincoln University in 1935. Adebayo sponsors nearly 2,000 young Nigerians in his country and foreign tertiary institutions he financially empowers others across the country”.
“Education is the pathway to every success in life,” Adebayo added. “We must all continue to invest in the futures of young people in Nigeria because this is how we will improve every aspect of Nigerian life – from politics to economics and even voting practices.
“Even as we approach the election there are segments of Nigerian society who need to be empowered with more information on candidates’ important issues on the ballot for the 2023 general election”.
Meanwhile, President Baskerville opined that her views for growing an expanded and enhanced cohort of Nigerians who are educated, innovated, and using their abundant gifts, talents, and other resources to close the economic, wealth, health, sustainability, and justice gaps, address climate change, and grow a stronger more just nation aligns foursquare with that of Prince Adebayo.
“The future of Nigeria, Africa in general, and the African diaspora is contingent upon an interdependent and inseparable collaboration among Africa-ancestors people worldwide,” she said.
“As institutions of education, innovation, liberation, scientific research, workforce preparation, entrepreneurship, service corps diplomatic, and peace corps preparation, HBCUs are the ideal institutions for moving African-Ancestored people forward, globally. From their inception, HBCUs have prepared great African leaders. President Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first president of Nigeria, and President Kwame Nkrumah, the 1st president of Ghana were moulded by Lincoln University, the first degree-granting HBCU.”
“I am especially interested in the wealth development vision of Prince Adebayo,” she continued. “Imagine how we could improve the lot of African-ancestors people worldwide, if we better-leveraged technology, our institutional resources, national and human resources, scientific research, and made more strategic use our expendable income– $1.3T among Black Americans and the $4T GDP of the countries participating in the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.”
While President Baskerville recounted a very compelling story in the area of collaborative education and economics, others were focused on how to deploy those stories to make them resonate with audiences in dynamic ways that call them to action.
“Fortunate are we that we live in a world where technology allows us to tell these stories with resonance,” said Royster, whose Big Media Agency is an integrated marketing communications firm. “However, it is also important that we use elevated platforms to place these compelling stories that we know exist across our diasporic communities and create compelling calls to action. We know why a professor in America should care about and invest in the education of a young person in Nigeria. However, through our stories, we need to show our various segments why they should care and make them act through the art of persuasive communication.”
Prince Adebayo added that he will use technology to create classrooms without borders to bring students of the diaspora together for educational purposes. This, he says, is our servant duty as people of faith across the global faith community.
“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a global village to provide educational access to children of Nigeria and the diaspora. I hope that meetings like this one and other conversations with leaders like all of you will help us create that global village.”
