By Victor Gotevbe
Good sexuality education is crucial to help young people to prepare for healthy and fulfilling lives. High  quality information and thorough sexuality education can equip them with the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need to make informed choices now and in the future; to develop their independence and self-esteem.

Saturday Youthful Vibes takes you on a journey with Kadiri Audu with over 8 years experience as a social worker. He believes that you cannot talk to young people about their future without mentioning HIV because of its pandemic nature which affects a lot of young people prone to very high risk behaviour.

*KADIRI AUDU

Childhood and education

I was born into a family of eight -six boys and two girls—and I am the first born. I am a native of Edo State although I was born and bred in Lagos. I grew up in Olaleye community in Mainland Local Government.

I attended St. Peters Primary School, Ebute Metta and Jibril Martins Memorial Grammar School, Iponri , Surulere in Lagos. Thereafter, I gained admission into Kwara State Polytechnic Ilorin where I  studied Banking and Finance.

One person that greatly inspired me as a child  aside heroes like Mahatma Gandhi, Mandela and fela was my father who was  a philanthropist and a disciplinarian who believed  strongly in education to get to wherever you want in life.

Experience in the medical field

I founded a community initiative Batula Youth Movement (BYM) in year 2000, after participating in a training on HIV/AIDS. Prior to this, I never believed that HIV was real; I thought then it was an American Invention to Discourage Sex (AIDS).

Equipped with substantial amount of  information about HIV and how young people are more at risk, motivated me to start up this project to reach out to young people with little or no information information about HIV/AIDS.

This drive to see that the virus is prevented, people are creatively aware and my knowledge about the disease led me to become members of many networks of HIV service organization. I am an executive member (Internal Auditor) of the National Youth Network on HIV/AIDS, (NYNETHA) Lagos Chapter.

I am also a Steering Committee member and the international community Vice Chair of the International Rectal Microbicides Advocates (IRMA). IRMA  comprises of over 1,000 advocates, policymakers and leading scientists from six continents working together to advance a robust rectal microbicide.

I am also the coordinator of the Nigerian chapter.  I also belong to different HIV/AIDS networks nationally and internationally.

In addition I have attended and presented abstracts in some national and international conferences on HIV/AIDS with full scholarships such as the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)  2005, Tunis, Tunisia, the 14th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA 2005) Abuja, Nigeria, Microbicides conferences in 2006,2008 and 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa, New Delhi, India and Pittsburgh, USA respectively, and some other major international meetings.

Passion  versus lucrative job

Nothing would make me deviate from my career, that’s where my passion is; helping humanity. Working in a bank cannot give me the satisfaction and fulfillment I derive from my work, I guess that is why I have been able to achieve the little I have achieved today in my career.

I currently work with the International Center for Advocacy on Right to Health (ICARH). ICARH is an NGO based in Abuja, which provides HIV/AIDS prevention and clinical services to most at risk populations and people living with HIV.

I am the Head of Programs and I manage three funded projects for the organization; IMHIPP, a USAID funded project, MARPS clinic a CDC funded project and Men’s Health Project funded by FHI.

I got the job through the internet, while I was attending the conference in USA, a colleague in the HIV field drew my attention to the vacancy, when I got to Nigeria, I applied and I was called for an interview. Amongst 7 of us I emerged the successful candidate for the job.

My NGOs and their relevance

I founded two NGOs, namely,Batula Youth Movement (BYM) and Galadimawa Progressive Youth Association (GPYA).

BYM was founded in 2000, to create a platform for disadvantaged youth within the community to get information on the different challenges they are faced with and how to overcome them.

GPYA was set up in 2011, in Abuja, in the community where I live. I identified some promising youths and I was able to motivate and mobilize them to start contributing to the development of the community by mobilizing resources within the community to develop it.

Nigerian youth and  responsible behavioures

I think we have vibrant youths in Nigeria with a lot of talents and innovative ideas. What they need is to be engaged with activities that would enable them showcase what they have, and provide opportunities for them to actualize their dreams.

Most young people engage in risky behaviors and life styles that predispose them to HIV infection due to idleness, if they can be engaged positively with mentorship and capacity building they would not have much time to laze around and engage in risky sexual behaviors.

Decrying the stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS

They should know that HIV is a condition and that does not mean anybody living with HIV is less competent or would die suddenly. First, they should accept their status and condition, because they could be self-stigmatizing themselves, if they can scale this hurdle then the rest is minimal.

They should also try to get more information on positive living and how to cope with the virus. They can live longer than those who do not even have the virus, all they need to do is if they detect it early they should start therapy immediately, where more information on how to cope and live with the virus would be shared with them. Another thing they should know is that having the virus does not mean you cannot have a positive baby; even positive parents can have negative children, all they need is early diagnosis and follow-up.

I see for the Nigerian youth.

Of course, I see a lot of hope in the Nigerian youths; if you look around the country you would agree with me. A lot of young people are doing wonderfully well both home and abroad. The pace might be slow but definitely the youths of this nation are taking over gradually. My advice for the Nigerian youth is to believe in themselves and always think positive; think of what they can do to contribute to the development of their  communities or where they live.

YOUNG NIGERIANS MAKING THE DIFFERENCE

AMB. MARK ALECHENU ELAIGWU –   Benue State

Amb. Mark Alechenu’s dedication to serving humanity dates back to 2008, and he has stayed committed and focused. He drew inspiration from an international workshop on Mindfulness   organized by the then BTW4EYES, in collaboration with Teachers without boarders worldwide,a program organized for educators.

*MARK

He has since taken the responsibility of cascading the knowledge gained from the  workshop to the several schools and communities.  He has instituted Mindfulness Ambassadors Council which he founded in four secondary schools in Nasarawa State where they gained support from the Mindfulness Without Boarders from Canada with the supplies of T-Shirts and educational materials.

With the quest to achieving the millennium development goals as an MDGs volunteer during his one year Mandatory National Youth service Amb. Mark executed several projects on each of the Eight goals.

Such as a skill acquisition programme for the residents of Ombi 1 and Ombi 2 of Nasarawa State where over 68 women and youths were trained on  campala,batik,beads making,barbing saloon and craft depending on the choice of individuals.

Twenty one of these trainees where enrolled into the scheme of the National directorate of Employment to help in the training of others with stipends paid them monthly. On the Achieve Universal Basic Education, he has mobilized corp volunteers where they ran several road and market campaigns on support free child education and to compliment this, mobilized and supported 480 Pupils of Pilot primary schools of Nasarawa State and two other government schools with educational materials for free.

With these projects and many more as a corp member volunteer he emerged the winner of  Nasarawa State  Governors award in 2010, and also came first in the MDGs North Central award comprising  six other States.

This also led to his nomination for the African Achievers Ambassadorial Award where he came first  in Africa on category 6 which is combating HIV/AIDS malaria and other diseases. Currently, Amb. Mark is still moving from communities making positive change a reality.

KUNLE OGUNROMBI  A.K.A  KPEACE   –        Ogun State

Kpeace is a graduate of Fine Arts from the Federal College of Education, Akoka and he has since been in pursuit of his passion for music. He got his early tutelage from his church where he was part of the choristers, and also a member of an The Peacemakers, an acapella group.

In 2010, He clinched the  Best Performing Artiste at Musicality Talent Hunt Competition. The Ogun born multitalented artiste is fast rising. He plays the drumset very well, and he is  good sound engineer. He has worked with the  likes of Ben Ogbeiwi, Cartair of ‘Owo ati swagger fame  and  Buckwyler.

His two hit singles,’Love you forever and We go rock’ is steadily making him an household name amongst music fans. It is fascinating to know that aside from being an artiste, Kpeace  runs his own band called D’romby band and also the studio manager at D’ROCK studio where he is sharpening both his music production skills and business acumen. Armed with a voice that can move mountains , Kpeace is sure wired to impact his world with his skills .