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'Gbenga Sesan is an Information Society researcher, and was Nigeria's first Information Technology Youth Ambassador. He is quick to express his strong belief in the potentials that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) hold for Nigeria and Africa and has been an active participant at national, regional and international discussions on the need for Africa's inclusion in the Information Society. ‘Gbenga has consulted widely for numerous organizations, including the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, where he is the Vice Chair of the African Technical Advisory Committee. 'Gbenga is presently completing his postgraduate study in ICT Policy and Regulation, and is Program Manager of Lagos Digital Village, a multi-stakeholder partnership project that provides training and mentorship opportunities for underserved youth in Nigeria.

In recognition of his dynamic efforts, 'Gbenga was a recipient of the 2006 “Best Use of Technology” award, 2005 “Stockholm Challenge Champion” honour, 2004 “Excellence in Information Technology” award, 2003 "Ten Outstanding Young Persons in Nigeria" award, 2002 "Frontier of Technology in Nigeria" award, and the 2001 International Telecommunication Union's African Youth Fellowship award. He has also been profiled as one of the 35 "Icons of ICT" in Nigeria and is a regular feature of high profile television talk shows, including Patito’s Gang and New Dawn with Funmi Iyanda. Outside numerous volunteer efforts as Team Leader of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria and Co-coordinator of the African Youth ICT4D Network, ‘Gbenga Sesan maintains a personal website at www.gbengasesan.com, a blog (Òrò: ‘Gbenga Sesan lets out the words) at www.gbengasesan.com/blog, and continues to spend time discussing with people-groups on the effective use of Information and Communication Technologies for development. He is also a guest columnist with Nigeria’s ICT Newspaper, Technology Times, where he writes the weekly column, “Bridges”.

‘Gbenga’s writing efforts have helped produce three books. “Wh@t’s Next? The Future of the Information Society - A Youth Perspective” was edited by Youth for Intergenerational Justice and Sustainability, and TakingITGlobal. Featuring young authors from every continent, the book describes what young people are doing with ICTs today, and attempts to describe the direction of the Information Society. 'Gbenga also contributed towards the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa's “Africa Networking: Development Information, ICTs and Governance”. He wrote the chapter titled, "African Youth in the Information Society". In November 2005, ‘Gbenga completed editorial work on “Global Process, Local Reality: Nigerian Youth Lead Action in the Information Society”, which was presented at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis. He is presently involved in three other international book projects that will be published between March and August 2006. 

So can you tell us a bit about yourself?

‘Gbenga Sesan is the name. 29 years young, excited about life, and optimistic about the opportunity of being a young Nigerian.

I went to secondary school in far away Ido-Ani, a town in Ondo state. I moved to OAU, Ife for my tertiary education in Electronic & Electrical Engineering and that is as far as my basic education is concerned. But, talking about myself, I think I should talk about what I believe in and what I do. One of the things that really got me interested in the vision for a new Nigeria is basically what happened when I was 14 years old. Incidentally, it happened in Church. One woman came to Church - I don’t know what her name is anymore. I wish I could know who it was so that I can go and say thank you, but I’m sure she didn’t know she changed a life. She was then talking about David serving his generation according to the will of God and somehow, I felt she was talking to me and as soon as she was through, I called a couple of friends, about four of them and I said, “Listen guys, she was talking to me”. But then it became a sort of argument – No, she was talking to me. Okay, let’s not argue. What happened was that she was talking to us.

Therefore, we came together and started by praying together and the best understanding we had of it then was to share what we had with people and what we had was joy and happiness. I had that feeling and we shared that with a couple of people; went from place to place sharing that and it was really exciting. You know young people who have just come up with an idea that they can change the world, you can’t stop them. Even while it was raining, we kept going on. We would walk into people’s houses and say, “This is what we believe; How do you feel about it”. At times we looked so funny trying to communicate in Yoruba when we actually couldn’t, I remember we got embarrassed in so many places where they knew we didn’t fit into the setting, but we had something: we were on a mission. And overtime there was this nudging in me that that was about you. I didn’t have very good picture of it then but as I grew up and sometime in my secondary school days, I saw a computer for the first time. Two disjointed things but I never understand how they would combine at the end of the day. I saw a computer and wanted to go close to it and touch it but I was barred from doing so - because I didn’t know how to operate one. But the son of late Prof. Fatula of UniBen was allowed to because he could operate it and I told myself whatever could make this guy know this thing, I will also learn it and teach others. To many of us at that time, it was embarrassing but to me it was a challenge in the sense that I just told myself they stopped me now but they can’t stop me later in life.

I forgot again; disjointed things. Then in 1999/2000, I came to this same street, Marina, and was looking for a place to complete my (Industrial Attachment) IT. I didn’t get the rosy places. Everybody wanted to go to Chevron, Texaco and all that but I got a small company, Neural Technologies Ltd and interestingly enough, the guy who was in charge of the company took me like someone he could help, mentor and all that he also finished from Ife and the fellowship I was attending at that time. So there were opportunities to go for meetings with him and in one of the meetings, the idea of computing struck me again. Fine it was an I.T company, but I could just have gone through the same process again like everybody, come back to school and score your A’s and all that. But I got back to school and everything - what happened when I was 14, when I was at Ido-Ani, what happened when I was on IT - came together and for once I saw myself contesting for politics in the department. There was a club called ‘Electronic Club’, which had been somehow for a while. Suddenly, there was this side of me that said, “Listen, you can’t just leave things the way they were – things can be better”. And that was how everything just picked up like that and the thought of Nigerian I.T, the thought of computing and all that came back again and - fine I contested and won eventually. Then, everybody was looking at me and were like, ‘What’s this small boy going to do; what does he have to offer?’ Eventually, I shared my ideas and I remember one of the things that happened while I was campaigning: they asked me which primary school I went to, I said Akure; secondary school - I didn’t say Akure but they all shouted, Akure and I said Ido-Ani. They said, ‘Ah. That’s worse’; University - they said, Akure and I said, Aha, this is Ife now! (Laughs). But, that was where I won. You know how? When they said Akure, Akure, Akure, I said, “Do you know why you guys are saying all sorts? It’s because you feel that I have been limited in life but that is exactly what I have come to correct. I’ve come to explain that a limited man would never get anywhere. But, a man who builds himself through personal development; information building, can become globally relevant, so the phrase G.S on my name - ‘Gbenga Sesan; Global Synergism - became the buzzword and that was how I won.

At the first meeting we had in the club, somebody came to talk to us and he mentioned the name Phillip Emeagwali. I went to check his site and mailed him. I felt he won’t reply because recently, it was even announced that he is the most sought for scientist globally but he did. What I did was to pour out my thoughts to him and that even if he doesn’t reply, I would have told him my mind because even before then I will face the mirror and talk to the mirror and say, “Listen, in the next few years I know audiences will listen to me”. So now when people say to me that - how come you talk like this, I laugh because there were times I talk to myself alone in my room, I was the only audience, the speaker, the organizer of the event, the moderator, the time-keeper, the chairman of the occasion, the father of the day, and everything all in all. I will look in the mirror and tell myself, “Listen, I will affect my generation”. I’m sure you know this common phrase “I won’t walk through without leaving my footprints in the sand of time”. I so much held onto that.

So he replied and copied someone here in Nigeria who wrote me and said, “We have an I.T. conference in Abuja and we will like you to come and present your project”. And I laughed because the project I was talking about was in my head but Phillip Emeagwali had written him and said he needed to listen to me. That was December 2000 just after my IT. So I got a borrowed Laptop, my French suit which I used for my sister’s wedding, a three-piece wine suit, and a few other things; packed them in a bag and asked people, “How do I get to Abuja?” - because that would be my first time. Fortunately, my sister was living there, so I stayed with her. We went to the Senate building and that was where I met them. When they were introducing me, I was thinking within myself that do these guys really understand that I’m a final year student and my mates were back in school defending their projects. In fact, I was supposed to defend on that day if not that my supervisor had released me after I had explained why. He had said, “Of course, why won’t you go? While your mates are presenting in class, you are presenting to a national audience”.

So I got there and when they were introducing me, I didn’t know it was me, because they said, “There is a young man here and with him around, we are sure that the future of Nigeria is bright”. I felt that could never be me. So when they called my name, I was shocked, I was looking around, perhaps there was another ‘Gbenga Sesan. My project partner came with me – Bunmi Sowande - I stood up and went to the high table and I saw the Microsoft’s of this world, the IBM’s of this world, the Special Assistant to the Governor, Special Assistant to the President on Security and the Who’s Who of the private sector on I.T. I just sat there and - you can imagine how it would have been - grey hair to the left, and to the right. To make matters worse, when they called me up to talk, the guy that just finished talking was from Microsoft and I felt, “What can I say after people like these have spoken”. Incidentally, I have always wanted to invite him for a meeting in our school but I never really got through.

So I stood up and went there and the first thing I did was to quote the National Anthem, I’m sure they were thinking, ‘What is this guy talking about’, but I believe that the most beautiful poem I’ve read in my life about any country is our country’s national anthem especially the second stanza. At times I read that poem and I’m close to tears because we don’t understand what it says: Oh God of creation, direct our noble cause; guide our leaders right; help our youth the truth to know. I don’t know any other stronger prayer any nation has prayed, not even the U.S out there.

So I did that. Well, I can’t even remember the details of what I said but as I was finishing and taking my seat, they didn’t stop clapping. I was wondering what happened. Was it that they wanted to encourage me or something? Then this same guy I had always wanted to talk to sent his card to me - and I laughed. That was the beginning for me. I mean between then and now, writing, talking and other things have formed the core of my life. There was a day I sat down in order to really put my thoughts down. That was the day I wrote that caption on my site - they call that my signature now and really it has been the most popular phrase I use for my presentation: “I see a new Nigeria emerging, one that will be built on the labours of our heroes past, hewn out of the debris of the present waste and engineered by the strength of the future leaders: the youth …” Fine, there is a debris of the present waste and all that and if engineered by young people – we must come to understand that those people that made moves towards independence probably started all that when they were about my age. And I talk to people now that I think there is a need for a second independence. Independence then was from the colonial masters but this one is from the hindrance masters, I mean something just has to give way for something else, because an object will continue in a state of rest unless a force acts on it and I have a feeling that the force is going to come from within this time around. And it’s not going to be some bloody revolution, but I believe it’s an intellectual revolution; something that just begins to happen to people from inside. Suddenly someone wakes up and the thing that looked normal to him or her yesterday becomes abnormal today; I mean yesterday it was normal to see a Policeman collect money but he just woke up the next day and there is a grief that rises in the youth such that it forms the basis for something that will happen in the next 15 years. In 15 years he becomes the I.G. of Police and they say he’s a wicked man. He is not a wicked man but it is just that he’s only responding to a passion that has always been there. I’ve discovered that when things happen, the agents can’t be eliminated - NAFDAC; they can’t kill Dora Akunyili because she’s been planted there to change things and when she started changing things, other agencies woke up. Incidentally we are now hearing things about Ribadu in EFCC - different people. We never heard anything about them before; people are beginning to appreciate even the tough guys.

So these are things that really form my thoughts and those are the things possibly people will say define me now. People at times look at me and wonder, “Why is he always supporting Nigeria?” I remember my mum was always having problems about my studying in Nigeria. She usually says Nigeria has different problems and all that – yes I understand that, but there was something in me that made me stay here at least for my first degree. And now, she is one of the women in the world that will say let your child study in Nigeria because she’s seen that even through the struggles - I mean I had issues when I was quite leaving school and mom was like, ‘you see what I told you’. But just a few months after that, in MUSON Centre, Prof. Wole Soyinka whom we always talked about in my house - because my Dad studied English and History and we had many of his books in our library - was there in person to hand over an award to me, and he said, “‘Gbenga’s parent must be proud of him, and so are many other parents who would see the kind of ‘Gbenga in their children and our society later out there”. When he gave me the plaque and I went to give it to my parents, I was close to tears because these were people who initially would have said - in fact my Dad said I shouldn’t go to Computer School, that I was going to waste money, but now, it’s a law in my house; you must go to Computer School. I mean something just has to happen to convince them that this guy either knows what he’s doing or he’ll come back to say I’m sorry - I was ready to do that, of course but there was something that just made me believe that I can affect my generation.

That had made me engage in books and I read of things happening in other places; comments made by certain people who we all respect and I observed that people are always quoting American Presidents and not Nigerian Presidents; they quote Abraham Lincoln, they quote George Washington but they don’t quote Obasanjo except they call him ‘This Animal Called Man’. And one of the things that really struck me then was what an ex-American president said that, “Do not think about what your nation can do for you; think of what you can do for your nation”. This so much got into me that an average person around me was either a friend of my idea or an enemy of progress. I mean, it was very natural when a certain lecturer came to class one day and said he needed someone to represent Nigeria for something on I.T and development opportunities. He didn’t announce where the person was going to. It wasn’t in my class, but one of the students went and said he knows somebody who has been shouting since he came back from IT. The Professor sent for me and said, “What do you know on I.T?” Incidentally, I had an article then on I.T, so I gave the man. He looked through it and said, “What do you know? This is nothing”. Meanwhile he was only trying to challenge me. He told me to go and write it again and I went to rewrite it and that was what took me out of this country for the first time. Now, it is not just about leaving this country for the first time; it’s about leaving with honour. I went for an African conference where what I wrote was read out by someone else. Obviously, I wasn’t supposed to let anybody know that I wrote it the night before and one other guy from Sao Tome & Principe (Emere DaSilva) read it out and Thabo Mbeki was there and he said that, “If this was written by African Youth then we can rest in peace as far as the future is concerned”. I laughed because I knew nobody will ever know I wrote it. I was wrong, because a year after that, they sent me a mail - they knew I was the one that wrote it. I didn’t know how but they said I should come to Mali to represent African Youth on something.

It was an innocent thing; I never ever thought that one day will come when I will look at my CV and see a string of awards; I never planned for them, but I was just personally concerned for Nigeria which is what I tell young people now; people tell me that I was lucky but I had to be prepared to be lucky because it started when I began telling myself that I can do something to make a change no matter how small. First thing I did was I gathered a number of people together and started teaching them how to build a website and they paid for it. So it wasn’t like I was doing something extraordinary. But that was how it started. From there I went on to holding a small meeting in Lagos here – just about a couple of them. Then, I wanted an opportunity to address the Senate. I didn’t know how it was going to happen but fortunately, I met someone who knew the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology and he arranged that for me. I got there and they were giving other people 15 minutes – at a public hearing - but they gave me 7 minutes. The first thing I said was that 7 minutes is too much to share a long time dream and I said all I needed was 3 minutes. And in 6 minutes 54seconds I was through.

Again, I called a couple of friends and shared some of my views with them. The title of the paper I wrote was “The Nigerian Youth Dream”. It was about Science and Technology and about I.T generally and I sent it to a guy in Vanguard and somehow the BBC saw it. Somehow they gave me a call and fixed an interview for me. I laughed - it can’t be true. How can someone call me and say it’s the BBC? It’s not possible; it must be a scam; so I cut off the call. But I checked my box and saw the name Tracey Logan – wait a minute; this is the BBC reporter. Anyway the message was that I should go to the BBC Lagos office and when I got there, they were truly expecting me. They gave me a headset to put on and said, “Tracey’s going to call you now; pick this phone and talk to her”. And that was it. We did the interview; I had to be myself. She asked various questions. She asked if I had a computer and I said I didn’t. “How come you are doing all the things you’re doing?” I said, “Well, because I believe if you are waiting for the day everything will be perfect; everybody will be waiting for someone to do something but eventually nobody will do it”. And that’s how a couple of things changed for me and it became much easier to get a platform to say things. It is exciting to see how your background and your past have nothing to do with how far you can go in life. I always tell everybody who wants to listen that if it’s all about whom you know – my father won’t like to hear this – but the greatest influence he could have had was to link me up with the principal of his school. He’s been a teacher all his life; but it’s not about that. It’s about nurturing the seed planted within and that’s what I’ve kept sharing with my generation. Most weekends, I’m out of Lagos, making presentations. I was in Port Harcourt recently.  Everybody was shouting, “Don’t go to the Niger Delta” but I said that if that’s the last meeting I will attend, I believe it will be worth it because, think about it: if this people produce 90% of Nigeria’s economic strength, make about 15% of the total country’s population and yet they’ve been this marginalized, then something is wrong somewhere and somebody should be willing to lay down whatever it will cost – time, energy and all. It’s not as if it’s easy but the passion is there. In fact, I ask my audience in meetings that, “Am I wearing something?” They say yes. Are you sure? So sure, of course. Then I tell them, “That’s how strong I see this new Nigeria”. Yes, there are things between me and the new Nigeria – the political killings and all that; so many things happening that tend to make us become introverts and keep quiet or start planning how to run away. But there’s a group of people who – look, revolution doesn’t come with a multitude but a few who have a simple idea and are ready to push it to materiality.

Can you tell us about your growing up?

 Growing up was quite interesting – with its many attendant and different experiences. I was born on an innocent Wednesday evening in the State Hospital in Akure, Ondo State and was the last child of the family for seven years – until my younger sister was born on my 7^th birthday. Incidentally (even though some say calculatedly), all the four of us (children) were born in July and my parents were both born in April.

My dad was a teacher and you can bet that meant strict, while my mum retired as a nurse – but I remember her entrepreneurial involvements and travels more. I attended Omolere Nursery and Primary School for a year, and then moved to St. Peters’ Primary School (both in Akure, Ondo State) for my six years of primary education. Secondary school was in Federal Government College Idoani and naturally, I chose Great Ife as my place of graduate education – where I studied Electronic and Electrical Engineering, with a major in communications.

 Like any other young person, my growing up can be described with many examples of exciting, dull, scary and fine moments. From innocent mistakes such as trying to get off the car while in motion to extremely intelligent moments during “Prize-giving days”, I had my fair share of growing up in a family that was concerned about the quality of education I was exposed to. I remember moments when my dad would ask questions like, “I know you earned the 1^st position in this subject (Mathematics), but 99% is not the best you could get. What happened to the last mark? You should know that the real competition is not between you and your other classmates but with ‘marks obtainable’.”

One other aspect of my growing up that seems to shape my present involvements would be my first meeting with computers. I remember seeing a computer for the first time at the age of thirteen but I was not even be able to touch one until some three years down the line. The computers were locked up in the Principal’s office and were only accessible to three kids who were sons of a well-known professor of Mathematics in Nigeria at that time. That was a very big challenge to me and I made up my mind that I was not only going to touch a computer but I would teach others how to use it to prevent the kind of embarrassment I faced each time I tried to get close to the “magic beast” that the school probably spent more money protecting than its students.

 Three years after I was kept from the computers, I graduated from secondary school and thought it was good time to learn about computers. Though my parents initially felt it was too much money to spend on “something that would not earn you a bachelor’s degree and a good job” but persistence would not keep me away from the computer school. I enrolled and graduated with the best feeling any human being could have – I was connected to my dreams and knew that I was not too far from realizing it. 

In your perception, how would you regard the Nigerian youth?

 The Nigerian youth could be either a victor or a victim. An average young Nigerian is a victim of years of ignoble consideration for his future, but those who care to go beyond “average” would be nothing but a victor – if he/she chooses to ignore weaknesses to carve a niche for him/herself. It is true that we lack opportunities for the expression of our many potentials, but reality checks also reveal that the same system has not been able to limit some who have gone ahead to shine like stars.

 Let’s face it, young Nigerians are smart! This smartness might have been expressed through ignoble involvements and popular criminal acts, but some have also been visible in innovative domains. We are smart, resilient, and can cope with almost any condition – surviving such and moving from being a zero to a hero.

 As an IT ambassador, what is the global opinion about Nigeria youth?

 I was Nigeria’s I. T. Youth ambassador from 2001 to 2003 and the present Ambassador is Edward Popoola (www.edwardpopoola.com). In those years, and to date, I had the opportunity of feeling the world’s pulse about their view of Nigeria – and her youth. Honestly, the perception of most people is that young Nigerians are in a hurry to make money and would do anything to meet that greedy objective. That is why almost all scam emails (dubious emails with the intention of luring unsuspecting or likewise greedy cohorts into parting with their money).

 That is one of the popular opinions of the world about the young Nigerian, but others have been witnesses to the exploits of Nigeria’s young people and will speak of the same any day. And as it were, we are increasingly seeing some mark of global respect for young Nigerian minds owing to recent developments that have revealed that there are young Nigerians who are busy at the task of building a New Nigeria – not as political jargon but reality in three dimensions! Global perception is changing (albeit at a slow pace), and you can now feel the pulse of the world saying, “not all young Nigerians are bad after all”.

 What is your role in promoting youth development in Nigeria?

 With the frank understanding that one man cannot be all things to all men, I work within the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) domain as my platform of intervention in the youth development space in Nigeria. On different fronts (as a volunteer and paid worker), I am involved with issues around “Youth Bridging the Digital Divide”. With the reality of global challenges in a world laced with technological advancement, I lead teams of young people in executing development projects using ICTs.

 From speaking with youth groups to standing for the undeniable rights of young Nigerians in the Information Society, I seek to drum support and capacity for the need for a new generation of young Nigerians who are equipped with ICT skills and thus positioned for personal development, nation building, regional cooperation and global participation. I lead a team of volunteers called Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (www.pin.org.ng), manage the Lagos Digital Village (www.lagosdigitalvillage.org.ng)     and help connect young Nigerians and Africans with ICT opportunities as the Vice Chair of the African Technical Advisory Committee – a panel of high-level experts that advise the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa on its African Information Society initiative.

My present focus, however, is to raise the succeeding generation. I speak of a succeeding generation because due to early involvements n development efforts, some of us are gradually being exposed to what we accuse past generations of – holding on to “power” for too long. I believe that its time for us to have a new generation – younger generation – that can take off from where we are to lead us with more energy. This has informed my recent string of meetings with youth groups with the major objective of taking the battle of youth development to a new level – where one trained person becomes a trainer for another cluster.

 Tell us about Lagos Digital Village and of what significance is it to the youth and society? 

The Lagos Digital Village, located at the New Library Building in Ebute Metta (Lagos, Nigeria), is an Information Technology training and opportunity centre for Nigeria’s youth. The vision of the village is to raise “a new generation of Nigerian youth who are well equipped with appropriate Information Technology skills and are well positioned for personal development, nation building and global participation.” The project is key to bridging the digital divide and it will open doors for many underserved young Nigerians, improve their values and quality of life, and help them to attain greatest heights in the educational and job markets in which they would otherwise have never had the opportunity.

 The project is a multi-stakeholder partnership between Junior Achievement of Nigeria (www.janigeria.org),  Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) and the Lagos State Government (www.lagosstate.gov.ng) , and it enjoys support from volunteer tutors and the Lagos Mainland Local Government. The project was commissioned on the 28th of May 2004 by the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and project delivery took off with the provision of a Lagos State-sponsored cyber café. The café houses 39 computers and enjoys high-speed internet access through a grant provided by the United States government through the Nigeria-America Information Initiative (www.nitda.gov.ng/naii).

 Programs available at the village include First Steps (Computer Appreciation); Intricate Details (How to build your own Computer); Work Better (Office Productivity Tools); and Great Leap (Internet and the World Wide Web). Delivery ranges from 3 weeks to 2 months and courses are taught by a faculty made up of volunteers who are qualified Information Technology instructors who wish to contribute their own quota to the emergence of a New Nigeria where young people can compete favourably with their peers anywhere in the world after they might have been equipped with appropriate Information Technology skills.

 Tell us about your involvement in promoting IT policies and its achievement so far?

 My involvement with policy issues dates back to 2001, and I have since had the opportunity to participate actively in national, regional and international for a discussing such. The major achievement has been the transition from “tolerating” youth at IT Policy discussions to seeking their involvement at the highest possible level.

 Tell us how you became the Nigerian IT youth ambassador and how you met Wole Soyinka.

What happened was very funny. I was asked to come for an Interview somewhere and what I said there was what brought Wole Soyinka. I said that Wole Soyinka said sometimes back that ours is a wasted generation but I stand for an idea that our generation is not wasted; and I’m so strong about this idea that I want even Wole Soyinka to acknowledge that theirs may be wasted but ours is a generation of hope. The interviewers heard that and said they must get Soyinka to hear that. I felt it wasn’t possible. Even the BBC says he spends 33% of his time at the airport, transiting from one nation to the other, 33% of his time writing, locked up to the room and all that but he walked into the hall that day and that was it.

Someone saw an advert in the dailies that a company in Nigeria was putting up a competition to identify young Nigerians who could compete with their peers globally in the field of I.T, particularly web designing; that the company would organize a competition for Nigerian youths under age 25 and residing within Nigeria. Now, they had a standard which even the best entry must meet else there would be no winner and they’ll continue the competition until they get somebody. The prize was N100, 000 and they will sponsor the person’s activities on I.T around Nigeria. My elder sister’s friend saw it and brought it to me. He said, “‘Gbenga, I think they’re describing you here”. At first, I didn’t take it serious. How can a company just give away N100, 000 like that? However, what attracted me most was not the money or anything but that phrase, “Nigerian IT Youth Ambassador”. See, I had been talking about Nigeria all along and if I could possibly get into this position, then I could speak for young people. What I wanted was a platform. Therefore, I put in for the competition. I still tell people that I don’t think my design was the best out of the whole lot but the packaging was unique. I put it in a CD, printed a cover and back cover for it, put a seal across it and printed on the seal, “Do not break unless authorized to do so”. What was I trying to achieve? I was trying to do something of international standard; that would match up with what probably Microsoft would do. When I went to submit it, the guy that collected it looked at it and laughed. I understood why he laughed because there were others who brought diskettes; some brought CDs that was labeled with biro on a sheet of paper. So on October 1, 2001, I got a call and later an e-mail and it said, “Congratulations. Don’t tell anybody yet but you’ve been announced the winner”. I felt, “Is this really true?” I sent a mail to a couple of friends and I remember the title of the mail was “The future of Nigeria” and I told them, “Look guys, I got a mail today; I can’t yet decode it but I think a platform might just have come for us to air our views”. Some replied to encourage me; others just said, ‘this guy has come again’. But last year I sent “The Future of Nigeria - Part II”. The first was just 10 lines but this one was a comprehensive summary of all that had happened within the past two years – the number of places I had been to address young people and all that. I looked into my mailbox and saw so many mails that have been sent within the two years; some very encouraging mails. There was a particular one that read, “I listened to you talk about Nigeria and for the first time, I felt like getting the green passport – proudly Nigerian”. That one mail made me feel some goose pimples on my body. And such mails have come in twos, threes and just yesterday, I checked my mailbox and I saw up to 432 mails. That made over 12,000 mails I have so far received from people who want to say something - not about the person but the vision for a new Nigeria. And I saw that I had had person-to-person contact with over 4,000 people who also said that they had been thinking along this line of a new Nigeria. It would make a ripple effect and you never know where it will end. It took just Martin Luther to put up an article that changed the whole world.

RenewNigeria® interviews with Gbenga Sesan continued here