The 2019 Students For Liberty's West African Regional Conference held at Otunba Subomi Balogun Conference Center, University of Ibadan on October 12, 2019 started with a welcome address by Bayonle Fesobi, the conference director and West Africa Regional Coordinator where he welcomed all speakers, panelists, audience and representations from outer countries of the region. This was immediately followed by a panel discussion on the importance and best practices of winning young people to liberty. The discussion which was moderated by Oluwafemi Ogunjobi had Sanni Johnson, Ogechukwu Egwuatu, Mohammed Mustapha, Dotun Famoriyo And Timothy Morenikeji as panelists.
They laid emphasis on Volunteering, building trust, building and keeping relationship with leaders, knowledge and proper articulation of ideas and capacity building. Mr. Sanni Johnson said "Your content determines your contact".
There was a memoriam for the former SFL leader, John Awoyemi (1989-2016), who was known to be resilient and very passionate for driving the SFL vision for Africa. His outstanding contributions was exposed by Moronfolu Adeniyi As the he led the gathering to observe a minute silence for him.
The first speaking session was taken by Wale Ajetunmobi as he spoke on "The Nexus between Media,Goverance and politics" He started by stating the fact that everyone is a politician because of divergent individual interests.
Highlights from his session includes his description of Politics as a good strategy for change And that accountability, transparency, predictable decision outcomes and public interests are values for good governance.
Wale noted that the Media is a tool for communication and is the link between the government and people. He said that the media must be socially responsible as it can promote nation building by giving the right information. He advised that as citizens who desire change, we should investigate the media on they get news from so as to be sure they are getting the right information.
The second speaking session was taken by Chude Jideonwo who explained freedom in a different light. He spoke on the topic "Freedom and Identity Politics" in his interesting and impactful session. He left everyone in their thoughts and opened up streams of solutions for the social challenges through his presentation. He was able to bridge the gap between where we are in Africa and where we need to be.
Chude did not leave the stage until he had established that what we believe is 90% of the time not what we consciously believe but what we have been inevitably conditioned to believe by those we respect and love.
The CEO of Joy Inc. noted that the more humanity learns and knows through science, the more we know we have been wasting time hating the wrong people. He cited the intricate connection between Tolerance and progress driving home the message that Successful countries are noted for high tolerance and credible diversity." The lesser the things the country hates , the more the county frees up brain for innovations, creativity and development" he said.
For Chude, the way out of transgenerational programming is to raise a society of curious people and spread of knowledge and in his exact words he advised " before you hate and criticise others and things ask yourself the question, how much do I know about it?".
The third speaking session was by Linda Kavuka who spoke on "Economic implications of the Africa continental free trade agreement". She explained what the free trade market is,talking about the prices being determined by the consumers.
The Director of African Programs, SFL highlighted the benefits of having a common market and how it will help in reducing stress on the economy of the country and continent at-large. She emphasized on the issue of export materials from other countries outside Africa that can actually be produced within the continent an will be of cheap prices and development of the economy. She concluded that "less trade barriers equals a wealthier nation".
The conference was made to observe the group photo session and lunch before it reconvened back to a speaking session to be taken by Mrs. Banke Oloba-Olagbegi but due to unavoidable reasons she was ably represented by Barrister Toheeb Adeagbo.
Banke spoke on the topic "Rule of law and reality of law: 21st Century African Legal framework for Liberty and Justice and began by explaining the progression of laws till date: from Rule by God, Rule by might, Rule by best men to Rule of law.
The presentation did not fail to point out that te major issue with our rule of law in Nigeria is Implementation and execution and that it is those who know their rights that are actually free.
While ignorance(iliteracy) and poverty remains a challenge to rule of law, the need for the public to change their mindset and acquire proper education for human rights as well as responding appropriately to the duties of one's rights were identified as way forward.
The last panel session was held with concentration on Nigeria's Federal Government gag one media and a debate on media responsibility and civic rights. Moderated by the African Programs Associate, Oluwafemi Ogunjobi had contributions from panelists such as Lanre Elufisan (Ominira TV) who noted that the problem the media is currently facing due to the government's interference in their delivery.
Also on the panel discussion was Gabriel Ogunjobi, an investigative freelance journalist related his experience as a journalist and how he has been disappointed so many times because he stands for the truth While the country director for SSDP, Olufemi Bashorun lamented his sad experiences with the SARS and how he has determined to stand for the truth no matter what.
Ponmile Orija-Shittu And Kenechukwu Nwachukwu, Fellows at AfricanLiberty.org in their separate remarks revealed that the current democratic situation in Nigeria; similar to other countries in the region requires that citizens should not only tackle the people in power but should work on themselves that when those in power are not those who takeover won't be worse.
The conference was declared closed by the conference director, Bayonle Fesobi having trended 1st in the city of Ibadan and with over 3.3million social media impression generated by over 380 participants. Bayonle, The Regional Coordinator (Expansion and Recruitment) appreciated all the speakers, SFL staff, leaders and friends of liberty who had spared time to attend the conference. He brought to the stage members of the organizing team for a group photo and reminded the audience of the opportunity to join SFL through the ongoing application for the year.
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