Zuriel, Nigerian teen who’s met 23 world leaders
Daily Trust: You are known as a female education advocate and filmmaker. When and how did all these begin for you? Zuriel Oduwole: I don’t know exactly when, but I made my first film – a documentary about the Ghana revolution, when I was nine years old. I entered the National History Day competition for […]
Daily Trust: You are known as a female education advocate and filmmaker. When and how did all these begin for you?
Zuriel Oduwole: I don’t know exactly when, but I made my first film – a documentary about the Ghana revolution, when I was nine years old. I entered the National History Day competition for my school in California by the History Channel. Even though the entry age was 11, I still entered it and made my case to do so. We were told to make a documentary about any successful revolution anywhere. I know most of my classmates made theirs on things like the music revolution with the Beatles, or infrastructure revolution with the US Highway system, but I wanted to make mine on something completely different. So I thought it would be good to do something on Africa. The reason is usually when you read about Africa in the news; it looked like nothing good or nothing well-structured can be done in Africa. That was not correct as I had been to Africa many times to see my grandparents, and then I also lived in Nigeria and Mauritius for some time, so I searched for a successful revolution, and learned about the Ghana Revolution. I travelled to Ghana to meet and interview President Jerry Rawlings, and President John Kufuor for that project. For Girls Education, I gave my first talk about my Dream Up, Speak Up, Stand Up project when I was ten years old at the Pan African University in Lagos. The reason is, I found out that usually on the African continent, when there are not that much resources, the boys get it first and get to go to school, while the girls stay at home. So it means when they got older, because they are not educated, their options in life are less.
DT: This year, you became, at age fourteen, the youngest winner of the New African Woman Award in London for your role in the lives of Africans. What was the first thought on your mind when you learnt you were going to receive that award and how did you feel?
Oduwole: It was when I was at the event that I heard my name. I began clapping for the winner, like everyone else, then I realized, hey, that’s me, don’t clap, get up there and receive the award. It was a little funny. How did I feel? I really don’t know, because I was more excited to meet some of the other women winners there, like Mrs Oby Ezekwesili who won for civil society.
DT: How supportive were your parents with the early choices you made?
Oduwole: They were very supportive as long as it did not affect my school work. Also, in a way, because my dad is from Nigeria and my mom from Mauritius, they talked about Africa a lot at home, so I learned a lot about the continent even before I was nine.
DT: Can you narrate your very first experience as a female education advocate and the challenges you faced?
Oduwole: Let me see. I don’t know my first experience. But I know that at times, people said to me that no one wants to hear about girls’ education. I didn’t understand why anyone would say something so silly. First, I am a girl, second I am being educated and I see the good things I can do, and third, I saw there were many girls not being educated, and I knew it would be tougher for them when they got older.
DT: You are of Nigerian and Mauritian descent. How did your background shape who you have become today?
Oduwole: It has, a lot. I spend almost half a year in Africa, and I understand the continent very well. I have met one in five of Africa’s Presidents and Prime Ministers to talk about education policies in their countries, and I visit Nigeria and Mauritius at least once a year. So even though I am American, I know my Africa and learn a lot each time I am there. I have also met a few First Ladies as well. So far, I have been to Ghana, Egypt, Tanzania, Malawi, Mauritius, South Africa, Namibia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and of course – Nigeria,
DT: You have met with many presidents and leaders across the world. Who was the first you met and what did you discuss?
Oduwole: President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania was the first. I asked about the Millennium Development Goals of 2015, as it was 2014 when I met him. We talked about primary education, and the successes his country was making. A very interesting President was Salva Kiir of South Sudan. You may know already that South Sudan has the highest rate of girl marriage in Africa. So it was an interesting setting to talk because I was a ten-year-old who in his culture should be getting ready for marriage in two years’ time, and there I was, talking to the president about making policies so all the Girls in South Sudan would go to school. He liked my arguments.
DT: In your interview with Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari in Washington DC, you asked questions concerning education, infrastructure and development. How do you think Nigeria has fared so far in these areas?
Oduwole: Nigeria has about 175 million people, so that’s 175 million issues and challenges because each person has a need or a want. So everything in planning has to factor in 175 million people, sometimes directly, like development of roads, or indirectly like education. It is a big task, and if I were President, I wouldn’t even know where to start, because all the areas are important. That’s why I’m learning about these things now from other presidents when I talk to them, so maybe when I become one someday, I would be very ready.
DT: Twenty-one of the Chibok Girls have been released so far. What do you have to say about this development?
Oduwole: In May 2014, I was on BBC and another TV station in London and they asked me about this. I was eleven years old then. I couldn’t even imagine being away from home at that age. I still can’t imagine being away from home, now that I’m 14. If you ask me two years later, I perhaps still won’t be able to imagine it. So if any one of them comes back home, it is a great moment for their families first, and maybe their friends. But it is still sad that it happened. At least that’s what I think. Maybe I’m wrong. I’m only 14.
DT: You were invited for the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly this year. What was the experience like?
Oduwole: That was unbelievable. Before I went, I had met 19 Presidents. I later met three world leaders and had meetings with them. The best part was they wanted to listen to my ideas on how I saw some issues of Climate Change, and I shared it with them, especially how it affects education. I told them that first, it affected students’ curriculum, because rain fell where it never fell before, and it was dry where it was usually wet, and there were new climate seasons. So geography classes needed to be updated. Also it affected livelihoods of some farmers, because their crops were destroyed, and they lost their incomes. So their kids stopped going to school. They really listened, and now I am talking to their education people.
DT: When you are not advocating for girls’ education or working on a film, what do you do?
Oduwole: I’m in a soccer league in my city and we are in a tournament right now. I was also in a basketball league. Then I ride my bike with my friends, and also with my siblings at Venice beach. We also hang out at the mall, I do movie theatres, and spend time with my family. I love that. We play board games, especially Lagos Monopoly, with all those nice street names, like Banana Island and Bourdillon.
DT: If you have the opportunity of delivering a short speech before the world, what will you choose to say?
Oduwole: It will be around this, “if one person is killed anywhere, it is one person too many”. So hopefully, everyone would see the value in a life.