My Mission is to Change the Narrative, Ignite Sense of Patriotism in Youths

Udora Orizu holds a discussion with Legal Practitioner, Convener and Team Lead of Policy Roundtable NGO, Olubunmi Ayantunji, who shares insights on his vision to arm every citizen of Nigeria with the right knowledge about the policies and regulations of government

You are a lawyer, but not practicing obviously, what informed your choice of career path?

Basically I knew I wasn’t going to practice right from law school, I have always been involved in students politics right from university days, I was in the students union. I have always loved policy and governance. I want to be involved in every process of law making. I have always liked public policy, as time went on, the road became clear and here we are.

What makes the Policy Roundtable different from similar or abstract platforms that warrant public attention?

Knowledge sustains what power gives. You cannot defend the right you do not know. The Policy Roundtable is a result oriented Non Governmental Organization that leads productive conversations on governance reforms, policies and issues in the polity. The Policy Roundtable also curates and simplifies government policies in simple languages to laymen and citizens at all levels. The Policy Round Table is quite different from any other organization in Nigeria, because we do not just talk, the rhetorics has always been all talk no action. One thing we do at the Policy Round Table, is to allow every young person, every participant to air their views. We curate their opinions and send recommendations to the affected or relevant agencies of government. We have a team called the Policy Round Table, Research and Policy Team, they simplify government policies into the languages the lay man can understand. It will surprise you that most of our recommendations have actually gained traction. We have been invited by some agencies, where they tell us how do we intend to implement this recommendations that you have made and we’ve contributed immensely to the policies of government that have been issued in the last one year. We don’t just talk. We act.

What are the ripple effect of the public sessions that you hold and how do they translate into social change that can guarantee a better society?

We are intentional about our participants, we are very focused on the young persons of this country. We’ve been able to ignite some sense of patriotism in every young participant that has featured at the Policy Round Table, we’ve had close to 1000 of them and the reviews and testimonies we’ve gotten are awesome. We recently had our independence session where we had , Hon. Bolaji Abdullahi, the former Minister of Youth and Sports and the reviews we got were really awesome. We want to go from the angle of berating and getting angry at government which is quite valid to actually making real change and conscious actions as independent citizens to make sure things are better. As a team, we reach out to local communities to actually talk to the members about the policies of education, free education that the government has made available to them, that they are not using. We donated academic materials to the local schools and so on. Social change cannot come by merely sitting down to criticize, so we are taking a step further to implement what we criticize.

Why do you still hope to change the narrative and present social reality of our nation, given the seeming overwhelming negativity?

The truth remains that even if I travel abroad, my kids will be Nigerians. My grandkids will be Nigerians. I can’t change it, it’s natural. Why can’t I do my best to fix it. I believe that it’s not wishful thinking or prayers. This country is passing through the phase every developing nation is going through. Though ours is quite different but I think Nigeria will be better overtime.

How has the reception from your target demography, the young persons of this country, been so far?

The reception has been awesome. I still tell people that the love the youths have for this country is a love-hate relationship. They do not like how things are going but they love their country. You need to see young persons debating about jollof rice, about artistes etc, what unites us is bigger than what divides us and the demography we are targeting have accepted us hugely, because The policy round table tries to make the situation more or less formal, let’s talk as young persons, let’s arm you with the right knowledge for you to actually question government more because you can’t fight the right you know nothing about.

You also work as a Legislative Aide in the Nigerian Senate, how has the experience shaped your career trajectory and what has been your greatest challenge?

I work for one of the most intellectually mobile legislator in the country, Senator Tolulope Odebiyi. He’s a very intelligent legislator and I have learnt a whole lot from him, the idea of the policy round table stemmed from the fact that when I came in I got to know more about government policies and what government does truly as against the ignorance I carry about, ranting about what government hasn’t done. I have known more about government, government white papers, it’s fulfilling to see that you are drafting laws and policies and white papers that will actually affects the entire populace, it’s a whole patriotic job that you’re being paid for.

2023 is almost here, do you see the possibility of a young person becoming President of the country? And any words for young persons who want to follow the part of public policy?

The truth remains that anybody can contest for elections as long as you’re within the age range provided for in the constitution. However the possibility of a young person being the President cannot be foreclosed. Though people will say we have just two major political parties and we have the gladiators already, but I think they know that the deciders of 2023 elections are young persons, so it now depends on the youths to have a common voice on who they will support. We need to come with a common front, we need to learn from the end sars and every other uprising that we’ve done and present a common front come 2023.

As regards to persons that want to come into public policy, I think it’s a whole wide space, we need more cerebral people. I tell youths that one of the reason we have very archaic motions, bills is because we do not have experienced and brilliant, young and vibrant drafters in the complex. If we have enough in the National Assembly, they would actually draft laws and bills for their bosses that in tandem with the aspirations of their demography.