Dayo Olomu

We have often heard the quote "when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade", but how many of us have truly examined our lives in such a way? Yes we may dismiss such quotes as irrelevant or absurd but upon close examination; we might begin to discover the secrets of successful and happy people. These are not only successful people but positive people, because believing such takes a whole lot of guts. Nigerian youth today need to look up to positive people in the society making an impact in Nigeria. When youths can see people who were once like them and someone who made the most of what was given to them, then they can think positively.

Dayo Olomu is someone Nigerian youth should be able to look up to; he has experienced a transformation because of his outlook in life, and with that he has begun a revolution speaking to over a hundred thousand people according to Ijeoma Umebinyuo.

Born in North London, and taken to Nigeria when he was two years old, he lost his father when he was barely eight. Life as he knew it became something different, he saw as his mother struggled to send him to school. She sold her belongings to raise and send him to school; he acknowledges his mother for instilling in him wisdom from an early age, and he learnt moral and spiritual values from listening to his elders and also the value of hard work from his mother.

Coming from London and facing his father's death, at the tender age of ten he had to hawk beverages and biscuits on the streets of Lagos to support his mother. According to Dayo, "the best thing that happened to me was growing up on the other side of the tracks and without the privilege of wealthy parents" he sees it as hustling for anything he wanted and not a drawback in life. Such thoughts went a long way to help him become an accomplished author and columnist.

He studied Business and Industrial Law at University of Lagos, and later graduated with honors from the University of East London with a degree in Business Information Systems. He attended the University of Greenwich for his post graduate studies and studied Life Coaching at Newcastle College. Dayo also obtained a diploma in freelance journalism in the UK at the Morris College of Journalism. Let's not forget this was a guy who hawked on the streets of Lagos, one who was probably looked on as a "nobody".
Without being grounded and never forgetting who he was, Dayo has become someone who talks and people would listen, he guides you with words of wisdom bestowed in him from his mother. Yes he is very learned, but his first learning institution was informal learning from a young age how hard work pays. We have to change our thoughts on life, we have to think positively. What have you made out of the least given to you? When we can make the most out of the least given to us, then we can make the most. Life is full of obstacles. The measure of a man according to a proverb is how one stands up after falling down so many times. According to Hubert Humphrey, "Oh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts. It's what you do with what you have left."When Dayo Olomu just arrived in London, he discovered someone stole his identity, got married under his name, and opened a bank account under his name .The crook also used it to obtain his National Insurance card and credit card. He went through those obstacles in life positively, never losing his focus.

We sometimes think that hope exists only in the scriptures, where we recite it but never believe in it. Faith still remains the substance of thing hoped for and evidence of things not seen; Nigerian youth need to hope and trust that their hard work would pay off. We need to think positively about our lives no matter the situation. Cavett Robert often referred to as the dean of public speaking once said, "If you don't think every day is a good day, just try missing one". We are alive now to make the most of what is given to us as individuals and members of this generation. We are the generation that is witnessing the son of a Kenyan and an American, work his way through to become the First African American Presidential Candidate of the United States, one who was left by his father and raised by his mother.

Among his feats, in 2007, Dayo completed the Flora London Marathon to raise money and create awareness for Leukaemia and recently, on 13 April 2008 he completed the Flora London Marathon again to create awareness and raise funds for Hearts of Gold Children's Hospices, the first children's hospices and respite care facility in Nigeria.