Zuriel and Chikwendu Chikwendu of ceeceereports at the SMC, Lagos
Zuriel, her sister and former presidents of Nigeria and Ghana
Read About The 11 Year Old Zuriel Oduwole
At the age of 10, Miss
Zuriel Oduwole who lives in California, United States had already made history
as the youngest person to be interviewed by Forbes. She was also an invited
guest to the 50th anniversary of the African Union. Her forte lies on
interviewing leading African and world personalities, including
eight African Presidents and Africa’s richest person Aliko Dangote. She
had also interviewed celebrity tennis super stars – Venus and Serena
Williams.
Zuriel with president of South Sudan
While her stock continues
to rise, Tanzania’s First Lady recently appointed the Nigerian girl as an
ambassador when she came to the country to launch her Dream Up, Speak Up, Stand
Up project aimed at inspiring and encouraging the African girl child. So she is
now an ambassador for Tanzania’s largest foundation focused on gender issue -
Wanawake na Maendeleo Foundation (WAMA) of which the First Lady is the founding
patron. While in Dar Es Salaam also, she had attended the United Nations UNFPA
event focused on reducing the incidence of child marriage in Tanzania. The
First Lady Mrs. Kikwete had commended Zuriel for her leadership at such a tender
age, and for bringing issues of girl child education to several African
leaders, before formally appointing Zuriel an ambassador.
Zuriel with President Jonathan
She had conducted interviews with world leaders
such as Rev Jesse Jackson, Liberian
President, Kenyan President, Tanzanian President, Cape Verde President, South
Sudan President, President Jerry Rawlings, Mauritius President, Malawi
President and our own President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. During
the interview sessions, they covered a wide variety of topics from the UN Millennium Development
Goals, to the Education of Africa’s children. Remarkably,
Zuriel was just 9 years old when she embarked on the mission to interview the
enigmatic President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana for the purpose of her school
assignment, on documenting a successful revolution anywhere in the world on
film format. It was in the process of her research that she found out about the
challenges of girl child education and the obstacles to girl child development
in Africa, and took it up – thus her Dream up, Speak up, Stand up.
Zuriel with civil rights leader Rev Jesse Jackson of USA
The incredibly gifted and talented Nigerian girl had
launched her Dream Up, Speak Up, Stand Up project now in several African
countries including Nigeria. In fact her first leg was in Nigeria during which she
visited and addressed the post-graduate students and faculty of School of Media
and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University. It was her notable accomplishments
that led to her being interviewed for a full feature by Forbes Magazine,
thus making her the youngest person in the world to be accorded that privilege.
Zuriel, her sister and dad with cc
She is now focused on the Caribbean region next, and
has started meeting with leaders from the region starting with Jamaica. There,
she had already met with the leader of the largest island country in the
Caribbean and the only female head of government in the CARICOM region, Prime
Minister Portia
Simpson Miller of Jamaica. After an intimate and detailed
interview, the prime Minister was dazzled by Zuriel’s questions, poise, and
ability to focus on issues at high level. Miller lost the plot, broke protocol
to hug, kiss, pray for, and then carried Zuriel on the lap for the formal
photograph before the press. She then declared:
“she is our brilliant child from Africa!”
Zuriel with president of Liberia
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