Abdullahi O Haruna, popularly referred to as Haruspice, is the publisher of World Entourage Magazine and a popular social media infl uencer. He has just concluded a fellowship with the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI), a fl agship programme designed for the US global leadership drive in Africa. In this interview with IBRAHIM RAMALAN, Haruspice bares his mind on his take-home experiences and how he hopes to channel the newly acquired expertise for the benefi t of humanity.
You just came back from the USA where you attended a YALI programme. Could you share with us briefl y some of your major take-home experiences over there? My fi rst takeaway from the Mandela Washington Program for young African leaders is the realization that nothing is wrong with Nigeria as a nation but our attitude. In America, I observed that they attained their greatness because the people came together to uphold the philosophy of the American dreams. Th e people are united with factors that advance their societies than issues that add no tangible to their aspirations.
Th e Americans are intricately more communal in their orientations, more altruistic and very simple with life. I saw a patriotically defi ned people providing solutions to problems collectively and coming together to volunteer their time and resources for the collective good of everyone. In the US, I saw people less preoccupied with inanities, mundane issues of religion, ethnicity and political sentiments are not really some considerations for them. Most people there are united in working towards the improvement of their society.
Most importantly, I found out America is great today because their system works to the fullest, everyone considers himself a critical stakeholder in the American project. Th e people are motivated by sheer patriotism. Being one of the few Nigerians selected for this initiative, how do you hope to domesticate this variable experience by way of imparting on others who are not opportune to go there? I went for an exchange program, while I have my take away from the US, I also joined other wonderful Nigerians selected for the program to share our own expertise to the Americans. It was a balanced exchange of ideas. I have these huge plans to domesticate the very benefi cial values I harvested from the Mandela Washington Fellowship Program in Nigeria. I have I’m more committed to infl uencing lives through social media – Haruspice Haruna Abdullahi O Haruna, popularly referred to as Haruspice, is the publisher of World Entourage Magazine and a popular social media infl uencer. He has just concluded a fellowship with the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI), a fl agship programme designed for the US global leadership drive in Africa. In this interview with IBRAHIM RAMALAN, Haruspice bares his mind on his take-home experiences and how he hopes to channel the newly acquired expertise for the benefi t of humanity. drawn out a plan to recruit 1000 youths across the country to mentor them in the real values of life. I shall indoctrinate them with the value of integrity, hardwork, patriotism, respect and mutual love. I hope to work on their minds by purging them off the very negativity in them; we hope to change their narrative from the language of hate, bigotry to that of love and harmony. With these young minds, I want to build an army of new thinkers defi ned absolutely by the ethos of pure nationalism. I want to build a vanguard of social agents, moral fi gures and enterprising citizens. I intend to actualize all these through my social media platform, group interaction, personal mentoring and focused group meeting. Th ese mentored youths would replicate themselves in other young people in their localities. With this sustained, a new generation would be built and Nigeria by extension the world would be better off for it. As one of the popular social media infl uencers of our time, in fact, hazarding an innocuous guess, it was on that basis and some other merits you were selected for YALI, how then would you channel these renewed musing energies towards using social media to attain national consciousness, cohesion and development, against the current paradigm or status quo of being a tool for spewing hatred and divisive rantings? Life is lived in fulfi llment when you use your capacity to shape the world for the better. I have spent my infantile and formative years striving for a society where equality, liberty and love are the cardinal tool of existence. I use my energies to preach peace and employ my voice in defense of social justice. Th ese I do through the musing template. Using the attractive strategy of communications, I use the social media to infl uence lives, to talk peace, to abuse sentiments, prejudices and break stereotypes. I am more motivated to renew these advocacies. Th e idea is to use our positive narratives to dwarf divisive references. We want to attain a reach where every Nigerian youth shall be speaking in patriotic tongue. Never again shall we allow the naysayers take over national consciousness. You are now a YALI fellow. By implication, your scope of infl uence and activism frontiers have been expanded to the whole African continent. Now, terrorism, violent extremism, mis-governance, ugly stereotyping and many other heinous syndromes are endemic in the continent. How would you bring your expertise to bear in changing the narrative? Th e Mandela Washington Fellowship had 1000 youths from the sub Sahara African countries, and our agreed creed while at the summit was to take charge of the positive narratives in the African continent. We shall at our individual dispositions chart a new course for the black race with embedded messages of hope, integration and opportunities. We have vowed to tell our stories ourselves without giving room for strangers to tell the stories of Africa. Our echoing message would be that Africa is not anymore a mere ground for potentials but a land for actions. Th e new Africa to be anchored by our narratives shall be a land where peace, growth and development defi ne our focus. Coming back to the business and entrepreneurship aspect of you, which is also part of the grooming you have received over there, being the publisher of the World Entourage Magazine; how do you intend to move your publication to the next level? While in the US, I learnt practical ways of improving the fortunes of my business, besides learning new ways of improving the quality of contents; I came back with me workable business modules for the magazine. We are now more equipped with critical business sense. We hope to utilize our new status to translate into meaning business ventures. Th e ultimate aim is to increase income, thus providing opportunities to other young persons. Any plans aside magazine publication? We are into media interface as well as printing and publishing. We use this expertise to provide professional and dependable services to clients. Our aim is to be a player in the mediasphere.
