[Applause]
no more person by every standard I’m not
normal because our society is not a
normal society if you have travels
across the African continent you would
know that this continent is great with
great people with good hats but then
with bad leadership I’ll tell you a
couple of stories because I’m a
storyteller and let’s start with the
Nigerian story in 2014
nine point two billion was approved by
the Federal Executive Council to procure
750,000 clean cookstoves and eighteen
thousand won the box to be distributed
free of charge to rural women across the
country at that time a lot of young
people were not happy and they tried to
break down social media and say that
this high level of unemployment so why
would government invest nine point two
billion and also there was no much
information on what this money would
deliver and who would deliver in this
expenditure because I am NOT normal I
got on a boss to support oh and just to
put this into context I am NOT from
saputo I’m not from another Nigeria
neither am i from the south east or west
I am Nigeria I got to Cecotto and I
visited a couple of rural communities
and the simple thing I did was as women
did you know about this nine point two
billion and the answer was no would you
like to have a clean cookstoves the
answer was yes
I came back to Abuja and I went to a
kitchen I went to a tea tea because I
was not a normal person
and I did the same thing in the kitchen
talking to her a woman asking about if
they were aware about this tool then I
came back to Abuja after visiting a
couple of states across the six
geopolitical zone and I remember writing
a letter today to the Executive Minister
of Environment asking her how would you
utilize this money but she did not
respond I reached out to other civil
society leaders I reached out to the
media and I convened a meeting and my
meeting was very simple I invited the
ecological fund office because that was
where the money was supposed to come
from I invited official from the
Ministry of Environment and of course
the Ministry of Finance I invited the
private sector because they were meant
to procure this clincal stove but then
in this meeting more questions arose
rather than answers the ecological Fund
office was not aware the nine point two
billion would come from their office
which was quite strange but then the
company who got this contract confirmed
at first that they had not received any
weeks later they go back to us and said
they got 1.3 billion as 15% of the
actual funds to procure this dose but
that was where we got to understand the
difference between our probe our release
and utilization most importantly when
one is involved and where they get this
money information would stop coming but
on this fateful day I received the phone
call inviting me for a meeting and as
someone who is not normal I always go to
meetings with another person who is not
normal like me so we got into this
meeting and I was told you were supposed
to come alone so why are you here with
someone else so well I needed a company
they tried to get the other person to
leave the room but I insisted that I
needed a witness the first time in my
life
100 million naira in cash was brought
out in front of me in Ghana Moscow and I
was told that I need to become a normal
I smiled and I acted it and I said well
I did not drive here can you give me a
minute let me go and bring the car so
that I can come and take this polenta
gift and leave and become a normal
person they became happy and said yes
sure why not please go but then I left
this meeting very angry I was so angry
at myself
I was angry about the society and the
people who were supposed to manage our
collective wealth but as a person who is
not normal when I go to this meetings I
always have my recorders on so I had
evidence that I was offered right to
but then again I went public until the
world that the nine point two billion
would not deliver on its promises the
next day there was a media briefing by
the executive minister showing the world
that stoves have been procured but you
know interestingly the beauty of
information and the power of evidence is
those stoves that was showed to the
world was brought back from Karen amudha
which is a local community in sunfare
estates this stove was budgeted under
the 2013 appropriation procured and
supplied to this community but was
collected back and brought back to Abuja
to cover up for the nine point two
billion weeks later he brought together
very important personalities at the
villa they wanted to launch the nine
point two billion projects and show the
world that they’ve actually procured
this tool but I didn’t get invited even
if they knew that I was an important
stakeholder my phone rang again and
someone was calling me anonymously
saying Hamza
a meeting is about to happen to launch a
stove that was not procured we want you
to come and witness this proceeding and
luckily for me I was wearing my cap not
do like this so I went to the villa so I
went into the hall in the villa and all
the dignitaries were there and someone
whispered to the Minister of Environment
that follow the one is here because
she got very angry and she was asking
her Doritos how did this young man got
to know that we’re launching this toast
today because it was not in the public
domain well along the line she walked up
to me so she walked up to me and she
started yelling at me inside the villa
saying things that I cannot repeat here
but by the grace of God I was calm and I
did not respond in no time we’re
surrounded by militiamen with uniform
and they were all shocked because they
could identify with the minister but
they don’t know who I was but I was
really calm and just listening to her
yelling at me in public in no time
she was uprooted and taken to her convoy
to leave and I remember the words of
that general he came at me and he said
young man I don’t know who you are but
I’m really sorry for what just happened
this is an embarrassment to our country
please continue your business in 2015
the world leaders met in Poland at that
time I was the only Nigerian youth that
got a visa to attend this world meeting
with heads of states and heads of
at this meeting I was a voice not just
to Nigeria news for the Africa needs at
large a breakfast meeting was put
together by the President of Poland and
they needed to use representative to
speak on behalf of the world youth my
name was put forward and I got a
clearance pass for the next day I’m
sharing this story with you because as
much as we are not normal people who
always need to be ready and prepared for
every situation few minutes after I got
my pass on clearance five young people
from Europe came to me said Hamza would
like to have a meeting with you
SoDo that’s fine so they took me to one
corner and told me that Hamza
we don’t think that you have what it
takes to represent the world youth at
this breakfast meeting we think that
because you’re from Africa you don’t
have the knowledge you don’t have the
capacity and the experience to speak on
our behalf we want you right now to give
us that pass and send an email saying
you’re unable to go for that meeting but
I say young man who is not no man I
looked at them and I thanked them first
because in international diplomacy you
must always say thank you I say thank
you so much I was not expecting this but
I think you have a point but then I post
and I took them back to where I was
coming from I shared with them what
happens in my rural communities and I
asked them if they have ever experienced
the devastation of climate change if
they have ever experienced losing family
members just because drainages were not
put in place I shocked them with data
and information and showed them pictures
on my phone
and they lost words they left
apologizing in 2010 there was lead
poisoning outrages and for our state at
that time it was declared as one of the
worst ever crisis in the world but then
we had a lot of emergency response
millions of dollars from the World Bank
from UNICEF billions of Nara from
federal government and there was a
coordinated effort for then in 2012 I
was struggling to find out what has
happened in the past two years in this
community I struggled to lay hands on
information when most media houses only
have the basic knowledge and press
releases issued so I entered a boss
going to do so and just to put this into
context from Abuja to go sorry seven
hours by Road but that was not my
destination and before that time I
didn’t know anyone imbecile from
Brussels to Anka is three and a half
hours and from Anka to my destination
which is by Giga was four hours and to
go to buy Giga at that time the only
three ways you can go
the first way is to go with the MSF
humanitarian truck but Doctors Without
Borders or you go with a comment or you
go with a motorbike but then I went to
the motorbike I got to bodega community
and I experienced firsthand sufferings I
have never seen before I saw children
that are conversing children that and
parents that don’t know their fate I
took my mobile phone and documented this
proceedings taking pictures and doing
interviews I came back to Abuja and I
had so much knowledge and so much
information and I felt like my head
but then I needed people who were not
normal to join me and amplify the voices
of these people I remember hosting a
couple of my friends telling them about
his experience and Johnny and just to
tell you that because we have amazing
young people with skills with passion we
shared roles and responsibilities and
started a hashtag called save a Giga in
less than 24 hours we were able to get
all the content I had gathered from this
community and it was trending on social
media for a while
no one talked about politics no one
talked about religion no one talked
about ethnicity but they were all
talking about say by jaga because they
could put faces of people from their
communities they could relate with those
pictures and videos of the devastated
effects of lead poisoning and irregular
mining activities I got an email from
the Human Rights Watch saying hamsa will
follow your campaign with follow the
money and we think we can help you
amplify this campaign on Facebook so we
agreed to issue a joint press release
and amplify the campaign on Facebook and
that time what we did was to move the
traffic from Twitter and Facebook to
President Goodluck Jonathan’s Facebook
page and asking global citizens to post
the information saying he needed to
release funds for the cleanup and health
care emergency and at that time what was
needed was 5.2 million dollars well in
he addressed the world press conference
and approved this money today because we
did things that were not normal for you
to go to Bogota community take less than
30 minutes from ANCA from you for you to
travel between anchor angle so it takes
less than 20 minutes because in our
campaign we’re documenting and taking
selfies so the world would see be high
there are bad roads but what has
happened and what has changed and how
did we mobilize people that are not
normal to fit into a society that is not
normal we became a movement a movement
of young people that are tech-savvy but
I would like to shape at a peculiar
story there’s a young lady causally
hardline she was our campaign assistant
in Kaduna State and there was this
particular situation where we usually
hold townhall meetings and we totally
had to go and lead this meeting
I remember that fateful day so he
tally-hawk called and said at this
meeting there is no woman there are
other men teachers parents but there’s
no single mother and I told her you have
to go into that meeting and represent
the voices of women because as people
that are not normal we must ensure that
every voice is represented on the table
Zelly heading towards going to this
meeting for she chaired the meeting
facilitated the session and got feedback
from all these men as we strive into
greatness I want to leave you with one
word for us to get it right we must
understand that there is a thin fine
line between activism and politics and
for us to get it right we must remain
abnormal because if we are normal they
would not move forward thank
[Music]
[Applause] the
no more person by every standard I’m not
normal because our society is not a
normal society if you have travels
across the African continent you would
know that this continent is great with
great people with good hats but then
with bad leadership I’ll tell you a
couple of stories because I’m a
storyteller and let’s start with the
Nigerian story in 2014
nine point two billion was approved by
the Federal Executive Council to procure
750,000 clean cookstoves and eighteen
thousand won the box to be distributed
free of charge to rural women across the
country at that time a lot of young
people were not happy and they tried to
break down social media and say that
this high level of unemployment so why
would government invest nine point two
billion and also there was no much
information on what this money would
deliver and who would deliver in this
expenditure because I am NOT normal I
got on a boss to support oh and just to
put this into context I am NOT from
saputo I’m not from another Nigeria
neither am i from the south east or west
I am Nigeria I got to Cecotto and I
visited a couple of rural communities
and the simple thing I did was as women
did you know about this nine point two
billion and the answer was no would you
like to have a clean cookstoves the
answer was yes
I came back to Abuja and I went to a
kitchen I went to a tea tea because I
was not a normal person
and I did the same thing in the kitchen
talking to her a woman asking about if
they were aware about this tool then I
came back to Abuja after visiting a
couple of states across the six
geopolitical zone and I remember writing
a letter today to the Executive Minister
of Environment asking her how would you
utilize this money but she did not
respond I reached out to other civil
society leaders I reached out to the
media and I convened a meeting and my
meeting was very simple I invited the
ecological fund office because that was
where the money was supposed to come
from I invited official from the
Ministry of Environment and of course
the Ministry of Finance I invited the
private sector because they were meant
to procure this clincal stove but then
in this meeting more questions arose
rather than answers the ecological Fund
office was not aware the nine point two
billion would come from their office
which was quite strange but then the
company who got this contract confirmed
at first that they had not received any
weeks later they go back to us and said
they got 1.3 billion as 15% of the
actual funds to procure this dose but
that was where we got to understand the
difference between our probe our release
and utilization most importantly when
one is involved and where they get this
money information would stop coming but
on this fateful day I received the phone
call inviting me for a meeting and as
someone who is not normal I always go to
meetings with another person who is not
normal like me so we got into this
meeting and I was told you were supposed
to come alone so why are you here with
someone else so well I needed a company
they tried to get the other person to
leave the room but I insisted that I
needed a witness the first time in my
life
100 million naira in cash was brought
out in front of me in Ghana Moscow and I
was told that I need to become a normal
I smiled and I acted it and I said well
I did not drive here can you give me a
minute let me go and bring the car so
that I can come and take this polenta
gift and leave and become a normal
person they became happy and said yes
sure why not please go but then I left
this meeting very angry I was so angry
at myself
I was angry about the society and the
people who were supposed to manage our
collective wealth but as a person who is
not normal when I go to this meetings I
always have my recorders on so I had
evidence that I was offered right to
but then again I went public until the
world that the nine point two billion
would not deliver on its promises the
next day there was a media briefing by
the executive minister showing the world
that stoves have been procured but you
know interestingly the beauty of
information and the power of evidence is
those stoves that was showed to the
world was brought back from Karen amudha
which is a local community in sunfare
estates this stove was budgeted under
the 2013 appropriation procured and
supplied to this community but was
collected back and brought back to Abuja
to cover up for the nine point two
billion weeks later he brought together
very important personalities at the
villa they wanted to launch the nine
point two billion projects and show the
world that they’ve actually procured
this tool but I didn’t get invited even
if they knew that I was an important
stakeholder my phone rang again and
someone was calling me anonymously
saying Hamza
a meeting is about to happen to launch a
stove that was not procured we want you
to come and witness this proceeding and
luckily for me I was wearing my cap not
do like this so I went to the villa so I
went into the hall in the villa and all
the dignitaries were there and someone
whispered to the Minister of Environment
that follow the one is here because
she got very angry and she was asking
her Doritos how did this young man got
to know that we’re launching this toast
today because it was not in the public
domain well along the line she walked up
to me so she walked up to me and she
started yelling at me inside the villa
saying things that I cannot repeat here
but by the grace of God I was calm and I
did not respond in no time we’re
surrounded by militiamen with uniform
and they were all shocked because they
could identify with the minister but
they don’t know who I was but I was
really calm and just listening to her
yelling at me in public in no time
she was uprooted and taken to her convoy
to leave and I remember the words of
that general he came at me and he said
young man I don’t know who you are but
I’m really sorry for what just happened
this is an embarrassment to our country
please continue your business in 2015
the world leaders met in Poland at that
time I was the only Nigerian youth that
got a visa to attend this world meeting
with heads of states and heads of
at this meeting I was a voice not just
to Nigeria news for the Africa needs at
large a breakfast meeting was put
together by the President of Poland and
they needed to use representative to
speak on behalf of the world youth my
name was put forward and I got a
clearance pass for the next day I’m
sharing this story with you because as
much as we are not normal people who
always need to be ready and prepared for
every situation few minutes after I got
my pass on clearance five young people
from Europe came to me said Hamza would
like to have a meeting with you
SoDo that’s fine so they took me to one
corner and told me that Hamza
we don’t think that you have what it
takes to represent the world youth at
this breakfast meeting we think that
because you’re from Africa you don’t
have the knowledge you don’t have the
capacity and the experience to speak on
our behalf we want you right now to give
us that pass and send an email saying
you’re unable to go for that meeting but
I say young man who is not no man I
looked at them and I thanked them first
because in international diplomacy you
must always say thank you I say thank
you so much I was not expecting this but
I think you have a point but then I post
and I took them back to where I was
coming from I shared with them what
happens in my rural communities and I
asked them if they have ever experienced
the devastation of climate change if
they have ever experienced losing family
members just because drainages were not
put in place I shocked them with data
and information and showed them pictures
on my phone
and they lost words they left
apologizing in 2010 there was lead
poisoning outrages and for our state at
that time it was declared as one of the
worst ever crisis in the world but then
we had a lot of emergency response
millions of dollars from the World Bank
from UNICEF billions of Nara from
federal government and there was a
coordinated effort for then in 2012 I
was struggling to find out what has
happened in the past two years in this
community I struggled to lay hands on
information when most media houses only
have the basic knowledge and press
releases issued so I entered a boss
going to do so and just to put this into
context from Abuja to go sorry seven
hours by Road but that was not my
destination and before that time I
didn’t know anyone imbecile from
Brussels to Anka is three and a half
hours and from Anka to my destination
which is by Giga was four hours and to
go to buy Giga at that time the only
three ways you can go
the first way is to go with the MSF
humanitarian truck but Doctors Without
Borders or you go with a comment or you
go with a motorbike but then I went to
the motorbike I got to bodega community
and I experienced firsthand sufferings I
have never seen before I saw children
that are conversing children that and
parents that don’t know their fate I
took my mobile phone and documented this
proceedings taking pictures and doing
interviews I came back to Abuja and I
had so much knowledge and so much
information and I felt like my head
but then I needed people who were not
normal to join me and amplify the voices
of these people I remember hosting a
couple of my friends telling them about
his experience and Johnny and just to
tell you that because we have amazing
young people with skills with passion we
shared roles and responsibilities and
started a hashtag called save a Giga in
less than 24 hours we were able to get
all the content I had gathered from this
community and it was trending on social
media for a while
no one talked about politics no one
talked about religion no one talked
about ethnicity but they were all
talking about say by jaga because they
could put faces of people from their
communities they could relate with those
pictures and videos of the devastated
effects of lead poisoning and irregular
mining activities I got an email from
the Human Rights Watch saying hamsa will
follow your campaign with follow the
money and we think we can help you
amplify this campaign on Facebook so we
agreed to issue a joint press release
and amplify the campaign on Facebook and
that time what we did was to move the
traffic from Twitter and Facebook to
President Goodluck Jonathan’s Facebook
page and asking global citizens to post
the information saying he needed to
release funds for the cleanup and health
care emergency and at that time what was
needed was 5.2 million dollars well in
he addressed the world press conference
and approved this money today because we
did things that were not normal for you
to go to Bogota community take less than
30 minutes from ANCA from you for you to
travel between anchor angle so it takes
less than 20 minutes because in our
campaign we’re documenting and taking
selfies so the world would see be high
there are bad roads but what has
happened and what has changed and how
did we mobilize people that are not
normal to fit into a society that is not
normal we became a movement a movement
of young people that are tech-savvy but
I would like to shape at a peculiar
story there’s a young lady causally
hardline she was our campaign assistant
in Kaduna State and there was this
particular situation where we usually
hold townhall meetings and we totally
had to go and lead this meeting
I remember that fateful day so he
tally-hawk called and said at this
meeting there is no woman there are
other men teachers parents but there’s
no single mother and I told her you have
to go into that meeting and represent
the voices of women because as people
that are not normal we must ensure that
every voice is represented on the table
Zelly heading towards going to this
meeting for she chaired the meeting
facilitated the session and got feedback
from all these men as we strive into
greatness I want to leave you with one
word for us to get it right we must
understand that there is a thin fine
line between activism and politics and
for us to get it right we must remain
abnormal because if we are normal they
would not move forward thank
[Music]
[Applause] the
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