My ambition is to restore hope for a better Nigeria – Okunnu-Lamidi, first 2023 female Presidential aspirant

Renowned entrepreneur and youth development advocate, Khadija Okunnu Lamidi has become the first female to declare her interest in running for the office of President in the 2023 general elections.

Okunnu-Lamidi officially made her intentions known at the helm of Nigeria’s affairs on Monday, January 3, 2022.

Speaking at a media conference held at the Freedom Park in Lagos, Okunnu-Lamidi stated that her motivation in vying for the Presidency stems from her desire to make Nigeria work for its diverse populace, while also harnessing the undoubted power of its teeming youths to unleash the country’s latent potential as a force to be reckoned with globally.

‘‘I do not come to this lightly or out of vanity or frivolity. I come to this with humility and with responsibility and with the burden of a generation to whom the future of Nigeria belongs.

‘‘Nigerians of our generation believe in the promise of an equitable and just political union which consolidates the diverse strengths of our people and which harnesses the vast untapped resources of our great nation for the common good. Nigerians of our gender believe that we are heirs to the same promise and that our contribution to the character, stability, peace and progress of Nigeria deserves recognition and reward.

‘‘The challenge of the presidency is to make Nigeria work for all of its diverse peoples. It is the most powerful office in the land, but it is a place of service, and responsibility and duty and not a place of arrogance or show. Nigeria is not working for us,’’ she stated.

Reeling out statistics to back up her claims, Okunnu-Lamidi revealed that youths under the age of 30, who represent about 70% of Nigeria’s population, have borne the most impact of bad governance, adding that the youth account for 13.9 million of the unemployment figures which stood at 21.7 million in the second quarter of 2020. Further, she disclosed that life expectancy at birth in Nigeria, which stood at 60.87 years in 2021, is one of the lowest in Africa and in the world, while noting that the infant mortality rate hovers at 57.701 deaths per 1000 live births.

‘‘A president for all Nigerians must have integrity, competence, a 21st century vision, energy, empathy and compassion for all our peoples and more so for the weak, the dispossessed and the disenfranchised,’’ she espoused.

‘‘It is not a proud boast to say that a candidate has been steeped in the bloody, incompetent and corrupt experience which has brought our country to where it is today. My generation is part of our nation’s history but we are not the ones who wrote it, in the blood of our youth and women and children.

‘‘These are among the real issues of 2023 and it is these issues that will define the fate of Nigeria,’’ she stated.

Born into a prominent Lagos family with a legacy of public service, Okunnu-Lamidi is the daughter of Lateef Femi Okunnu (SAN), a former Federal Commissioner of Works & Housing, current President, Isale-Eko descendants Union and an elder statesman while her mother, Arinola Omololu, is a businesswoman of Ago-Owu pedigree.

She holds a degree in Business Management (Hons) from the University of Bolton RAK Campus in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and a Master’s degree in Strategic Project Management (SPM) from the prestigious Heriot-Watt University, Dubai. She has also been actively involved in several humanitarian initiatives and supports foundations in both the formal and informal sectors that have long lasting positive impacts on Nigeria’s political culture.

Some of the initiatives she designed to tackle the urgent challenges of lack of clean water, youth unemployment and other social problems in Nigeria include Water Relief, Help Our Youth (HOY), To Better Nigeria, Project: Bridge The Gap, Nigerian Heart Foundation and GW Alzheimer’s Foundation, among others.