Kunle ADELABU
-Plans to break own record in 2019
While still waiting for the official confirmation of his feat in the ‘Longest Marathon Reading Aloud’ by the Guinness Book of world Records, Mr Bayode Treasures Olawunmi, is not losing any sleep as he has set his minds on conquering new grounds.
He’s also planing to break the record he set in the ‘Longest Marathon Reading Aloud’ recently.
Bayode revealed these projects to the audience on THE IMPACT Whatssapp platform where he was a guest on Friday, July 20, 2018.
His record in the Marathon Reading was set at exactly 3:30 on Saturday, March 3, 2018, at the YouRead Library in Yaba, Lagos State, after he had read for 120 hours non-stop over a period of five days to beat former record holder, Nepali Deepak Sharma, who read for 113 hours and 15 minutes in 2008.
Bayode, who is an Accountant and Graphic and Brand experts, stated that his intention was to make reading popular, adding that his next project is embarking on setting record in most number of people in reading relay.
He also added that he would be visiting Kirikiri prison with a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) to promote reading culture and donate gifts to the inmates.
For his home town, Ikorodu, Bayode revealed that he plans to assemble the six council chairmen in the division to lead pupils and students in reading.
“Well, I have been to 10 schools, and I have spoken to about 5000 students and pupils. Now, we are planning for a project: Guinness Book of Records in most number of parents reading to their children and most number of people in a reading relay. Remember my intention is to make reading popular again”, he stated.
“By next Tuesday, I will be in Kirikiri prison with some social enterprises and NGO to read with the female inmates and to donate some sanitary wares to them.
“As a matter of fact, I have spoken to students from about 7 schools in Ikorodu on two different occasions and come next Friday, I will be doing another one. My plan for next term is to take all the chairmen and chairperson in Ikorodu division to schools in their respective jurisdictions to lead the students and pupils in reading.
Bayode’s major plan for 2019 is to raise the bar for anybody attempting to break his ‘Longest Marathon Reading Aloud’ record by breaking it himself in 2019 outside the shore of the country.
“However, by next year March or April, I will attempt to break my own record again, but this will not be in Nigeria but in the UK or US. And this time, it’ll be to show the world that Africans now read”, he stated on THE IMPACT platform.
Speaking on the delay for the official confirmation of his feat by the Guinness Book of Records, Bayode said:
“Normally, the confirmation should take 13 weeks, but they are yet to confirm status even now.
“Well confirmation is the prerogative of Guinness Book of World Records, I can’t force it. Once they are done reviewing the evidence, they’ll definitely get across to me. The best thing should have been for them to be present during the event but that would have cost $120k.
“I think it’s their work load. Aside that, people from across the world also sent evidences to them on a daily basis, so, I can imagine the workload.
“I think one of the important things I have achieved is having access to stakeholders in the education sector and discussing with them the need to restructure our system of education, especially the 6-6-4 system”, he stated.
Bayode also revealed to the audience what motivated him to embark on the reading quest.
“ Three things motivated my quest. The first is that, I discovered that our youths don’t read again unlike in the 70s-90s. They rather engage in untoward activities that engage their minds in a fine literature. So, I decided to start doing something to address this anomaly but first, I needed a platform. The second is that, I had always thought of greatness. I had always thought of making a difference and having influence and what better way to start than to attempt a Guinness World Record”, he revealed.
“The third reason is that, at the point I was thinking about the quest, the news in the media about Nigeria was all negative and instead of complaining, I thought good news should come out of Nigeria at the time.
Bayode blamed the decline in reading habit of the present generation on misplacement of value.
“The reason for the decline in the reading culture in Africa can be traced to one thing, and that’s simply misplacement of value. I have heard many argued that that was caused by poverty and addiction to social media but I beg to differ. I have engaged lots of children, youths and even adults and what I discovered was that we have simply lost value and interest in what really matters”, he argued.
Commenting on the way out of the problem, Bayode simply stated that, “It’s indeed difficult to be candid. It’s a big task”.
“My intent was to make Africa proud, to make Nigeria proud, to fulfill a long standing promise I made to my mum in 1999 that one day, I will make her proud and of course, to make myself, my beautiful and supportive wife and children proud” , he added.
Sharing his experience on the pre-contest preparations, he described the process as exhilarating, tiring and frustrating.
“Pre contest preparations were exhilarating and yet tiring and frustrating. The joy of doing something great for myself and my country made me happy but trying to get companies and people to believe in what I wanted to do was very difficult.
“No company believed in it until after 3 months of searching for sponsors. The first encouragement I got was from a company called Multi Pro. They told me that my project was not a crowd thing and its all about me. I asked them for about N4m but they encouraged me with N200k and also gave me some of their products which I had exhausted even before the event proper.
“But God made a way for me when a friend mentioned my ambition to someone in GTBank, they were very anxious to give me all the support I needed but they told me I need to do a trial run because they needed to confirm that I can do what I intended doing.
“So, I spoke to Bode Oserinde, the founder of Fanafilit, about this and he said I should talk to Mayor Deen Sanwoola, the Director-General of iCare Movement and an IT expert. It’s important to note that until around October 2017, I didn’t even know who Mayor Deen was. We haven’t met, though, he may know me due to my troubles on the various platforms in Ikorodu.
“So, I spoke to him and he gladly welcomed the idea. Mr Deen gave me all I needed for the trial run. So, I had the trial run at Fun City and I read for 96 hours straight for the trial run. The trial run was streamed live to GTB via periscope”, he stated.
Also, he revealed how he almost abandoned the contest and how his son inspired him to greatness.
“The ordeal of the trial run was very tough. I had sore tongue caused by lacerations by my teeth cutting with my tongue. Remember I was reading aloud. I was hallucinating at a point and I almost lost my mind if not my life. There and then, I decided not to do the reading attempt again. But in the last day of the trial run, my children came to check on me and my son asked me when I will do the real thing.
“This question changed my mind but I was afraid”, he stated.
Bayode confirmed his fear in going into the quest because of the ordeal he went through during the trial.
“ I was afraid because there was no way I could avoid what I went through during the trial in the main attempt.
“But like a sheep going to the slaughter’s slab, I had to go through it with the support from GTB, NTEL and Lagos State Government.”
He also commended the massive supports from the people of Ikorodu.
“Sincerely, I was surprised at the overwhelming support and I am really grateful to the people of Ikorodu”.
Other people he singled out for praises were Hon. Babajimi Benson, Hon. Sesan Daini, Mr Fela Bank Olemoh and Mr Toyin Gafaar Bolowotan.
The Guinness World Record holder stated that his reward is to have an effective platform to champion what he is passionate about.
“I have my reward already. Being here discussing this is already a reward for me. Going from place to place, talking to people, people practically jumping at me, praying for me, listening to what I have to say are all rewards.
“Like I emphasized to GTBank, during the preparation, my intent was not about the record but getting a platform to talk about what am passionate about. And this I am already doing but if recognition comes, that will be the icing on the cake”, he stated.
Speaking on his meeting with the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode and the Minister of Education, Bayode stated:
“His Excellency first spoke to me when I was recuperating at Eko Hotel. He was so happy and very pleased and I was so surprised that he was apprised of the event because he was also following. And when we met after the quest, we didn’t discuss much but for the ambassadorship to Lagos State government which was conferred on me and their plans to promote reading in Lagos State which is already unfolding”.
“I met the Minister for Education, the Minister for FCT and the Executive Secretary , TETFUND. Part of our discussion was to revamp the education sector, put in more funds and of course, ensure the North is educated, if not, another Boko Haram will arise and more deadly.
“Also, we discussed about the poor state of libraries across the country and the need to address it as soon as possible”, he stated.
