Mr Olubayode Treasure Olawunmi read for 120 hours non-stop to win the Guinness World Record in the Longest Marathon Reading Aloud two years ago and he is still the world record holder. He funded the iRead Afrika foundation, a platform which he plans to use in advocating reading culture in Africa.
He spoke with the Publisher/Reporter-in-Chief of THE IMPACT, Kunle Adelabu, after presenting 10 laptops and offered to train staff and students of Oriwu College in Ikorodu in virtual reality. He represented Labster.com, the Danish company sponsoring the project.
He bore his mind on his relationship with Labstar, impact of virtual reality and technology on Africa, reading culture, formation of iRead Afrika and his next agenda. Excerpts:
IMPACT: Kindly introduce yourself sir
Bayode: My name is Bayode Treasure Olawunmi, representing Labster.com and also the President of iRead Afrika.
IMPACT: You just presented 10 laptops to Oriwu Senior Model College, Ikorodu, and also taught some teachers and students in the school on the workings of virtual reality. In addition, you also announced a 6-month access to labster.com for the school. What is the project all about?
Bayode: The gesture was extended to the school by Labstar.com, a company based in Denmark. What they do is virtual laboratory. Over the years, we have observe that in African schools, especially Nigeria, there is no functional laboratory for science students to do practical in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Labstar.com now came up with this innovation about virtual reality in virtual laboratory, whereby you will experience the lab as if you are in it. You can perform your experiment in safe and free environment.
IMPACT: How are the schools actually benefitting from the Labstar.com’s gesture in Nigeria?
Bayode: Because Lagos is the centre of the country and which also reflects everything about Nigeria, we are going to be presenting 10 laptops and training teachers and students in three public schools in Lagos, two in Kaduna and one in Ibadan. Today, we are at Oriwu College to give them ten laptops. The reason we are given them laptops is that most of these schools don’t have the facilities and you can only experience Labstar on laptop. Because we are so sure of the value that we are bringing on the table, that’s why we are giving out laptops so that beneficiaries can experience the innovativeness of our platform. We know by the time those students are trained and practice on their systems for about one or two months, their learning sense will change. They will be able to retain information compare to before. It is practical; it’s real and they can experience everything even the tiniest molecule. We are giving out the laptops and free access to our facilities which are in the cloud. Ordinarily, those interested in the service pay for Labstar.com annually but we are given public schools in Nigeria six months free access to have first-hand experience. Based on what the outcome would be in those schools that are benefitting, we intend to talk the state government to adopt the Labstar.com innovation in large scale for our public schools.
IMPACT: Aside your intention to propose to the state government to adopt Labstar.com innovation for the public schools, what are your future projection of this project in Nigeria and what do you think you want to achieve with it?
Bayode: This project is driven out of passion. You’ll discover that the person that studies in the United States of America (USA) and the one that study in Nigeria are going to approach the same market for work and business. The Nigeria products are already at disadvantage because he cannot access infrastructure while studying like his America counterpart. This was what made iRead Afrika to go out of its way in speaking with Labstar.com to give us access so that Nigeria can also have access to what the advanced country has access to. That’s why we brought Labstar.com to Nigeria, so that our students can have a first-hand experience of science learning. The ten schools that we have picked will be like guinea-pigs for the test. Thereafter, we are going to talk to the state government to adopt virtual laboratory for the learning of science in secondary schools and also in the universities. That’s our goal at iRead Afrika. In so doing, we are going to improve the learning of sciences in Nigeria drastically.
IMPACT: What is your organisation, iRead Afrika, is all about?
Bayode: The essence of life is to have a legacy that, when you are gone, people will still be talking about what you have done. That is what brought about the concept, iRead Afrika. Two years ago, I broke Guinness Book of World Record in Read Aloud Marathon Contest and people were saying all positive things about the achievements but what is the essence of what I achieved? What I did was to have a platform whereby I can promote reading in Nigeria and quality education. Now, I look around at our schools, students and children and we are all aware that our future rest with them. We cannot have quality education if they are not reading and invariable, our future looks bleak. When we prepare our children for the future, it’s only then that we can beat our chest and say that the future is certain. So, iRead Afrika is all about promoting quality education in Nigeria and promoting quality reading across Africa. That’s why we say iRead Afrika meaning Africans must read.
IMPACT: It is a known fact that we don’t read in Africa and since you broke the Guinness World Record, you have been using that feat to promote reading. How much do you think that has impacted on Nigerians?
Bayode: Rome was not built in a day and the journey of a thousand years start with a right step. Over the last two years, we have been to many schools and students are catching on the bandwagon of reading. This is the honest truth, the life of every individual depends on reading. It’s only when you read that you will get information. We all need information to excel. The other day, I was passing through a bookstore and I saw ‘how to go through a menopause’. Everybody knows that every woman will experience a menopause but if you will pick up that book, it’s actually a manual on what to expect and prepare for the experience. That is the essence of reading. No nation can develop without reading. Every nation commits billions of money annually for research and development. How much are we committing in Nigeria to research and development? You cannot even research without reading. It’s only when you read, that you will be able to research very well and develop in the process. That is the whole essence of iRead Afrika. We are advocating reading and quality education across Africa.
IMPACT: Is there any plan to break any new record?
Bayode: Yes, we have to keep breaking bounds because as human beings, we have enormous potentials. We are looking at July and August this year for another record. We are going to be reading for twenty days to set another record and show the world that Africa indeed mean the business of reading because our lives depend on it …(cuts in)
IMPACT: On what platform are you going to do that or are you saying that you are planning to break your own record?
Bayode: The contest this year is going to include five people and we are going to be reading for twenty days which is about 480 hours of reading.
IMPACT: Will that be on the platform of iRead Afrika?
Bayode: Yes, iRead Afrika platform.
IMPACT: Thank you for your time.
Bayode: Thank you.
