Jonah Obajeun is a renowned activist from Nigeria committed to strengthening the social fabric of his community and working against the spread of violent extremism.
After losing a business associate to a communal clash in 2008, Jonah started his journey to become an activist for peace, security and tolerance. Indeed, this painful experience triggered his passion to learn about inter and intra-ethnic relations in Nigeria. Jonah founded Tolerance Academy in response to the widening gaps created by socio-economic, cultural, and religious biases and the impact of stereotypic messaging and extreme narratives on social integration.
The Academy has seen more than 200 peace advocates graduate and reached more than 33,000 young people in Nigeria. Jonah has facilitated workshops on peacebuilding, especially preventing violent extremism. He has also written extensively on multiculturalism and socio-cultural civilizations. He shared his experiences growing up as a Christian child trained by Muslim families. At a forum organized by the Tony Blair Foundation in Nairobi, Jonah shared personal stories of how his cross-breed values impacted his life choices in many positive ways. An MBA holder, Jonah is an Associate Fellow of Nigeria Leadership Initiative and a Finalist of Echoing Green.
More about Jonah Obajeun
Open to: Mentoring, speaking engagement, solicited Op-Eds, training
Areas of Expertise: Education (formal and informal), interfaith and intercultural dialogue and messaging, social media evolution
Scope: East Africa, United Arab Emirates, West Africa
Publications
↗ Media Coverage – Huffpost: Identity Crisis and the Underlay of Social Cohesion
↗ Media Coverage – Huffpost: Arts Education and Interculturalism
↗ Media Coverage – Huffpost: In Southern Kaduna, Nigeria Generates More Dead Bodies Than Electricity
↗ Blog Post – Hope Field Network: A Personal Experience at 2014 Tolerance Academy
↗ Media Coverage – Punch: Be your own competition
