You are welcome to the first edition of Bold and Beautiful for this session. On this edition, our correspondent, Adeniyi Pelumi, met with adorable Olayemi Takuro, a finalist of the department of European Studies. She had interesting views about life, politics, business, Aroism among other matters. Enjoy! 

Can we meet you?
Hello, my name is Olayemi Takuro, a 400 level of the department of the European Studies.

What are your hobbies?
I love reading novels and inspirational books, I like listening to music, watching movies and anything that has to me being in the media.

You mentioned you love listening to music and watching movies, what genre of music do you listen to?

I like Hip-hop, Jazz and classical music

Do you have a favourite Artiste and actor?

No, I do not.

Are you a feminist?
No, I am not a feminist. I am just a normal person

Do you believe in feminism?

Of course, I do but not extremely. I mean a lot of people have turned feminism to something else. They call disrespect feminism and a lot of things. I do not really buy into the idea of feminism, but I do not have anything against the idea. I just have a moderate belief in feminism.

Earlier in our conversations, you mentioned you were a media person and an MC, so how many years have you been in the media?

Considering my age, I have been in the media for four or five years now.

What motivated you to be in the media?

Nothing motivated me to be in the media. For me it was just natural. I have always enjoyed being in the media since when I was little. When I was younger, in secondary and primary school, I discovered that I loved reading news on the assembly ground and joining press clubs and doing things that has to do with the media. The media is just my thing.

Let’s talk about last session. It was the session after Covid-19 and lots of things changed. How was last session for you?

Last session was okay for me. It was not too stressful, basically because my course did not stop work. We were not really affected much by Covid-19, although, we had to go home for a while. Last session was hitch free for me.

What is your opinion of introduction of virtual learning last session?

I think the virtual learning thing cannot work or let me say out of a 100%, 80% of the time, students will not really understand what is said. Even during physical classes, some students could not really understand what the lecturer is saying or writing talk-less of virtual learning where there are so many distractions. I do not think Virtual learning works or is a method of teaching particularly for a very complex course.

Moving to politics now, you were a politician at some point or are you still a politician?

Yes, I still am.

A close observation of UI politics, do you think the reason why women are not going for top positions is because they are being discriminated against or it’s just a power play?

First, I do not think women are being discriminated against for elections. I do not know about other departments and faculties but for my department, I do not think women are being discriminated against. If at all, women are not going for top political positions, it can be because they just do not want to do it. We can not necessarily say there is a discrimination because there is none. Last session, we actually saw a lot of women across faculties, departments and halls contest for lots of top positions and win. I do not think I have seen that before.

What do you think about women in Politics?

I think it is amazing and awesome. I like the idea of women being in politics. I like the fact that women can also stand up and speak and also being in the positions of power and lead. I am a big fan of women taking up roles that empower them and other women as well to make something of themselves.

What is your advice to a young female fresher who dreams of going into politics in UI?

Ensure you know your onions, ensure that you know everything that surrounds what you want to do. If you are looking forward to going for a political position, be a friendly person and a very jovial person. One of the mistakes I made when I started, was that I was not a very friendly person so I did not really mix with a lot of people. It was later I became very friendly. The first thing is to be very friendly and ensure you know and talk to people because regardless of your manifesto, it still boils down to knowing and talking to people that will be there for you. Having a good manifesto is also very important.

Going back to 2020, the Covid and Lockdown year, how was 2020 for you? What did you do and how did you survive those periods?

Like I said, it did not affect me much. We (my course-mates) were not home for a long time. We were only at home for 3 or 4 months; I am not really sure. During that period, I was just home (laughs), I did not go to learn any work. It was really boring. I could not go out for leisure or work; I was just stuck at home. It was really boring.

What do you think about Indy boys?

Hmmm, well, I think Indy boys are cool. It is just that that sometimes they want to be doing normal things that guys do and pull some stunts. Generally, they are very cool.

 

Do you know about Aroism?

Of course I do, they have done Aro for me before (laughs) it did not get to me as I am not a very emotional person.

What do you think about Aroism?
It is in two ways. I get that some guys just want to catch their fun by doing Aro but some girls do not really like it, because things they say sometimes gets to them. In that way, I do not really like it but in another way it is something they do for the fun but they should just try to do to the barest minimum so that is in a way that will not hurt anybody

Are you an entrepreneur?

 

Yes, I am.

So what do you do?

I sell perfumes, fragrances and stuff

We are on one month warning strike, what do you plan on doing during the strike?

I am in my final year now so I am thinking of project, project topic and all that. Asides that, I also plan on making some background moves regarding my future.

Barring another indefinite strike and other unforeseen circumstance, you will most likely be graduating this year, where do you see yourself after graduation?

I hope to start working in a media firm actually, but in case that does not work out, I am definitely going to work something out. You will definitely see me on your TV and screens but not as an actress though (laughs) I am surely going to delve into media and communications when I leave school.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 What is your favourite motivational quote?

Sometimes, we win and sometimes we learn. This means we do not really lose, if we lose, that means we are not losing, we are learning.

Thank you so much Olayemi, it has been an interesting time with you.

Sure, thank you too.