Mayowa Adekola Peculiar, known to most as MAP, is a 2024 Millennium Fellow, a final-year Education student at the University of Ibadan, a personal development coach and an award-winning spoken wordsmith with performances on more than 50 stages. He is an erstwhile President of the Education Literary and Debate Society (ELDS) and a student resident of the great Independence Hall. In this edition of the Katanga Spotlight, Mayowa sits with IndyPress Correspondent Gbayesola Samuel as he talks about his growth, passion, balancing leadership with academics, and the one question he wishes people would ask him.

Interviewer: For those who know you mainly as MAP, who is Mayowa beyond the microphone and the stage?

MAP: I am Mayowa Adekola Peculiar: a Millennium Fellow 2024, a burdened educator at the University of Ibadan, a personal development coach and an award-winning spoken wordsmith. I spin words.

As a Millennium Fellow, I carried out a project on empowering education excellence. I believe education is more than reading, memorising and passing. Scholars describe it as the acquisition of four things: knowledge, skills, values and attitude. We went into schools to show students what education means in its entirety, not just getting A’s.

As an education student, I will graduate in a few weeks’ time. As a personal development coach, I share ideas about becoming the best version of yourself. I call it the 3Ds: discover your potential, develop it, then demonstrate it.

And as a spoken wordsmith, I have performed on more than 50 stages across entertainment, finance, education and leadership. I earn from it, and I have won awards, some in competitions and some for the social impact of my volunteering.

Interviewer: Going through your portfolio, I found a lot worth sharing. Let’s start with your journey in public speaking, oratory and debating. How did it begin, and what made you take the craft seriously?

MAP: It dates back to secondary school, to a senior secondary literature teacher who believed in me, Mr. Oyebadejo. I am from Badagry Local Government in Lagos, and my school was very local. He had exploits from the school he came from, and he wanted to help students in our school develop their own craft in public speaking.

I was not the best speaker, but I was in the art class and he taught me directly. I even recommended students from the commercial and science classes. I think I was simply privileged to be the one he focused on, and from there I started representing the school in public speaking competitions.

He is also a UI graduate, so when I told him I was coming here, he encouraged me. He said public speaking at UI is vibrant and that I should join. In my first few weeks as a fresher, I started asking around for a debate club, because I did not yet know it as L&D. Someone referred me to Ifeanyichukwu Elechi, who was in 200 level then. He began to tell me about the Indy L&D, and I said, “No matter what you tell me, I’m here. I don’t need the story.” I joined, and my journey started.

What made me take it seriously was my craft, spoken word poetry, which I was already doing before I got to campus. In secondary school in Lagos, people would not trust a young boy with platforms to speak on. I knew a university would be a hub of opportunities, so I took public speaking seriously partly to improve my spoken word. It has been fun all the way.

Interviewer: Are you still actively involved in spoken word, or do you do more debating now?

MAP: Very much involved. UI has taken a toll on my time and energy, but I will keep doing it after I graduate. Debating is a side hustle within public speaking. The main thing is spoken word poetry.

Interviewer: Who do you look up to in spoken word?

MAP: My role model is Victory Ashaka. We grew up in the same area of Badagry, and the public school he graduated from is close to where I live. He studied English at Lagos State University, and I travelled to LASU many times to watch their public speaking competition, LISTEN, which I believe is the biggest storytelling platform in Nigeria. I would watch him, meet him and ask questions. He was still growing then, but he was already a big name in that school. I told him how interested I was in spoken word poetry, and he has been someone I look up to ever since.

Interviewer: You are an educator-in-training. Some of your colleagues in the Faculty of Law carry a certain superiority complex towards Education students. Did you experience that when you came to UI, and how did you cope?

MAP: Before I came to UI, I never had that idea, because I was coming to one of the best schools in Nigeria and believed that being on this campus meant I had fought through, like many other students. But the moment I stepped into my faculty, I found a different atmosphere. It was more or less what I ordered versus what I got.

The population was far bigger than I expected. Most people don’t choose Education, so I thought we would be few. I struggled to recognise my coursemates because there were so many, and when I got to know some of them, they told me they had been transferred into the course. Along the line, the way some lecturers interacted with us also showed me that many people don’t rate us. I struggled to relate with students from other faculties, especially Law.

What sustained me was my JAMB result. I scored above 300, so I knew I was not lesser. Education was simply my interest, not a reflection of any shortfall in me. I have debated Law students on this, and I would show them my results. The only thing that could have dented my self-esteem was that our colleagues generalised all of us as a certain kind of student.

Over the past few months, though, we have helped correct that perception through programmes we introduced into the faculty, such as Educators to the World. For the first time, Agidigbo FM invited us to pitch Education as a course. I had spoken in a video about the faculty and how prestigious it is. Someone from the media saw it on TikTok and reached out to the faculty’s PRO, and we ended up on radio and television. The faculty is now even more committed to elevating our image, and the winning streaks of ELDS, on and off campus, send the same message: these people are not lesser. I thank God for the Faculty of Education for this season.

Interviewer: What inspired your choice of Education?

MAP: The passion to teach. I really, really love to teach and to pass on knowledge. Remember, I started as a personal development coach. I love to share, from my own little experience of life, what you can do to be successful and what you can do to avoid failure, and I feel I can achieve that in the education profession.

Interviewer: What comes after your B.Ed.?

MAP: I will continue as an educator, with an M.Ed. in Educational Management. I want to understand how the country’s education sector is managed: its resources, its administration and much more.

Interviewer: You served as President of the Education Literary and Debate Society. What did you set out to achieve, and how would you assess your time in office?

MAP: I came into office with high expectations, because the previous administration had raised the standard with winning streaks and a run to the Jaw War finals. That legacy had to be sustained so it would not look like a fluke. With the calibre of people on my team, we drew up a plan called S.H.I.F.T.E.R.S., which is why many people call us Shifters. It was an acronym for our vision, and the goal was to shift things.

We wanted to recruit 100 members, grow the membership, and reward and reinforce our members so they would love public speaking. We wanted to win the Jaw War. That was not fully achieved, but the atmosphere at the Jaw War final was so joyful that I felt almost as if I had won it myself. We also wanted to solidify our relationship with the faculty management and the alumni board, because our alumni network had not been strengthened.

We worked on our media presence too. I created a LinkedIn account for professional visibility and a TikTok account for viral reach, and we strengthened our Instagram. We opened an association bank account so people could trust how their funds were used, instead of relying on personal accounts. We sent individualised messages to every new member after recruitment. The aim was for ELDS to go beyond public speaking and carry a professional outlook, like JCI, Sigma and the other clubs on campus.

Interviewer: So how do you feel now that it is over?

MAP: Very happy, especially because of the calibre of the team I had. They made it easy. At the handover on Saturday, many of them had mixed feelings and said I had left big shoes to fill. They asked whether I didn’t feel the same, and I said, honestly, no. I believe everything we achieved was because of them, and since they are still there, they can achieve even more. Assessing everything, I am fulfilled. Our administration also ended with epic stories. We went through some chaos, but we experienced the beautiful side of it as well.

Interviewer: Outside academics, public speaking and spoken word, are there other things you do as a student?

MAP: Not consistently. The things I mentioned in my introduction are the ones I do consistently. In academics, I am the top person in my class. In public speaking, I am doing pretty well. I am not the best speaker you will find at UI, but I am fulfilled that I achieved what I came to UI to do. In education, I have helped elevate the image of the Faculty of Education.

The rest is occasional: volunteering for organisations and ushering at events, which I do for financial stability. As a fresher I explored many things, including pageantry and journalism. I am not someone who loves politics, but I did a stint in it too, as Academic and Welfare Secretary.

Interviewer: Was that out of curiosity?

MAP: Out of service. I wanted to contribute to an administration, and the end goal was to improve my own leadership so that it would not be confined to ELDS. I wanted to understand how leadership works in the political sphere.

Interviewer: How do you balance academics, leadership responsibilities, debate preparation and your personal life?

MAP: It is really a lot. My brothers, my ELDS members and the closest people to me, and I are always saying this life is not easy. But balance, for me, has always been doing the right thing at the right time. It is exam period now, so you will not see me anywhere except my room or the reading room. During the semester, you would see me doing everything. When exams approach, I place everything else on hold and focus.

Interviewer: Is that the advice you would give someone who is struggling to balance?

MAP: No. Balance is different for everybody. Some people’s balance is 50-50, and they are usually average: doing well in other areas and well in academics, but not top of the class. Someone who gives 90 percent to academics and 10 percent to everything else may be the overall best in class. My balance means I am not the best in my faculty, but I am one of the best, because a large part of my energy goes into other things that I also do excellently.

I hold on to a line from Victory Ashaka: “If I will not do my best, I’ll rather let it rest than make it a mess.” When it is time for something, give it all your energy. I wouldn’t prescribe this to anyone, though. I discovered it along the way; it is not something I have done since 100 level.

Interviewer: Were there times in your public speaking journey at UI when you felt unfulfilled?

MAP: Yes, many times, when I felt I was not growing as I should. That was because I was comparing myself with others. As the saying goes, nothing is more until it is compared. If I felt that way, it was usually because someone else was chosen over me for a competition I had also put in for.

I have not lost any competition that I personally put in for, whether debate or public speaking. I won’t say that is because I am the best, but I am skeptical of showing up unprepared, and if I haven’t prepared adequately, I won’t appear. I say that without arrogance. The ones I have lost were in-house, and those made me ask what was happening. But again, that was a comparison. Without it, I wouldn’t feel unfulfilled.

Interviewer: What sets you apart from your contemporaries?

MAP: I think it is that I do well in everything I choose: academics, leadership, public speaking and more. Someone may be doing better than me in one of those areas, but I am doing very well across all of them. That, I think, is what sets me apart.

Interviewer: Now that your tenure as ELDS President has ended, what project, ambition or personal goal are you looking forward to?

MAP: For now, my mind is not open. I just want to get through this season of life before I think about a way forward. I have nothing in mind to pursue in public speaking or debating at the moment. After my exams and graduation, I will start thinking about a pathway.

Interviewer: If you could change one thing about the culture of debating and public speaking in Nigerian universities, especially at UI, what would it be?

MAP: This has always been my heart cry: our debaters and speakers are not rewarded enough for what they do, especially at UI. I stand to be corrected, but UI’s public speakers are arguably the finest you will find in Nigeria, and yet there are not enough incentives to keep them at their best. I would create platforms to appreciate, encourage, motivate and reward these speakers.

Interviewer: Finally, what is the one question about your journey that you wish people would ask you, but they don’t?

MAP: (laughs) Honestly, it is about my family background. People rarely ask about it, maybe because I am private and I rarely post or speak about my family. Nobody asks, “Do you have siblings? Who are your parents?”

I am not from the best of families. Do I need to say this on national TV? Many people say their parents are the best in the world. I have amazing parents too, but I did not have a beautiful background or a beautiful starting point. Everything I have achieved comes down to a bigger factor, the God factor. It is what made me start thinking about the future, and I would have been as useless as anyone else without it. People may see me as an outlier or an exceptional person, but I am not special. I hope that one day I will tell the world the story of my journey, my family and everything that brought me to this point.

Interviewer: To wrap up, what one thing would you tell the residents of this hall who look up to you or want to tread a similar path?

MAP: If you will not do the best you can in whatever you choose, why venture into it? Whether it is journalism, politics or public speaking, there should be a level of excellence people can associate with you, so that when they look for a recommendation, they think of your face. We live in a world of relevance, and if you are not relevant, people will not recommend you for opportunities. Whatever you put your mind to, do it with all your strength and all your mind.

Let me end with an excerpt from my spoken word poetry:

Your identity is a necessity to majority in your vicinity. Your identity has a large density, so it should never be taken with levity. Though friends around you may not understand the nitty-gritty and the credibility, but you don’t need to mind their nonentity. Develop this identity in rigidity and tenacity, and with time, if it is your destiny, you will see yourself soaring with a great velocity. You and God are the majority. So be bold; fold not your hands because it is cold; go for the gold before you get old.

You can follow Mayowa on facebook and Linkedin

Transcription By Morolani Oluwafemi