International award recipient for West Africa Student Brand of The Year 2018, Emmanuel Oluwasayomi Ahmadu, popularly known as Mr. Voiceover, is a humanitarian, writer, budding Nollywood actor, entrepreneur, Nigerian voice-over artiste and a graduating student from University of Benin (UNIBEN), who recently represented Nigeria to bag double international award recognitions and who was featured on the international television network, British Broadcasting Commission (BBC), on ‘Great Big Story’ CNN (ongoing) and on Nigerian Media Channels for using his unique experience in tackling the prevailing global menace of depression and suicide amongst youths and adolescents, thereby portraying Nigeria’s image on global scene.
Mr. Voiceover, whose story recently broke the internet, caught attentions globally and portrayed resiliency and diligence on his path towards success, on how he wrote O’level exams 17 times, attended 16 primary schools, enrolled into 14 secondary schools, took the University Matriculation Examination 5 times, lost father along the line before he gained admission into the University and is now a graduate despite ordeals and setbacks. He is creatively using his experience as a survivor of depression to flag off a national campaign on Mental Health Awareness And Sensitization Programme to tackle the global menace of depression and suicide, prevalent amongst youths and adolescents across the country.
During an interview with our correspondent, he expressed that “Africa has the highest number of depressed people in the world, according to World Health Organization’s (WHO) research and Nigeria ranks 15th in the world suicide statistics, according to Wikipedia as of 2016. My problem-solving passion has inspired me to think out of the box to use my experience as a survivor to tackle the alarming global problem through the Mental Health Awareness Sensitization Campaign, which I am currently organising across the country, of which the first edition was held on 1st May in Kogi State for North Central Zone”
According to him, “No matter how much pain you’re experiencing right now, you’re not alone. Some of the finest, most admired, needed, and talented people have been where you are now. Many of us have thought about taking our own lives when we’ve felt overwhelmed by depression and devoid of all hope.”
“One way I can contribute my quota to National development and to add value to the world, is to create enabling platform to tackle this alarming problem of depression and suicide that is currently a threat to human lives across the world, through my unique experience and innovative programme. Depression is predicted by WHO to be the second most prevalent health problem in world history by 2020. Hence, I’d like to work with national and international agencies, government, well-meaning Nigerians, humanitarians, activists, and the media in curbing the alarming rate of depression, hopelessness, suicide, mental devastations and trauma, resulting to the massive increase in cultism, prostitution, illegal migration, internet fraud, drug abuse, school dropouts, teenage pregnancy, rape, and other vices prevalent amongst youths in Nigeria and globally,” he revealed.
