Sunday Elebiju
Nigeria
I am from Ondo state born into the family of Mr and Mrs Joseph and Racheal Elebiju. I am the second born of my mother and the sixth child of my father who is a polygamist. I am married to Anastasia Oguche and we have two kids together. I attended archdeacon Adelaja primary school as a kid, and went to national college Gbagada where I completed both my junior and senior education in Lagos. I took my high school certificate examination at the community grammar school in the home town of my mother in Ondo state. After my graduation from senior secondary school, I gained admission into Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology where I completed both my national and higher national diploma in fisheries technology. I enrolled into international institute for global leadership, IIGL during my final year in school where I completed both level 1 and 2 with certification. I went for National Youth Service, NYSC after graduation in Benue state where I served under the director of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and also as a farm manager for Africana fisheries Nigeria limited. When I finished service in February 2011, I got a job as a fish hatchery manager with magnificent farm in Imo state. I left magnificent farm for flourish center as a fish farm manager in Ogun state. In 2013 I got an offer for a fish farm manager job in Tiddo fish farm to manage a seed improvement and multiplication project by West Africa Agriculture Productivity Program, WAAPP. At Tiddo farm I was responsible for carrying out production of over one million Clarias gariepinus and Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings for distribution to farmers across the middle belt states in Nigeria. I have trained farmers on fish disease management and treatment during the program. I have also worked and consulted for farms across Nigeria introducing the culture of more sustainable specie of Africa catfish called heterobranchus bidorsalis (Africa giant catfish). I have worked and researched on production success of this specie collected from river Benue over eight years with a breakthrough. In 2022 I setup a business called Amiable fisheries where I started the production of the heterobranchus bidorsalis after getting grant from National Directorate of employment, NDE under the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity to upscale production. I had a huge success but all was lost due to a flood situation which occur over night and my farm was left in a devastating state. I decided to apply for a job after this disaster and got a job offer with Africa Projects Development Centre, APDC as an aquaculture officer and consultant. At APDC, I was privilege to train over a thousand youth on urban agriculture and also to mentor them on how to become a successful Agripreneur. I have worked on various innovations and projects at the center as an aquaculture officer ranging from construction of 20,000 capacity fish hatchery facility for the center, design and construction of over 5,000 capacity mini pressure and free energy power recirculatory aquaculture system (RAS) for training interns and project beneficiaries. This RAS model enable trainee to have affordable fish production system where they can set it up at any available space in their various destination. I also proposed a sustainable agriculture model hub (SAM, hub) that will enable project success by enabling project beneficiary/trainee to have startup success. While working at APDC which is a youth lead organization, I was motivated to improve on myself and personal growth was on my top priority list; and I had to revisit my IIGL studies as no other platform can help me achieve and maintain a successful life. Setting my priority right, I finally graduated from the IIGL studies after over 10 years and became the 35th graduate. In my pursue for knowledge and development related skills I took various courses and certifications on Agripreneurship from Food and Agriculture organization (FAO), knowledge sharing for development (FAO), knowledge management for emergency and resilience programming (FAO), climate smart fisheries and aquaculture (FAO),scientific and technical writing (FAO), exercising sustainable development in work place( national institute for technical education and skill development authority, TESDA), processing food by drying and dehydration (TESDA), aquaponic food production (TESDA), climate smart agriculture ( united nations institute for training and research, UNITAR) among others. My life long dream is to continually create job opportunities through sustainability innovation and in a climate friendly ways.