Building a legacy of learning: The impactful story of Olubunmi Mercy Odiaka

By Kehinde Balogun

A significant challenge in Nigeria’s education system is ineffective teaching methodologies, resulting from issues like insufficient teacher preparation, outdated curricula, diminished educator morale, and limited access to modern instructional resources. These factors often lead to monotonous, rote memorization-based instruction that fails to cultivate critical thinking and creativity in students. 

However, individuals like Olubunmi Mercy Odiaka are addressing this by equipping educators with innovative, learner-centered pedagogical approaches to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes. Her efforts are transforming classrooms into dynamic environments that foster intellectual curiosity and personal growth, thus contributing to a redefinition of quality education in Nigeria. Also, with her vast experiences as an intuitive child psychologist, she’s laid on herself the responsibility to help parents guide the children the right way.

Olubunmi Mercy Odiaka is a pristine Nigerian educationist, passionate leader, and fearless woman, whose voice and acts have caused a paradigm shift in the education system of her country, Nigeria. This seems a weaved legacy, built upon by her rustic yet classic earliest background in where she hailed from, Ijero, Ekiti State. Olubunmi was born on the 26th of August, 1987, in Lagos, Nigeria, which, among other reasons, could cause her bustling passionate spirit and also her empathetic nature. For her early education, she attended a myriad of schools across Ijeshatedo and Ilasamaja, Lagos, because of her father’s incessant transfers as a clergy. She was enrolled at Ilamoye Grammar School, Okota, but went ahead to Supreme Pillars College, Badagry, for an additional O’level examination.

Olubunmi has proven to be a woman of substance and virtue, with not only a Bachelor’s degree in Health Education from Ekiti State University (Satellite Campus, Ijanikin, Lagos), a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Lagos State University, and a pursuance of her Ph.D. in the same field, but a mother that guides a troop of children, and a leader that leads a council of leaders in diverse areas. 

Beyond traditional academic qualifications, Olubunmi is a Cambridge, TOEFL, and British Council licensed tutor. She has acquired a myriad of certifications in Child Psychology, parenting using Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) for Neuro Linguistic Programme (NLP), Elocution, Parenting, Phonics/Phonetics/Diction, Public Speaking, among others.

Wholistic Edu-Consult, Olubunmi’s brainchild, has been in a process of ideation for some years before being conceived in her senior secondary school years. Based on Howard Gardner’s Theory, which has summed up learners into Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic learners, among others, Olubunmi, like other thoughtful educationists, had postulated that though some teachers are intellectual, they lacked the holistic leadership capacity to cater for these diverse forms of learners. Hence, she started her journey to bridging this gap by showcasing proven teaching methodologies to teachers in her circle. This got propelled by her myriad of experiences studying at the Ekiti State University (affiliated with AOCOED).

Since its inception in 2016, Wholistic Edu-Consult has grown from being a free inner-circle training to an evolved Teachers’ Leadership Conference (TLC), with its inauguration in 2023, which has partnered with the Ojo Local Government, the NUT, and has produced eloquent and intellectually minded educators, public speakers, and orators. In 2024, alone, Olubunmi and her team trained over 100 teenagers in Public Speaking. They have been actively disseminating weekly curated content on Parenting, Child Psychology, Diction/Elocution, and Personal Development through their social media platforms.

The Teachers’ Leadership Conference in Ojo Local Government has become a significant event for educators. The inaugural conference in 2023 saw impressive participation, with over 400 teachers attending in person and another 100 joining online. A key highlight was the recognition of exceptional male and female teachers within the community. The event also featured insightful presentations from prominent speakers, including Bisi Akande (John Maxwell Certified Coach), Ayanfeoluwa Wole-Ojo (Elocutionist), Professor Babajide Abidogun (President of the Early Childhood Association of Nigeria – ECAN), and Yinka Ogungbe (CEO of Edumark Consult). They shared their expertise on crucial topics such as the leadership qualities needed by teachers in today’s world, the importance of effective communication, and strategies for personal growth.

Building on this success, the 2024 edition focused specifically on leadership roles within schools, targeting Headteachers, Assistant Headteachers, and Heads of Departments. This more focused event still drew a substantial audience, with 150 attendees present at the venue and 100 participating, virtually. Esteemed speakers like Femi Luther-Abegunde (Peak Performance Coach), Bisi Soji-Oyawoye (John Maxwell Certified Coach/Trainer), and Comfort Tubolaifa Oladipupo (Education Consultant) led engaging sessions. These sessions delved into the concept of leadership as influence, provided clarity on administrative duties, and even addressed the important topic of planning for early retirement. Importantly, both the 2023 and 2024 conferences were offered to educators at no cost.

Olubunmi Mercy Odiaka has big plans for 2025, aiming to uplift and connect educators across Nigeria. August will see the debut of a special programme where she interviews remarkable teachers, offering insights into their lives and careers to motivate others in the profession. Later in the year, October will bring the highly anticipated third Teachers’ Leadership Conference, this time collaborating with the Early Childhood Association of Nigeria (ECAN) to create an even larger and more impactful event for teachers dedicated to improving education nationwide. This year, Olubunmi will also be seeking sponsors to help her reach a wider audience and do more to advance education in Nigeria.

While Olubunmi might not have been one of the integral proponents of some foremost learner-centered theories, she has proven to the world, with her passion for learning at her grassroots, that the universal knowledge and the essence of education in continents above ours could be exhibited here, with the right learning methods, right tutors, right attitudes, and supportive education system. Through her Wholistic Edu-Consult and her ongoing initiatives, she is not only empowering teachers with the right tools to become effective leaders but also nurturing a new generation of learners with inclusive and intentional teaching. With Olubunmi, teachers become leaders.