HAMBURG, N.Y. – It has been almost three years since 276 girls were kidnapped from school in April 2014 by Boko Haram in Nigeria. Omolola “Lola” Adele-Oso is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Act4Accountability, a non-profit organization she started after the 276 girls were kidnapped. She will be at Hilbert College on Thursday, March 30 at 3:15 p.m. in the McGrath Library Conference Room. Adele-Oso will discuss how this event moved her to organize protests and mobilize community members both in the U.S. and in Nigeria. She will share her stories of meeting some of the girls who have escaped, and her commitment to challenging corruption in the Nigerian government.
She is an architect, speaker, change catalyst, community organizer, and organization development practitioner. Adele-Oso advocates for the need to address the social inequities and disparities affecting vulnerable populations in our society, especially communities of color.
In May 2014, she organized and led 300 protesters outside the Nigerian embassy in Washington D.C. in response to the kidnapping of 200 plus Nigerian girls from their school. The lack of response and transparency by the Nigerian government regarding the rescue of the still missing 219 schoolgirls was the impetus for creating Act4Accountability.
Act4Accountability is a nonprofit African diaspora organization committed to building a culture of accountability among Africans & the diaspora through civic engagement.
Adele-Oso holds a Bachelor’s of Architecture from Howard University, a certification in Interior Design, and a Master of Science in Organization Development from American University.
She has appeared on BBC World Service, Al Jazeera, Straight Talk Africa, National Public Radio’s (NPR) Diane Rehm Show, and The Kojo Nnamdi Show. Adele-Oso has written for The Guardian and was featured in Black Enterprise, The Daily Beast, CNN, and Washington Post. She is the recipient of 2013 Hal Kellner Award for Social Justice. Adele-Oso is a White House United State of Women “Nominated Changemaker” and was a participant at SXSL hosted by the White House.
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Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With nearly 1,000 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college’s engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship, and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. The Hilbert Blueprint promotes a well-rounded student experience over four years – starting with the Foundations Seminar in the freshman year, followed by Sophomore Service, Junior Symposium, and culminating with the Senior Capstone. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college’s first graduate programs and evening degree programs geared to adult learners.