Olalekan Mohammed Mansur Oluwadamilare Ajia is a broadcaster and Communication for Development (C4D) Specialist. He started his broadcasting career at Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation (OGBC) in 1979 from where he joined the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Abeokuta as a pioneer Senior Producer/ News Editor, then served as Principal Lecturer and Head of Television Production at the NTA TV College, Jos.
In 1993, Ajia was appointed Deputy Director and pioneer Head of Public Affairs of the National Broadcasting Commission where he had the privilege of contributing to the deregulation and democratisation of the Nigeria broadcasting industry.
In the year 2000, Olalekan Ajia joined the Lagos Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as a Communication Officer with responsibilities for Media and Public Affairs, Communication for Behaviour Change, Social Mobilisation and Publications. In 2003, he moved to the Country Office in Abuja from where he was appointed Communication Specialist in the Bujumbura, Burundi Office in 2005 with responsibilities for Mass Media, Liaison with the Presidency, Parliament and Civil Society, Child Protection and Participation. In a difficult post-conflict country situation with entrenched cultural biases and degeneration of social values, orphans, and vulnerable children, including child soldiers were a major national and international emergency. Ajia played a key role in developing and implementing communication strategies which ensured a high visibility of Burundian children and their mothers, promoted achievements of the Burundi Office in national and international mass media, on UNICEF and UN websites; in national discourse and important international fora, and which contributed to policies and resource allocations favourable to children.
Olalekan returned to the Nigeria Office in 2010 as the most senior national Communication for Development (C4D) Specialist and Focal Person for Basic Education (Girls Education Programme, Integrated Quranic and Tsangaya Education); Health (Liaison with NPHCDA for Routine Immunisation); Emergency Preparedness and Response (Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP) for Climate Change and the containment of the Ebola Disease with the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control); and Child Protection (Birth Registration and Liaison with the Nigeria Inter Religious Council (NIREC), the Nigerian Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs NSCIA), the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Jamatul Nasril Islam (JNI) and the Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria (FOMWAN) to promote increased Birth Registration and Ending Violence against Children. He retired in 2016.
Born on 18th March 1954, Olalekan is from Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. He attended Ijebu Muslim College, Ijebu Ode from 1967 to 1973, obtained a Diplôme Supérieur d’Etudes Françaises of the Université de Nice, Nice, France in 1975; a Bachelor of Arts Combined Honours degree in French and Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan, in 1977; a Master of Science degree in Mass Communication of the University of Lagos in 1984, and a University of Nairobi Post-graduate Certificate in Communication Policy and Planning for Development in1998.