What I’ll do with my N50m WWTBAM cash prize –Omotola Akinsola

Omotola Akinsola became a celebrity in December 2014 when she won the whopping sum of N50m on the popular TV game show, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Now, she has received her cheque for N50m and she told OSEYIZA OOGBODO BLOG about her plans for it.

What was your first target, what amount was initially in your mind that you wanted to win on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

When I was in the studio and they asked me how much I wanted to win, I said at least five million.

But you won N50m. How do you feel about that?

I’m really grateful, because I thought about it, that if I were to work in Nigeria, how long would it take me to make up to that amount of money? It would be like twenty years or more if I were to work honestly.

You were supposed to get a house worth N50m. Why did you decide to receive cash instead of the house?

Well, it’s not as if I had an option. The organizers called me and said that after thinking back and forth, they thought it’s better if I have the money, and they said, do you have any objection? And I said, whatever you decide is fine with me.

Tell us about your NGO.

Its name is Jumpstart Academy. We work with public school students, and what we do is to provide them with basic things that they need to be successful. We have a bulletin for them every Monday to Friday, we provide text books, money for school, transportation, we buy practice CDs for them, we hire teachers that come to teach them in the areas they are weak. Also, we have mentors, young professionals that come to teach them various skills, and we also believe strongly in leadership and entrepreneurship, so we teach them basic things like how to make soap, custard, bake cakes, and we also instill in them the idea that you’re being given something to enhance your life, what can you do for other people, because a lot of them think that until I become a doctor or I get a corporate job, I cannot give back to my community. So we’re teaching them that if it’s just a primary three student you can teach what you’ve been taught, you’ve given back.

Why did you start the NGO?

It’s something I love to do. I’ve always wanted to help people, ever since I was little, and my definition of helping people has changed over time, because I thought I had to be a medical doctor to help people.  Then I realized that you don’t have to be a medical doctor to help people, especially if you’re not interested in curing their diseases, and so that prompted me to go and study social work and psychology which I did in the United States and everything I learnt in school is really helping me in running the NGO.

Is it true that you want to plough the N50m into your NGO?

Definitely. A tangible amount of the N50m will go into the NGO because it’s what gave me this platform in the first place, and it’s something I believe is a calling, so I’m going to see how we can use the money to ensure that the NGO continues, because one of the big problems we have is lack of funding. People don’t trust NGOs in Nigeria. They think that Nigerians are fraudsters. But now that we have this money, we can expand our services, because a lot of people complain that we are too far from them to benefit.

The people around you, are they really in support of you putting the money into the NGO?

Well, everybody has their own opinion. Some people will say no, give your family this, give your family that. Some will say you have to do this and that for yourself. But at the end of the day, I think I’ll have to sit down and decide on it all, because 10% goes to the government, so it’s not as if I’m getting the full amount. I’m a Christian, I’ll pay my tithe. So, let’s say I do that, I’ll have N40m left, so my parents, the people that nominated me, they believe they also deserve something, and to say thank you and just be grateful in a way, I’ll give them something to. So I cannot say that this is the exact amount that’ll go into the NGO, but for sure, for sure, some of it will definitely go there.