The Eduwatch Team |
Governing Board |
|
Enitan Doherty-Mason (Founder/Executive Director) Eriwu Rewane (Legal Counsel - NIgeria) Preston Mason (Technical Director) |
Dr Yinka Yambo Mr. George Nwabukwu, CPA Alhaji Ahmadu Yaro |
Enitan Doherty-Mason
Enitan Doherty-Mason is the founder and executive director of Eduwatch, a United States based nonprofit organization that provides educational resources to Nigerian schools and educational institutions. She is a Nigerian-American educator who has been resident in the United States since 1976. She was born and raised in Nigeria and is a product of Nigerian private schools. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Howard University in Washington D.C. and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland at College Park. Her certifications include an advanced professional certificate from the Maryland State Department of Education and a literacy tutor certificate from Laubach Literacy Action, a division of Laubach Literacy International.
Ms. Doherty-Mason believes that education is a life long endeavor that determines the fate of individuals as well as nations and consequently education must not be left to chance. She was born into a family where continuous learning and community service are akin to breathing. This tradition of leading by example underlies her commitment to the education and strengthening of all children. In a rapidly changing world, she asserts that it is necessary to ensure proper education of all children. Her organization provides access to appropriate educational resources and opportunities to Nigerian children of all ages, regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliation, so that they can be responsible and productive members of society.
Her professional experiences range from classroom teacher at various grade levels to teacher trainer and elementary math specialist. She has also had the opportunity to work in varied settings with students of different instructional levels and English language competency. She enjoys membership in several professional organizations such as National Education Association of the United States (NEA), the Maryland State Teachers Association (MSTA), the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), National Peace Corp Association (NPCA), and Delta Kappa Gamma Society International (DKG).
She continues to live her passion by working as a private educational consultant, delivering academic support to adults with disabilities who are working toward a vocation or attending college. She insists that everyone deserves a fighting chance. She is actively engaged in promoting activities that support education and the empowerment of women. She leads The Women’s Business Meeting, a group of women working together to heighten their financial knowledge as each member works toward her financial goals.
She views the world at large as the ultimate classroom, because this is often where we gather most of the attitudes and beliefs that underlie and influence all other learning experiences. In her experience, schools are typically microcosms of the society within which they exist and great care must be taken to ensure that learners are given the opportunity to learn about and experience the world beyond their own community in order for then to develop a respectful global perspective.
Eriwu Rewane
Ms. Eriwu Rewane graduated from the University of Lagos in 1976 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in July 1977. She was an associate in the chambers of Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo (Senior Advocate of Nigeria). She then took up employment at the International Bank for West Africa Limited (now Afribank Nigeria PLC) in 1980 as an in-house solicitor and was in that employment for seven years. While still in the said employment, she obtained a Master's Degree in Business Law from the City University, London in 1985. In 1987 she returned to legal practice and was an associate in the chambers of Dr. F. A. Ajayi (Senior Advocate of Nigeria) from August 1987 to December 31st 1988. In January of 1989 she set up her own law firm, Eriwu Rewane and Co (Legal Practitioners). She participated in the Commonwealth Lawyers Course at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London. She practiced with Ince & Co. (Solicitors) in Chambers at 4 Essex Court, Temple, London during this time. She continues to attend continuing legal education conferences and courses to keep abreast of recent developments in law.
Ms. Rewane's areas of specialization are Banking, Commercial Law, Investment Law, Conveyancing and Property Law.
Preston Mason
Preston Mason is the technical director of Eduwatch. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science major from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He is also a graduate of the Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science Magnet Program at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. His previous experience includes assisting in the design, setup, and maintance of several other websites. In addition, he has experience in technical support and computer repair. Preston is the son of a Nigerian American mother and an African American father.
George Nwabukwu
Mr. George Nwabukwu is a professional who has gained over twenty years of experience in both the public accounting and corporate accounting/management arenas.
Mr. Nwabukwu has worked on various business entities with federal or state/local government contracts, for profit and non-profit organizations. He has performed functions in the capacity of grants management auditors, financial analyst, business requirements analyst, government contractors auditors, and lecturer at an area university.
Mr. Nwabukwu received his B.CS from Benjamin Franklin University - George Washington University and also holds a MBPA.
George Nwabukwu holds professional membership in the Maryland Association of CPA's, Maryland Society of Accountants, the Association of Government Accountants and is also affiliated with many community, civic, cultural and religious organizations.
He has provided management advice and technical assistance to help clients improve the effectiveness and efficiency in achieving their organizational objectives. Clients have used his tax planning expertise to help them structure their activities so as to minimize the tax bite.
Pai Obanya
Pai Obanya, Ph.D. is currently an Independent International Education Strategist based in Ibadan, Nigeria. He is a Fellow of the Curriculum Organization of Nigeria and Commandeur de L'Ordre du Lion de la République du Sénégal.
He obtained his B. Ed (Bachelor of Education) in Education and French and his PhD in Education from the University of Ibadan in1968 and 1973 respectively. As part of his post-doctoral training, he attended the University of Aix-en-Provence (France) in 1974, the University of York (United Kingdom) in 1975 and was attached to the Institute of International Education, University of Stockholm (Sweden) from July of 1975 through the spring of 1976.
Pai Obanya is a former Professor of Education and Director of the Institute of Education at the University of Ibadan, the foundation Dean of Education of Lagos State University (LASU) and a retired Assistant Director-General of UNESCO.
Pai Obanya has over 20 years of experience in high-level management at the national and the international levels. His competencies include teaching (with particular emphasis on pedagogy), educational research (particularly policy and development-oriented research), program development (and related areas of implementation, monitoring and evaluation), drafting, management and team work and negotiations in diverse settings
Ndidi Obidoa
Ndidi Obidoa is currently a consultant with management consultant firm in Massachusetts where she lives with her husband. She lived the first 16 years of her life in Nigeria where she attended both public and private schools . She feels fortunate to have received a solid education from early childhood through the secondary school. She has had the opportunity to live in various parts of the Nigeria.
Ndidi holds an MBA from the M. I. T. Sloan School of Management in Boston , Massachusetts and B.S. in both Business Management and Economics from The State University of New York at Stony Brook , New York. She has certification in Computer Technology Applications from Columbia University. She was previously employed as a Regional Economist with the Bureau of Economic Analysis, an agency of the Department of Commerce in Washington D.C.
Ndidi has a strong sense of community and is deeply committed to family. She has worked tirelessly with Eduwatch since its earliest days and continues to participate actively in other non-profit work. Her dream is that all children in Nigeria have access to even better educational opportunities than she did.
Gabriel Abolade Soyoye
Gabriel Abolade Soyoye, Ph.D is the Executive Chairman of Nimrod Limited, a Management Consulting firm in Lagos, Nigeria. Nimrod comprises a team of multi-disciplinary and multi-competence consultants with expertise in diagnosing and proffering solutions to ailing companies and institutions, conducting and implementing intervention studies, preparing feasibility studies, establishing Marketing Research and focus groups and other organizational needs. He is a foundation fellow of the Nigerian Marketing Association and an honorary Consultant of the Opportunity Industrialization Center in Nigeria.
Dr. Soyoye obtained his earliest certification, a Grade II Teacher's Certificate in 1957 from St Leo's College in Abeokuta, Nigeria; Followed by Diplomas from the British Institute of Management and the British Institute of Export. He holds a 1967 Masters of Science Degree in Management Science from Management Education Institute, Cambridge and Tufts University, Massachusetts, U.S.A. He obtained his Doctoral degree in Business Administration from Sussex Institute of Technology, United Kingdom in 1975.
Dr. Soyoye was a teacher at several Nigerian institutions from 1958 to 1962 before entering into a six-year experience at the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Industries. He has over thirty years of combined experience as an administrator in both the Nigerian Civil Service and Private Industry. Gabriel Soyoye has held various administrative positions at Foremost Dairies Nigeria Ltd and SmithKline Beecham of Scandinavia and Nigeria. In 1993, he served as the Special Advisor to the Nigerian Minister of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
Dr. Soyoye has several publications, including "Investment Climate in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects" (1993). He is a member of the selection panel for MBA candidates at the University of Lagos, and an Honorary Fellow of the Nigerian Dental Association. He serves on the Board of several organizations and remains an avid golf and chess player.
Alhaji Ahmadu Yaro
Alhaji Ahmadu Yaro is a Nigerian businessman. He is the chairman of Crown Flour Mills and a director of 7-Up bottling Company in Nigeria. As of 2001, he has been in business for half a century.
He was born in 1927 in Kano in northern Nigeria. He is a strong believer in family and he is involved in many facets of adult education. Alhaji Ahmadu Yaro is very knowledgeable in the area of Islamic education and believes in the education of all children.