Adekunle Olopade, founder of the Protect The Boy Child Initiative, who launched the Year of The Man campaign.
Big Brother Naija alumni Adekunle Olopade and Omololu “Lolu” Shomuyiwa are leveraging their reality TV visibility to drive national advocacy. The Protect The Boy Child Initiative (PTBCI), founded by Adekunle, has officially appointed Lolu as its new Country Head. The announcement coincides with the premiere of their upcoming documentary, Close The Gap, marking the first major project under the organisation’s landmark “2026: The Year of The Man” campaign.
PTBCI is a Lagos-registered non-governmental organisation dedicated to mentoring, educating, and nurturing boys and young men across Nigeria. Adekunle started the initiative to address a long-overlooked question: “Who is raising our boys?” Through structured mentorship, advocacy, and direct intervention, the organisation works to ensure that young men are actively included in vital conversations surrounding gender, development, and social progress.
The reality remains that many Nigerian boys face severe challenges, including rising school dropout rates, substance abuse, cultism, and a largely overlooked mental health crisis. Despite these pressures, young men are frequently left out of broader support conversations. PTBCI firmly believes that supporting boys does not take away from the advancement of women and girls; rather, it is a crucial component of building healthier, safer communities for everyone.
Director Adekunle Olopade during the production of Close The Gap, a documentary exploring support systems for Nigerian boys.
Reflecting on the urgency of the mission, Adekunle shared:
Nigeria has left a dangerous question unanswered: who is raising our boys? From out-of-school rates to drug abuse, cultism, and a silent mental health crisis, our boys are falling through the cracks while remaining invisible in the national conversation. PTBCI exists to change that, and The Year of The Man is us changing it at scale.
Omololu, who is based in the United States, steps into his new role to oversee PTBCI’s global operations and strategic partnerships. He brings an international perspective and a strong conviction that young Nigerian men deserve deliberate, structured investment.
Speaking on his appointment, Omololu noted:
For too long, society has assumed boys are born resilient, leaving them to navigate isolation, trauma, and ambition entirely on their own. We aren’t just offering a lifeline. We want to rewrite the script of what modern manhood looks like. True influence isn’t measured by the noise of an audience, but by the quiet transformation of a single life. The future of our communities depends on the boys we refuse to leave behind.
Omololu Shomuyiwa, newly appointed Country Head of global operations for the Protect The Boy Child Initiative.
The new documentary, Close The Gap, takes an in-depth look at the widening divide between Nigerian boys and the support systems available to them. The premiere kicks off a year-round campaign featuring targeted mentorship programmes and grassroots initiatives aimed at transforming lives one step at a time.
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