Nigerians have continued to show their stellar intelligence and continue to make waves globally in different areas of academics. Recently at the University of Queensland graduation ceremonies, Abdulrasaq Ogunyale stood out tall, graduating with distinction in Master of Peace and Conflict Studies achieving a unique feat of cumulative GPA of 6.25.
The University of Queensland, Australia, ranked among the top 50 universities globally and recently named the leading university in Australia by the Australian Financial Review’s inaugural Best University Ranking, graduated several students across disciplines this December. Upon graduation, the fresh graduates joined the UQ alum community of over 330,000 changemakers in 190 countries. Abdulrasaq Olatunde Ogunyale, widely addressed as Tunde Ogunyale, is one of the latest graduates at the university, and he completed his Master of Peace and Conflict Studies programme with Distinction. Prior to his UQ adventure, Tunde had graduated with a degree in law from the prestigious University of Ibadan. His journey from UI to UQ is a road marked with brilliance.
His passion for impact had seen him positioned to tackle one of Nigeria’s endemic problems as he founded the Peacepace Initiative, a youth-led nongovernmental organisation that promotes peace in Nigeria. A lawyer, mediator, cybersecurity advisor, and founding director at Peacepace Initiative. Tunde Ogunyale believes peace is not one-way traffic, so he leads his team in executing relevant projects cutting across peace education, human rights, good governance, and quality education. Abdulrasaq completed his master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies through the prestigious and competitive Rotary Peace Fellowship scholarship of the Rotary Foundation.
As a Rotary Peace Fellow, he gained incredible experiences and skills from various engagements at the Rotary Peace Center, University of Queensland. His fellowship also allowed him to undertake an Applied Field Experience, which he completed with the Institute for Economics and Peace at their global headquarters in Sydney, where he improved his understanding of positive peace. Aside from his general legal practice, he plans to continue to inspire hope through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), peace education, and security engagements.