Hi Everyone, I want to thank Dave who nominated me and all those who supported my nomination. To be honest, I never expected it and had no ideas I was going to be nominated. I only got a call suggesting I would be nominated 15 mins before I saw my nomination on the mailing list. It an honour for me and an invitation to do more for the community. People who are close to me would know that this is not part of my dream in ICANN, I had something else in mind, However, I am accepting this because I was overwhelmed with the amount of support I have received on the mailing list and privately especially by people I can’t even recognise. *About me.* I am currently a Senior Lecturer in Wireless Communication and Telecommunication policy the Department of Telecommunication Science at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. I am also the Head of Kwara State University (KWASU) Radio and TV unit. I obtained my first degree in Electrical Engineering from Bayero University in Kano, M.Sc, and the PhD degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the Department of Electronics Engineering, the University of York in England in 2008, 2011 and 2015 respectively. I am currently a Post-doctoral researcher in York working on cost-effective and energy efficient ways of deploying telecommunication access in Africa cos of my passion for the entire Africa region to be connected. I have author or co-author over 40 scientific publications in reputable journals and conferences around the world. I am currently a holder of the prestigious Rutherford Commonwealth Post-Doctoral fellowship tenable at the University of York for my post-doctoral research, UK, the Vice Chairman representing Africa on the ITU-D Telecommunication Development Advisory Group (TDAG) and Vice Rapporteur for ITU question 5/2 on disaster management and relief. I am very active in discussions related to the stability and security of the internet echo system under various platforms and organization such as but not limited to AFRINIC, RIPE, IETF, ITU and ICANN. I have travelled and has visited over 40 different countries across the globe. *My ICANN Journey* Over the last six years, I have been committed to playing an active role in making the internet stable. I have always advocated for the stability and security of the internet and also for Africa to play a vital role in the governance of the internet. I have always been a defender of the African community while advocating for Africans to play a vital role and pull our weight in the governance of the internet as done by other regions as it is a common resource. About 18 months ago, I came across ICANN and became the 1st AFRALO individual member since then I have gone to understand its mission and became passionate about the organisation. I became a volunteer immediately, and I begin to understand the role of ICANN in a stable and secure Internet. I have attended over 20 Webinars (some of which I helped organise) and taking over 10 ICANN learn modules over a period of one year to understand the organisation better. I was offered a fellowship to attend ICANN 61 as my first face to face meeting, and I could not resist been committed to the organisation afterwards. I spent my saving to attend ICANN 62, 63 and 64 and I have also made personal plans to be in Marrakech for ICANN 65 even though I am not in any way a rich person (my monthly salary from my day job is about $700) neither do I benefit financially directly or indirectly from attending the meetings face to face. I just follow my passion. Contributing to this community has only been a passion for me. Every day when I read emails asking for volunteer within the community I can’t resist putting myself forward because of my passion for the internet stability and security. To me, ICANN is like an obligation which I can’t afford to let down. I firmly believe that the African communities especially Sub Saharan Africa is not pulling its weight enough in the ICANN community for a number of reasons which are peculiar to the continent and I fully understand. However, I believe that based on my educational and professional background I have to contribute to this organisation and make sure I add my weight to the others coming from the African community to show our commitment to this common duty. For me, it was not about being active just during the time of elections or to get travel funding to meetings it was a passion I truly have. I have been active as a volunteer within different parts of ICANN and the At-large community. I have volunteered and participated in the policy development process as much as I can within the period I became a member. I have been active in the Consolidated Policy Working Group (CPWG) where I have been a pen holder for the drafting of statements (about 3 statements now), new gTLD WT5 working group, and I have also been a working group chair for AFRALO. I have put myself forward three times in the last one year to chair working groups within AFRALO I was successful on two occasions (Co-chair of AFRALO hot topic and Co-chair for the Technology Task Force). In addition to this, I have actively participated in drafting AFRALO statement for ICANN 62, 63 and 64 and in fact, I read out the statement at ICANN 63 in Barcelona. I don’t just put myself forward and attend a meeting without contributing I am very active during the meeting and the records are there. I just made a search of my name on the ICANN Atlarge community page and it came up with 369 results meaning averagely I contribute every day to the At large community, I have attended all (100%) AFRALO monthly meeting since I became a member and have been very active in most meetings, I have also attended over 80% of the At Large monthly call since I became a member. In addition, I am a member of the RSSAC Caucus and a member of the RSSAC RSS metric working party. I decided to contribute across board based on my expertise and passion. *Why am I the best Candidate?* I believe I have all the qualities required to serve on NOMCOM as I have participated in recruiting Vice chancellors for reputable Universities (I was a member of the Interview and appointment committee that recruited the Vice-chancellor of University of York, UK and the University of Lagos, Nigeria) and other senior officers of world-class organisations. I am the 1 st individual member of AFRALO and I have also been bringing some 1st position to AFRALO, as the Co-chair of AFRALO Hot topics, AFRALO became the 1st RALO to produce the hot topic Policy manual which was commended by both the ICANN CEO and Board chair at the ICANN 64meeting in Kobe. I am someone who doesn’t sit on the fence or watch the party from the outside, I always pull my weight wherever I find myself. I was a member of the ATLAS III, leadership development team and I actively pulled my weight until Africa was allocated a minimum of 10 slots for the summit. In addition to my contributions above, I am the most active of all the nominees for this (AFRALO rep to NOMCOM) position in AFRALO activities (maybe even At large activities) in the last one year (The facts are there and I can prove this to anyone) I believe I was nominated based on my records and passion for ICANN and not because one of my travel funding is about to end or because I need travel funding. I am committed to the African community. I have decided to be active in areas where few Africans are active. Therefore, Win or Lose, I would continue to do more because this is what makes me happy every day. Thank You. -- *Dr. Abdulkarim A.Oloyede*. *B. Eng (BUK), M.Sc (York), PhD (York), R.Eng, A+* *Senior Lecturer, **Department of Telecommunications Science, University of Ilorin, Nigeria* *Vice Chairman, Telecommunications Development Advisory Group (TDAG), **International Telecommunication Union (ITU).* *Alternative Emails: olouss@yahoo.com <olouss@yahoo.com> OR aao500@york.ac.uk <aao500@york.ac.uk>* -- Website <http://www.unilorin.edu.ng>, Weekly Bulletin <http://www.unilorin.edu.ng/index.php/bulletin> UGPortal <http://uilugportal.unilorin.edu.ng/> PGPortal <https://uilpgportal.unilorin.edu.ng/>