A Corps Member With A Difference!

Ime Anwana's story was aired on NTA Newsline on Sunday March 25th 2012

A young lady, Ime Anwana, a Batch "A" corps member, was posted to serve in the NNPC depot in Niger State. She visited a friend serving at a local girls secondary secondary in the nearby village of Kaffin Koro and was told the school has no chemistry teacher.
Ime volunteered to use her free time on Friday evenings to teach chemistry to the students - free of charge. While teaching in the school she saw the sorry state of the student accommodation and took it upon herself to do something about it.
She raised the sum of 3.8 million naira and supervised the building of a student hostel equipped with 40 double bunk beds complete with mattresses.

One fateful day, while riding on a motorbike taxi (Okada) on the way to the project site she had an accident that killed the Okada rider and seriously injured her. She spent three weeks in a coma and was bed-ridden for three months.

On the NTA Newsline programme it was shown how the village of Kaffin Koro rolled out the drums to honour Miss Anwana for her work for them. The District Head of the village, Alhaji Abubakar Mamman gave her the chieftaincy title of Jekadiyan Kaffin Koro (Ambassador of Kaffin Koro) and also a piece of land in the village.

Ponder this:

1. Niger State, Ime's host state, is the home state of two former Presidents of the Federal Republic - Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar. Ironically (and sadly), one of them recently hosted a high-profile meeting in the same state to "discuss" the problem in the North. All they need is few minutes trip to Kaffin Koro and they will see the problem staring them in the eyes.

2. In the NTA Newsline report there was neither representation nor acknowledgement of Miss Anwana's work from - or - by her host, Niger State Government.

3. Paiko Local Government, under whose jurisdiction Kaffin Koro falls, has a Local Government Chairman, a State Assembly Representative, a National Assembly Representative and a Senator in Abuja. They all know (or should know) the state of that school long before Miss Anwana left her native Akwa Ibom State and arrived there. Don't you now think that the system is broken?

4. Miss Anwana's action throws a challenge not only to the Mandarins in the Northern political set up but also to young northerners closer to her age who have either silently acquiesced to the status quo or have been driven into the welcome arms of religious extremist due to the dearth of opportunities in the North.

If you are a reading this and you are a northerner - silently admit to yourself that Ime's action has shamed most of u. And then pledge to do whatever you can, no matter how little, to reverse the decline (moral, educational, social, economic) in your community.

What do you think of Ms Ime as a Nigerian?

The story of the living legend LIONEL MESSI.

Whether you are a Barca fan or not, everyone admits that Lionel Messi is a delight to watch playing football.

Messi plays for Barcelona FC. He is a three-time FIFA World Player of the Year.  

Some days ago, he scored five times( a Champions League record and also a personal record). Later, he scored another two goals. Messi scored 53 goals in 55 matches for his club last season. He already has 50 in 43 matches so far this campaign.

Many people believe he is one of the greatest football players the world has even seen. But Messi has not always been successful.

At age ten, Messi faced a major threat to his future soccer career; he had a growth hormone deficiency. This deficiency would limit his ability to cope with the physical demands of football.

Messi desperately needed growth hormones or he would have stopped growing at 4ft 7in but his father's health insurance was limited and couldn't cover the expensive treatment.

The story changed when Barcelona offered to pay for the hormone treatment in return for Messi signing for them aged just 13.

Today, Messi is scoring, Barca is winning and both Messi and Barca are happy and successful.

Few lessons.
1. Employers need to see the gold in their staff. In that physically- retarded boy with health challenges was a star of the future. Invest in your staff.
 

2. Your health challenge could seem to be a huge problem, but help is on its way.

3. Nothing limits you. Till date, Messi is relatively smaller than his mates, could be weak but he is still playing excellent football. You have no excuse.

4. God compensates for your weaknesses. Messi is short. As a result he has a low center of gravity. This makes it difficult for him to fall down easily. Messi has short legs, but they are fast too.

5. Finally, don't make judgement based on today, consider the future. While Messi was playing as a kid, he looked 2 years younger than his mates. If Barca had judged him based on that, they would have lost gold.

Wow!!! In all, Messi's story confirms to me (Vicmoss Ibukun Olagoke) what I have always believed: 

"IT'S NOT WHAT YOU LACK THAT WILL SLOW YOU DOWN. NO! ITS WHAT YOU'VE GOT BUT DON'T KNOW HOW TO PUT IT TO ITS BEST USE".

So let's settle this matter once and for all...

EVERYTHING you NEED to START your journey to GREATNESS is already WITHIN YOU.

Now, just go ahead and DELIVER THE FUTURE.
You can. You must. You will.

Letter to Nigerian Parents

This calls for a very sober reflection!
THOUGH I HAVE NO IDEA WHO WROTE THIS BUT IT MAKES INTERESTING READING & A GREAT FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Friends, Let me add the benefit of my time as a student and then resident in the UK - and I live in Lagos now. The first thing that I discovered about UK-born, white, English undergraduates was that all of them did holiday or weekend job to support themselves - including the children of millionaires amongst them. It is the norm over there - regardless how wealthy their parents are. And I soon discovered that virtually all other foreign students did the same - the exception being those of us status-conscious Nigerians. I also watched Richard Branson (owner of Virgin Airline)speaking on the Biography Channel and, to my amazement, he said that his young children travel in the economy class - even when the parents (he and his wife) are in upper class. Richard Branson is a billionaire in Pound Sterling.
A quick survey would show you that only children from Nigeria fly business or upper class to commence their studies in the UK. No other foreign students do this. There is no aircraft attached to the office of the prime minister in the UK - he travels on BA. And the same goes for the Royals. The Queen does not have an aircraft for her exclusive use. These practices simply become the culture which the next generation carries forward. Have you seen the car that Kate Middleton(the wife of Prince William) drives? VW Golf or something close to it. But there's one core difference between them and us(generally speaking). They (even the billionaires among them) work for their money, we steal ours!
If we want our children to bring about the desired change we have been praying for on behalf of our dear country, then please, let's begin now and teach them to work hard so they can stand alone and most importantly be content, and not having to "steal", which seem to be the norm these days."30 is the new 18", which seem to be the new age for testing out the world in Nigeria now. That seems to be an unspoken but widely accepted mindset among the last 2 generations of parents in Nigeria . At age 18 years, a typical young adult in the UK leaves the clutches of his/her parents for the University, chances are, that's the last time those parents will ever play "landlord" to their son or daughter except of course the occasional home visits during the academic year.At 21 years and above or below, the now fully grown and independent minded adult graduates from University, searches for employment, gets a job and shares a flat with other young people on a journey into becoming fully fledged adults. I can hear the echo of parents saying, well, that is because the UK economy is thriving, safe, well structured and jobs are everywhere? I beg to differ and I ask that you kindly hear me out.
I am UK trained Recruitment Consultant and I have been practicing for the past 10 years in Nigeria . I have a broad range of experience from recruiting graduates to executive director level of large corporations. In addition, I talk from the point of view of someone with relatively privileged upbringing. Driven to school every day, had my clothes washed for me, was barred from taking any part - time job during my A-levels so that I could concentrate on studying for my exams?! BUT, I got the opportunity to live apart from my parents from age 18 and the only time I came back home to stay was for 3 months before I got married! Am I saying that every parent should wash their hands off their children at age 18? No, not at all, of course, I enjoyed the savings that I made from living on and off at my parent's house in London - indeed that is the primary reason for my being able to buy myself a 3 bedroom flat in London at age 25 with absolutely no direct financial help from my parents! For me, pocket money stopped at age 22, not that it was ever enough for my lifestyle to compete with Paris Hilton's or Victoria Beckham's. Meanwhile today, we have Nigerian children who have never worked for 5 minutes in their lives insisting on flying "only" first or business class, carrying the latest Louis Vuitton ensemble, Victoria 's Secret underwear and wearing Jimmy Choo's, fully paid for by their "loving" parents. I often get calls from anxious parents, my son graduated 2 years ago and is still looking for a job, can you please assist! Oh really! So where exactly is this "child" is my usual question. Why are you the one making this call dad/mum?I am yet to get a satisfactory answer, but between you and me, chances are that big boy is cruising around Lagos with a babe dressed to the nines, in his dad's spanking new SUV with enough "pocket money" to put your salary to shame. It is not at all strange to have a 28 year old who has NEVER worked for a day in his or her life in Nigeria but "earns" a six figure "salary" from parents for doing absolutely nothing. I see them in my office once in a while, 26 years old with absolutely no skills to sell, apart from a shiny CV, written by his dad's secretary in the office. Of course, he has a driver at his beck and call and he is driven to the job interview. We have a fairly decent conversation and we get to the inevitable question - so, what salary are you looking to earn? Answer comes straight out - N250,000.00. I ask if that is per month or per annum.Of course it is per month. Oh, why do you think you should be earning that much on your first job? Well, because my current pocket money is N200,000.00 and I feel that an employer should be able to pay me more than my parents. I try very hard to compose myself, over parenting is in my opinion the greatest evil handicapping the Nigerian youth. It is at the root of our national malaise.
We have a youth population of tens of millions of who are being "breastfed and diapered" well into their 30s. Even though the examples I have given above are from parents of considerable affluence, similar patterns can be observed from Abeokuta to Adamawa! Wake up mum! Wake up dad! You are practically loving your children to death! No wonder corruption continues to thrive. We have a society of young people who have been brought up to expect something for nothing, as if it were a birth right.
I want to encourage you to send your young men and women (anyone over 20 can hardly be called a child!) out into the world, maybe even consider reducing or stopping the pocket money to encourage them to think, explore and strive. Let them know that it is possible for them to succeed without your "help". Take a moment to think back to your own time as a young man/woman, what if someone had kept spoon feeding you, would you be where you are today? No tree grows well under another tree, children that are not exposed to challenges, don't cook well. That is why you see adults complaining, "my parents didn't buy clothes for me this christmas", ask him/her how old-30+. Because of the challenges we faced in our youth, we are where and what we are today, this syndrome-my children will not suffer what I suffered is destroying our tomorrow. Deliberately reduce their allowance or mum-don't cook on Saturday till late afternoon or evening-do as occasion deserve.
I learnt the children of a former Nigerian head of state with all the stolen (billions) monies in their custody, still go about with security escort as wrecks. They are on drugs, several times because of the drug, they collapse in public places. The escort will quickly pack them and off they go, what a life. No one wants to marry them. Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.- Henry Ford.
Hard work does not kill, everything in Nigeria is going down, including family settings. It is time to cook our children, preparing them for tomorrow. We are approaching the season in Nigeria where only the RUGGED, will survive. How will your ward fare? If the present generation of Nigerian pilots retire, will you fly a plane flown by a young Nigerian pilot, If trained in Nigeria? People now have first class who cannot spell GRADUATE or read an article without bomb blast! Which Way Nigeria!, Which Way Nigerians!! Is this how we will ALL sit and watch this country SINK?
Please forward to as many Nigerian parents as you know.