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Giving is an attitude. “When you learn, teach, when you get, give.” ~Maya Angelou. Some don’t have enough, yet they give from scarcity. Some have abundant resources, yet they keep…

Hope defines the essence of life. Dreams and aspirations become realisable with the hope of a better tomorrow. Take hope away from life and it becomes meaningless. To say there is nothing to hope for is to say there is nothing to live for

I’m emotional doing this but I owe you, Harry, if only to put a closure to my long journey with you in so short a time. My meeting with you…

Imagination is a powerful tool in decision making. Sometimes, creating different scenarios and possible outcomes in your mind can lead you to arriving at a sound judgement, particularly when there is pressure to make a hasty decision.

Assumption is a tool in problem solving. Ask mathematicians. In real life, assumption can help you to establish the truth but untested assumption can ruin your relationship with people.

Sometimes you wonder, time, where has it gone? If you respect fellow humans or position, you are in order but if you treat time merely as a beautiful clock that tick-tocks what time of the day it is, or a designer watch that decorates your wrist, you are missing something. I’m noteven talking about punctuality. I thought to remind you that time is a leveler.

What really makes a place developed? Is it the skyscrapers? Is it the good roads? Rail lines? Or is it the provision of social amenities that guarantee minimum basic welfare for the citizenry? What makes a country developed? As I juggle with answers in my mind, I remember a movie I watched sometimes back where one of the actors said that “politicians don’t like people who do good just because it is right. They get nervous.” I ruminated over this quote and I began to understand why the rich protect their club from being crowded. It occurred to me that the more a society creates super rich individuals in material wealth at the expense of a greater majority with rich mindset, the poorer the society will become. A country is as developed as the vision of the leaders. Every other thing is an add on and a given. Wealth does not create vision, it is the other way round. Visionary leadership propels quality mindset of the citizenry.

Every man likes affirmation. No man enjoys criticism but again, any man whose views go unchallenged all the time should watch his back. It is not an evidence of bravery, neither does it pass for unmatched wisdom for you to have opinion that is always right. If you get keep getting a yes to all you say, chances are that you have been isolated to your delusion that you know it all. A fool is better than a wise man who takes pride in being right all the time. A critic is not supposed to be an enemy, depending on his motive for criticising. It is not enough to have the right motive, your motive for criticising must be clearly stated. A critic becomes an enemy if his motive deducts value rather than add value to the subject. If I mean well for you, it is unlikely I get you to see reason with me if I have to debase your dignity to pass my message.

Leadership entails identifying a problem and proffering anticipatory solution before it becomes an emergency. Call it proactive leadership and you won’t be wrong. Whether this could be said of leadership at all levels of government in Nigeria, from local to state and federal is a subject of national debate. What exactly is the value of the life of an average Nigerian whose death is announced casually like every other news? What is a Nigerian worth? Concerned public office holders allow a pothole on a highway to manifest to a gully until it results in accidents that claim lives before they act. Why? Why do we allow red alerts of insecurity to snowball to imminent emergencies and loss of lives before we start calling for dialogue? Why? Most times, what started like a mere hazard develops to imminent risk and attendant loss of lives before receiving attention. Why? Why do we prefer to render glowing tributes to lives cut short at their prime owing to avoidable causes when a measure of proactive response could preserve such lives? Why? Most times the victims are breadwinners for their family members.

I’m excited to see the dawn of 2021. Mercy did it, grace abound. Mine is an attitude of gratitude, to God and to you. THANK YOU. Regardless of the divide you belong in a war situation, whether the victorious side or the subdued side, if there is an attribute of war, it is the gathering of the spoils of war or the rueing of the losses in preparation for a rebuild. With gratitude, we won victory over 2020. Hallelujah. 2021 provides humanity with the opportunity of a fresh start. Welcome to a new beginning. 2020 was like a warfront when the strength and resilience of humanity was put to test. We all fought a battle that we were ill-prepared for, a battle we knew very little about. We overrated our wisdom and underestimated our vulnerability. More than ever before, now we know that we are as strong as our weakest link. We should be wiser, at least. Somehow, humanity is wading through the lessons that 2020 taught us. At least we now know that the strength of humanity is not in nuclear weapons or the most funded armoury. The mighty stumbled where the assumed Lilliputians kept fighting with their feeble weapons. Now we know that it is God over us all.