Opinion
Secure Your Private Place for Effective Leadership (Pt. 1)
Published
2 years agoon
By
Eric
By Tolulope A. Adegoke
“One of the qualities of an effective leader is ‘being’ a solution provider. It is not about the title, but attitude. It is not about (mere) involvement in leadership tasks, but it is about commitment to it and being known for (quality) standard – the ability to spot and solve problems earlier (clairvoyance)and effectively, not for selfish gains, but for the betterment of mankind! Everything survives on the principles of growth. Having (quality) standards helps to establish and perfect sustainable growth and development that influences others to trust and follow you; as such is built through thorough discipline. The first law of Discipleship is Discipline! (Ecclesiastes 10:17-18).”
David (Book of Life) might have disregarded the bear and lion when they came to harm his lambs during his desert sojourn, but he took responsibility by addressing and dealing with them. Leaders accept responsibility for events or occurrences that occur around them. They do not yield to their surroundings; rather, they make effective use of their surroundings and circumstances to achieve their goals. They respond to concerns quickly… Solve puzzles if you want to climb the success ladder! In order to be more productive in specialized undertakings, one’s engagement should be deepened. Every time you solve an issue, you are merely preparing yourself for the next level.
HOW ARE PROBLEMS SOLVED?
i. By Innovation – Get out of your comfort zone to study, and then incorporate what you’ve learned into your daily life. Nothing new can be found beneath the sun. Understanding the notion of knowledge of a previously solved issue, then improving on it, is the key to innovation. Every excellent concept arose from an idea that had previously been utilized by someone…every human arose from the union of two individuals. God finished creation on the sixth day and rested on the seventh. Every invention has been designed or wired to make something similar in a better form. There are ideals that have been encased in the creations. To discover more and to be (effectively) more is to work with The Maker, (God Almighty) and His Creations. That is why, as stated in Romans 8:19, the creatures await the manifestations of the Sons of God (KJV). As a result, you have been charged with the following steps:
ii. Identify the Problem
Go out there and figure out what the issue specs are. Make a decision and identify them. Know on the inside that you have the anointing to solve all issues and improve the lives of others around you (through the Holy Spirit). The Japanese people did not flee Japan after WWII; rather, they remained in Japan to address issues and rebuild their nation. Their leaders instilled trust in their followers by upholding norms of devotion, trust, and discipline. As a leader, you must recognize that communicating your faith from inside provides you the capacity to solve problems. Close your eyes to the wonderful diversions and difficulties around you in order to see God’s strength inside you! See also Daniel 5:14. (KJV).
iii. Know that you will need raw materials to solve the problems at hand through thoughts
Thoughts and ideas are the fundamental resources for issue solutions. Pursue understanding of the concepts that have been used to address an issue. Individuals who lead others read a great deal. Acquire the necessary facts, identify the necessary individuals (who know the route and have channeled their thoughts into solutions to huge or complex issues), also locate the necessary books. Seek your instructors! Pursue ‘raw materials’! Utilize the internet to locate reputable and relevant resources and put them into action. Study to get familiar with the buttons to push in order to solve difficulties. In meditation, enter the womb of the Holy Spirit to find and release the necessary activities. You must be a ‘informed’ individual! What you need or want is to resolve a conflict via the power of God’s word. The Holy Spirit will then bombard you with heavenly instructions and improved ideas. Additionally, develop the habit of reading broadly! (See Daniel 9:2). You must begin with your present location, the area that you inhabit, and the challenges that exist in your local circle or surroundings. Pray about it with God, do study about it, and then process it for implementation.
iv. Additionally, you must keep in mind that you might have the revelation correct, yet still miss it in terms of interpretation. Therefore, use sufficient caution. At all times, seek God. Consider the instance of Prophet Samuel, who came dangerously close to anointing (Eliab) one of David’s brothers in his stead (1 Samuel 16; 1-13).
v. When you begin to execute ideas, develop the practice of soliciting feedback. And when you get input from others, reply promptly. Effective leaders live in a feedback-programmed lifestyle for constructive criticisms or public opinions.
vi. Mentors are necessary since they serve as milestones! The Holy Spirit is like the sun. He is the source of God’s Light. Always engage him. Moreover, consider the lives of individuals as checkpoints on your road toward developing solutions in certain areas. The Holy Spirit is given precedence, since He is the Master-guide. Mentors serve as landmarks since they have labored and traveled in the same shoes and along the same pathways that you wish to go.
(…to be continued)
Thank you for taking out time to relearn and revive your being. I wish you would apply it to real-life issues as they unfold with time.
Dr. Tolulope A. Adegoke is an accredited ISO 20700 Effective Leadership Management Trainer.
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Very jittery about the coalition, and it should rightly feel so.
If coordinated properly, they have the capacity and numbers to upstage APC, from national politics.
If they manage to do it, it will be well-deserved.
The neo-liberal economic policies embarked on by BAT has shrunk the economy brutally.
The country has shrunk far more economically after removing fuel subsidy, particularly when electricity is still non-existent, raising production costs infinitely and lowering spending, making it a double-whammy for millions.
Electricity costs have been double even when its generation, distribution and transmission hasn’t improved significantly blunting claims of Nigerians needing to pay humongous amounts if they want electricity, even if several examples exist of Countries in the Global South with far more reasonable electricity charges with even more access to electricity.
Let’s now add devaluation, that skyrocketed costs of goods in an import-dependent economy and ran more millions into penury.
War-level inflation, rising costs of living, food prices off the ceiling.
And what they have been told is that, that is the only way to rejig the economy.
The supposed billions stolen by subsidy thieves hasn’t been retrieved, and perpetrators jailed.
Customs officials that permit fuel smuggling that justified subsidy removal weren’t arrested and jailed.
Yet, the people who weren’t responsible for these lapses were told to stomach these lapses and adjust to “SAP” tightening adjustments.
Minimum wage of 70k has still not been paid, what was done was a cynical 40k wage award across levels. This after fuel went from 185 to over 900 naira in some places, and skyrocketing prices of goods quarter-by-quarter.
In 2000, When Olusegun Obasanjo raised minimum wage from 250naira to 5500 naira, and Federal civil servants pay raised from 3500 to 7500, it triggered the phrase “GBEMU AREMU” (Aremu’s Largesse) that raised national income and subsequent spending across several sectors.
Teachers would buy Opel cars prompting applause when it was announced on assembly grounds, and several civil servants started building houses leading to a construction boom.
Federal contractors are being owed despite government claims of record revenues, and gaslighting statements of more allocations being accrued to Governors.
Let us now go back to pet peeves about allocation of projects.
Gilbert Chagoury’s HITECH got awarded the “Lagos-Calabar coastal road”
The same Chagoury’s HITECH got the Sokoto-Badagry road.
The same HITECH was awarded Benin-Akure-Ilesha road.
Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road was taken from Julius Berger and handed to HITECH.
Chagoury’s ITB also got $700m port revamp contract.
BAT says Alex Zingman who got the $250m contract to bring in tractors from Belarus is his friend.
When major contracts are given to closet accolytes in a family&friends scheme, how will the economy grow, when fairness is out of the window.
Multi-billion dollar contracts are being handed out attimes with no bidding to preferred contractors whom the President openly calls “His Partner” (Chagoury).
This is the samee Chagoury who returned $66million to Switzerland to get his conviction expunged.
He paid $300million to Nigeria’s government to protect him from prosecution for his role in helping General Sani Abacha loot the country by transferring National funds abroad.
Abacha’s special friend tha helped launder money abroad is BAT’s advisor and confidante whose companies get no-bidding contracts and people are to keep quiet.
Yet, APC stalwarts will attempt to gaslight people by saying “Relax, economy is getting better, BAT knows what he is doing”, even when diaspora Nigerians who come into the country exchange their Pounds and USD into Naira, and still cannot cope with the skyrocketing prices.
People are being told to sacrifice, while they see the Presidency buy yatch, new vehicles and Presidential Jet.
If it’s the ADC that will come and trigger the APC, we are all in for it.
Even if several of the characters in ADC have been in government for years. Distributed stealing is much better for the economy than singular appropriation.
Perhaps, when Nigerians change governments over and over, politicians will sit tight and apportion some efforts towards working for masses and treat people with some level of respect.
And the coalition should watch out for Aregbesola, the main reason that has given the coalition impetus. He is not a man who gives half-measures. And he is coming for revenge.
There is no fight as interesting to watch as tight buddies turn into implacable foes.
Knowing him, Aregbesola would likely have control of Lagos ADC, where he would bring in many elements of APC currently disaffected and angry into the party.
Being more conservative than even Tinubu, he would avoid trap of filling positions with non-Yorubas.
What would ensue in Lagos, with an Aregbesola-controlled ADC will be a fight for the ages, people who knew “Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu” before he became “Asiwaju” or “Jagaban” would be brought into the fray.
Imagine for example, Muiz Banire, as Governorship candidate. Prominent families, in Lagos will be split down the middle, as Aregbesola comes for the jugular.
And woe betide APC, if the North refuses to vote for them and APC loses the Presidential election.
It makes the task of dismantling even Lagos from Tinubu’s hold after 28 years easier.
Tinubu’s current yes-men gaslighting people about economy should continue telling people all is well, even when economy squeezes people out.
In 2 years, they might lose everything. Both Federal and beloved Lagos.
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By Ayo Oyoze Baje
“When a leader encourages the culture of impunity, the society is lost and it makes the work harder for the rest of us”
– Prof. Wole Soyinka
One of the bitter facts about striking the delicate balance between criminality and justice is that if the perpetrators of sundry crimes are either treated with kid gloves, or left to walk our streets as free men, some others would view such as the best way to go. Unfortunately, from the persisting challenge of insecurity through the reckless squandering of public funds by some favoured political helmsmen to budget padding, crass impunity has remained the middle name of our democratic dispensation, sad to note.
For instance, recently Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), criticized both the Federal and Benue State Governments for consistently failing to prosecute suspects arrested in connection with violent attacks that have resulted in the killing spree in Benue State. In the statement issued under the platform of the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), of which he is the Chairman Falana lamented that although hundreds of suspects have been arrested over the years for crimes ranging from illegal possession of firearms to mass killings and kidnapping, most of them are never charged.
To him President Bola Tinubu’s recent directive to the Nigeria Police Force to arrest and prosecute all those involved in the latest wave of violence in the state is potentially symbolic.He pointed out that previous arrests had not led to convictions or justice for victims. Falana also berated the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, for alleging that residents of Yelwata community provided shelter for the killers. He described the statement as an attempt to shift blame onto victims instead of addressing the systemic failures of security and governance.
Such a sordid situation triggers the burning questions. Is the life of the voiceless victims not important to humanity in general and the country in particular? Are the perpetrators of the scary insecurity ravaging the country that has sent hundreds of thousands of innocent souls to their early graves more valued than that of the defenceless citizens? What is so difficult in identifying the sponsors, who arm them to kill fellow citizens and bring them to justice?
It is a similar situation when it comes to profligacy with regards to the way and manner some politicians squander public funds. Only recently there was disagreement between the National Assembly and the BudgIT over the issue of budget padding to the stupendous amount of N6.93 trillion in the 2025 federal government’s budget. Yet, some Nigerian contractors have remained unpaid for about a year! And there are allegations about some of them awarded contracts without going through the fiscal policy relating to the budget. That runs against Section 5 (b) of the Public Procurement Act. That is impunity, is it not? Yes, it is. But the pain in all of these is that the culture of impunity in places high and low has been with us for eons.
As yours truly highlighted through an opinion essay back in April 2017 all the hue and cry that trailed the probe into the $10billion(or is it $16 billion) sleaze in the power sector years back has long suffered from what physicists call the Doppler Effect, or died a Nigerian “natural death”. And as one warned back then that “was not the first time and it may not likely be the last unless government musters the much needed political will to bring the perpetrators to book.” But is the situation any better today? The answer is patently obvious.
These days we read about the humungous amounts, even in dollars found stashed in the private vaults of some former public office holders. From local government council chairmen to senators and governors, it is a recurring ugly decimal of national shame. But some hungry and disenfranchised poor citizens caught for stealing fowls and goats are either sent behind bars or hounded to hell!
It speaks volume about how those in government interpret words such as accountability, probity and transparency. It demeans us all as a people that those vested with the sacred trust of holding the destiny of men and materials of a country as vast as Nigeria are allowed to go Scot-free after committing various heinous crimes against the state. No one talks about the $12 billion Gulf War windfall again because some people are above the law. Not a few former state governors were once paraded by the EFCC as suspected to have siphoned state funds for self-aggrandizement.But years later some of them have the audacity to want to go back to their former offices, or find their ways to the hallowed Red chamber to make laws for you and yours truly. All these happen because of the insidious culture of impunity
As it was between 2015-2023, one is not surprised, therefore, that some corrupt politicians who defected from the PDP to the ruling APC are surreptitiously enjoying some ignoble immunity. It has happened before. All of these make a mockery of our judiciary process. Many of the proceedings are centuries away from the Information Technology and Communication(ICT) age as obsolete type – writers are still used for recording purpose. Series of laughable injunctions take over the well scripted drama of the absurd, characterized by the shameless display of former politicians suspected of grievous financial crimes, raising their hands in bravado as their paid praise worshippers fan their battered and bruised ego.
It is little of a surprise therefore, that virtually all notable institutions of government; from ministries to departments and agencies have in the past years of our democratic experience been probed for one fraud or the other. But after years of turning their searchlight to unveil the rattling skeletons in their cupboards, nothing meaningful comes out of it.
To several of those accused of such financial misdemeanor Nigeria is one big, slumbering elephant to be milked dry. And the easiest way to have a piece of the national cake is to get elected or appointed into any plum political post. But for how long can we go on this way? Not much longer, I dare say.
Corruption, which is a debasement of set moral values and a violation of standard professional ethics is like a two – edged sword that cuts both the victim and the misguided beneficiary. When those who have short changed the system are not brought to speedy justice it emboldens others with similar criminal inclinations to commit worse crimes.
It is responsible, as in the Nigerian politico-economic situation for the countless pot hole – riddled roads, the epileptic power supply, pervasive preventable diseases and mass youth employment that have turned into daylight monsters haunting us all.
As one admonished the then President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration in 2017 so I do now to the President Bola Tinubu-led government. To shame all critics he must muster the political will, backed with the enabling laws by the National Assembly to transform both the EFCC and the ICPC into well toothed bulldogs that bark and bite. And no one, no matter his political persuasion, must be above the rule of law. As Isabel Allende aptly stated: ” Nothing is as dangerous as power with impunity”.
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Opinion
Skills Acquisition: Way Forward for Nigeria’s Educational Development
Published
3 weeks agoon
June 19, 2025By
Eric
By Ayo Oyoze Baje
“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways” – Robert Greene
As concerned Nigerians keep deliberating on the best way to navigate the twists and turns inherent in our education delivery system, if yours truly has his way secondary school students should be spending three days of each week for theoretical knowledge and two for practical skills development. These include skills such as tailoring/fashion design, hair dressing and carpentry. Others include building construction, painting, domestic farming, singing, acting, oratory and comedy.
This has become more expedient because in 2023, Nigeria ranked 100th out of 100 countries in Coursera’s Global Skills Report in terms of skill proficiency. Incidentally, the country also ranked low within the Sub-Saharan Africa, placed 12th out of 13 countries.In fact, other African nations such as Botswana and Cameroon outperformed Nigeria in the same report. This was an indication of a significant skills gap in the country. But recent indicators suggest an increase performance that should be built on. For instance, Nigeria showed the fourth-highest year-on-year growth rate for Professional Certificates enrollments on Coursera. This clearly suggests a growing awareness and participation in skills development initiatives which should be built on.
For instance, the unemployment rate in Nigeria stands at about 4.84% in 2025, according to Statista. com. This translates to an estimated 5.74 million people who are unemployed. Similarly, the youth unemployment rate is around 7.50% according to Trading Economics.
Given the current global influence of information technology, the expanding impact of Artificial intelligence ( AI ) and the soaring influence of climate change. Others include the increasing need to ride the freaky waves of economic survival, and the stifling space for employment, not only in Nigeria but across the globe. Yet, the country is abundantly blessed with rare talents in different fields of human endeavour.
Mention names such as Silas Adekunle, known for his robotics expertise and the world’s first intelligent gaming robot or Riya Karumanchi, who invented a device to assist visually impaired individuals the importance of skills acquisition in the development of the talents of our youth gradually dawns on us.
It is a similar scenario when the name of
Hassan and Hussaini Muhammad, who created a way to convert petrol, water, salt, and alum into hydrogen cooking gas crop up. And out there there are other young Nigerian inventors such as Khalifa Aminu (FM transmitter), Muazzam Sani (remote-controlled car), and the team behind the smart walkway light and automatic irrigation. The importance of skills acquisition cannot therefore, be over emphasized.
.
Put in its simple terms, skills acquisition is crucial for Nigerian students academic development, because it enhances their employability, as well as boosts entrepreneurship. In fact, it contributes to overall national development. According to experts on educational development it empowers students to be self-reliant, reduces poverty and unemployment, and also provides them with a global perspective.
The impact and import of students’s skills acquisition is amply deployed in Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun state. There, students are exposed to the practical aspect of whatever course they are studying such that seasoned professionals are invited to deliver the practical aspect of their theoretical knowledge.Such is the impact that engineering students have become problem solvers. They have constructed pavements, fences, designed and built solid infrastructure.
Furthermore, the Centre for Agricultural Technology and Entrepreneurial Studies (CATES) has come up as a key initiative at the same university. As a noble cause it was established to foster practical, solution-oriented approaches to agricultural and entrepreneurial development within the university and the wider community. The skills promoting aspect of it is that CATES focuses on areas such as poultry technology, aquaculture, cassava farming, and mushroom culture. It also operates a vegetable farm and a plantain farm on campus. All these explain why graduates of the citadel of knowledge become self employed, with several of them kick starting the process right from the University as undergraduates. All these boost their financial independence while they contribute to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP.
Skills acquisition therefore,
increases employability, more so in today’s competitive job market. Having relevant skills makes students more attractive to employers. These include skills such as digital literacy, communication, and problem-solving, which are highly valued across various industries.Entrepreneurship programs teach them how to start and manage their own businesses. This eventually, leads to economic growth and improved living standards with appreciable Human Development Index, HDI. By equipping students with practical skills, skill acquisition programs can assist to lift individuals and families out of the terrifying trap of poverty and ultimately reduce the unemployment rate for the country.
From the global perspective, many skills are transferable across borders. This is one good lesson learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic. Nigerian students can latch on it to participate in the global economy through remote work or international collaborations. It also fosters confidence in students, assist them to adapt to the global socio-economic dynamics,while instilling a sense of accomplishment in them, thereby contributing to overall personal growth.
Of great significance, is that
a skilled workforce is essential for the nation’s economic growth and technological advancement. Overall, the skill acquisition programs contribute to building a more productive and innovative society. So Nigeria work on the report which highlighted specific skill areas where it lags, especially technology and data science.
Nigeria should also learn from countries that stand out for their high levels of skill acquisition and development. These include Northern European nations such as Finland, Norway, and Sweden which consistently rank high, along with Switzerland, Singapore, and Germany. These countries often prioritize education, training, and creating opportunities for their populations to acquire and utilize a wide range of skills. As rightly noted by Malcolm X: ” Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today”.
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