by
Patrick Ogungbola
MD/ CEO, BLUEHEDGE REALTORS
We welcome you to the new month of May.
We wish all ‘true’ workers in Nigeria, a Happy and blissful workers day. Nature abhors a vacuum, hence everyone is expected to be working. Your true sense of identity and respect is tied to your work. Even, culturally speaking, while greeting, you’re asked about your family’s welfare, then, you’ll be asked: How’s work? Truly, idle hands are the devil’s workshop. Every truly working nation are always prosperous.
This is May, the fifth month in the year 2017, how time flies. It’s been observed that if you are truly engrossed in your work/ assignment, 24 hours will hardly be enough for you; and, if you love what you do and you are passionate about it, work will seem like play.
Once again, we wish everyone a Happy Worker’s Day!!!
Our article for this month is centred on the new book written about Nigerian’s immediate past president, Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, with the title ‘Against the Run of Play’.
It is very needful to point out at this juncture that this article is not intended to criticize or cast aspersions on any person, party or entity, the essence is to draw out inherent life lessons that will be useful to you and I, as a wise man learns from the mistakes, wrongdoings and misdeeds of others (and that’s what makes him wise).
For better understanding on the content of the book and for the purpose of this article, below are some excerpts as said by the former president and extracted from Sahara Reporters (http://bit.ly/2oIc3Y4):
“President Barack Obama and his officials made it very clear to me by their actions that they wanted a change of government in Nigeria and they were ready to do anything to achieve that purpose. They even brought some naval ships into the Gulf of Guinea in the days preceding the election.”
“I got on well with Prime Minister David Cameron but at some point, I noticed that the Americans were putting pressure on him and he had to join them against me. But I didn’t realise how far President Obama was prepared to go to remove me until France caved in to the pressure from America. But weeks to the election, he (French President Francois Hollande) had also joined the Americans in supporting the opposition against me.”
“I was disappointed by Jega because I still cannot understand what was propelling him to act the way he did in the weeks preceding the election.”
“I had made a proposition for a single term of seven years. That was the context in which I spoke in Addis Ababa that if the idea was accepted, I would not run again. It was not the context of a second term of four years. Of course, at that period, the issue of one term was brought up several times at different meetings and some people took it upon themselves to pledge on my behalf but I never said I was going to spend only one term…the question was always usually randomly asked and I never made any such commitment to anybody.”
“In any case, you can make a political promise and change your mind, so long as it is within the law.”
”We live in a country where people fabricate stories about even those they don’t know, where rumour mongering is a national pastime. I have heard stories about me that I find very shocking, stories that are untrue. Therefore, as a leader, it is my responsibility to verify stories before I act. That is why I am deliberative in what I do. The main problem I had was that the media and the civil society had conspired against me.”
“More than 200 (Chibok) girls were reportedly abducted from different hostels and then put on an open trailer that had no railings. In the same trailer, according to reports, Boko Haram fighters loaded foodstuff. The girls were said to have been abducted by people claiming to be soldiers. The military people were on the ground and I relied on the information I could get from them. Of course, I cared and charged them to find the girls but every effort we took was twisted against me to score cheap political points.”
We can go on and on, but for the limited time and space, we shall limit ourselves to the above.
Reading the above excerpts, one prominent thing affecting most people in life becomes obvious: blaming others for your shortcomings. What many people call reasons for failure are mere excuses for lack of performance. Excuses are usually used as justification for redundancy, incompetence and poor performance. Sadly, this attitude has been entrenched in our culture. Every other person, but us, is the reason for our failure.
This bad culture can be summarised in the below write-up a friend sent to me:
“Somebody won an election and for two years he was blaming his predecessor until the economy became comatose. Another one lost an election and he is blaming Obama and all the Western World! Who cursed the black race?
The Japanese lost the World War Two; they were bombed and their nation left in rubble. They were not even allowed to raise an army to defend themselves. Yet, from the ashes of defeat, Japanese went to the drawing board, came up with a blueprint and today, they are one of the leading nations in technology.
The Germans were plummeted; their country in ruins, yet, today Germany is an Advanced Nation.
How about Nigeria? I remember when I was in Secondary School, anytime our national team won a match, it’s because we are the best, however anytime our team lost, oh, the referee was biased, the other team used juju or otomopo. I thought we will outgrow this childish thought!
Why are we always looking for someone to blame? We blame the Colonial Masters as if Malaysia was not colonized, or India, or Singapore.”
If a Nigerian is not succeeding, it’s probably because an enemy somewhere from the father’s house, or mother’s house, or the village is pursuing him/ her. This will call for a lot of fall and die prayers in our churches and other places of worship, while in actual fact, we are our own problem. We attribute almost everything to spiritual problems. Indeed, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Holy Bible, Hosea 4:6)”.
The acceptance of responsibility is the beginning of maturity; until we begin to take full and absolute responsibility for our actions and inactions, we will remain immature and backward as an individual and as a people. Look for no one to blame. Remember, when you point accusing finger at someone, the other fingers are being pointed back at you, meaning you are absolutely responsible for your failure or success. Dr. Frederick K. C. Price once said, ‘If you fail, it’s your fault, and if you succeed, it’s your choice’. Absolutely, no one can be blamed for your failure, as no one can claim glory for your success’.
As usual, we want to remind you that we care so much about you, and that when it comes to your real estate investment, we are always here to give you the very best service you can never get elsewhere. That is our promise, and will always be.
We wish you the very best in the month of May 2017.
Thank you.
We remain;
Very truly yours,
