The price of any commodity is  determined by the cost, value and availability of substitutes. Usually the price is the addition of cost and margin. The margin is expected to take care of the value placed on the commodity and other factors. The higher the value of a product, the higher the price. In other words, there is a direct relationship between value and price.

Your personal price is also a function of your value. The price people will pay for your time or skill is a function of the value expected from you. The higher the value perception, the higher the price. This is why, ceteris paribus, a PhD holder will likely attract more value than a Master degree holder. It is the same reason an experienced person will also earn more than a starter, all other things being equal. So if you want to be paid more either as an employee or self employed person, you need to enhance your value.

Here are some value enhancers:

Acquire more skills or knowledge: We are in a world that is increasingly demanding for multi-disciplinary competencies because of the dynamic nature of the business environment. It is good to be a specialist but it is better to be a well rounded specialist with some knowledge of other fields. Be grounded in your field but learn about other fields too. Most businesses want to save cost and will rather hire or consult someone who is multi-skilled rather than a mono-skilled individual. Read more. Study more. Attend seminars that will increase your knowledge.

Create a Personal Niche: Successful businesses carve their niches and ride on the strength of their niches. They stay ahead of the pack in their chosen market. The niche could be from cost advantage, location advantage, technological advantage, and so on. Similarly, you must be known for something that your colleagues or competitors can’t beat you to. It could be your understanding of legal matters, or your numerical analytical prowess, or your managerial competence. You just must have a personal niche.

Improve your Interpersonal and Communication skills: Your ability to relate well with others will go a long way in lowering your cost in terms of time and even resources eventually. You will achieve more in less time if you are able to carry others along pretty well. Your ability to influence others 360 degreewise will determine how quickly you get your job done and will inevitably increase your value.

Build your network or contacts: The truth is, it is a world of figures. How much are you able to contribute to the bottom line is a major decider of your value. This is a function of your network. Your network impacts on your networth, and this determines your value. Pay painstaking attention to build a rich and diverse network. Join professional groups and participate in meetings and programs. Be active within your group. This is a veritable value enhancer.

Work on your Personal Outlook: How you will be addressed is determined by the way you are dressed. Your choice of wardrobe and personal etiquette reveal a lot about your personality. Don’t be sloppy. Dress smart and business like. We are first judged by our look before being judged by our contents. Even when you seem to have the content, a negative image may erode the value place on your content. Pay attention to your apparel and even your vehicle (if you drive one). Avoid being flamboyant

Conclusively, you can enhance your value and earn as much as you want. It all depends on your willingness to pay the price.

God bless us all.

Good morning Nigeria!

Good morning Africa!

In the last few months, Nigerians have gone through the most difficult times in our recent history. Not even in the days of National Strike during IBB or Abacha regime did we suffer as much as we have in the last three months or so!

Power generation dropped to an all time low of 0 MW (Zero MW). An aerial view of Nigeria shows a country in total darkness. What a mess! As if that wasn’t enough, fuel scarcity added to our woes. Our daily lives is now characterized with queues for fuel at twice or sometimes triple the pump price. Things are not any better for businesses as the unprecedented slide in the value of the Naira has spiked the cost of production, Nigeria being an import dependent nation. Downsizing, Right sizing, Wrong sizing and Salary cut and delay have become the order of the day. It is what Hon. Obahiagbon will call a ‘Lugubrious Quagmire’.

Now behind all these problems are the enemies of the nation. Who are these enemies? They are the oil marketers seeking for subsidy for doing practically nothing. All effort to end the subsidy is being frustrated. Even after subsidizing them, they import the fuel and divert it to neighboring countries. The enemies are the filling stations that will hoard the fuel and sell way about their ‘cost plus reasonable margin’. The enemies are the politicians who decided to cash out their forex in preparation to take their loots out of the country to avoid the probing eyes of the new Sheriff (PMB), hence putting huge pressure on the Naira. The enemies are those playing politics with our very existence by toying with the pipelines, thereby frustrating effort of the power generating units. The enemies are those that have over inflated prices of good and services using dollar and fuel as excuse. The enemies are within us, they are not far away.

There is surely a reward for every thing we do, whether good or bad. So the enemies should know that Karma will soon catch up with them and their children.

Are you one of the enemies of the nation?

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

Give them books to read, they won’t read. They would rather read pool results or football match results in the dailies. Invite them to seminars they won’t attend, they would rather stay at home to watch Telemundo or attend pool party. Post educative statuses longer than 100 words, they won’t read it. They will rather stare at Linda Ikeji blog from morning till night reading gossips. Give them free ticket to listen to Literary Giants, they will rather go and buy tickets to watch Whizkid.

These same people are the one chanting for change. Asking for change when they are unwilling to change. They are full of noise yet empty of constructive ideas. They know nothing about world history,  they are unaware of breakthroughs in  science, yet they know the latest mobile phone in town. A lost generation, always seeking quick fixes,  quick to find faults, yet void of solutions, morally bankrupt, intellectually deficient, short of sight and lacking vision! Such are our youths who are supposed to succeed us. Is this a lost generation?

Can they be saved? Can they be redeemed? Who will save them?

God help us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

Mr Judge, you delight in delivering wrong judgment because you have been ‘settled’, be reminded, in case your memory is short, your sun will soon set, just like others before you. Mr Police, you terrorize and extort from the same citizens you are meant to protect, your sun will soon set. Mr Civil Servants, you demand for inflation of quotation and receive kickback from contractors, be reminded, yours years are counting down. Mr Lecturer, you award marks and grades for sex and money, filling our Labour market with failures, your days are numbered. Mr Babalawo, you request for human heads, hearts, or any other part of the body to make money rituals or for power, your heart will soon be demanded. Mr Pastor, your congregation has become your cash cow, you live at their expense, hahaha, (I dey laugh), because your own sun has set already, you are a living corpse.

To all of you who have chosen corruption, denial of people’s rights, oppression, injustice, stealing, sexual abuse, kidnapping, ritual killing, blood sucking, and such other vices, your sun will soon set.

Just before it sets, maybe you want to amend your ways. Maybe you want to save your name and children from reaping the evil harvest of your deeds, just before your sun sets.

God bless us all.

Good morning Nigeria!

Good morning Africa!

From childbirth to death, we all wear garments. When a child is born, though naked, he is clothed with innocence. This is why we all seek to protect new-born babies. Naturally, we feel this strong urge to protect them because we feel they are innocent. It is the garment of innocence placed on them by God that causes that feeling.

However as the child begins to grow, he begins to lose this garment as he is shaped by environmental factors, parental influence, peer pressure, and so on. He gradually changes the garment and wears some other garments. Some of these garments are garments of deceit, wickedness, cruelty, dishonesty, immorality, perversion, etc. At some point in our lives, we have all worn some of these garments.

A time comes in the life of that individual when he is of age and can discern that there is a need to return back to the garment of innocence (now called garment of truth) . When such an individual still chooses to continue wearing those filthy garments, then he has to take responsibility for the consequences of his actions.

At death, even though naked, you can either be wearing the garment of truth which will speak for you even after you have passed on, or you can be clothed with the garment of nakedness, which will expose you to the world and lead you to eternal sorrow, after you have exited.

So my question to you this morning is ‘What are you wearing?’

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

When we were young, my father used to tell us of periods when they were growing up, when you could buy banana or anything in the absence of the seller and leave your money in the seller’s tray or basket. He told us of how people placed value on honesty, decency, hardwork, integrity and other virtues. Cases of stealing were rare.

In my younger days too, I remember using those wooden piggy bank (known as ‘kolo’  in Yoruba) to save and how our dad will ask us to bring our ‘kolo’ to check who saved most. Before I clocked 10, my father was already giving me Newswatch magazine to read and summarize. I remember being asked to sit and listen to NTA Network News and share my thoughts. I remember being fathered. I remember the compulsory early morning and late night prayers that my mother used to ring bell to call for. I remember being parented. I remember the term in school I didn’t come first as usual, and my father scolded me.

I remember buying bread for 50kobo, coke for 50kobo, and Hiace bus was 20kobo while taxi was 30kobo. I didn’t know anything called fuel scarcity in those days. NEPA blackout was uncommon. I remember a strong Nigeria. Yes, with its challenges, nonetheless a force to reckon with!  What do you remember?

Then corruption came. Nepotism came. Tribalism came. Western culture came. The coups were endless. The fabric of the nation was torn apart. And we lost it all! We lost it all! Now our children have nothing pleasant to remember but hardship. Hmmmn. So saddening. Will this be our legacy to generations behind?

May God help us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

God has placed a certain deep yearning in the heart of every man or woman. We all long for this yearning to be satisfied. We feel empty and unfulfilled as long as the yearning remains unsatisfied.

You may have been working for several years and still feel empty and void. You may even be in business and still feel the same way. It is not strange. It is the act of God. He, in His infinite wisdom and knowledge, created us to search out the answers to that void.

And the answer to filling the void is in finding your place. Finding your place means finding your purpose and pursuing it. Some out of frustration rush into marriage to feel the void and end up being more frustrated when the marriage doesn’t fill the void.

Finding Purpose is the Red Sea every man must cross. Have you found yours?

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

Are you waiting for people to buy into your dream before pursuing it? Your waiting may be endless and you may end up watching someone else living your dream!
Dreams are specific to each individual and they are meant to fulfill God’s purpose on earth. He chose you to fulfillment that purpose, if you fail Him, He will find a replacement. When God gives you a dream, your first step is to write it down, pray for the timing and take a step towards it at the right time. The right people will join you when you get to their junctions. If you are the type that wants people’s approval before pursuing your dream, you can’t go far with God.

When Joseph shared his dreams to his brothers and parents, instead of being believed, they disdained,  hated and victimized him. The closest to believing was the father, who observed and noted the dream. Gen. 37:11. Stop wasting time hoping and waiting for your family or friends to buy your dream. The DREAM is YOURS and not THEIRS! Get on with it!

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa.

Good morning Nigeria.

If there is anything we need more than ever today, it is true leadership. In our nations, in ministries, agencies, parastatals, Corporate bodies, religious groups and organizations, we have too many dealers posing as leaders.

They deal our common wealth for their personal gains, they deal the future of our children for the immediate gratification of their own children, they deal the health of unborn generations for immediate gains from fake drugs and adulterated food items.

I am not talking about the President or the Governor, I am talking about you in that small office in one local government, you in that small company in charge of procurement, you in that agencies in charge of standardizing goods and services. I am talking about everyone in one position of influence or the other. Be true to your conscience. Lead selflessly. Engrave your name in the sands of time by providing true leadership. We badly need it.

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

Steve Jobs was offered for adoption by his biological mother and was turned down twice before being eventually adopted. He never completed college. He rose to become the CEO of Apple before he passed on. Bill Gates abandoned college and took to the street, he is the world richest man today. Abraham Lincoln had an unrivaled number of defeats in politics, yet he became the president of the United States. Thomas Edison failed 999 times before succeeding in making the incandescent light.

The common factor to all of these great men is perseverance. In spite of their setbacks and backgrounds, they persisted and persevered in the pursuit of their goal. They had several genuine reasons to stop trying, but they never gave room for any excuse. Life is what you make of it. If life throws lemons at you, make lemonade out of it. If life throws stones at you, use those stones to build your way up. Success stories are founded on the pedestal of past failures, mistakes, persecutions and resistance.

If you fail in the days of adversity, your strength is little. Proverbs 24:10. Use your adversity as the material for your success. Your story will only be an encouragement to others, if you eventually succeed. So you have got no choice or excuse than to succeed. Really, there is no excuse just get going!

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!