Enemies of the Nation

/ Adewumi Oni / Leave a comment

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!

The Greatest Battle in Life

/ Adewumi Oni / Leave a comment

Battles are part of our daily lives. We win some and we lose some. Nobody is immuned to the battles of life. You can’t dodge your battles. Delay them you can, but avoid them totally, you can’t. Some battles leave huge scars on our character and destiny. They shape us either for the best or for the worst.

Among all battles of life, the greatest is the battle of Purpose versus Survival. It is a battle every one must fight. It is the battle that separates the men from the boys, the heroes from the villains, and the legends from the rookies. Unfortunately, as important as this battle is, some don’t even know they are fighting this battle. Even those that are aware readily give up before they even fight this battle.

The battle of Purpose vs. Survival pits your very essence (sole reason for existence) against your desire to survive. This is the battle that made Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a morsel of pottage. It makes men ignore their dreams and passions because they need to make a living. It is the reason many labour everyday, waking up early and returning late, without any sense of fulfillment. It is the battle of fulfilling your destiny against satisfying your immediate needs. It is the battle of ‘You’ against the world. Only few men win this battle and at great cost. Such men live on, long after their death. It is a battle you must win if you are to make a difference in this life.

Nigeria is still struggling largely because many of us are still pursuing survival at the expense of purpose. Our Survival instinct is truly high but our Purpose instinct is dismally low! Any nation that is bent on survival can only at best Survive! Our leaders are victims of survival hence their propensity to loot the treasury. The more people we have winning the battle of Purpose against Survival, the better for all of us.

You are a creature of Purpose, not a subject of Survival! The three temptations threw by the devil at Jesus after fasting were aimed at making Jesus chose Survival against Purpose.

So, are you pursuing Purpose or Survival?

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

# ‘Success Redefined’ Seminar went well. Thanks to all our participants.

Dressed To Cover or Expose?

/ Adewumi Oni / Leave a comment

As primitive as we would consider Adam and Eve, the moment they ate the forbidden fruit, they suddenly realized they were naked. They both felt ashamed of each other, even when they were just two and felt awkward seeing their nakedness. God, also realising their nakedness had to make the first garment to cover them, made from animal skin.

This clearly shows that nakedness is abnormal. Our body is designed to be covered. Recent trends in our world today, however shows that a lot of people are tending toward nakedness. It has become a serious source of concern within both sexes, as it appears that the ladies are striving to outdo the guys in exposing their bodies. Albeit, it is worse among the women folk. It appears the intention now is to dress to expose the body as against the norm of dressing to cover the body.

One of the early signs of knowing when someone is beginning to develop mental disorder is his tendency to go out either half dressed or naked. Immediately, you see such you will know something is wrong. If this is still symptomatic of madness, then many of our ladies have gone mad and many are joining them on daily basis! How do you explain someone wearing a Jean pant that is torn such that the whole laps are exposed and she attends a function or photoshoot dressed as such? Is this true fashion or madness in disguise? Why then do you dress if the intention is to expose your body, especially the parts considered private?

Alarmingly, some ‘mothers’ dress their little girls up in this same manner. Adorning them with skimpy skirts and tattered jeans. God, have mercy on our generation! I will not bother to talk about the many implications of such dresses, as we already know some of them. Maybe, it is time to come up with strong legislations to discourage this worrisome trend.

So I am asking you this morning, are you dressed to cover your body or to expose it? If the intention is to expose, why not come out naked so we can quickly attend to your growing madness.

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

You Only Live Once

/ Adewumi Oni / Leave a comment

The man in you dies the moment you suppress yourself in order to conform to other people’s expectations. The very essence of your manhood loses its potency the day you decide to subjugate your dream in order to please others. You never get another opportunity to live twice, you have only got once! So live!

It is amazing how we allow people’s opinion to shape our lives. We literally live for others. For the fear of what people will say, we conform. God created us with diverse skills and gifts, and this diversity brings authenticity. Be yourself. Be authentic. If what you feel you are made for is to be an artist, then for God sake, be an artist, and be the best Artist!

True success starts from being yourself, finding your place, your essence and living it out. You have only got once, so live it!

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

##Let us meet at the ‘Success Redefined’ seminar this Saturday 9th April by 9am.

You can’t succeed if you don’t know what True Success is. See you there!

Our Elders Have Gone Mad Again!

/ Adewumi Oni / Leave a comment

In those days in school, one of the forbidden things is to fight in public. Whether during school hours or after school hours, God helps you if you are caught. The cause or reason for the fracas is of no interest, the fact that you broke the sanctity of the society and fought, is sufficient reason to be decorated with several lashes, which can sometimes run into twenties or thirties, plus possible suspension. The shame you will bring upon your parents alone will make you reconsider before fighting. But that was those days! Sadly so!

We are in the days where not only students fight in schools and in the presence of their teachers, teachers even fight! What am I even saying? Our lawmakers fight! The very people we call honorables throw honour away and exchange blows! In fact the way some of these dishonorable ‘honorables’ fight, you will think they are trained to fight. They don’t stop at fighting, they destroy public properties, including the Mace, the very symbol of authority of the Assembly! What a pity! Where went our manners? It reminds me of the title of a book ‘Our Elders Have Gone Mad Again’, who will tame them?

I thought they say, you cannot have elders in the market and have a newborn baby wrongly backed by the mother. These days even the neck of the elder is not straight let alone see the wrongly backed baby! The other day I wrote about the lost generation, I was reminded that the elders bequeathed these low morals to them. Truthfully so! So, which madness should we attend to first, the elders or the youths?

God bless us all.

God bless Africa!

God bless Nigeria!

Your True Value

/ Adewumi Oni / Leave a comment

Diamond is one of the most precious and expensive mineral resources in the entire universe. It is widely accepted as the most precious stone. Its value is not derived from its beauty but from its applicability, its rarity and its quality! It is used for cutting, grinding, polishing, jewelry, etc. Its usefulness cuts across all fields.

Likewise your true value is derived from how useful you are. Your business value is a function of the ability of your product or service to solve people’s problems or provide solutions. If you want to increase your personal value or product’s value, increase your applicability. Make the quality of your work a rarity. Build your own brand. Be known for quality! Improve your quality.

One of the reasons we have failing homes and businesses in our world today, is the increasing number of people of low value and empty content. Martin Luther King said a man should not be judged by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character. What do you carry? What is your true worth?

There is greater emphasis on physical outlook these days than on intrinsic values. Women like more of Macho men even if they are intellectual dwarfs. We want beautiful women with empty brains. We pursue form at the expense of substance. It is becoming a world full of empty people. We are carried away by the swags forgetting that swags alone don’t solve problems.

It is time to start focusing on building yourself, building people and building societies. It is time for true value appreciation!

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

# Register for ‘Success Redefined’ Seminar today.

Registration closes on Thursday 7th April by 4pm.

Inbox or ping for more details.

Thank you.

A Lost Generation?

/ Adewumi Oni / Leave a comment

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!

Time to Look Inward

/ Adewumi Oni / Leave a comment

We are at a critical moment as a nation. At no time in our nation’s history have things been as tough as now. Many Nigerians are already blaming the 10 months old government of President Buhari. Why? Because he promised ‘Change’, this single word seems to have become his albatross. Nigerians have forgotten that change is a process. We have forgotten that we are virtually rebuilding and there are resistance from those who prefer the old system. Try starting a business from scratch and see the experience.

Anyway, this is not my focus today. My focus is on the way Nigerians look up to government for everything. Jobs, contracts, power, fuel, housing, etc. Yes, government has a constitutional obligation to provide some of these things, but we have a more serious responsibility of looking inward. The days of waiting for budget to be approved are over. Stop waiting on government. The newspaper vendor is waiting for budget. The vulcanizer is waiting for budget. Everybody is waiting for budget!

As an individual, look inward and begin to use your innate gifts and talents. We all saw the work of Oresegun Olumide, the painter. Another guy who was shot by arm robbers and became stuck on wheelchair took to shoemaking.

What gifts do you have that can be applied to make money? Our major problem as a nation is that, for a long time we have always looked outside for everything, this was what turned us to a net-importer, a import dependent country. The moment we start looking inward to find alternatives for those things we import, our lives will become better. Our GDP will rise, our status as a developing nation will change. Stop complaining and look inward. Drop in megawatts is a pointer that we need alternative sources of energy. Government too should look inward!

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

#’Success Redefined’ seminar is 6 days to go. Reserve your seat today. Inbox for more details.

When Darkness Becomes Our Light

/ Adewumi Oni / Leave a comment

There are times in our lives when darkness seems to be our light. Times when the challenges are overwhelming and unending. Times when we think it can’t get worse than this and suddenly it truly gets worse than the initial worse. Many of us have gone through such times, some are going through such times now, our nation is passing through such a phase. Literally, darkness has become our light as a nation. No power. No fuel to generate power by yourself. No money in circulation. Job cuts everywhere. It is just darkness all around.

It is important to know that every event and season has a life cycle. There is an end to every darkness. Surely there is an end. Proverbs 23:18. It will pass and you will emerge stronger and better. Among all the options available at such times, there is one which must not even be considered at all, that is the option of giving up. If you faint in the days of adversity, your strength is small. Proverbs 24:10. Never Give Up!

Why do we go through such times? Sometimes we cause it through our actions, decisions or inactions, but God is still faithful to take you through. Sometimes it is part of God’s plan for us. No Red Sea, No Canaan. The pathway to the throne is ladened with many throes. It is designed to test us, prepare us, cook us and build us for our divine assignment. So stay put and let Him take you through. Isaiah 50:10.

God bless us all.

Good morning Africa!

Good morning Nigeria!

Just Before Your Sun Sets

/ Adewumi Oni / Leave a comment

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!