On Shamsuddeen Usman

They say little minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, while great minds discuss issues. Well today we’re going to display little mind as we’re going to discuss Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman. Dr. Usman has operated at the highest levels of government since 1989, some 23 solid years. He has presided over the then NIDB (now BOI), NEXIM, BPE, CBN, NPC. If you look at Wikipedia, the greatest achievement attributed to Dr. Usman is that he is the only man that ever declared his assets before joining government.  Good achievement in a country ‘’noted for its high levels of corruption’’ according to Wikipedia. The issue is, what is Dr. Usman still doing in government? What has Dr. Usman really been planning over these years? With everything crumbling around us: no motorable roads, no electricity, no water, no functioning textile industry, motor assembly, refineries, universities, and hospitals, dilapidated airports, you name it, would it not have been more honourable for him to step aside and say, I came, I saw, I could not conquer? Really, Dr. Usman should throw in the towel. It’s the only honourable thing to do. What's your take?

SILVERBIRD MAN OF THE YEAR

Do you watch ‘’CNN HEROES’’ annual event? If you have not been watching start to.  The annual event is sub-titled Everyday People Changing the World.  The captivating event documents the lives of ordinary people who go out of their way to make a difference in the lives of the powerless. No Nigerian has won so far. Way back at home, who do Silverbird nominate as their MAN OF THE YEAR?  Look closely you’ll see the movers and shakers - ex-army generals who participated and killed in coups,  government ministers noted for nothing but corruption, businessmen, etc. How is THE MAN OF THE YEAR chosen? By texting; just send SMS naming your candidate. So you just go to the computer village, hire a crowed and they send 100,000 text messages saying you’re the man, and you win.  As usual, the highest bidder will win. Was Silverbird playing to the gallery? Rate the SILVERBIRD MAN OF THE YEAR AWARD:  a) Great     b) Mediocre

LIVE LIFE LOUD!

It’s the greatest secret of all! In life, enthusiasm triumphs over everything else. W. Clement Stone once said, ‘no matter how carefully you plan your goals they will never be more than pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto.’ Emerson in pursuing the argument in similar vein, affirmed W. Clement Stone’s keen observation, saying, ‘every great movement in the annals of history is the triumph of enthusiasm’. Father John O’Brien, Research Professor of Theology at Notre Dame University observed, ‘’the first ingredient, which I believe is absolutely necessary, for a successful, efficient, and competent individual is enthusiasm’’.

Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States who lived to the ripe age of 96, was the quintessential optimist and never lost his zest for life till the very end. Reagan dotted on Nancy, his dear wife, and never forgot the wise words of W. Clement Stone who counseled, ‘enthusiasm is one of the most important factors necessary for success in life.’ As he was being wheeled to the operating theater following the assassination attempt on his life by John Hinckley Jr., just 69 days into his Presidency, Reagan turned to Nancy, his wife, and joked, ‘sorry honey, I forgot to duck’. Reagan was a great actor but this time it was for real: he had just escaped being the fifth assassinated president of the United States and was joking about it.

A wise man once said, ‘the worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but who we are. You are special – don’t ever forget it.’ Live life loud! Live life with enthusiasm! Don’t pursue success, but pursue happiness. Mother Theresa once said, ‘’Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.’’ Life is like music, it has melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo, and dynamics. Mama Cass Elliot, a singer, advised, ‘’Make your own kind of music. Sing your own special song. Make your own kind of music, even if nobody else sings along. Learn to appreciate life more, to view each day as a blessing it is, and to celebrate each day to the fullest.’’

Learn when to be loud enough to be heard and soft enough to hear others. An unknown author once said, ‘A good way to live is to care more than others think wise, risk more than others think safe, dream more than others think practical, expect more than others think possible.’’ Are you weighed down by life? As Napoleon Hill would say, wake up and live! Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, quoting Calvin Coolidge, in one of his most memorable interviews when asked how he became so successful quipped, ‘’Press on, nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.’’ And if I may add, nothing fires your persistence and determination as enthusiasm.

As we head for our home stretch, let’s borrow two of Optimists’ Club Promises. ‘Promise: to wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile’. ‘Promise to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.’ Hilary Cooper enthused, ‘’Life is not measured by the number of breaths that we take, but the moments that take our breath away.’’ Ride on my friend, be happy. On your life’s journey, take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints!

On Nigerian Professors

When Michael E. Porter, a professor of competitive strategy from Harvard came calling in August, 2011, courtesy  of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, one of his first points of call was Nigeria’s Presidential Villa. To do what?  To lecture Nigeria’s government officials and business class on how to make Nigeria more competitive.  He was received by the VP Nnamadi Sambo.  Prof. Porter has over 18 solid books, and over 125 articles under his belt. The question arises, how come with about 100 universities, Nigeria has no Professors with Porter’s clout?   Share your opinion.    

IDOWU KOMOLAFE – THE RACE AGAINST TIME

Our first encounter was in utter darkness. I’d gone to my local beauty salon to meet my hair stylist, Show Boy, for my usual once-a-week hair trim. In the analog age, I would have called him a barber, but today it’s the Pinterest Age, where everything has to be sexy, glamorous, and fun. And there she sat. Ebony black, composed, slim as a broomstick, I immediately conjured in my mind she could be Nigeria’s trump card for a global beauty pageant glory. I didn’t see her full curvature though as NEPA, oh Never Expect Power Always, now PHCN, yes, Please Hold Candle Now, had, at the exact moment I turned my car sharply into the narrow gate leading to the compound where  Show Boy has his salon, decided to strike.

As I alighted from my car, a pang of thirst struck me with a devastating force as if I’d not had any fluid for a day or two. Whether  my sudden burst of thirst was the gods conspiracy that I had a chat with the slim, nearly emaciated figure sitting on a ramshackled bench by the darkest part of the nondescript   building, or it was a mere happenstance, I would not know.  But to her I went, and straight to the point too: please can you help me buy low sugar malt drink across the road, I pleaded as if my life depended on her saying yes. With lightning speed, agility and grace that was nothing but exemplary, and before I even had enough time to tell her thank you, she had collected the N200 note I’d thrust to her and was back within seconds with an ice-cold drink.

That’s how my romance with Idowu Komolafe began. As I looked closely at her that eventful night as she handed me the bottle of drink, asking, ‘’can I open the drink for you sir’’, I saw a starving young woman crying for attention. My thirst gone, and Show Boy’s smoke spewing Taiwan-made gen announcing the salon’s readiness for me, I thanked Idowu for her generosity and bade her farewell. But before I’d taken a step, Idowu threw me a surprise as she said, ‘’but sir this is your change, the drink is ‘one-twenty’ so you have eighty Naira.’’ I didn’t expect that. I thought she would appropriate the change, after all, in all honesty, I knew that’s how things are in Lagos. First, I didn’t know the retail price of the drink, she would have guessed. Second, as typical, she would have concluded, I didn’t need the paltry change. What, with my big car? Third, she could have justified that she needed the N80 more than I the true owner, thus using all manners of subterfuge to prevent me from having it.

Idowu was honest. I didn’t know her name and her true situation until much later. In further encounters, as I continued to patronize Show Boy,  I was to learn Idowu usually went for days without food. She had a heart condition that needed corrective surgery. She had lost her dad years earlier. Her relatives, including her mum, I learnt were somewhere in Ibadan. She was staying with her grandmother who was in her eighties and who was in need of care herself. That’s how I became Idowu’s benefactor.

One day I asked Idowu what her true dream was. She didn’t miss the mark. She said if only she was well, she would ‘’love to settle down, have a family of her own, and be happy’’.  I shed a tear or two because Idowu is miles away from her dream. Idowu has been receiving treatment from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital for some 10 years now. Since she has to pay for every single tablet she gets from the hospital’s pharmacy, most often she goes without medication. Why? You guess, she has no money. Idowu’s condition took a precipitous turn downwards two weeks ago. She had called me at 3am on 10 September to say in the feeblest of voices ‘’daddy my tmmy and legs are swollen, I’m dying’’. Idowu now calls me daddy. She and her grandmother were ejected from their last abode for inability to meet up with rent payments, and Idowu had suddenly felt she was worrying me too much, so she had taken to hiding her deteriorating health condition from me despite all entreaties to always alert me anytime her condition took a turn for the worse.

Idowu was rushed to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja on that fateful day and has since been on admission. Her stay there is not free. She currently owes LASUTH an undisclosed sum.  Idowu needs open-heart surgery. According to estimates from a hospital in Chennai, India, the operation will cost between $13,000 and $16,000, excluding personal maintenance, return flight tickets for two, and rehabilitation on return. All told the cost may likely be in the region of N3.6million, (about $22,300 depending on the exchange rate used).  Meanwhile we have also reached out to University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, to find out if the operation can be carried out locally.

We can save Idowu and make her dream of true happiness come true. Why don’t you join the race to save Idowu now by doing the little that you can? I advise you go to www.saveidowukomolafe.org, where you’ll meet Idowu face-to-face. A register of Friends of Idowu Komolafe has been set up at Paradise Bookshops, 11 Alhaja Kofoworola Crescent, Off Awolowo Way (By Balogun Bus Stop), Ikeja, from where you can send a get-well-quick card, and/or flowers to Idowu. Better still you can visit Idowu at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Medical Ward BT Female. Calls for additional details can be made to the following telephone numbers +234-803.307.5133, +234-802.875.3412, +234-815.262.7510.  For Idowu Komolafe, the race against time is on. Who will win? Is it death or life? Let’s make life the winner. We really can make the huge difference, for as Zig Ziglar says, ‘’genuine happiness comes when you do things for others’’, and if I may add, especially, for someone like Idowu, who cannot help herself.