Live More, Worry Less: The Power of Trusting God With an Uncertain Future
It was the year 2000 and the week of our passing out from NYSC. I was filled with trepidation as the week approached. Anxiety and worry took over my entire being. I lost my sleep. My mind was troubled about what the future had in store. I had received the very last NYSC allowance. Reality was...
There Is Compensation In Every Disappointment
“And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee?....” — 2 Kings 6:27 (KJV) I was full of expectation. He had promised to help me and he gave me an appointment. I felt I had been useful to him in the past. I even slept in his palatial home at Ogudu GRA as a student. If anyone...
Waka, Wayo, and Wahala: The Hilarious Hustle of Lagos Real Estate Agents
Lagos is a small place where over 20m people live. 77 people arrive every hour—most of them with no plan of where to stay. So that's where you come in. You are a creation of necessity. Being an agent in Lagos is more lucrative than being a banker. That is about the only job that can never be...
Dear Officeholder, Power Is Transient
If you hold an office, you'll never know your true worth until you leave that office. I learnt that lesson many years after I graduated from the university. I was back in town for my MBA exams that weekend (almost 6 years after my first degree). I dropped by Takie in Ogbomoso and took a taxi to...
One Truth Is Not The Truth: A Lesson in Leadership and Listening
“If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all.” — Chinua Achebe I learnt a lesson about this the hard way. It was during my time as president of the Students Union Government in 1998. I was fast asleep in my room one night. Suddenly, I heard a loud bang on my door and a...
Stretch or Stay Stuck: What I Learned After Leaving My Comfort Zone
The lady was perplexed. At least that was how she sounded. I had never worked in Lagos up till that point but I made a request for it. I saw the internal advert for the Lagos role and applied. I was based in Ibadan then and all my career prior to that time was in Ibadan. However, I wanted...
A Lesson About Failure: Behind Every ‘Yes’ Are Many ‘Nos’
I want to share an experience I had during one of the many interviews I attended over the course of my career. I shared this piece for the first time on May 26th, 2019 and posted it on Twitter (now X) exactly a year after. This experience was so pivotal that I also shared it in my book, How to...
The Unspoken Rules of Mentorship: 8 Lessons Every Mentee Must Learn
A few years ago, I was in South Africa and I stayed in my mentor's house. One day, he called me from Nigeria and gave me directions to a particular location I had to access by taking the Gautrain. He was on the phone with me almost throughout the journey which took about two hours. Eventually, I...
25 Years in Banking: A Journey of Growth, Grace, and Grit
Twenty-five years ago (May 30, 2000), I started a banking career that has now spanned seven financial institutions. On that day, I resumed at the Banking School located at Elephant House, Apongbon in Lagos. I was part of the first set of entry-level trainees (we were called Banking Analysts) that...
From Awolowo to Abacha: Why It’s Time to Stop Blaming Nigeria’s Past Leaders and Start Taking Responsibility
I've wondered if it's okay to blame the misfortunes of Nigeria on past leaders. These were people who hardly got the benefit of what most of us enjoy now— and irrespective of their weaknesses or missteps, still remain references of a nostalgic past. We refer to Awolowo and his contemporaries as...