News
Opinion: Engage Rugged Faith
By Tolulope A. Adegoke
No idea is perfect; they are always with their own flaws, but you must trust in your abilities/potentials to work it out and sideline its flaws- Tolulope A. Adegoke
Many people have tried to harness their potentials, but still yielded to nothing much…Some have applied faith in solving problems, and it still resulted in nothing. You might have exercised all the faith that you can, and the challenges still waxed strong. Yes! It is written that if we have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing shall be impossible for you (Matthew17:20)”, you must develop inner toughness so as to overcome your tough time until light breaks forth around you.
Faith is like a seed. It must be planted in fertile ground. If it is not planted, it cannot bear fruit. It must be watered so that growth will begin. It must be nourished so as to reach full maturity. It will only blossom under a proper climatic condition and then bear fruits. Its fruits must be ripe and be harvested at the right /correct time or else it might fall to the ground and not as a result of wind, rain etc. Your faith begins to work when you begin to believe in the ideas that God sends to you. Greatness does not depend on your position in life, but upon your respect of positive ideas that flows into your imagination! The Executive Director of a conglomerate decided to solve some challenges confronting his production section. He was inspired to sort or consult average people and made a selection of Ten educated persons from the bottom of the corporate ladder of one of his factories. The Director led them into the executive suits, had them seat comfortably, and stood before them to explain why they had been selected: “Our company is facing a problem, and I believe that you people can come up with a solution because I have been informed that you people have a remarkable gift of creativity. This is the reason we have called you up here together today.” He explained the nature of the problem and left the room for a few hours. When the Executive Director returned, he realized that they had had an effective brainstorming session and had in fact, come up with a solution (breakthrough ideas). They had found an answer to the problem that had been overlooked by the top authorities in charge of corporate development. No doubt that the executives had been suffering from locked-in-thinking. The blatant truth is that the average ‘bottom-of-the – ladder.” (Zero) is, potentially as creative as the top executive who sits in the big office. The challenge is that the person on the bottom of the ladder does not believe/trust his own brilliance and does not, therefore, believe in his own ideas.
The executive of the company appealed to the members of staff which stimulated their self-respect.
Every human being is creative, but a lot of people do not believe in their creativity. Like the story given above; when the executive director told those ten persons that they were smart, they absorbed it and believed in those words, and they came up with solutions because they lacked the audible knowledge that their suggestion counts in the company.
Every person has virtually equal creative abilities. The reason why the average person is creative is basically, because nobody has ever told them they are creative and they themselves have never tried to be. We all can be anything, we can be anything, it all depends on our tendency to do something tangible about the incredible ideas that comes into our minds.
Faith will die unless you believe the positive ideas that drops into your mind then act swiftly on them by harnessing (putting them to work). Jesus Christ said it: “the kingdom of God is within you (Luke17:21).” Ideas flows into your brain by the help of the Holy Spirit every day like the stream. The first stage of faith is, believing,the second stage is engaging those ideas or potential by taking the required actions into actualizing its full essence. While, its next stage is reaping the full benefits of the essences of the potentials…Although, no idea is perfect; they are always with their own flaw, but you must trust in your abilities/potentials to work it out and sideline its flaws.
Learn, Apply & Share.
Thank You.
Watch out for the Book titled: “The Power of an Empowered Zero” (From Zero to HERO) by Tolulope A. Adegoke. Foreword by Dr Yomi Garnett (CEO/Chancellor, Royal Biographical Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania U.S.A., U.K., Abuja, Nigeria.) Edited by Ola Aboderin.
All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Lagos State, Samuel Ajose, has declared that the endorsement of Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat as the next governor by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) will not stand.
GAC, regarded as the highest decision-making body of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos State, endorsed Hamzat, as its consensus candidate for the 2027 governorship election.
The decision was reached during a closed-door meeting held at Lagos House, Marina, indicating an early alignment within the ruling party ahead of the next electoral cycle.
Speaking after the session, GAC leader, Tajudeen Olusi, said members unanimously agreed on Hamzat, expressing confidence in his ability to sustain and build on the state’s developmental progress.
Olusi explained that the meeting was convened to deliberate on the party’s forthcoming primaries and assess the governorship position ahead of the 2027 elections.
Speaking about the GAC adoption of Hamzat as Lagos APC consensus 2027 governorship candidate on Arise News on Tuesday, Ajose said that Sanwo-Olu and others are trying to force President Tinubu into making a decision.
“I don’t think our president, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is giving in to what they are doing.
“What they are just trying to do is to coerce him into taking a decision, and I don’t think that decision will stand.”
The House of Representatives has approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to borrow Five Hundred and Sixteen Million, Three Hundred and Thirty-three Thousand, seven ($516,333,007) US dollars in syndicated financing from Deutsche Bank AG.
The House approved it during the plenary on Tuesday in Abuja after the presentation of a report by the deputy chairman of the House Committee on Aids, Loans, and Debts Management, Abdullahi Rasheed.
The money is expected to fund the construction of sections of the Sokoto–Badagry Super Highway.
President Tinubu wrote to the lawmakers, seeking a $516.3 million loan from Deutsche Bank to support the construction of the road.
The president said the loan, to be sourced from a syndicated financing facility by Deutsche Bank, will fund sections 1, 1A, and 1B of the project, which covers about 120 kilometres.
Tinubu requested a resolution in line with Sections 16 and 21 of the Debt Management Office (Establishment) Act, 2011, to enable the federal government to secure the financing for Sections 1, Phase 1A, and Phase 1B of the project.
The project is a flagship initiative of Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and is targeted at enhancing national connectivity, improving the movement of goods across key economic corridors, and drastically shrinking travel time.
The 1,000-kilometre project will link Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos states, connecting Illela to Badagry.
According to him, the financing arrangement will be backed by a partial risk guarantee from the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC).
He said the Federal government will provide counterpart funding of over N265 billion for land acquisition, compensation, and related infrastructure.
The former Lagos governor said the loan is structured for nine years and includes a three-year grace period.
It has an interest rate pegged at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange SOFR plus 5.3 per cent per annum.
Already, the Federal Executive Council has approved the financing plan.
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have arrested a former chairman of defunct Skye Bank Plc, Tunde Ayeni, over alleged money laundering, misappropriation and diversion of funds amounting to N36.54bn and $30m.
Ayeni, a businessman, was arrested in Abuja on Thursday, and is currently being held at the commission’s facility.
The arrest followed an EFCC probe into alleged misappropriation and diversion of funds said to have been obtained from Polaris Bank through multiple entities linked to him.
“Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have arrested a former board chairman of defunct Skye Bank Plc and businessman, Tunde Ayeni, in connection with alleged money laundering, misappropriation and diversion of funds to the tune of N36,540,058,400.00 and $30m.
“Ayeni was arrested sequel to the investigation of the EFCC into alleged misappropriation and diversion of funds to the tune of N36,540,058,400.00 and $30m obtained from Polaris Bank Plc by different entities linked to him.
“The funds were loans obtained allegedly for specific investment projects but subsequently transferred to other entities’ accounts. Investigations showed that, though the loans were obtained for purposes such as finance of marine security activities, electricity distribution contract, estate development, they were diverted to the NITEL/MTEL asset acquisition through NATCOM account,” one of the sources said.
Another source said the commission is currently probing 12 companies allegedly linked to Ayeni, which it said were used to obtain the loans from Polaris Bank.
“Twelve different companies linked to Ayeni are being investigated by the EFCC. They are entities he allegedly used to obtain loans from Polaris Bank for his shady activities. The loans are depositors’ funds fraudulently obtained and frittered into diverse wasteful purposes. Ayeni will be arraigned in due course upon conclusion of investigations,” the source said.
When contacted, EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale confirmed the arrest but declined to give further details.
The Punch
