-Adonai Gideon Adonai
'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil', Edmund Burke says 'is for good men (and women) to do nothing'. The Senior Pastor of the Covenant Christian Centre, Pastor Poju Oyemade, armed to the teeth with savvy technocrats, national and international economic analysts, technology journalists, social entrepreneurs and financial juggernauts, hosted a life changing discourse platform to nurture the younger generation, enlighten men of the polity and increasingly re-position Nigeria to become a proud member of the international community. The event took place on Wednesday the first of May, 2019 at the Covenant Christian Centre's main auditorium, Iganmu, Lagos.
The event was opened by Pastor Poju who opened the it with a short word of comfort. He stressed the necessity of being pragmatic in the national discourse, keeping aside 'vitriolic use of language in order to push one's point'. The visionary clergyman posited that one might have successfully made a public conversation in this regard but it might not get down effectively with one's interlocutors because such would deeply lack persuasive abilities. He showed solidarity and and patriotism in the struggle of making Nigeria a greater nation.
Among the big guns and keynote speakers was Ndidi Nwueli who was the first speaker. Recognized as a social entrepreneur and founder of LEAP African nongovernmental organisation committed to developing principled and innovative Afrcian leaders,
she spoke on food and agriculture. According to her, 44% of children in Nigeria under age five have chronic longstanding malnutrition, leading to one out of three Nigerian children with stunted growth, with 11% prevalence of under-nutrition among women under ages 15-49. Ndidi made it known that even though the country is naturally endowed to feed itself, we are facing immense hunger and malnutrition challenge. She ended ended her presentation by encouraging everyone to patronize Nigeria-made goods and services.
Olusegun Adeniyi spoke next and he majored on the need to shift focus from oil to other sectors to make a greater Nigeria. Sarah Lacy and Anil Gupta had similar positions, pushing forward that entrepreneurship via the world wide web is the best, citing Jeff Bezos [Amazon founder], Zukerberg, Facebook, Marc Andreeson [Yahoo] and Jobs, Apple as case studies. With Prof. Ndubuisi Ekekwe, who expounded on the Igbo apprenticeship sysytem and brotherhood that we all must love and make Nigeria work. He lamented that Nigeris is our good uncle who has provided us with at least an education and we ought to pay back by providing ourselves an education. He exposed that Nigeria is a broke uncle and that the Apple company which makes $50 million every three months cannot be a close comparison, much less the United States.
Towards the end of the long day,discussing,economic growth and way forward, Dr. Abiodun Adedipe and Mrs Ibukun Awosika, Chairman board of directors First Bank, came with ardent asperity and sincerity and that our nation's massive population and cultural diversity must be an asset and not a liability. She stated brilliantly that our people can be trained and established as Forex assets. The event ended at 2:30 pm after beginning at 9:00 am.
Adedipe.
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