Japheth Omojuwa: The role of the individual in development (Y! FrontPage)

by Japheth Omojuwa

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Oby Ezekwesili said that one needs character, competence and capacity to deliver value in today’s world. Have you got the right character to build your life on?

The foundation we need to set that future aright is you, the individual. We can say all we want about the future but the most essential building block of that future is you. You have a role to play and you must set about understanding that you are a crucial part of the paradigm shift that must occur for us to set Nigeria’s future aright.

It takes a people to change a society but all you need to set the ball of change in motion is one woman or man who understands the power of the individual in the process of change. Never believe otherwise if anyone ever tells you to let it go, to give it up, because it is too late to change Nigeria. It is not, that it is too late to change our country is a lie from the pit of hell, a lie spread by messengers of hell who know that the day that you discover your powers, their own days of evil will be limited. I put it to you that if you are here, you are potentially that individual. You are the one our tomorrow has been waiting for. You are the one who must lead his or her life the way you want our nation led. You cannot make change happen in our country if you let our country change you into its current unwholesome realities.

Oby Ezekwesili said that one needs character, competence and capacity to deliver value in today’s world. Have you got the right character to build your life on? Without the right character as your personal foundation, whatever value you seek to build will be set on sand. One day, when the storms of corruption come, you will either fall or stand based on the character you’ve built over time. Make no mistake, all the corrupt people we see today in and out of government never desired to be corrupt, they only failed to pay attention to their characters before corruption swept them away into the tides of oblivion and washed them down the banks of River Shame.

Character is not enough. It is not enough to be a good man or woman without building competence. Competence is a function of ability, which comes through an intentional self-development path that is conscious of your role and contributions you seek to make to society in years to come. We don’t need you to know everything; we just need you to know almost everything about your area of competence and business. The only things that can be left unknown by you in your area of competence should be things that have not yet been revealed by knowledge. You cannot afford to always be behind the trail of knowledge and development in your area of strength, you must either stay right on the trail and in exceptional cases, stay ahead of the trail.

Of capacity, you must know that today’s abilities will never be enough tomorrow. Tomorrow will come with new questions and challenges and only those who pay attention to continuous capacity development will be able to meet these challenges. I will then put it to you that while character, competence and capacity will set you aright for the challenges tomorrow will throw at you, you need them all in a body. The body that must carry your character, competence and capacity is confidence. You need confidence! Remember this; competence, character and capacity will get you ready to make change happen but without confidence, you will only be ready, you may never move from the spot of doubt. With confidence, you will never stop moving except you run out of your trinity of values; character, competence and capacity. These are your currencies. This is your charm. These are the values that will set your life aright. Being a youth is not a currency and if you argue it is, it is a currency that expires really early. You can take your character, capacity, competence and confidence into your 70s and 80s and even to your death, you cannot trade your youth after the age of at most 40! Would you want to bank your life on such transient currency?

You are rare, you are special, the only one in the world who is like you is you and you have a purpose that is specific to you in the Nigeria and Africa we seek to build.

 

“Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren’t any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person. ”

Richard Buckminster Fuller

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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