Emeritus focus Centre

*Pls read this and get your children also to read it.*

One young man went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.

He passed the initial interview, and now would meet the director for the final interview.

The director discovered from his CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent.

He asked, Did you obtain any scholarships in school?
The youth answered "NO".

Who paid your school fees?
"My Parents ", he replied.

"Where do they work?"

"They worked as clothes cleaners.”

The director requested the youth to show his hands.
The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.

"Have you ever helped your parents to wash the clothes?"

"Never, my parents always wanted me to study and read more books. Besides, my parents can wash clothes faster than me.

The director said, "I have a request. "When you go home today, go and clean your parents hands, and then see me tomorrow morning."

The youth felt dejected.
When he got back home, he asked his parents to let him clean their hands.
His parents felt strange, and happy. With mixed feelings,
they showed their hands to their son.

The youth cleaned their hands slowly. He shed tears as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his parents hands were much wrinkled, and there were so many bruises on their hands.
Some bruises were so painful that they winced when he touched them.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was these pairs of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fees.

The bruises in the hands were the price that the parents had to pay for his education, his school activities and his future.

After cleaning his parents hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for them.

That night, parents and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.

The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, when he asked:

"Can you tell me what you did and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered, I cleaned my parents hand, and also washed all the remaining clothes'! "I now know what appreciation is.
Without my parents, I would not be who I am today".

By helping my parents yesterday, I realized how difficult and tough it would have been for me to get through school on my own. I have come to appreciate the importance and value of helping one’s family.

The director said, "This is what I am looking for in a manager.
I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life.”

“You are hired.”

A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop an "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts.

If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying our children instead?

You can let your child live in a big house, eat a good meal, watch on a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them partake in it.

After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters.

It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in the right way.

Let them understand, that no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow grey, same as the parents of that young man.

The most important thing is for your child to learn how to appreciate the efforts of others, and experience the difficulties of hard labor, and learn the ability to work with others to get things done.

Pls forward this story to as many as possible. This may change somebody's life/attitude. I was touched by this and hope every one I forward this to will also be moved.

Life is all about how many more times one get up after each fall ...... fight your challenges now!

LESSONS FROM OFFA: YOU TOO CAN BE ONE OF FEW MEN OF VISION & HISTORY IN YOUR COMMUNITY

In the 1930s, eight(8)men came together to think of establishing a Community Secondary School for their town, Offa. Four(4) of them were Muslims and four(4) were Christians.
The 4 Muslims were Alhaji Aliyu Olatinwo, Alhaji Gbadamosi Ijaiya, Alhaji Ilesanmi Giwa and Alhaji Jatto.They were the richest
men in the community but they were uneducated but successful businessmen.
The 4 Christians were not so rich but they were educated and more enlightened. They were Pa Abraham Oyediran, Pa Onawola, Pa Bilewu and Pa Oyeleke. Pa Oyediran was so educated that he was already a Principal in the famous Methodist Boys High School, Lagos.
The rich Muslims brought money, while the educated Christians brought intellectual resources and planning to establish the first community secondary school in Northern Nigeria in 1943. That was how Offa Grammar School was birthed.
Before then, the very few high school educated Offa indigenes had to travel to Lagos for education. Now, they had a school at home.
Consequently, Offa Grammar School has produced finest Nigerians. Examples are the current Emir of Ilorin, Justice Gambari; General Alani Akinrinade, former Chief of Army Staff; General David Jemibewon, former Governor of old Oyo state; Justice Ayo Salami, former President of Federal Court of Appeal; Mr. Dele Belgore, SAN, guber aspirant in Kwara; Alhaji Kola Belgore, former Chairman of AMCON; Late Oba Oladele Olasore, former CEO of First Bank and Finance Minister; Mr. John Dara, former presidential aspirant.
The vision of these 8 great men that worked for the establishment of a secondary school in their community also benefited them personally as all of them produced children who went on to become hugely successful.
For instance, Alhaji Olatinwo produced a governor (Air Commodore Salaudeen
Latinwo, Kwara, 1984-85) from his children. He had many other sucessful children and grandchildren including the immediate past Chief Medical Director of University of Ilorin University Teaching Hospital,Professor Olatinwo.
Alhaji Ijaiya produced several Professors and Engineers from his children.
Alhaji Giwa and Alhaji Jatto produced several wealthy businessmen as children.
Among Pa Oyediran's children were Mr. Cecil Oyediran, first ICAN President from Northern Nigeria (1973/1974) and Professor A.B.O. Oyediran, former VC of University of Ibadan. It was noteworthy that Mr. Oyediran the accountant was the first Nigerian to become a partner in an international Accounting Firm, Coopers in the 1970s.
Pa Onawola's son was also one of the first 120 chartered accountants in Nigeria. He became one in 1965. He was the Chief Tax Officer of the old Northern region. A third early Chartered Accountant from Offa, Prince Yunus Oyeleke, also qualified in 1965 (the 105th CA in Nigeria by registration number) and became a partner in Akintola Williams & Co. He was also a former President of Security & Exchange Commission.
Their fathers helped education in Offa and they were rewarded with successful children. Most of them schooled in Offa Grammar School. Their fathers had the resources to send them to school in Lagos or Ibadan but decided to establish a school in Offa, so the children of
other poor people can also go to a community school.
That is the lesson in VISION, MISSION, SINCERITY, UNITY, PATRIOTISM, BROADMINDEDNESS and SELFLESSNESS.
How do you want to impact your own community? Let us build a robust future by empowering our children with quality EDUCATION and sound CHARACTER.
Despite the differences in the religious belief of those Great 8 Fathers, they came together with one mind, worked together harmoniously and the results were outstanding as clearly brought out above.
Please, we should not allow differences in religious belief to blur hinder or destroy us in this generation.
Our actions or inaction today have greater consequences on our generations, calling for positive actions.
The decision/choice is ours!

All Glory belongs to Almighty God. Many thanks to Babban Gona giveaway food to most vulnerable people within the communities across the nation. During this Covid19 pandemic disease, 30 people have been fed with its giveaway food through Adide store situated at iwaya road, onike, Yaba, Lagos.

Recognizing that one CONFERENCE alone will not solve the problem of unemployed graduates, the outcomes of the conference/Seminar/TownHall meeting were meant to pave the way for the formulation of longer-term strategies to ease the transition of graduates into the world of work. The issues cut across many sectors and levels. The rising enrollment in tertiary educational institutions compound the problem of over-qualification and underemployment of young people.

Collaboration and coordination among the stakeholders are extremely important to support continuing efforts to help young graduates within our communities find decent jobs. The multi-stakeholders programmes had identified several relevant areas to help prepare youth for work and support them during their transition.

Yet, one glaring weakness in the programme is the lack of youth participation despite efforts to include their involvement. As a youth participant pointed out, we need to facilitate a bottom up approach and engage youth directly in discussing issues that affect their future. This is a point that all stakeholders should keep in mind as they continue their various efforts to educate and train a young workforce to be skilled human resources for the future.

In view of the multiple and cross-cutting issues underlining graduate unemployment, a multi-stakeholder approach is a logical and optimum mode of operation to ensure, firstly, a holistic overview and secondly, viable solutions and outcomes. Therefore, EMERITUS FOCUS CENTRE will continue to collaborate with key partners to develop longer-term strategies to increase employment opportunities for youth in general, and graduates from tertiary educational institutions in particular.

Community TownHall segment still loading .............

COVID19 Palliatives Support to her Vulnerable Members by World class Islamic Organization to be shared in two different locations on the Island tomorrow.

Indeed, no doubt, that it is high time we think of what we can do to improve our standard of living without government intervention. If only we can continuing in this spirit of hope, the better for the development of our communities.

Don’t apologize for taking time out for yourself. You’re human! Self-care should not be neglected. How can you continue to give and do your best if you’re in a bad state. Learn to say no when you have to without explaining yourself. Those who appreciate you will understand!

* *

Free UTME 2020 Jamb scholarship were distributed to beneficiaries in conjunction with NASFAT Lagos Island Branch to ensure our children get admitted into our higher learning institutions across the nation. This is a nation building for better tomorrow.

We hope to do more as the needs arise. We promise to feedback our communities with high level of quality assurance of standard Education to remove hoodlums, laziness, and social vices within the age-youths and younger ones in our milieu.

Glory be to God, The Almighty ...