Executive summaryBrief: The year 2009/10 Mind the Gap career mentoring project, tagged, “lead the field” started with the maiden edition of the Accountabilitsession with Dr Christopher Kolade. The event was held at Elomaz Hotels, Maryland – Ikeja on the 31st October, 2009.
The event started with a national prayer by 11.30am led by Mr Tayo Olosunde, Principal Partner-MTGap. The national anthem left the audience charged with a spirit of community and unity.
The welcome address stressed the importance of coming together to make Nigeria great and the purpose of the session. Tayo Olosunde reiterated the fact that Nigerians have all it takes to make the nation great and a miracle awaits the nation if only we can summon the spirit of volunteering and selfless service in all we do.
This fact was further enumerated by Mr Ken Spann, Microsoft Development Platform Manager in Anglophone-West Africa. He said that Africa is in its season of emergence as a global giant amongst continents. He mentioned that the election of Barack Obama as the first African-America President of United States is a manifestation that God is repositioning the continent as a global power house in the 21st century. The high note of his speech was that Nigeria has all the resources required to lead this global shift in the continent. He applauded the initiative because of its foresight to gather professionals from various disciplines as volunteers for national rebirth.
The hour of expectation came when Dr Christopher Kolade mounted the podium to address the audience. He started his speech by admonishing the audience to raise their standards in all life’s pursuit. He expressed his joy that the event gives hope to the future of the nation especially his age group. He delivered his keynote address in his usual calm but instructive and challenging manner. His speech was called, “Raising a people that build a new Nigeria” (soft copy attached). The address left no stone unturned, the issues facing us as a nation towards greatness was highlighted. Moreover, he showed us the pathway towards building a new nation with sustaining foundations. His address was marked with personal evaluations from the audience, also with moments of laughter as he instructed the audience to call him by his first name Chris or CK. He concluded by reminding us that the power to build any nation is by the grace of God, it is Godly character that makes any nation great.
The final points of the session and the flag-off of the Corporate Nigeria Workforce were done by Mr CJay Oguonu, Project Manager-MTGap. Afterwards, the audience were directed to go outside for group photographs and then lunch. The closing remarks and prayer was led by Mr Tayo Olosunde.
HIGHLIGHTS
Ø An interactive session, “Today! Tomorrow!” was held to engage the audience on the challenges facing the nation towards achieving vision 2025, rather national development. The audience was divided into groups according to selected topics from the discussion manual. They discussed topics with the objective to examine the challenges and make valuable recommendations that can be applied to the subject matter. Each group presented its recommendation within five minutes. The session was summarised by Mr Tayo Olosunde who reiterated the importance of mentoring as a vital tool for national birth.
Ø Group pictures; picture was taken in the following order
i) General audience with Keynote speakers
ii) Access Bank (Branch Services Group) with Dr. Christopher Kolade
i) MTGap team with Dr Christopher Kolade
iv) Selected pictures with Dr Christopher Kolade
v) ... and many more
Ø Lunch; the audience was served with delicacies from the Hotel’s restaurant. They were varieties of dishes to satisfy their appetite. The lunch brought the event to an end.
