3..2...1 Countdown to transition... and a new beginning

It really feels good to be blogging again after a very long time. Guess I have been a bit lazy these past couple of months because of the lack of internet access in the office and there's always so much work to do that there's always something else competing for attention.
Transition is here and we have been at it for the past couple of weeks. In fact our transition agenda runs for ten weeks (pretty long time) cos we want to get it right this time and also get rid of the scrappy tradition that has been in place. It has been fun so far but somewhere along the line, I had a accident and also fell real sick that I had to travel for some urgent medical attention. Am currently writing this from the Coal City of Enugu where am recuperating.
To all those who stood by me during this period through phone calls. sms and... i wish to say a very big 'thank you'. Also to my teammates, Niyi and Kole and Asekun who went thru a lot for me, You guys are the Bomb.

I am going to keep to my word that from now to the end of my term on the 30th of this month, am going to be a regular blogger on this space, sharing both my past and present experiences with you all. Cheers...

PS. remember to check out my blog at http://lifeinnaija.nomadlife.org for my personal posts

One Luv

Abah Kaycee
MCVP ER 06/07

ipm

New year, new man.

How many times can people die before their real death? In the past few weeks, I feel like I have resurrected so many times, passing through a deep reflection and reformation process. The Xmas break was exactly the 2 weeks I needed to get myself up again.

Last time I blogged, I guess I was in Kano. So much has happened and I’ll just bring you up to date. I left Kano on Tuesday 19th December after postponing my travel twice in order to do more work with the LC. We had a lot of marketing during that period (quite satisfying), we had a send forth gathering for their 2 trainees and what more? Well, I left the LC as a very broke person because my personal funds ran out and Moyo had to bail me out at the end of the day.

It was a very rough 12-hour travel. One I do not wish to remember and do not hope to relive. Anyway I got to Ilorin around 9pm and had a good time getting myself up again because of the environment. Spent the day quietly and then saw a couple of people and left very early Thursday morning to resume work. Got to the office and met Moyo, Abah and even Tobi! He was around to give me some help as to preparation for NC especially in the area of Agenda. I am so grateful to him because he gave me enough insight to kick start the work properly, and together we’ve come along way now. Now, it was already 21st and I had up till 24th to draft about 10 important documents before I set out for Xmas. 3 LC visit reports, faci applications, MC applications, and many other minor stuff. We had a very serious meeting in which we argued about stuff and how we were supposed to balance our enormous work with the fun we wanted to have bcoz there was a Xmas party that was underway on Saturday. Well, I have learnt now to always do my work first because I completed it only about 60% and did not get to party until Saturday nite when we all went to the club.

On Friday, Lagos LC peeps were here bcoz their LCP had apparently blown the false alarm and we had to entertain them somehow. It was quite noisy and groovy (I guess) at the office though I did not partake apart from sipping a few glasses of liquor (while at work!!). Well, there was Olaolu (LCP Abeokuta), Fisayo (LCP Ife), Sade (LCP Lagos), Asekun (National Project Director), all MC CC members, and Abeokuta and Lagos LC members basically. We had fun at the club and returned to work afterwards. Sunday saw me leaving with my undone jobs and a heavy heart for Xmas to Cotonou where I went for a quiet time with my Mum.

So, there was fun but the MC Xmas party was not what it promised to be. The beach party did not even hold because of miscommunication and lateness, as usual.

Cotonou was what it promised to be. Fun at Xmas and heavy groove and eating at New Year. I had quiet time to do serious planning, reflection and decision making for the coming years. No complex New Year resolutions though, as I just want to be a lot simpler and more understanding. Resolutions have failed me in the past so why set things you cannot honestly achieve? There was also an end of year party organized by the new extension LC in Cotonou. It was hippie fun and u know… well, I’m not gonna tell you what happened there except that it was fun and I was very active there! I have so far met with the LCP Cecile (she is Rwandan by the way, that’s the power of AIESEC!!), The National coordinator and few EB members. They also have a lot of potential for growth and we talked about possible areas of cooperation in the next few months/years being CEED, EAP matching and structural support with getting them their MC status, if possible.

I had to see the dentist too, an ordeal I don’t want to remember and don’t wish to even go for follow up in February.

Well, I have returned to the office. A new man, a new spirit (am typing this stuff for you at 4am as I came to finish up some work) and I have a whole lot of cleaning to do in the house during the day. I hope we can all keep this tempo here. Today was quite cool for me. I got back from Cotonou around 11 am or so and got to work, straight up as there was electricity but hardly had I started than they took it, typically.

Anyway, I have since been able to drop off the rug in the rooms for washing. That rug is a disaster. Got a visit by the ex-LCP of AIESEC PH, Samuel as well as Chuks Etuka with whom I had wonderful conversations about what the future holds for our dear organization. Moyo also showed up and we dropped the rug off at the dry cleaner’s together. He then went to the bank and I again got a visit from Iheanyi, the coordinator of the AIESEC Minna expansion (the expansion I have always dreamt of). He’s full of passion and I hope we can do something big before he leaves school in August. For, now, structures need to be put in place for future growth. I might have to pay a visit there in February to monitor progress.

Then there were 2 trainees who came in with Mosun (Lagos VPER). Xanthie, our good friend from Greece and Marcel from Netherlands. We had nice conversations with Iheanyi before he left first, then Marcel to Yaba (it was funny seeing him board the danfo bus) and Xanthie whom we escorted to the Cyber café, Amsterdam.

Well, got back to the office and there was electricity, did some cool work, got some food to eat outside and got back to the office to some strange stuff. First, I saw a black cat!! It was having a field day with our refuse which has now become legendary and I was so scared chasing it away because it was dark and I kept seeing its shiny eyes before it ran away. Then I just had to get myself ready to sleep alone in the office. Here I am now, woke up when electricity came up and av been trying to get busy.

First, I need to get busy with music tomorrow. There’s no music anywhere as the main computer seems to have crashed. May God grant us Abah on time!!!. And the only system here has stupid music you don’t even wanna hear. I also hope the other guys resume work fast as I cannot stand the loneliness in the office, though it pays off because I can work better and more efficiently.

Anyway, I have to return to sleep now, so I can wake up early enough to clean up the place, browse for a looong time and get even readier with NC preparations.

Ciao,
Happy New Year 2007 in arrears,
Adeniyi.

Am Back..... and Back

Hi
Am sorry for not having blogged since I started LC visits. I was rather busy (Not saying Niyi was jobless :-p) and didn't have much time to do so. I just came back from the visits yesterday night (2hrs ago) and still feeling very groggy but I promise to do so by tomorrow. Lots of Aproko for the interested and I can see that Niyi has been having a field day in my absence.
Yesterday (20th) was my birthday and am still open to receiving birthday gifts from those that care (hope you do). Here's wishing a Happy Birthday to all my Birthday buddies (Khadijat's sister inclusive). You can read up on how my day was at http://lifeinnaija.nomadlife.org
Cheers and Beers...


Abah

some pics so far

picture 1(slanted)... My nephew whom i visited in kaduna

Pic 2 (group)... happy people, group picture with AIESEC JOS peops after the LC meeting. the pics wil appear on thier website/
am the last man, at the top most left corner of the page at the back.

cheers.

Adeniyi.

hello guys from kano...i'll send pics 2mrw

Today is another day. And a good day whenever blogging is involved. Haha, Abah, I’ve finally beat u to it now, right?? Abi connection no dey East again? Or shey dem don kidnap u ni?? These days Niger delta pple no go even sabi whether u b MC or Bangladeshi trainee….easy oh!

Well, Kano is the gist now oh! And u might be wondering why av been so frequent these days here. I’ve had a laptop to myself since I got here, a luxury I did not enjoy elsewhere so I can always gather my thoughts anytime and write a long stuff down. It’s about 8.30am and am still the only one awake in my room (Moyo, u see?? No b only 12 noon I sabi wake up!! When I get work, I know when to do it!) Today should be the most tedious day for me yet. Starting off by 10am at the bank where I have to make some payments to the MC account, hit the market to get some stuff, go see a BOA/Alumni member for some kinda meeting on NC re-strategizing, go see a TN taker for re-raising, meet with the EB again, watch the arsenal match, chat with some people by 5pm and go for the trainees’ send forth by 9pm. Men, lawal ohhhh! Na to ready for war oh!

Already I have done so much work with them and I really feel like I came here earlier or that I could spend much more time with them here. The guys have been amazing personally. I no dey lack food, they’ve been cooperative with my needs (internet mainly) and generally cool sha. Only that I have thoroughly complained about the cold and that I need some sacrificial lamb to be sacrificed to reduce the cold, and that, they’ve still not been able to supply. Seems all the pinks ran away when they heard I was coming….i no know ohhhh! Na only LCP and OGX remain…so, I had to find consolation in blankets, jackets and what have you. I go sha survive!

Lemme take you back a little. When I left jos, I went to kaduna to spend the nite with my brother, his wife and my 2 nephews. Nice day, nice nite, lots to eat and talk about. Finally the kids were all tears when I had to get out checking one of my old time friends in town and even more when I finally took by bag to hit the road. Then kano was next. I slept almost throughout the journey because of a major headache I picked up in jos. And of course, I got somehow missing when I got to kano. Well, it should still be one of my scariest days till now.

When I got to the car park, I got into a bus. Apparently, lilian had told me to enter a cab and I didn’t hear well. I just asked the bus conductor if he were going to “old site” and he nodded (wetin im for do?). So he asked for money at some point in the journey and I asked him how much it was. Then he looked baffled (if I sabi where I dey go, I suppose sabi the fare now…), and I asked him “how much is it to old site?” men, it wasn’t funny. The guy just looked like I had just abused him. He looked at me, looked at a couple of guys in the bus (as if to say “dis na meat”) and took his eyes off. So, I thought men, I don enter my own today oh…. Na like dis my own wan end?? Inside bus??? For kano??? Haba. To make things worse my battery was low, so I couldn’t call lilian or my brother to tell them how to share my assets if anything happened. I just had myself to pity. Nobody could correctly translate what the guy was saying into English for me. The fool sitting near me was one young chap that was just smiling as if, if u no hear Hausa for new millennium, u no dey reign. And I just looked at faces and asked the obviously non-hausa man in the bus what to do. Then he asked the driver (as if im no see me for bus all the while) and told me that they were gonna drop me someplace where I could get a bus to new site, my real destination.

So, truly, all the passengers in the bus alighted and I was even more scared when the guy told me to remain seated. No b drop u say u go drop me?? Why the love now??? Well, to cut it all short, the guys wanted to truly get me a cab but the approach once more convinced me I was about to be sacrificed for the sin of not hearing hausa and entering the wrong bus. They wanted to get to another junction and missed the turning, so they had to enter a couple of inner roads and turned about four times at different junctions to get to the right place. All the while I was thinking ….shit, na d slaughter house dem dey find dey miss road like dis oh!! Only conductor, driver, and the fool, by my side…… so my fears had been justified after all. I was so scared. Really, it’s funny now but look at how many times my life has been threatened since November. 3 times. The first was in Lagos along with 8 other guys at the AIESEC office when a small accident occurred that could have fucked us up. Second was with Abah in the market. That time, it was a train that got stuck some how. And now, this. Guess, I really have to start going to church more often.

Well, that was about it. I finally got the bike that got me home and what happened again before I saw lilian is another story. I’ll save that for another day else I risk calling this headache back. Well, we have done a lot of work.

The following day, Thursday I started the meeting with the EB, then we had to go see their BOA/Alumni member at UBA, from there we went to Diamond bank where the branch MD is also an alumnus. We asked him to join the BOA and he’s considering it. Lilian and co also went to access bank, or was it Cadbury?. All this was for NC marketing Cadbury was positive. And yeah, I forgot. We also dropped a proposal with the branch MD at UBA too. He promised to get back to us and the BOA, Mr. Caleb promised to follow up on our behalf. We were supposed to see the TN taker for their current trainees but we were very late so we had to fix it for the following day.

When we got back, we tried to draft the conference contract of performance document which they will sign today. Yesterday was Friday. Another busy day. I stated off at the cyber café to reply some urgent mails, and then we went to see the TN taker. Very nice intelligent man. These guys are very lucky here. He treated us very well, spoke to us like his peers and gave a lot of insights on how to improve the delivery/quality of exchanges we offer. Obviously, he was speaking out of his own XPs and even vowed to take more trainees once these things could be rectified. Well, they are not stuffs out of our reach and am confident we’ve just re-raised a traineeship, if not 4! Bcoz he’s cool with being Learning partner for ASK.

From there, we went back to the house to finish off our meeting with the EB. 4 EB members were around and we saw a lot of loopholes as well as a lot of points they could capitalize on. Kano has the potential no doubt. They just have to explore it. It was quite motivational and they’re looking for new ways to solve their old problems. I have no doubt they can still do something between now, NC and elections/handover.

After the meeting, we went to see their trainees to invite them for a nite out to mark the send forth. But we couldn’t and we’ve fixed it for Sunday evening. Which means I have to reschedule my journey for Monday, I don’t mind they are nice girls and the kano pple still have work on Sunday. We need to go see some NC venues and have a final meeting to get done. Besides, av still not seen the OCP and I think he’s coming in today.

The dates for NC are being proposed for 20th to 28th of January. We’ve heard about 2-3 schools might be having exams but the best we can do I think is to pray for them it doesn’t hold because these guys cannot do anything earlier than that date. They are already in a tight corner and do not usually resume early, so members no go dey. Apart from that, it gives them more room to plan to deliver a bomb-ass conference. It will be. I will give you more gists after I see the potential venues and we do the NC prep meeting today.

That will be all for now. Am beginning to send very long messages now and am enjoying it. I will leave my personal blog till I get back to ilorin. I’ll try to upload some pics here, I hope it works. If it works, fine if not u will have to cope with picture less blogs. I’ll send pics when I get to ilorin on Monday.

All the best the Gunners against portmouth today. We need to show character and spirit in these trying times.

Alright, it’s 9.15, I neva bath and I get bank to go by 9.30. I better go get ready before lilian gets here ready to chop my …. Off for being late.

Peace. Niyi.

Jos... thanks for the smiles

They say it’s a lot healthier for us to smile than to frown, right? Well, am all smiles leaving jos and have all reasons to believe that my northern visits were not a mistake afterall.

After I bid a particularly emotional farewell to Abuja, I embarked on the Jos journey. I saw a lot of ambition and desire to succeed in the newly restructured EB of Abuja. They should become members of the network by January and we are all trying our best to ensure that this goal is met now rather than later, in 2008!

I met with prospective members & EB and since they do not have a structured membership yet, it was hard to organize them all in one place..., I even had to reschedule one of my sessions to a later day. But then, I really enjoyed discussing with the members and Khadijat, who is coordinating things there and very motivated to see things happen there. Things will happen….. they have the market, potential membership, BOA, the central government and what more, the unalloyed support of the MC!

Thank you Abuja, for giving my visit a meaning, the care, support, all the food (and beer!!). Thank you KDJ, Taffy, Kemi and all of you nice people. Because of you, Abuja will no doubt live up to our dreams.

Next was Jos. I didn’t know what to expect going there. David was gone to IDC in India and was not yet back as at when I was about to leave Abuja. Ironically, I tried sending him a text which went through and he was actually in lagos waiting for me at the office (we were to go to the north together!) well, the short of it was that I contacted Ruth, the VPER and got things in motion. Announced I was coming and would like to meet EB and LC. Finally got in here, met Dave, got to his room, settled and by the second day I went to browse and got a lot of time to spend there and get a backlog of work done. Thanks chizoba for ur generosity. Next, I went with chizoba to the Glo head office in Jos where I met one of their big supporters, an alumnus of Ilorin LC (Bunmi Abejinrin). She was quite cool, and even taught me one or two tips in good leadership and politicking… haha, yeah!! And not only that, I even got a nice free Glo Polo T-shirt. How better could the day get???

The following day (Sunday) I did the meeting with the EB and got their current state. They’re currently doing quite well, only we identified they had to strengthen their HR and Talent management processes so that they could have a good footing for the next EB. And of course, there was the Chelsea-Arsenal match that was ongoing while we were having the meeting. The draw was a consolation to Chelsea (rather that Arsenal) and I think our boiz did their best away from home to prove they have temperament for big games and can even beat champions without Henry, Gallas, Toure, Rosicky! Always a Gunner!!!

Monday was d-day! I met the LC. Men, see pinks…. I immediately told myself I could as well have my shot at a 30 minute fame, which I tried my best to achieve. I had Deji (VPHR) and Dave (LCP) help me out with Refreshing identity and vision 2010 respectively, while in my traditional fashion, I handled my favourite topic: LC structures and Competency Model (CM). There wasn’t enough time for me to connect the CM with Talent management (very impt for them) as there was a church service that was under way. The peops were already organizing the hall for the service.

We took pics which will appear on their website, afterwards. I chatted with a couple of guys/chicks and got back to Dave’s room.

I said jos has given me renewed zeal in my visits because it’s probably where I have met the largest membership so far. They were quite responsive, and jovial. Beautiful faces who kept me laughing all the time. Man, was I laughing!

In Dave’s room, there were Iyke and Henry, both AIESECers. And u just can’t stay in the room for 15 minutes and not laugh your hearts out, especially when all the 3 are in the room. My trip here was cool. They are far from perfect, but we got a starting place. They play a key role in the North, and with the kinds of discussions I had with people here, both EB and non-EB, I know there is the potential for things to improve drastically.

The time is 6.48am, Tuesday 12th right now. I am hitting off at a laptop owned by one of Dave’s numerous pinks (apparently pinks are the benchmark here…). I hope to post this at some point later in the day. I should leave here latest 10am in the morning after going to a couple of places with Dave. Am heading for Kaduna where I will spend the night in my brother’s house with his family before moving to Kano on Wednesday for my last stop in the north.

Am sorry for posting this very long stuff but I couldn’t resist it. What with the luxury of having a system to use in a long time traveling. I’ve not posted in a while and I dunno when next I’ll be here.

This is str8 from my heart. I am growing. I am developing. I am learning. I cannot explain what’s been going on to me in the last few weeks but what I do know is that I wouldn’t stop at anything to stretch myself to the edge to see my potentials fully developed and explored. I wouldn’t stop at anything to give support and mentorship to those who need and deserve the same kind of opportunities I had to get to this stage.

Thank you Abuja and Jos for the nice times so far. I can only look forward to a better reception, work environment and results in Kano. I know we can do it!

Signing off wiv madd luv, Adeniyi.