By Emmanuel Egboh
Some illustration with motivational notes was recently shared on social media. It trended so well because of its inherent message – a powerful message at that. Source is though unknown, the message rankled forlorn hope and neutralised depression from failing faith.
What’s the illustration about?
A tattered-looking young boy standing in front of a full-length mirror saw a different person other than his real image. Staring at him in the mirror was a full-grown, smart, good-looking, and successful man.
Sporting an expensive suit, with a nice pair of shoes and a briefcase in his hands as his dream reflection, he was yet, tattered, haggard and hungry in real life, but accompanied with a beautiful smile.
Titled the power of vision, the illustration addressed the fact that the boy was not discouraged by his present situation, and already had an idea, where life was taking him by virtue of his ability to envision a dream, and the determination to live the dream.
Reflecting poverty at its worst state, the boy saw himself differently because that was whom he assumed himself to be, and he seemed resolved to achieve that vision without letting his current state stifle him.
From a sleepy village of farmers, Iwo-Ate, in Oyo State,once a little boy, Zacch Adedeji, PhD, probably inspired the illustration above. For a little boy who grew up amid plantations of all sorts as neighbours, the life he saw then and lives today summarises the power of dream.
With a yearning for a decent living that transcended his primitive birthplace, Adedeji dreamt a life of purpose, different from the type that shaped his forebears. He wanted to be different and made sure nothing stood in his way.
Despite hailing from a hardly known sleepy village, he didn’t wait for opportunities to crawl his way in fulfillment of his dream. Instead, he desperately went in search of them to bring his dream into reality. At each turn in his life, he has continued to fulfill destiny.
From a National Diploma in Accountancy at the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, to netting a First-Class degree in Management and Accounting from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, his Master’s degree and ultimately a PhD in Accounting, would later crystalise and complement his dream and vision.
Attending the Harvard Kennedy School to sharpen his knowledge and expertise in economic development and public policy, further attested to his search for knowledge, beyond the mediocrity of sheer emphasis on degrees and certificates.
It is no wonder, therefore, that President Bola Tinubu, the man known for raw talent hunt, found him worthy of the different appointments he had extended to him since he assumed office about two years ago.
After all, the Iwo-Ate-born financial Czar has come to be identified as one of the best picks of the current administration. And without pushing too hard, he has been administering doses of what he’s capable of dishing out with evident results on the economy.
At just 47, the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has accomplished what many had spent their whole life chasing.
Not only has he changed the dynamics at Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), deploying efficiency andexcellence, the agency, under his direct supervision, has utterly changed the narrative in tax revenue in the country.
Making taxes seamless and fair is the fulcrum of the initiatives of his regime at FIRS, which seeks to balance both sides of the government and the citizenry.
This was after his initial appointment as the Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, a stint which began the shapingof the nation’s fiscal policies, by firming up her revenue structure, soothing the economy, and arousing certainty in her body politic.
His growth, generally, is not what anyone could gloss over. He was the Commissioner for Finance in Oyo State, where he implemented the Treasury Single Account and changed how the finances of the state were managed.
He was also at the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), where he canvassed and led the establishment of the Nigeria Sugar Institute and secured extensions for keyprogrammes that braced the nation’s sugar industry.
Today, people talk about Adedeji as the man of the moment as if this was served on him a la carte. That would be unfair to his culture of hard work. He got to where he is today with resilience, foresight, and untiring commitment to excellence.
For a boy, said to have successfully managed his father’s farm accounts and now skillfully handling the country’s multi-billion dollar revenue agency, Zacchaeus Adelabu Adedeji, is truly that boy, now man, in the mirror, boasting a life of inevitable envy.
What further testimony does anyone need aside form the one by a renowned lawyer, and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Olisa Agbakoba, who recently reminded the nation of how Adedeji, moved the economy from the proposed seemingly impossible nine trillion to an hypnotising 50 trillion in less than two years.
It is correct to argue that the nation may not have reached the station many assumed was their desired destination, but it is also true that things have moved from where they used to be to a different terminus, courtesy the efforts and doings of someone like Adedeji, who remains focused and takes his job seriously.
His story, especially his rise to prominence and rising successes, does not just stimulate optimism but places emphasis on hard work, vision, and the determination to consciously sculpt his path to victory.
•Egboh is the MD/CEO of Advonics Services Nigeria Ltd, an ultra-modern security outfit with the largest brand marketing company in Nigeria and West Africa TODAY.