By Enyeribe Ejiogu
Roseline Anijekwu set a gathering of notable personalities abuzz after listening to her brief speech on what motivated her to write the book, Discover Maximize Soar, which was presented to the public recently. The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Christian Pilgrims Commission, Dr. Yakubu Pam and President of OCI Foundation, Professor Chris Ifediora, were among other notable personalities on the occasion to celebrate her.
In this interview, Anijekwu, a graduate of Computer Science from Lagos State University (LASU) and former student of Federal Government College, (FGC), Kano, is the founder and convener of Caverra World, a registered not-for-profit organisation which is committed to coaching, motivating and inspiring teenagers to greatness, explains why it is important for the nation to consciously and intentionally provide the right environment for young people to grow into true future leaders that will successfully pilot the affairs of the nation.
We have seen instances of a woman exhibiting a wonderful combination of beauty, brains and drive to achieve goals and success. So, beyond your pretty face, who exactly is the person known to friends and associates as Roseline Anijekwu?
She is a beautiful young mother, a model, brand influencer, the Convener of a not-for-profit organisation called Caverra World, which is a foundation focused on helping the young ones discover and find their pathway to success. The foundation organises activities like Teens Talkshow, counselling, seminars, Teens Hangout, visits to orphanages and outreaches to the less privileged. It holds events to mark the International Year of the Girl Child, National Teenagers Day, Teens Camp, Beauty and Brains Contest and Awards. All these activities are deliberately designed, to create a positive orientation in young people, help the young ones to fan out their latent strength, and enable them maximize their potentials as individuals and soar.
In your recent book, Discover Maximize Soar, you said: “To create a life that is fulfilling, purposeful and passionate is no accident.” Please elaborate on this.
Well, what you referred to in my book is a solid fact. Creating a life that is fulfilling, purposeful and passionate is not an accident but the result of an intentional act of self-discovery. Discovering one’s true self is the first journey to success.
What inspired you to write the book?
The inspiration to write the book was borne out of my deep-rooted passion to help the young ones fan out their inherent strengths, give them the right foundation for a solidified future because I believe that these young ones are 100 per cent in our future
How and when does a person begin to discover oneself?
The teenage age is the right stage for self-discovery. This is a formative stage when their brains are still developing. It is the right time to mould, build, inform, imbue, and instil the right norms and values. Putting them through to discover who they truly are is the best way to help them maximize their potential in the future. Life is categorised into three stages, and the teenage stage is the first stage of life, which is also called the morning stage or the foundation stage. Being the foundation stage, it becomes an utmost necessity to lay a solid foundation. This is more like making them identify their direction, which will lead them to their destination. It takes a person who knows and follows the right direction to get to the right destination.
Why are you particularly focused on teenagers?
Life begins at the teenage stage. The teenage age is a vital stage. It determines how one will view and interact with the world when they become adults. The teenage stage is the foundational stage of life. If this foundation is solid, the building, which represents the stages of life, will indeed stand firm. The stages of life is categorised into three stages, namely, childhood stage, adulthood stage and old age stage.
These can also be placed in three phases: childhood stage (morning stage – otherwise called the foundational stage), adulthood stage (afternoon stage – finishing stage) and the old age stage (evening stage or finished stage)
As noted earlier, the teenage age is the foundational stage because it is expected that at this stage, one must have laid the right foundation. This stage is a fiery and very competitive stage. It is a stage when one is expected to be more focused, ambitious, passionate and work hard to maximise and soar. It is the stage of cultivating good and healthy habits. Laying the right foundation at the teenage stage will help the young person to soar through the other stages of life.
That is why it is necessary to recognise that the teenage stage is the stage of rapid development, a time of great change and challenges where strengths are revealed, and one is able to make up for weaknesses. At this stage, the teenager is expected to uncover what comes to him or her naturally and also what takes greater efforts to accomplish. The teenager is expected at this stage to discover his or her true personality. The teenage age is the right stage to take some chances, push boundaries and stretch limits to discover, maximize and soar in life.
Teenagers will experience breakthroughs if properly guided to craft a detailed personal vision that would guide them through the stages of life.
Quality life begins the moment one discovers one›s true self. It prepares you to take full responsibility, which will propel the young person to maximize his or her potentials and soar.
If somebody has reached 30 years, is that age too late for the person to begin the journey to self-discovery?
It is commonly said that whenever one wakes up is regarded as that person’s morning. Having said that, it needs to be noted that if a person begins the journey of self-discovery at 30, it clearly follows that more effort will be required to meet up because at that age it is naturally expected that such a person ought to have gone through the first stage of life.
What does it take for one to become a person of impact, influence and relevance?
To become a person of impact, influence and relevance, you ought to have a full knowledge of who you truly are, because it takes only a person who has discovered his or her true self that can become impactful, influential and relevant.
It is said that youths are the leaders of tomorrow. Looking back at the 2023 election and the political scene generally, would you say our youths are getting good demonstrations of leadership by the present leaders?
Well, what I will say is that Caverra World is fully committed to the singular goal of building the young ones positively. Our focus is on building teenagers to become good future leaders.
Are there things that can prevent a person from becoming successful, outstanding and soaring? What needs to be done?
There are many hitches that can prevent one from becoming all that are expected of them. Not discovering who you are is the number one hitch because it takes only people who have discovered their true selves, to know exactly who they are, who they want to be and what they want. This is part of the reason the book titled, DISCOVER MAXIMIZE SOAR, was written. I want to encourage parents, uncles and aunts of young people to get them copies of the book as worthy gifts for these teenagers. It will be a very positive and effective way of encouraging them to develop a passion for reading, beyond school subjects. As it is said, ‹readers are leaders.› Reading wide broadens and deepens the knowledge of teenagers. Knowledgeable teenagers who diligently apply the knowledge that they have would of course excel and do better than their age mates who do not read.
As a mother and mentor of teenage girls, what do you tell girls (and boys too) about relationships and sex?
Sex education should be the basic education in every home. A child at three years should be guided on sex education that is appropriate to that age and comprehension capacity. Before getting to the teenage age, they are expected to have full knowledge on sex education, but most homes have failed in that aspect. This has been a major topic because many of the teens want to get clarity on relationships with the opposite sex. As a mother, mentor and teen coach, giving them the proper orientation is the number one step I take. After my seminars with them on sex education, they make the right decisions themselves.
We engage them in interactive sessions, and they become more intentional in the relationship they want. The teenage stage is that stage they want to experiment, but for the teenagers in my platform, we have inculcated the right norms and values, and they make the right healthy choices.