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The inspiration for this piece came penultimate weekend. The young people who organised International Conference & Worship Wind (season 2) had invited me as keynote speaker. The two-day event took place somewhere in the south south. The theme was Excellence: The hallmark.
I disappointed them, or so I would have thought. I didn’t speak on creating an excellent personality, which they wanted. Rather, I spoke on something which, paraphrased, is closer to the above caption; something suggestive of what I call the aftermath of excellence. My intention was to charge them -and now is to charge you- to become not only an excellencer but also a thick-skinned to withstand the darts and envy and rejection attracted by excellence.
I asked the audience to search nationwide and name the thousands; no, the hundreds; no, the tens of Nigerians elected or appointed and appropriately placed by the powers-that-be on the basis of say, academic excellence. The crowd laughed long and hard, because they drew blank. A society in which the classless rule the First Class, in which winners of looks or gossip pageants are million times better awarded and celebrated than their tertiary institution equivalents; in which the dirty are preferred to the clean, excellence is too weak to affect the price of fish. Laugh it off if you can but mind you, failing to accept this as a fundamental element in the excellence equation is responsible for the alarming upsurge, worldwide, in depression and suicide cases.
The trend and the phenomenon should trouble all of us. In addition to achieving excellence, we also must -more importantly- learn how to manage it. Perhaps, that is one of the goals of emotional intelligence. For instance, we must realise that excellence in whatever field doesn’t necessarily confer unanimous acceptability or support or love.
No, very many people plus including family may hate or despise or blackmail or reject or even kill you for pursuing or achieving excellence. Prepare for the dastardly accompaniment of excellence -or quit the prestigious club and shut up. Please note that this evil-hate doesn’t emanate from only mediocrities. Almost always, it comes from -wait for it- the excellentsia!
Furthermore, excellence is not jack of all trade and master of none. Mediocrity is. Excellence is jack of one trade and master of one per time. Per time because it is also possible to be jack and master of two, three more.
Going forward, those seeking excellence should focus on three things. First of all, they -or rather we- should focus on focus. We should not spread ourselves thin. Second of all, we should never think we are better than everyone in every area.
People who suffer superiority complex (like their inferiority complex co-sufferers) are not excellencers. Excellencers are humble, God fearing, respectful, loving and noiseless. Aware that we are human, we should -third of all- never stop self-reminding that fallacies are the groundbreaking for a monumental collapse. Excellence is a partnership, not a solo ego trip!
Alas, as with gold not all that glitters is excellence -or put differently, the fragrance called excellence has odour too. Since excellence is the quality of being outstanding or extraordinarily good, it can be argued that notoriety is excellence as well (that is, to be excellent in nonsense). The overall best robber, the overall best rapist, the overall best fool, the overall best fraudster, the overall best manipulator all qualify for the excellence tag also -albeit, ashamedly. But, excellence is excellence -or isn’t it?
Finally, and this is a clarion call to the excellentsia, be at peace with yourself 24/7. Accept that your excellence in for instance book or medicine or music doesn’t make you any better than someone else’s excellence in cooking, driving and washing nor in fact any more popular or successful than excellence in kidnapping, terrorism and misgovernance. Like a kilogramme of stone and a kilogramme of feather, excellence is excellence; which gives you an idea of why we sometimes applaud left more noisily than we do right. If you don’t catch my drift, I can expatiate.
When we hand chieftaincy titles and front row seats in our churches and mosques and governments to scoundrels and sundry money-miss-road excellencers, we celebrate left over right. When we line behind an arrogant candidate purportedly because (s)he exudes strength or fearlessness, the message we convey is that meekness is weakness. When we excuse chronic foolery, we discourage brilliance. When we are ready to fix our society, it shall begin with fixing our warped mindset or perception of excellence.
God bless Nigeria!
2) Akwa Ibom Christmas carols festival 2019: the world cometh soon
Forgive the longish caption, but there really is no briefer way to craft that. Last Friday night in Uyo was a spectacle fit for global bragging rights. Gov. Udom Emmanuel, his deputy (Mr. Moses Ekpo, MFR) complete with everyone on team Akwa Ibom state government are quietly building multisectoral foundation for the Akwa Ibom of our dream.
You see these tangible proofs in Ibom Air which in no time has redefined flying in Nigeria, in industries which continue to spring up all over the place, in the massive investment in roads and allied infrastructure which connect, beautify communities and accentuate livelihood in the state. Intangible masterstrokes such as the peace that returned to the state with the coming of the administration in 2015, plus the unprecedented political inclusion and integration that even the opposition acknowledge, speak to a government that is legacy-conscious. Gov. Udom Emmanuel is surefooted, businesslike and noiselessly so.
If there ever was any doubt that he was readying Akwa Ibom for the world, the last carols festival buried all of it. The event never created a Guinness World Record for nothing. Iconic Aniekpeno Tom Mkpanang, Raphael Edem, KSM and the rest of the committee that planned and executed the near-perfect event deserve every commendation we can muster!
