Monday 12 May 2014

Planning That Lifts Beyond Mediocrity


On The Path Of Winners

BY BAYO OGUNMUPE

Planning That Lifts Beyond Mediocrity

WITHOUT a plan in place, your life is mired in poverty. To escape, I urge three steps to financial freedom. One, ascertain your location at each period of your life. You cannot grow in success without first finding out your present position. You need to know where you are to plot and navigate to your expected destination. There are a few ways to access money. Generally, these are through inheritance, income from businesses and gains from salaried work.
  If you don't know where you are going, you won’t know when you get there. Determining your destination before commencing your journey is the best way to plan your life. Without focus you leave your life to chance.
  Two, you must choose your vehicle to travel your life in. The vehicle you choose determines how fast you get to your destination. However, investing in yourself via self-education, being updated and relevant is vital to your security and cash flow. Time is vital in matters of making wealth, because time waits for no one. Time is money and time wasted equals money wasted. Which is why you should acquire discipline in order to avoid being overtaken by Parkinson’s Law. This law has remained true in our lives from time immemorial. This law keeps us poor if not evaded. Parkinson’s Law states that: a man’s expenses will always rise to meet his income and make him stay the same station in life.
  What the law simply means is that no matter the extra income you earn, you will always increase your expenses to fit into your income; which makes it impossible for your gains to reflect on your net worth. Since God wants you to have different vehicles of wealth creation, you should use your strategies to create multiple streams of income in order to become rich.
  Then discover your primary and dominant stream of income. As you operate within your dominant source of income either as a paid employee or as a career business owner. Use your financial intelligence and investment mindset to develop other streams by diversifying yourself.
  You start with your main stream, ending up with at least three other vehicles of wealth creation such as advertising, consultancy, networking and franchising. Consolidate each stream and keep expanding and you become a force to be reckoned with in Nigeria. But mind your worldview, for success without a successor is tantamount to failure. For we now have many selfish believers who are prosperous without inheritors. ‘‘But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day,” Deut. 8:18.
  The primary reason for prospering his people is to empower them to establish His Kingdom. Enlightening the world on Jehovah’s kingdom is very expensive, and that is the primary reason why God prospers people. Then, after you are prosperous, what next? The next thing is posterity, leaving a legacy behind you for the succeeding generation of descendants. Your descendants will then fulfill the purpose for which God prospered you. God only prospers you for the purpose of building His Kingdom.
  To leave a befitting legacy is the reason why you should develop the posterity mindset. Posterity thinking isn’t natural to us.
  Our parents, teachers and leaders didn’t know it. They taught us to live for today. They could not give us what they don’t have, which is why we must make conscious effort to personally develop posterity mentality. God empowers people to become wealthy so that His Kingdom can be established. Be a posterity thinker in order to gain Jehovah’s blessing so as to propagate. God’s Kingdom since Jehovah is a generational God, He expects us also to be generational minded. ‘‘A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children. But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous,” Proverbs 13:22. So let your legacy be at least two generations compliant. Two generations after you must enjoy what your existence established. Otherwise, you have not fulfilled the perfect plan of God through maximizing your opportunities.
  Our champion this week is Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States (1865-1869) who succeeded President Abraham Lincoln on his assassination in the closing months of the American civil war (1861-1865). His lenience toward the South during Reconstruction embittered the Republicans in Congress, leading to his political downfall. Johnson lacked formal education but his homespun lifestyles were assets, which built him a political base in Tennessee.
  Born in December 1808 in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., he moved with his parents to Tennessee in 1826. Johnson organized a party that elected him first as alderman and then mayor of Greeneville. During his eight years in city administration, he found a natural home in the states’ rights Democratic Party of President Andrew Jackson. He emerged their raucous spokesman. He was elected member of the US House of Representatives for 10 years as their representative (1843-53). He then served as governor of Tennessee (1853-57).
  Elected U.S. senator in 1856, he adhered to the dominant Democratic views favouring lower tariffs and opposing anti-slavery agitation. In 1860, however, he broke with the Democratic Party after Lincoln’s election as president. He opposed Southern secession. When Tennessee seceded in June 1861, he refused to join them, remaining in his post and loyal to the union. In recognition of his loyalty to the States, Lincoln appointed him military governor of Tennessee in 1862 by then liberated by the Union army.
  To broaden the base of the Republican Party Lincoln nominated Johnson for vice president on his successful re-election ticket of 1864. Thrust unexpectedly into the presidency in April 1865, he was faced with reconstruction of the Confederate states. Congressional Republicans who favoured severe measures toward the defeated South were disappointed by Johnson’s programmes. Then, Congress voted articles of impeachment against the President. The move failed by one vote short of two-thirds majority. But Johnson’s usefulness as a leader was over and he was not nominated for re-election. However, in 1875, he was elected senator from Tennessee shortly before he died in July of the same year.

Blazing Your Trail To Financial Freedom


On The Path Of Winners
By Bayo Ogunmupe


Blazing Your Trail To Financial Freedom

YOUR journey to financial freedom begins with your aims in life. Then, you set out goals with which to achieve your aims.
  The kind of vehicle you use and the speed you move will be determined by the correctness of your aspirations.
  However, to arrive at your place of destiny, you must find the correct trail to your pot of gold.
  “The labour of fools wearies them, for they do not know how to go to the city,” Eccl 10:15. Then, how do you find the path that leads to wealth?
  There are three steps or ways to wealth and anyone desiring financial freedom must pass through these steps.
  Financial intelligence, also known as the investment mindset, is the first step on your way to wealth. Albeit, going to school does not confer financial mindset on you, because schools don't teach it.
  One with the investment mindset understands the inner workings of money. He understands how to make, manage and multiply money. He knows the place of inflation, cash flow and delayed gratification on the path to wealth.
  This shows that financial intelligence does not come from undergoing formal education. It comes by personal development and capacity building, particularly through self-education, business seminars and the right association.
  If you want to be rich, seek financial intelligence. Beware of what you study, for education has been used as a way to keep people in bondage.
  That was why education started in ancient Egypt and it has kept Egyptians in bondage to their rulers to this day.
  But the school system today is to qualify people to get jobs. College education is getting you prepared for getting a job, instead of creating a job.
  If you have to spend four to eight years in the university to become an applicant, don't you think you are in bondage?
  He that teaches not his child a trade is teaching them to be thieves.
  The second step to financial intelligence is financial planning. When you fail to plan, it means you are planning to fail.
  “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish, lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying ‘this man began to build and was not able to finish,” Luke 14: 28-31.
  This quotation from the Bible shows Jesus validating the importance of planning in every human endeavour. Adequate planning determines the result you get from any aspect of life.
  Many people have financial intelligence, but fail to achieve financial freedom, because they failed to plan to actualise their dreams.
  Never expect to arrive at a level of wealth you never planned for, for the dream you never worked for, never becomes a reality.
  To achieve a desired goal or objective, financial planning has action steps, strategy and structure. You cannot be a goal-getter without being a financial goal-setter. What is your plan for the remainder of your life?
 Let me motivate you unto creating a financial plan for your future. You are expected to move through the three stages of an earthly existence.
  First, the learning stage, which covers the early days of your life to the 25th year, which marks the end of your learning stage at which you are expected to have acquired all the skills to tackle your financial needs.
  At this stage, you acquire qualifications and get connected with God. You grow in maturity and the understanding of the basics of life. You would have discovered your vision and purpose in life.
  The second stage is the Earning Stage. This is the period of your life at which you make a living by earning an income. It is the period between 25 and 50 years.
  You should be married and become a parent. You should use your financial intelligence to secure your financial freedom.
  If at this stage, you are still trying to make a career, you are devoid of investment mindset, operating below standard and behind schedule.
  The last is the turning stage. It is between 50 and 80 years. Here, you must have gained riches, retired from your vocation and begin to mentor and impact on the next generation with your wealth and experience.
  This is the stage to secure your life. There is no social security in Nigeria, and we have billions of naira in unpaid pensions, with pensioners living in penury.
  “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise. Which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest.
  “How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall your poverty come on you, like a prowler, and your need, like an armed man,” Proverbs 6:6-11.
  Our champion this week is William Juxon, Archbishop of Canterbury and minister to King Charles 1 on the Scaffold.
  Born in 1582 in Chester, Juxon died in June 1663 in London.
  As lord high treasurer, Juxon was the last English clergyman to hold both secular and clerical offices in the medieval tradition of clerical state service.
  He studied Law at St. John’s College, Oxford, but turned to Theology and was ordained a priest before 1615, when he became rector of St. Giles, Oxford.
  In 1621, Juxon succeeded his friend, William Laud, as president of St. John’s and later was vice chancellor of Oxford University.
  Then, he became chaplain to Charles 1 and was made dean of Worcester in 1627. In 1632, Juxon was nominated bishop of Hereford, but in 1633, he was made bishop of London instead, again succeeding Laud.
  In 1636, Charles appointed Juxon as lord high treasurer, a post last held by a cleric during the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509).
  Resigning his post in 1641, Juxon continued to advise the king during the civil war (1642-1648), with Charles defeat.
  In 1649, Charles was executed, with Juxon the only priest to accompany him to the scaffold.
  Then, Oliver Cromwell deprived Juxon of his bishopric and he went into retirement.
  On the restoration of Charles II in 1660, Juxon was named archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held until his death.
  His memoirs, edited by Williams Marah, were published in 1869.

BAYO OGUNMUPE RELAXING AT HOME WITH HIS KIDS




Friday 2 May 2014

Issues which vitiate the 2014 Budget

Issues which vitiate the 2014 Budget
By Bayo Ogunmupe



THE Jonathan budget of 2014 was presented to Parliament on 19 January 2014. It was presented on behalf of the President by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Finance and the coordinator of the Economy. The 2014 budget contemplates expenditure of N4.6 trillion. This comprises various expenditures, including a recurrent expenditure component of N2.4 trillion and a capital expenditure of N1.1 trillion. The balance is split between debt-servicing of N0.7 trillion, statutory transfer of N0.4 trillion and SURE-P of N0.3 trillion.
  Unfortunately, only 23.7 per cent of total expenditure is for capital projects, while recurrent expenditure stands at 76.3 per cent. Thus, the disparity skews the budget towards consumption at the expense of infrastructure, maintenance and expansion. Moreover, the absence of wisdom in the formulation of the budget did not stop at the micro distortions between capital and recurrent, specific items analysis revealed that the budget formulators have surrendered the treasury to embezzlers and fraudsters.
  Indeed, there are some egregious matters in the budget. For example: Healthcare are herewith shown:
A.  Building a VIP Wing at State House Clinic – N705 million
B.  Capital Budget for Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital: N328 million;
C.  Capital Budget for University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital: N310 million,
D.  Total budget for NOMA children Hospital, Sokoto: N89m.
From the foregoing, you can see that the budget formulators rated VIP Wing of the State House, Abuja higher in importance in terms priority than two teaching hospitals, a children’s clinic and a Pediatric Institute combined. These lopsided budgetary allocations vitiate the propriety of this vaunted transformational budget.
  To spend this disportionate amount of our revenue on a suitably kitted and exclusively resourced clinic is embarrassingly wasteful. The waste is all the more disconcerting when set against the negative reality that the very important persons set to use the clinic are known to travel abroad for medical treatment. It is therefore questionable why money was allocated in the manner it was done. The manner of allocation and itemization smacks of embezzlement.
  In the area of defence and national security, we believe the armed forces must be sufficiently motivated to compensate for their onerous task of combating the Boko Haram menace. The moneys allocated to militants cannot be justified. Training and making ex-militants to be self employed will cost less that half of what has been allocated to them.
  Thus, this 2014 budget proposals reward bandits, encourages militancy as against the officers and men of our armed forces. It is reprehensible that the salaries and allowances for 30,000 militants exceeds by more than 50 per cent, the cost of providing facilities for the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force combined. No wonder the opposition parties are calling for the blockade of the passage of the budget, more so when government can legally spend as much as they budgeted last year.
  But more worrisome is the cost of reintegrating the militants which exceeded the capital expenditure of the three service arms of the Nigeria armed forces. And what does the monetized cash benefit of N200 million to Oladipo Diya stand for? Isn’t Diya’s military benefit part of military pensions? Also, it is objectionable that the budget for the presidential airfleet is more that 50 per cent of the budget of the Nigerian Airforce. It is even more obnoxious that the budget allocation of the presidential Air Fleet’s rehabilitation is more than 30 per cent of the cost of rehabilitating all military barracks in the country. A backward country like Nigeria needs urgent development in electric power, small scale industries and youth employment. We cannot therefore fritter those moneys as government allocated. It is an affront to the Nigerian people for this budget of profligacy and larceny to be passed by the National Assembly.
  We believe that low human development and lack of job opportunities for the youth are responsible for the rise of terrorism in Nigeria. Which is why full employment should be cornerstone of the 2014 budget. This 2014 budget of 1820 pages will go down in history as one of the worst budgets, for being totally detached from the Nigerian reality. It is a shame that it was prepared by our Harvard educated Ngozi Okonjo Iweala as minister of finance.
  This bizarre budgetary bazaar cannot be justified by any stretch of the imagination going by the hardship and unemployment ravaging the country now.
  The allocation of N250 billion to the National Assembly is also exceptional. All the more so with 109 senators and 360 Representatives, per capita cost of maintaining them comes in excess of N530 million per member. This is all the more objectionable in a Nigeria where one out of five kids born today will die before his fifth birthday.
  Indeed, a fair budget should seek to eliminate reckless and larcenous planning and opt for the allocation of resources for social security and full employment. It is therefore necessary for the National Assembly to scrutinize the budget, pruning it of its larcenous aims and building it into a people oriented budget. Sadly, the recurring problems of dilapidated infrastructure in the universities and polytechnics do not seem to have been noticed by the budget.
  However, our major problems remain untouched by the budget. Our problems are poverty which can only be solved by full employment. That is employment for male and female, young or old. This can be tackled by our own Marshal Plan. This plan is simply achievable through interest free and collateral free loan programme for every citizen willing to borrow for import substitution industries. Such programmes have achieved miraculous economic development in China, Germany, India and Brazil.
  Our second problem is corruption. This is solvable through the establishment of social security. When there is social security for the young and aged alike, there will be no incentive to steal or embezzle.
  Let the Federal Government institute a social security scheme for all tax payers, it does not need to cover everybody at the beginning. Let us start it gradually such that it covers tax payers first, we can extend it to other strata of the society as time goes by.
  Thus, unemployment and corruption create or prolong poverty in the land. Poverty, disease and illiteracy create conflicts, the Boko Haram war facing Nigeria in particular. The solution therefore lies in the twin policies of social security scheme to take care of every citizen from cradle to the grave and a Marshall full employment Plan by which Federal Government provides interest free, collateral free loans for anyone wishing to borrow to establish a business of his own. It is trite economics to have separate banks for industry or agriculture. What it is required to develop the country is to provide loan facilities for every category or sector of the economy.
  We urge the National Assembly to rewrite the budget and put relevant indices there.

  Ogunmupe is a columnist with The Guardian. 




Let Nigeria Learn From Brazil
BY BAYO OGUNMUPE
A GOOD leader must set goals for himself and the nation he leads. Which is why the Nigerian leader should create a niche for his country in the comity of nations.
  Although we are currently grouped with the MINT countries, we should strive to a better position particularly within the group being occupied by our contemporaries. We are now grouped with the MINT nations of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey. All things being equal, Nigeria ought to belong to the BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
  It is only natural that if we cannot be counted among the G7 economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA, we should be with the BRINCS, then there being Nigeria. If we are to badger into BRICS, we should imitate its leading light-Brazil. More so when we share similarities. We are a former colony like Brazil. In fact, Brazil’s facts file is entrancing. Brazil has a population of 201 million as at 2011. She is 86 per cent urbanized. Their citizens speak Portuguese as the official language while Spanish and English are widely spoken as well.
  But unlike Nigeria, Brazil is 74 per cent Roman Catholic and 15 per cent Protestant. Brazil is a federal republic with a presidential system. She has 25 states compared to our 36. Brazil became independent in September 1822, it became a republic in 1889. Education is compulsory up till the age of 14 and there is 90 per cent literacy in Brazil. She has the largest crude oil reserves in the world.
  The nation which already meets many of its energy needs through biofuels reported huge offshore oil finds in 2007. Brazil is on its way to displacing France as the world’s fifth largest economy, coming after the United States, China, Japan and Germany. Its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is larger than those of the other Latin American countries combined. Brazil’s GDP grew by seven per cent in 2010. Brazil’s aerospace firm: Embraer is the third largest aircraft manufacturing company in the world, coming after Boeing and the Airbus.
  Brazil is a very peaceful country, never having fought a way or skirmish since 1870. Compared with fellow BRICS countries, Brazil’s zero allocation to defence differs from Russia’s $76.7 billion; India’s $46 billion; and China’s $126 billion. Basically, the BRICS are developing countries but who are believed to be at a similar stage of development but still considered to be more developed than Nigeria’s MINT group. In fact the BRICS are expected to overtake the G7 economies by 2027.
  The BRICS occupy a quarter of the world’s land area and more than 40 per cent of the world’s population in 2010. However, they accounted for only 25 per cent of the world’s gross national income. Another acronym: MINT coined in 2013 lumped Nigeria with Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey as nations in similar level of development. Though Brazil isn’t in the first world, because 90 per cent of her roads are unpaved and with pervasive slums, yet she does have plans to move up.
  Unlike Nigeria, Brazil is quick to adopt new technologies. Her 90 per cent literacy lifts her tops in Information and Communications technology, compared to Nigeria’s 60 per cent literacy. Brazil’s network equipment comes from different sources: Cisco Systems (U.S.), Juniper (U.S.), Huawei (China), Alcatel (France). However, the U.S. National Security Agency’s leak through Edward Snowden, has caused Brazil to re-examine its ICT strategies.
  Snowden’s allegations are that the United States is snooping on other countries. This prompted Brazil’s President to cancel a state visit to Washington in protest. What is more, Brazil is now empowering local communications companies for its network procurement. Brazil is now putting her resources in small scale internet companies. Thus, the winners are Brazil’s Datacom and Padtec, both of which already have business relations with the state owned Telecommunications Brazilian.
  Brazil’s local content policy is geared towards ensuring protection against back-door security holes, a potentially leakage source for foreign made products. What is more, there are innovations coming out of Brazil in this new millennium. Embraer, Brazil’s aerospace firm flies own home grown technology, a feat that China is trying to achieve. Brazil is now on the path of building her first geostationary satellite, enhancing the country’s remote-imaging and weather prediction capabilities.
  Brazil also prides herself with her online voting and banking facilities. Her information technology sector earned her $37 billion in 2012. Stefanini, Brazil’s telecommunications giant operates in various countries including Canada, China, India, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. Stefanini is expanding all over the world. It established a new software centre in China last December.
  Apontador is Brazil’s leading geo-location service company. It is developing tools which enable other companies see how users interact with their products. Predicta is also well ranked in Brazil as a tools developing company. The main point is that Brazil is aggressively pursuing the development of local technology as against Nigeria’s over-dependence on importation. In fact by comparison, taken seriatim, literacy level is the catalyst for development. Brazil is advancing because of her 90 per cent literacy rate. For Nigeria, our 60 per cent literacy rate and over 14 million unemployed put our nation out of touch with development reality.
  Thus, like Brazil we should open our doors for industrial development through a coordinated small and medium scale industrial strategy. Wherefore, we should enunciate a Marshall Plan in which various programmes are combined to achieve full employment. For example, both small scale enterprises enhancement loans scheme of the National Directorate of Employment and AMPLE group investment scheme should merge under the proposed plan. This plan must target import substitution schemes as means of full employment. This is the way we can move to the next development level by imitating Brazil’s small and medium scale development programme.

  Ogunmupe is a columnist with The Guardian




Title: Generations’ Power
Publishers: Strategic Book Publishing, Houston, 2013
Author: Bayo Baker
Reviewer: Bayo Ogunmupe
The Book: Generations’ Power contains success secrets that will shape you into an incurable optimist. Therein, you will also find theladder that you can climb to overcome various life challenges. Written in verse by Adebayo Baker, a branding and project development specialist, born a Nigerian with roots from the islands of the Bahamas. Generations’ Power is inspirational, enabling you to swim the oceans of life.
  It doesn’t matter if you are already successful, fulfilled and your life is going great, you still need this book to break through your comfort zone, for lifelong learning is the prescription for progress. This book has 210 verses, 242 pages, hardcover with glossy print. Author Baker introduced the book with prayers. He thanked the Almighty for providing him with the talent to square up with his circumstances. Baker sees writing this book as an assignment from his Maker.
  Baker says there are three types of people. Those who make things happen; those who watch things happen and those who wonder what is happening. He urges you to strive to become the first category of those who make things happen. The fifth verse of this book exhorts you to improve your faith and focus by surrounding yourself with people who will add value to your life. Another verse says you are not a leader worth being followed if you have no conscience. You should be able to tell the truth bluntly.
  In verse 10, the author avers that you should never be a cheerleader to other champions all your life. You should have an exalting opinion of your future greatness, by becoming your own biggest fan. But you must imbibe the principle of letting things go. Because when you let go, you can expect something better to replace the past. Whatever is yours and you deserve will always stay with yous or come back to you. Think create and sell ideas because developments always stem from ideas. And do the right things according to your instincts. Never be bothered by what bricks others are throwing at you. The great man is he who has been able to use the bricks thrown at him to build bridges for his own fulfillment.
  Verse 25 of Generations Power states that when you are nailed to the wall by life, the world might pretend with offers of help, but the lesson is that you should never put your hopes in any one person. But that you should put your hopes in God, Almighty. To do otherwise could be disastrous.
  According to the author, a successful business is strictly business. Love and business do not work together. But you may intimately love your business. You must ultimately be in love with your business commitments.
  Giving back to the people is the theme of verse 27. The richest men always give back to the people. So does Bill Gates, one who was once the richest man in the world. And in order to be a survivor, never depend on anyone, and never expect the loyalty of anyone. But you have one to lean on, the one everlasting father, the Almighty God. And that is your prime survival secret. That with God all things are possible.
  The principal motivators of life is the text of Verse 30. Here, Mr. Baker avers that passion, burning passion and patience should make you tick as a business person. He contends that if you chose money as the main object of your endeavour, then you might fail, because money can only give you temporary satisfaction. The purpose of reading is Baker’s next  preoccupation. Here, he says that the proper parameters of reading are to know, discover, improve and make positive impact on people. That through reading you can transform your life, transform others and the world at large. He admonishes you to read leisurely and seriously every day. You should also initiate a reading campaign.
  At verse 40, the author says it isn’t by body size, frame and might that you make it your Canaan. He says your brilliance, opportunity and your time management are the keys granting you access to making it in life. But you are irresponsible, greedy and thoughtless if you cannot share success secrets garnered over the years. With your secrets, you can inspire, empower and give for the development of the common humanity. Baker avows that the man who wins is the man who thinks he can and is determined to win.
  In verse 47, the author asks, what do you seek God for? He answers by saying what we should seek God for are miracles, mercies, favour, grace, happiness and longevity. Thereafter, he admonishes you to encourage no evil and do no evil. Thus, the worst things is for you to keep sitting next to the wrong people. He therefore enjoins you to choose your friends wisely. Moreover, you are urged to coin for yourself a good name. For names are your selling image. Perfect names win you fondness, opportunities, favour, clients and profits. Perception is more important than facts. Which is why your names have exponential value with other goodies following your great name.
  On marriage, Baker enjoins you to give a breathing space for your spouse, if you want to enjoy, improve and prolong your relationship. A friendship is desirable when it is workable, so nurture a relationship by making it mutually desirable. Stop stalking a desired friend endlessly. Otherwise you become an unwanted stalker. There are others who value and want you. Go get them and stop the tomfoolery!
  The author’s full names are Adebayo Baker. He is a branding and project development specialist. He makes a living as a writer and consultant. Being Internet savvy, Baker is a website designer, erudite scholar and literary critic. Baker is variously skilled in out of the box creations and planning. He is involved with Care Partnership Network, a non-profit association seeking to meet the vital needs for development, empowerment and advancement of children, youth and under-employed families. Baker is a global citizen, having been born a Nigerian with Bahanian roots.


A CREED TO LIVE BY

Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us are special. Don'...