We all have our stories of childhood – some bitter, some sweet. My Leading Woman for this week tells me hers was tough. “My father’s name means ‘the king has arrived’, but I did not see much wealth,” she says. “What I saw was much love. It cushioned off the struggles. I also saw my father believing in me, and taking a risk to send me to school and to the university when it was against social expectations as girls were traditionally expected to be married off early, and only needing minimal education. I learned to be loving, compassionate and kind because I got those virtues from my parents and my family experience. I also learned hard work and perseverance because I could not afford to fail, and despite all odds, to aim high in life, a trait that has remained in me, and which has been boosted by my strong faith and trust in God.”
I managed to catch up with her to share her story with me before the show started as I was invited as a guest speaker for her television programme on NTA called ‘Voice of Eve’. Violet Arene is my Leading Woman for this week!
She bagged a 2nd class upper degree in History from University of Ibadan, a PGD in Education, an M.A. in Education from Arizona State University in the United States, and a PhD in Education from University of Lagos. A believer in social contributions and legacy, she was NTA network presenter for ‘Kith & Kin’, a family social programme, for six years. She is a motivator who empowers women through her TV women enlightenment programme called ‘Voice of Eve’. A management development consultant and trainer, she is the president/founder, Lydia Rock Consult Nig. Ltd, a management consulting and training firm.
Arene had several years of experience working in the public sector, which, she says, enlarged her heart and patriotic fervour. “In both my experience in the Federal Ministry of Education and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, I gave my service with passion and predilection for excellence. I think I did very well because I have many merit awards for distinction in service, in management and leadership,” she tells me.
She not only had experience in the public sector but also with the private sector, and she speaks about it. “My experience in Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) after my statutory retirement from the NNPC, after more than thirty-five years in the public service, exposed me to the culture of the private sector. I combined my experience in the Federal Ministry of Education and in the NNPC to give management training programmes to the IGI group staff,” she says.
Back to the reason she invited me over, to be a guest on her show, I thought it wise to ask her when and why she started the show. She explains that she started the ‘Voice of Eve’ a year ago, as an independent producer and presenter, to provide a TV platform dedicated to airing women’s voices over women’s issues and national affairs.
“As you know, women are key stakeholders and contributors to the project-Nigeria, today and in history. It is also to give women not only a voice, but visibility. It serves as a platform for women to be given the opportunity to participate in serious reflections on issues of national development, democracy, and the future of Nigeria for our children, and to particularly advocate for the girl-child’s protection and education as potential mothers of the nation. Women’s education and enlightenment, we believe, will accelerate national development and the growth of the national economy,” she tells me.
She adds that the response to the ‘Voice of Eve’ has been very favourable both here in Nigeria and with Nigerians in Diaspora, since the episodes are also on Youtube and “we are also liked and commended on Facebook”.
In yonder days, I used to rush to catch up with ‘Kith and Kin’. That programme turns out to be Arene’s first TV experience. “‘Kith and Kin’ was a family programme which aired for about seven years from 1994,” she says. “I was surprisingly invited to be the presenter by the NTA network. It was my first experience in television, but it went very well, people never seem to forget about it. I learnt a lot from it about social values and how important this soft side of life is to Nigerians.”
Arene tells me that her heart is naturally oriented to people. “I can call myself a natural human developer. That is why I have great success in teaching, training, preaching, mentoring coaching, and counselling. I did mention the pathogenic society in my first book, ‘Personality Excellence’, to sensitise the gap between what especially the underdogs in our society have been made to be from neglect and sub-human living, and what they could have become with better attention and provisions. The developing world presents this unhappy scenario and it takes a toll on their human capital, their greatest asset,” she explains.
I asked her what drives her, what’s her philosophy, and she says: “My philosophy in life is to live a purpose-driven life, God-honouring, unrelenting servant-hood, loving and giving, deeply compassionate, and legacy-minded. I love to build, and I am building all the time, whether physical structures or human beings, from nothing to something, and from good to better, with relentless faith in possibilities that have made what would have been a very ordinary woman one worthy of your interview today. I am an unrepentant optimist, and unstoppable, because I have faith in God.”
Arene shocks me with one of the most fascinating responses I have received from my guests on this page when I ask what their professional and personal challenges are.
“The main professional challenge now is ‘who will inherit my library?’” she says unequivocally. “All my children are medical doctors. None is into management consultancy and training.”
We both laugh at her response, but she tells me, seriously, that she is exploring ideas of what to do with the books.
Ever grateful to God for all he has done for her, Arene concludes: “At my age now, I can say, like King David in the Bible: ‘I have been young, and now I am old, I have never seen the righteous man forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.’ Money is not everything. If we know God, His love, grace and mercy, we will try to be like Him wherever we are, and to live an accountable life.”
By: KEMI AJUMOBI
