|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
When it bears thinking about, as the saying goes, it calls for depth. What seems normal oftentimes seems average. You name them – things, ideas and men! The regular human is time and again of average value, with very little or no lustres. He is fed so fat with even so little. Staying content with so little, the average fellow is chiefly entrapped by his distorted or badly contorted views of life and living. Regrettably, the temptations to remain run-of-the-mill are countless, varied, ego-driven and loud. The lures are all about us, invitingly winking at us every given moment of the day and, at every turn. Not so strangely, whatsoever is classed as average is often undistinguished, commonplace, easily stimulating us into throwing in our hats into the ring of nothingness, listening to the many sweet songs that revel hollowness. Being normal is, therefore, no winner under the shiny, brilliant judging eyes of men, even including those of average worth. It is only because it is what it is – average. And, they too know it. They too, like others, are called upon to write… but it’s always to write very fittingly the footnotes of the pages of history.
On the flipside, winners are succinctly different and are not of average worth. As header-writers, winners are incomparable even in the three previously listed spectacles. As humans, winners are irregular, in very bright, excellent sense. In many ways, they exceptionally stand out, shouting the rest of us to new heights, pointing at all the less-travelled boulevards. Winners do recognise that the croak of greatness is covered in silence that is almost death-like in its echoes but somehow they cry out to it in loud pleas and thereafter, making a determined go at it. Winners are brave, explorers of the often untried grounds and, are always wrinkling their noses at unoriginal thinking whilst deliberately turning their backs at corny heights, banal achievements. Compared against the rest, winners are strange in almost every way, some of which are seen and the others, unseen. As things, they are always so spectacular, captivating us whilst entrancing our imaginations and sullying our hitherto sense of magnificence. And, as ideas? At first, winner-ideas always enjoy sluggishness in acceptance but they are quite capable of great changes, inevitably redefining values, advancing individuals as well as societies by several steps.
Now, how about whenever there is a discourse on the average human? It is ever so easy to decipher what is being talked about given its usual dour settings. It is always about that individual with very average ideas that is awkwardly and lifelessly ambling his ways through life with very average efforts, whose possessions can fit in so well into some average space and consequently, living out an average life. He is also that individual who, more often than not, sees firewalls about him and taking no chances because his liver is dressed in lilies. But you know the economist can be a very thorough professional and when he’s called upon to plot out the grid of the average man’s life, the curve is always going to be unappealingly flat – no peaks, sans troughs.
Aren’t we quite fortunate that societies aren’t entirely made up of men of average fibres? Yes, there are other men and women who are, like Guinness would say, made of more – of stronger frameworks. They are, of course, beyond normal. They are extra – a man and a half, possibly or two-brained humans. They are quick to admit, like the rest of us, that the challenges are unnerving, intimidating and daunting but so unlike the rest of us these men chose to look at them directly in the eyes and, resolving them. Though negligibly small in number, this special breed of men suffers greatness in belief and single mindedness of purpose. The roars and trembling of the oceans hold no fear for them and the densest forests present for them some very well-flowered playgrounds. And, whenever the tempestuous storms of the seas call, swallowing many a fig-boned man, these individuals always merrily ride them out to the shores, with big smiles residing on their faces, surprisingly. They understand quite easily that as long as they don’t give up, they can always bypass the red-lights that so oftentimes zap the energy off the rest of us. On very countable occasions, they impatiently wait for the green-lights to turn up. Because go, they must go and, as is often the case, they usually go.
See these names. Tony Elumelu. Jim Ovia. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede. Paschal Dozie. Fola Adeola. Tayo Aderinokun (of blessed memory). Subomi Balogun. And, the last of the titans of that generation, Herbert Wigwe. These are the men who have helped in giving some vivid redefinition to the nation’s financial sector at various times, beginning from 1990. They are the headline men – men embracing and being propelled by richer values so different from the rest of us. Though winners these individuals are, they all exhibit those distinct personal fortes, abilities and characters that counter the normal tendency towards conformity, shallowness and inertia. Of worthy note is the fact that the men in all of these individuals have long been established before they became great bankers. Money seems to give them less joy, taking the cuffs off other men, certainly holds the ace of fun for them. As winner-entrepreneurs, nature also threw many paradoxes, many ambiguities and many disquiets at them, like the rest of us. And, because these men are so different, their responses to the puzzles, forebodings and opacities turned out different too. With flamboyance, panache and class, these men ripped apart the very limiting old rules book, galloping over them all whilst requesting for even more of the fears that have held many of us back for many scores of years. Generally, humans seek to transcend death by discovering meanings for their lives but these great men have done loads more, pointing at, directing the paths for a large number of lives. And, their many wakeful nights gave hundreds of thousands (discounting their multiplier dimensions) many trouble-free days, with coins in their wallets, and attainments and aspirations to boast about. And, in their screams, myriads of dreams are being realised. As they slowly stride away, they are leaving behind great financial institutions which hopefully will face up to the ravages of time.
And, the good-natured Walter Akpani – the chief executive at Providus Bank – steps out. Walter is astounding in his abilities and in his capacities. Given his photographic memory, Walter admiringly plays with figures and transaction details in their hundreds. He is a man imbued with the aptitude and the discernment to figure out the sundry meanings of the silent noise of time as against the marking movements of clock, which drives ordinary men. Walter, like the rest of his ilk, understand that the former sails soundlessly, exposing great visions while the latter only ticks away, driving activities of the lesser mortals. Walter comprehends extents – in actions, words, professionalism and promises. I know he’d so easily keep within his. Something about him belies Walter. His genial exterior. For, he is an illuminating exemplar of doggedness, perseverance, far-sightedness and purpose. Providus Bank is here with us today. It’s a journey that started more than a decade ago. Welcome to the club, Walter, whose membership I do not enjoy. See you in another fortnight.
Tony Monye
