Following the fifth Student Union Leadership Summit held at Kwara State University in Malete, Kwara State, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engineer Gbenga Adebayo, received recognition. The honour was presented to him during the KWASU Students Union Lecture, with the theme “Education, Youth Development, Skills, and Quality Leadership: Building a Pathway for Better Nigeria.
Adebayo, who is also the president and founder of Royal FM 95.1Mhz Ilorin, urged the students in his lecture to embrace entrepreneurship as a way to broaden their horizons and make a significant contribution to the economy.
Adebayo who has a degree in telecommunications engineering is presently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Communication Network Support Services (CNSSL), one of Nigeria’s top companies for the construction and maintenance of telecommunications networks.
Over 50,000 kilometres of terrestrial fibre optic cable have been installed throughout Nigeria by CNSSL, which currently maintains a sizable portion of that network. Additionally, the corporation created and installed telecom masts and towers across the nation, produced well over 500 mobile phone call sites, and today maintains terrestrial infrastructure in Nigeria and up to the Niger Republic.
In addition, CNSSL is interested in broadcasting, and it now owns five radio stations in Nigeria and the UK.
Gbenga Adebayo, with his entrepreneurial skills, also manages a group that runs a comprehensive television service and is currently starting terrestrial transmission after receiving a digital television license in Ilorin, Kwara State.
Agriculture, hospitality, supermarket retailing, food and beverage, hospitals, medical and health, and electronic waste management and recycling are some of his other interests.
The lecture:
He exhorted the students to follow in the footsteps of honourable leaders who are endowed with skills and abilities like: Honesty, morals, Vision, Compassion, and Care, which make them well-suited for leadership.
“Based on the notion that leaders can be developed, we as business owners spend time and resources helping employees develop their leadership skills. This shows that leadership itself is a skill that can be acquired through external means.
He continued by advising the pupils to avoid negative thinking. You express your ideas using language, sometimes in conversations with other people and other times by yourself. Pay attention and listen to yourself, whatever it may be. Do you ever catch yourself speaking these words to others or yourself?
“I don’t have what it takes. I am not good enough.”
“I am afraid that _____.”
“I didn’t do it perfectly, so I’m a failure.”
“What if I can’t finish in time?”
“But I might fail.”
“My behaviour is not hurting anybody.”
“Sure, I did that, but it was because [someone else did or didn’t do something].”
“Why is this happening to me? I deserve better than this.”
“It’s too late to ____. I cannot change now.”
“I’m just too busy. I’ll do it later.”
“Nobody cares about my success.”
“Everything I do fails.”
“What do other people think about me?”
“They have it so much better than I do.”
“If I could only _____, then I would be happy.”
Hopefully, you see how these statements can stifle your progress and keep you trapped in despair”.
The Heart of Toxic Thoughts
“Beware of cultivating a mindset or attitude that nurtures destructive thoughts.
Toxic thoughts are deceptive notions that have a harmful impact on your life (and the lives of those who are close to you). Your health, sleep habits, anxiety levels, and other factors can all be impacted by your thoughts.
Gbenga Adeabyo’s proposal for a better Nigeria is the way forward
In response to the topic of huge young migration from Nigeria to other nations, he said:
It will be challenging to discuss a better Nigeria without taking into account the detrimental effects of mass youth migration (also known as “JAPA”) on our economy and its future..
“What is this migration called: It is the movement of a person or a group of people to settle in another place, often across a political or administrative boundary. Migration can be temporal or permanent, and it may be voluntary or forced. It is good to know that migration is not exclusive to humans. Animals migrate too.
“Migration may impose high human capital cost for the Country by leaving the country without the human capital necessary to achieve long-term economic growth.
“Countries that experience significant levels of migration will not have a young population that can contribute economically to the economic development of their nation of origin.”
According to Gbenga Adebayo, this might cause the nation as a whole to lose a sizable amount of wealth.
The transfer of people from one country to another in order to take advantage of the superior economic prospects in the receiving country is known as economic migration.
Politically motivated persecution based on political affiliation, civil conflict, and/or legislative changes are frequently factors that push people to migrate.
“The JAPA problem is due to lack of employment and social guarantees on our young population and not due to any political persecution.
“The most negative impact on our country is the fact that young graduates (and our highly skilled professionals) leave the country for better opportunities.
“Today many of our engineers, IT specialists, doctors, nurses, engineers, and very brilliant professionals are lost to other countries”, he said.
The chairman of ALTON added that building Nigeria’s economy required sustaining domestic growth and retention of the quality workforce required for nation-building.
He told the students that Nigeria has great potential, “we are blessed with many natural resources, we are free of many natural disasters, a large proportion of our population is young people an age bracket that most of you in this hall belong to if you JAPA the country will rely on foreigners for needed skills in the future”.
