SAN FRANCISCO, March 05, (THEWILL) – Investment guru and Senior Pastor of the Christian Brethren Church (TCBC) Lagos, Afolabi Oladele, has urged Nigerian youths to shun mediocrity and pursue excellence.
Speaking on Sunday at the 2017 edition of the Awards For Excellence, an annual event organised by the youth arm of the church for deserving youths in the country for leadership, service and academic excellence, Oladele, told the youths to erase the word ‘impossible’ from their vocabulary.
He encouraged them with the story of how he blazed the trail during his high school days as he moved from a regular 30th position in class to 3rd position in one term after he was challenged by a classmate who scorned him over his regular position.
He then threw the challenge to the youths across the nation declaring that “you can be better, you don’t have to remain at the level at which you are.
“Whatever mistakes you have made, no matter how long you have been at the bottom of your class, you can change that narrative from today. You have the ability in you, find out what God has put in you and do it.
“Look at those who have gone ahead of you and learn from the worthy ambassadors and good examples. Be challenged by the things you have seen today and put the things that you have learnt and heard into practice and you will excel excellently.
“Yield yourselves to God and anything you set yourself to do, know that you can do all things.”
Highpoint of the event was the re-naming of the TCBC Exceptional Service Award (group) after Pa David Olawoagbo in recognition of his service to youths in the church and community. The award was carted away by the music group of the youth church.
Also recognised was Master Obafemi Damilare who won the Dele Oyeleru Prize for Exceptional Service (individual) for creativity and excellent problem solving skills.
Akachukwu Paul was given the Noel Abdulahi Leadership Award for his leadership skills and excellent service to the people of Bauchi state during his days as a corper under National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), where he was also a recipient of the Governor’s award for service.
The big award for the day, the Afolabi Oladele Prize for Excellence, was given to Master Onele Samuel for an outstanding result in the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) as he scored A1 in Further Mathematics among other subjects.
The event also featured a workshop by Adeolu Akinyemi, MD/CEO Avenues to Wealth and Senior Pastor of Heaven’s Citizens Christian Centre Lagos.
Dividing the participants into five groups, Akinyemi gave each group a secret task and asked each group to make an impromptu presentation based on the given task but focused on excellence.
At the end of the task, group 1 emerged winner with 99 points followed by group 5 with 90.5 points.
