Imafidon’s cue, the genius in you

Everyone about 30 years of age and even above deserves to have a first-hand experience of Prof. Imafidon’s mesmerising lecture, the thesis of which is that everyone can be a genius. A man of high-octane academic humility, no wonder he is so great, Prof. Imafidon believes that every parent can achieve what he is able to achieve in his children by following his principles. He believes that Nigeria is filled with abundant talents that are wasting away because of people’s failure to identify their talents and use them optimally.

One cue that the lecture provided for everyone is the need to recalibrate our thinking and realise the uniqueness and genius in each of us. There must therefore be positive mental attitude to discover oneself and do one’s bit with passion. Even the well-touted Nigerian environment is not a problem as Prof. Imafidon illustrated the abundance of talents and opportunities Nigeria offers to the discerning.

The high points of the lecture, which was rousingly challenging and decidedly punchy as “a riot”, included familiarising the audience with the highly successful individuals that the master-mentor has trained to excellence. To demonstrate his confidence in the efficacy of his mentoring principles and methods, he did something uncommon. He offered to take the best two University of Ilorin graduates to the University of Oxford to develop them further and the worst two graduates of the University to show that everyone is a genius. He said that if the so-called worst graduates do not return home as excellent, he would offer us his apology!

Prof. Imafidon would want to meet President Muhamadu Buhari to tell him of the urgent need to revamp the education sector as the foundation for development, arguing that if education is right, other problems confronting Nigeria will be fixed. Fortunately, the Federal Government has realised the need as the President, represented by the National Universities Commission (NUC) Executive Secretary, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, submitted on the second convocation day/ Founder’s Day, October 21, 2017. According to the President, he had directed “the Minister of Education to convene, within the next few weeks, a Ministerial Summit to be attended by all members of my cabinet to tackle the key problems of the sector with a view to restoring education to its lead role as human development game-changer.”