By M.A. Adisa
03-01-2008
I have never been made a Knight, I have never been asked to open a new airport. I have never even had a street named after me. Yet today I have been given the great honour of being made President of our club.
I use the word “our” club not in the royal sense but in the sense that I hope that over my term of office we will accomplish much together. That, of course, means making demands of your time and your energy. I do so unashamedly. It is our club and it will be successful only if we work for it. Club officers are sometimes a bit like politicians. We expect them to be responsible and we blame them when things go wrong. I prefer to think of this club as a democratic institution where we all share the blame equally and where we all work together. I hope you will find it well worth your while to do so. After all we are all more than aware that there is great need for the work we do.
I am looking forward to my term of office with some trepidation. I don’t think anybody here will stab me in the back. Today I ask you all for your support and your help. If we had to describe our fellow indigenes by writing their characteristics anonymously I think very few of us would recognize ourselves. You see all of us mean something different to other people; some of us have attributes that are very apparent. You might, for instance, be a wonderful letter writer. If so, please put that talent at the service of osun news by writing articles, poems and possibly join editorial board and take osun news to the next level. You may be a great listener and hear more than people actually say. If so, let us know what you have heard so that we use it for the benefit of all. So please don’t underestimate yourselves. You are far more important than you may think. I would like to thank members of the Executives for putting up a challenging agenda for this fiscal year, which was overwhelmingly approved by the house at our April meeting. Taking a giant step towards accomplishing osun house dream will surely transform our club. Let’s be committed and regard this giant step as a gateway to good things to come.
Congratulations to osun news. You are welcome back; be objective and cautious.
Sit back, read and enjoy yourselves.
Date: 02/02/2008
In the name of the almighty God, Most gracious, Most merciful. Praise be to God for his protection over us and for everything that he has done in our lives. Good evening fellow indigenes.
I am delighted and honored to be standing and addressing you for the first time since my election as president of this great organization. I would like to thank my predecessor, pastor Babatunde Mathew Adeyemi, for his love, support and encouragement; I sincerely appreciate and thank every one of you for the trust and confidence you have in me for electing me president overwhelmingly. I will certainly work hard to justify your confidence and I hope at the end nobody will be disappointed.
Obviously, every President is a different person with a different lifestyle, a different approach. Some are hands on people while others like to delegate. I hope that during my period in office we will all put our shoulders to the wheel together. You see in our club there are needs to be met, and things to be done. My predecessor did a wonderful job and I know I am going to find it very difficult to improve on perfection. All I can say is that I will try very hard to follow his good example.
People of vision and hope founded this organization. They had ideas they wanted to implement and they wanted likeminded people to join them in their activities. So you will see that while I appreciate how busy many of you are I will still ask you to contribute your bit to our club. It is our club and without you it is nothing. That is not to say that I expect you to live here or to be at meetings seven nights a week. I would much prefer less meetings and more action. Our club is what we make it, no more, no less. If it is successful it is we who make it so. Now I do not think any of us want to be members of a club that is dying on its feet. We want to be part of a dynamic organization that gets things done. In an age of Internet access that may be possible without too many meetings.
That is not to say that we should forget the past and the way we worked before. Every organization has its own tried and trusted methods of doing things. That is not to say though such methods are cast in stone. We must always be willing to try new ideas, to be open to new suggestions but it is only fair, I think, that those who make such new suggestions should work on their implementation. We are in a world where the work ethos dominates all others. Yet we are also in a world where there is a need for association like ours. Their success or failure depends on us and what we do. Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible. So tonight I am challenging you to join me in doing the impossible and doing it extra well. I hope that for my term of office the word “cannot” will not be used.
As your President I would like to see our organization expanding its horizons; reach out to other indigenes within and other areas in North America; reach out to our ex. Presidents and tap from their wealth of experience. To do so we may have to throw out some old ideas and embrace new ones. That is no harm because after all we live in a challenging world. What we should never throw overboard though are standards and our beliefs.
I use the word “our club” frequently and not on the royal sense but in the sense that I hope that over my term of office we will accomplish much together. That, of course means making demands on your time and your energy. I do so unashamedly; it is our club and it will be successful only if we work for it. The goals of this organization have been clearly defined and we have been blessed for good leadership; past presidents have laid the foundation; however, we must take a giant step in order to move this organization to the next level. I am challenging you again and asking for your support in taking this required GIANT STEP, which is going to be the highlights of this administration. I will further expatiate on this our next meeting after I might have discussed it with the new executives.
Thank you all. May God bless you abundantly.
Date: 02/03/2007
Special thanks to God Almighty:
I thank God Almighty for He is great. He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He makes grass to grow upon the mountains. He gives food to all the animals and to the young ravens that cry. He stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of His upper chambers on their waters. He is not delighted in the strength of the horse; he has no pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord takes pleasure only in all the people that fear him, and those that always hope in his mercy. Who is like the Lord our God, the one who its
on the throne who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? Above all TOIOG let us not relent in our continuous giving Praise and thanks to God for all His mercies over us and over our families. God makes peace amidst us and circled us with peace. He causes his wind to blow, and water to flow. If the sun, the moon, the stars of light, the water above and below the heavens can praise and thank him because he commanded, and they were created and he has also established all these things forever and ever.
TOIOG members, please let us standup, and say, “THANK YOU LORD!” Amen!
Thanks to the Past Presidents, Executives & the members:
Nothing in life is ever successful without the corporate effort of many gifted people who were willing to network and submit their talent, experience, passion, and commitment for a common goal that join us together. To this I will like to thank all those who have shoulder the responsibilities of this noble course beginning from all our exPresidents of this established unique organization—TOIOG, who have dedicated, worked relentlessly and committed themselves by laying a well solid foundation for this organization that we all are proud to build on. Our 1st President Mr. Olatunji, Mr. Kola Akanni, 2nd President, Mr. Animasahun 3rd President & Mr. Emmanuel Oke 4th President—with all of their supporting vice Presidents, Executives, and all TOIOG members. I say thanks to you all for a job welldone.
I believe that when God joins people together, it is a supernatural act. During the past 14 years, I have been keenly aware that such a joining has occurred between the leaders and the members of TOIOG. This is why we are unique; this is why we are what we are today. But remember, this is just the beginning. As an adage that says, “Ibere kii se onise, bikose eniti o ba foriti de opin lao gbala.”
Welcome Address:
I welcome you all to the 2007/08 TOIOG Fiscal Year. I’m excited about the opportunity to begin a brand new year on this noble journey of giving and serving a1together. There’s nothing quite like the ritual of taking down the old calendar and hanging up a new one to remind us that life is a fast moving journey! But one of the good things about a new year is that it gives us an opportunity to stop and ask ourselves some questions:
These three questions will lead us to individual search of heart, to think about why am I a member of this noble organization? And also, what can I do or contribute as individual to the success and progress of this well established organization. There is no way this type of question will not lead us to what is call CHANGE. Change always bringing new ideas, focus and integrate moving forward and backward never.
Changes:
It is a metamorphosis approach to newness in the way things used to be done, new structure and planning. It is a fundamental way of change in form and often habits of human methodology of doing things. Overall, we are all very pleased with the establishment, foundation and the direction of which our organization is heading. Our change should be to identify/outline our new priorities among them:
Meetings
- Commitment to build efficient meetings
- Our meeting should be prompt and punctual:
Start 6:00p.m.
End 8:00p.m.
It seems we are gradually falling off from the standard time we set to start our meeting. Our bylaw stated that the meeting could start only with 2/3 majority. I am recommending to the constitution committee to come up with new numbers of member that could present to start our meetings. And to adhere to our starting time 6:00 p.m. or 6:15 p.m. and to stop in 2 hours. We should also, cut back on irrelevant issues. I recommend to them to look at the following:
Our meetings should be focused more on achievement than rhetoric. Not just talking, but acting.
- Spend our time qualitatively, set our cost to build a basis for working together on our critical business issue. This means we should Be sensitive
Activities:
This area rest heavily on the shoulder of our Social secretary. Our major events for the year is as follows:
1. Fundraising (if needs be)
2. End of the year party.
The major problem is securing a hall. Our Social Secretary should be able to give us update on the secured places for these 2 events by the next meeting. On each events, we might choose a team (not calling it committee) for this event. This will alleviate some boardings from the Social Secretary.
3. We need summer activities:
Committees
Committees will report to the house on a monthly meetings.
- Meet regularly—Telephone Conference applause
- Keep your committee meetings short but focus on the goal achievement
- Report to the meetings on your assignments
- Have fun
Investment:
Introduce a new and unique method of establishing an investment that will benefit members and even motivate/drive our horizon of commitment to Osun Indigenes organization.
Discipline:
Execute effective Constitutions and bylaws to gear us towards our responsibilities and services to the organization. I believe in “What is worth doing at all is worth doing well”. If we truly signup to be a member of TOIOG, the love, and zeal that drove us to be a member should always drive us to be a dedicated, and committed member. Respect should not be for the President, Executives or members of TOIOG alone, but for the name that joined us together as The Osun Indigenes Organization.
FundRaising:
FundRaising should take a new direction. We have various suggestions from Deacon Oke, and the vice president Chief Adisa. We will listen to them as the meeting continues.
Projects
We will revisit all projects that we have put together.
- Outline the ones we will working on
- We will all agree on which are of high priority
- We will focus on getting one thing done.
All these strategies and changes are all about how we are going to accomplish our objectives. i.e. how our committees will be linked together to get the performance we want without leaving anybody behind. I am talking about Team work. Committees should look at what they are in control of and how they influence and build objective appropriately.
I cannot do but to mention the great things that God is doing among us. We have 2 of our members that through grace of God went to the holy land – Mecca last year and this year.
They are Alhaji Lekan Salami, and Alhaji Niyi Akanni. We are proud to have you not only as a member but as brothers and family. We pray that the spirit of God will continue to lead you aright. Also, it is with my great pleasure and pride that amidst us the Alliance of Yoruba Organizations have chosen a leader that will not only lead the Organization but change and move the organization forward in the right direction. My pleasure to announce and congratulate Mr. Kola Akanni. Please, let us all stand up to welcome our Alhajis, and congratulate Mr. Akanni.
TOIOG, remember that the mark of a leader is to be able to make even difficult decisions and act swifly.
With God and our efforts in love and unity with the interest that joined us together, we will make it. Thank you all the members of TOIOG for your love, interest, and dedication. And also for entrusting me to lead you again through this millennium fiscal year 2007 – 2008. Leading is serving, and I promise with God’s help and your loving support, I am ready to serve my unique organization members and our community.
May God richly bless you & May God richly bless our noble organization Osun Indigenes.
Prepared by: Pastor Tunde Adeyemi