The Platform Nigeria: Changing mindsets one step at a time

Organised by the Covenant Christian Centre under the guidance of Poju Oyemade, its senior pastor, The Platform has since inception become a catalyst for change in the society. Oyemade, who was ordained into ministry by Bishop David Oyedepo, the presiding bishop of Living Faith Ministries Worldwide, is a teacher of the Word of faith with insight into how believers can apply biblical principles in a pragmatic and practical way in their daily lives.

Essentially, The Platform, which has become a global media event holding twice every year – on May 1 (Workers’ Day) and October 1 (Nigeria’s Independence Day) – is an intellectual fair geared towards helping people to create opportunities and develop their potentials. Annually, it brings prominent speakers from all around the world under one roof to share ideas, innovations and insights.

The vision of the initiative is to stimulate and inspire Nigerians, by facilitating the development of the proper mindset and right thinking processes through learning sessions that enable people to optimally utilise opportunities available to them in the country today. The Platform Nigeria events are, therefore, designed to facilitate growth in the areas of personal capacity, productivity and national development within Nigeria.

Tomorrow’s edition, tagged ‘Beyond Politics: The New Tribe of Africans Fighting Poverty and Changing the Face of the Continent’, will feature speakers like Victor Oladokun, an internationally recognized media practitioner, director of Communications, African Development Bank Group and CEO, 3D Global Leadership, a media consultancy and strategic leadership development company; Bosun Tijani, CEO, Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB); Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, CEO & co-founder, Flutterwave, and Adepeju Jaiyeoba, founder, Brown Button Foundation.

Others are Mosunmola Umoru, founder & CEO, Farmshoppe; Evon Benson-Idahosa, founder/ED, Pathfinders Justice Initiative; Orondaam Otto, founder, Slum2School Africa; Clare Akamanzi, CEO, Rwanda Development Board; and Oscar Ekponimo, founder & CEO, Chowberry.

The Platform has over the years featured as speakers some of the best brains in business, politics, academia, arts and entertainment, and other walks of life.

The roll call of previous speakers include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Matthew Hassan Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese; Oby Ezekwesili, former vice president at the World Bank; Ibukun Awosika, chairperson, First Bank of Nigeria Plc; Mitchell Elegbe, founder and CEO, Interswitch Group; Seun Onigbinde, co-founder, BudgIT; Taiwo Oyedele, partner, head of tax and corporate advisory services, PwC Nigeria; Itoya Ijewere of Best Foods Group and past president, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria; Anthony Kojo-Williams, former chairman, Nigerian Football Association; Judy Smith, American author and founder/CEO, Smith & Company; Pat Utomi, professor of political economy, management expert and founder, Centre for Value in Leadership (CVL), and Nimi Akinkugbe, founder and CEO, Bestman Games.

Others are Prince Bimbo Olashore, chairman, Board of Governance, Olashore International School; Abdul-Ganiyu Garba, a professor and former head, Department of Economics, ABU, Zaria; Roman Oseghale, head consultant, Intelserve Inc.; Andrew Nevin, partner, financial services advisory leader and chief economist, PWC West Africa; Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State; Anil K. Gupta, a leading expert on strategy, globalization, and emerging markets and the Michael Dingman Chair in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business; Haiyan Wang, managing partner of the China India Institute and adjunct professor of strategy at INSEAD; Magatte Wade, founder, Adina World Beverages and Tiossano and a 2011 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader; Luis Alexandre Chicani, founder and CEO, DentalCorp Brazil and DentalCorp Chile; Pius Adesanmi, a professor of literature and African studies at Carlton University, Ottawa, Canada; Segun Adeniyi, chairman of editorial board, ThisDay Newspapers; Bolanle Austen-Peters, founder, Terra Kulture; Alibaba, founder/CEO, Alibaba Hiccupurray, among others.

Themes have ranged from ‘Thinking Outside the Box’ to ‘Enterprise and Governance: The Bull and the Ballot Box’, ‘Cultural Innovation’, ‘Pragmatic steps to moving Nigeria forward – How Understanding & Building the Right Institutions is Driving the Growth of Nations’; ‘Nigeria, What is in Your Hands? Tapping into Our Dead Economy, Looking beyond Our Oil-driven Economy’, ‘Nigeria, Our Journey So Far: What Next?’; ‘The Nigerian Economy’; ‘Understanding the New Global Economy: How the Internet, Social Media and Technology is Driving Business & Entrepreneurship’, among others.

Topics have also included ‘Nigeria: Euphoria, Hysteria and Dementia: Still a long walk to freedom; ‘A holistic look at the Nigerian economy and its potentials’; ‘Entrepreneurship, Small and Medium Scale Businesses as the Vehicle for economic growth’; ‘The untapped potential in technology’; ‘Unboxing Opportunities with Power of Data’; ‘Nigeria Beyond Oil, The Crude Reality’; ‘Potentials in Agriculture’; ‘Untapped potentials in Sports, Football as a case study’; ‘The untapped potentials in Arts and Entertainment Industry’, among others too numerous to mention.

Both the themes and topics have always been selected with due consideration for their relevance to Nigeria’s continued quest for greatness.

When he chose ‘Cultural Innovation’ as the theme of the May 1, 2012 edition of The Platform, for instance, Oyemade said it was in line with his belief that it was the key to the progress of Nigeria.

“Every emerging nation as the term is used today needs to learn the basic principles of advancement from the more advanced nations, but it’s important we do not take their models but learn their principles. Their models have the DNA of their culture in it that makes it impossible to work that well elsewhere without adapting it to fit the environment,” he said.

Also announcing The Platform 10.1, which had the theme ‘Pragmatic steps to moving Nigeria forward – How Understanding & Building the Right Institutions is Driving the Growth of Nations’, Oyemade said, “Today we stand at a very critical place in the history of our country Nigeria. For the first time, one can feel among the thinking and educated class of Nigeria a certain level of discontent with the way things are. Some ask, with all the bloodletting and corruption seemingly rampant in every strata of society, is the project called Nigeria viable or worth it?

“Yet outside that environment hearing the thoughts and the voice from certain centres of power on the global level, it is clear that the geographical space is loaded with potential. It is recognized as a powerhouse with possibilities and potentials crippled only by the fangs of corruption.”

But it was perhaps Peter Obi’s expose on the wastage in government that brought The Platform to the notice of many people. Obi spoke on the October 1, 2016 edition of The Platform.

Coming at a time Nigeria was plunged in an economic recession, Obi’s speech on cutting the cost of governance resonated with many Nigerians and went viral on the internet. It attracted many comments, with some even calling for Obi to gun for the country’s presidency.

Sharing his experience as a governor, Obi spoke about how he cut cost by visiting Abuja alone, without the usual retinue of aides, whenever the need arose.

He also advised governors to scrap the Office of the First Lady which, he said, gulped N2 billion monthly.

“It costs an average of N2 billion to run the Office of the First Lady in every state in Nigeria. Multiply by 36,” Obi said.

“Nigeria can still function on its income if only we learn how to cut cost. We need to cut the cost of governance. No governor needs a house in Abuja; governors don’t live in Abuja. Government House is not a restaurant, I told my cook to cook for only one person,” he said.

In an article published October 9, 2016, Poju Oyemade said Obi’s “intervention on the waste that defines governance in our country today has touched a very deep nerve with many Nigerians, including me”.

“Indeed, I strongly believe that the political elite will be making a big mistake if they think the landscape will remain the same after such a revealing presentation,” Oyemade said in the article ‘Beyond Peter Obi’s Speech at Platform Nigeria’.

“It must be clear to every Nigerian at home and in the Diaspora that a sound has gone out on a serious abuse of public trust…. I hope all the office holders in our country (whether in the private sector or in the public arena) can hear what the Spirit is saying: the cry of accusation in the area of wastage is an accurate voice that changes the game. It is important that Nigerians make the adjustments before the Lord shows His hand in the affairs of our country and it becomes too late to change,” he said.

While it may be difficult to measure its impact in concrete terms over the years, there is no doubt that beyond the vibes it has generated, The Platform has been inspiring many Nigerians and changing mindsets one step at a time. The mammoth crowd that gathers at the venue every year is a testament to that. As Margaret Mead, the late American cultural anthropologist, once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”