Fear made me do this...22/09/2024-29/09/2024

1.??? Joseph Gomwalk Secretariat

I moved to Jos about 3 years ago, but the closest I have gotten to the state secretariat –before Tuesday– was the Secretariat Junction bridge. On Tuesday, I was at the Joseph Golmwalk State Secretariat for an official assignment.

The secretariat is a towering building with 10, 15 –or thereabout– floors. We didn’t have to crack a hard nut to be at...the 4th floor. The Ministry of Education. “We are here to deliver a letter,” my boss announced, and gestured me to give them the letter.

Intuitively, I opened the file to produce the letter. Hadn’t I seen a ‘Honourable Commissioner, Ministry of Education’ post on the door? “Sir,” I whispered to him, “It’s the Ministry for Women Affairs, not Ministry of Education,” I showed him the letter.

“Ohhh,” he chuckled. “Wrong address,” he turned to them, “I must have missed it. You know, we have delivered some letters here in the past, if you recall.

“Yes,” they affirmed.

Then we took 2 floors down. We couldn’t locate the perm. sec.’s office, so we stopped at an office where we were assisted by 2 staff: a young man in his mid-20s (I suppose) and another lady about 7 years older (I suppose). In less than 10 minutes, we were done.

Lesson: You never know enough. You go far by asking the right people the right questions. And sometimes, you are 'the right people' to others.

2.??? FIDA

I was at the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Plateau state chapter on Wednesday. I had a warm, friendly reception from the...administrative secretary (?), I suppose. She acknowledged receipt of a letter I delivered, but when I stepped out, I noticed it wasn’t dated, which I would be needing for reporting. So, I went back and politely drew her attention to it. She apologised, collected the letter appended the date, and in an interesting way, stood up to hand back the letter, curtseying. Efforts like these go beyond HR onboarding. It’s what my mother would always say, “The training begins from home.”

Lesson: The training begins from home. HR onboarding goes a long way, but the real deal starts from home.

3.??? Some bold professional moves I made this week?

1. I saw this advertisement for a magazine editor. It was offering $1,000/month, and demanded a hybrid system of work with a 1-day in-office attendance to “...assist with some administrative duties and planning of literary events.” Here I was, in Nigeria, but I did send an application! I, in fact, made them a bid: I was ready to work remotely, and forfeit up to 15% of my monthly compensation so they can hire someone to do the on-site work. Feedback awaiting.
2. On Wednesday, I sent out my resume to this other magazine. They were not hiring (at least, no advert was put up), but I sent out an email with the subject line, “Please save my details for when next you are hiring." Bold!

Lesson: Sometimes, be stupid enough to be Oliver Twist. I am not implying that the next stupid step you take may be 'the next step' you need to take for your next career, personal, or professional life. What I am saying is: take those stupid actions. If they don’t get you what you want, they, at least prove what they are: stupid. And maybe the actor too.

4.??? The Chatham House Rule

I learned more about The Chatham House Rule earlier last week.

When a meeting, or part, thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule

Participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity

Nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any participant, may be revealed.

Lesson: Sometimes, keep your mouth shut! Leave professional matters at in the office. Even if The Chatham House Rule is not invoked, be wise enough to leave your company budget where they belong: at the office.

5.??? Dewormers? Yes, please; no, please.

On Wednesday evening, I went out on a short stroll. I chanced on the women who owns a chemist in my area. Then I remembered telling myself the previous week, "Meeeeeen, I need to deworm!" I asked if she had dewormers. She told me there were two types. “There is the blab-bla-bla...”

About 30 minutes later, when I returned from my stroll, I stopped over at the chemist and bought a dose: 3 tablets to be taken that night after my last meal, 3 to be taken the following morning, before my first meal.

Yeah, I took for that night.

The following morning? I ate before I remembered.

So...it waited till I returned from work in the evening.

It’s 4 (5, now) days later, and here’s the dewormer beside me.

Lesson: Sometimes, it's okay to say, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

6.??? Jack of owl trade, master of noon.

Friday, I did one of the craziest multitasking I’d ever done.

INTERCEP was having an interactive forum with stakeholders, and my colleague who was supposed to moderate the session, was, like the cliché, ‘unavoidably absent.’ On that same day, I was scheduled for an online coaching session which would run from 9am to 12pm. The plan, initially, was to get to the office by 8am, start my virtual session by 9am, and head off to the interactive forum by 10am. However way I was going to do it, I was to moderate the interactive forum, and attend the virtual session. May I add, Simultaneously.

Fortunately for me, the 9am session was rescheduled for 12 pm later that day. Sighs!

So, I supervised registration before the forum kickstarted. The representative from the Ministry for Women Affairs was cross with me and kept on complaining about how “...you didn’t stick to time! You said 10, but look at the time, and you are still yet to start! If the commissioner were here, is this what you would have done?!” Looooord! I was annoyed from within, but smiled and apologised outside. “I am sorry, ma.” She wouldn’t stop whining. So, I pulled out a copy of the programme and shoved it to her face. “Ma, both arrival and registration are part of the arrival,” I smiled, “and both will take 30 minutes.”

She kept quiet.

Lesson: Don’t take BS from anyone. Even in professional settings.

7.??? Impromptu

On Saturday, I went to the Gada Biyu (or ‘Biu,’ not sure). I just wanted to take a casual stroll, then BOOM! Rain! For a minute or two, I was drenched, until I realised I had to find a way out. So, I walked to an umbrella stand belonging to a woman selling vegetables: pepper, tomato, red pepper, yellow pepper, green pepper, (everything pepper!), and okra. She had this weird look that seemed to be saying, “You want to seek to seek refuge from the rain here, so after the rain, you will disappear without buying anything abi?” I read it.

To save face (in the parlance), I asked her to give me N200 okra. And that was the beginning of the impromptu shopping for that day’s dinner: N1,500 beef, N100 pepper, N50 curry, N50 white nylon for tuwo, and groundnut. N170.

I made the soup (boy, oh, boy, you needed to taste it! Delicious! At least, that was what I was told...), then I was too tired to make tuwo, I made eba. You know one thing about eba? It always looks cooked!

Lesson: First, make the okra soup. You will remember you have 2 measures of garri in your cabinet.

Until I see you next week, keep fighting your fears.

Remember: sometimes, it’s better to go home than to go hard.

?

#K