Joni the Change Agent Int.

NIGERIA and Dream killers. There is no hope for a better tomorrow in NIGERIA.  That's just the raw reality. You're free to call me an unrepentant pessimist or say I am not a patriot. Straight to my points,  I just spent 23 days in NIGERIA and I witnessed many things. I discussed issues and exchanged ideas with ordinary people on the street. I entered the public transport to listen to the daily struggles of fellow Nigerians. I am speaking the harsh reality on ground not just propaganda against any government. In NIGERIA of today, it's very hard to see majority of people uniting against Illegalities.  You will surely still see supporters of evils around you who are ready to use one absurdity to validate another abnormality. For example, look at the revolutionary initiative of Chief Sunday "Igboho" Adeyemo who recently declared "Fatwa" against the marauding nomads, rapists, assassins and kidnappers in Yoruba land. I am not sounding as an atheist...

THE ROAD TO MY TRANSFORMATION~ Story of Jonathan Olakunle Olanlokun.  "Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scar."~ Kahlil Gibran Whenever I see someone depressed and wandering all about due to issues of life, I look back to the darkest time of my life and thank God and wish such persons a quick turnaround for good ~ Jonathan Olanlokun. June 2015, was just three months into a Season of my life, which I believe was ordained and orchestrated by God to help face and overcome my seemingly insurmountable challenges of life.  In October 2014, I received signals to migrate from Osogbo to somewhere else. There was no particular place in mind, though. I made every possible effort to prevent my relocation, but all my attempts were proved abortive. On top of that, my business crashed: as a serial/social entrepreneur, my business was over-burdened due to high demands to singlehandedly fix stuffs without external aid or...

RISING STRONG  (Long post) "Vulnerability is about showing up and being seen. It’s tough to do that when we’re terrified about what people might see or think.” ~ Brené Brown. "Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it's having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it's our greatest measure of courage,” ~ Brené Brown. “Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am brave and worthy of love and belonging,” ~ Brené Brown. “I was reminded that shame is a liar and a story-stealer. I have to trust myself and the people I care about more than the gremlins, even if that means risking being hurt."~ Brené Brown. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <> At a time of being very vulnerable was the same time my work as a change agent came to limelight.  <> On 23rd March, 2015 after I chose Lagos in place of Abuja. I migrated to Lagos bec...

Saturday 8th February at LUFASI NATURE PARK, LEKKI/EPE Expressway, I thought it was only going to be a interview shooting...where I will be sharing my social impact stories with Hustlewella media crew. To my surprise after my interview, our non profit, Barbara Abike Epperson Foundation (BAEF) received valentine special season of love, cash donation from Hustlewella. I have seen people win prizes.....these people feel on top of the world when they hold and take pictures with the prize board they won. So today I'm very happy holding a support board with BAEF'S name on it courtesy @Hustlewella. BAEF say thank you🙏🙏🙏👏👏👏❤️❤️🔥🔥🔥to HUSTLEWELLA - Jonathan Olakunle Olanlokun is the Founder of Barbara Abike Epperson Foundation. The donation will be injected to BAEF'S ongoing Okeonitea Osogbo Sinkhole Filling Community project that we are struggling to raise 200k for. https://www.facebook.com/1722477437965000/posts/2483753321837404/

Without me realizing it commitment has become important in my daily life. Over time, it has determined the way I think about society. I never really thought of it consciously, nor have I studied the concept or read about it before. Maybe now is the appropriate time to do so. I don’t use books or theories and what they have to say about commitment. I want to start from my own experience. I want to describe what commitment means to me in practice, but also in theory. Why an essay? Sometimes the written word, not only expresses a thought, but also the process of thinking itself. A process that is unfinished, but through writing about it we hold on to the thought. The written word can be resisted, can be negotiated and corrected without it fading or disappearing. To begin with, one’s expected to open with a definition. I do not believe in definitions. If we define concepts then we tend to think in solid terms, while concepts are always dynamic and can be differently defined. I do no...

LET’S REMOVE THIS CURSE    By Biodun Opaleye Recently, I interviewed a cross section of retired people in our society irrespective of where they retired from. I discovered that most of them until recently earned between N800 and N2,000 not to talk of a huge percentage that earned nothing, judging by the small percentage of our working population out of the unwieldy 100-120 million Nigerian abandoned population. Everybody is now turning into a trader if he or she must feed daily from hand to mouth. The unpleasant spectacle is the huge percentage of ageing men and women I interviewed, who up till mid-day might not have eaten any food probably waiting for providential major meal for the day. As I watched many. I could imagine them cursing the society from within their hearts. Recently I overhead two prominent Nigerian citizens on radio and newspaper condemning the present members of the National assembly for being incompetent in one thing or the other. How I wish t...

GIANTS BORN ON THIS DAY - George Nsikak & Jonathan Olakunle Olanlokun “There are different kinds of men: those who identify opportunities and those who use identified opportunities, obviously, only those who make use of identified opportunities will definitely hit the bull’s eye”                                                                                                                  ...