We are concerned about how to broaden our influence, how to make sure that our influence is strengthened, that we become the leaders that we are meant to be. It has been said that if you think you are leading and nobody is following, you are just going for a walk. A lot of us are just going for a walk, because we have no influence, there’s nobody following us. We have a high title in the office and people just listen because they are forced to listen. We ourselves feel the tension, the uphill struggle it is, to make people do what we want them to do. There is a better way; you can actually make people want to do what you want them to do. This is what influence is, when people really, really want to do what you want them to do. You are no longer threatening them with appraisals; you are not kicking them and screaming at them. They willingly volunteer to do your will.

We are concerned about how to broaden our influence, how to make sure that our influence is strengthened, that we become the leaders that we are meant to be. It has been said that if you think you are leading and nobody is following, you are just going for a walk. A lot of us are just going for a walk, because we have no influence, there’s nobody following us. We have a high title in the office and people just listen because they are forced to listen. We ourselves feel the tension, the uphill struggle it is, to make people do what we want them to do. There is a better way; you can actually make people want to do what you want them to do. This is what influence is, when people really, really want to do what you want them to do. You are no longer threatening them with appraisals; you are not kicking them and screaming at them. They willingly volunteer to do your will.

The beauty of communication is that it is light, that light disperses the darkness of gossip of rumors of misperceptions, it is worth it. To shine the light of the truth and bring to the open everything shrouded in secrecy. this is what kills rumors, this is what the approach of every leader should be.

We expect equality, priority in the work place for both males and females by 2030. Even in the most advanced countries at this time, only 11% of members of corporate boards are female. Women earn typically even in the most advanced countries, 15-20% less than their male counterparts, for the same job, yielding the same results. Here in Nigeria I have my countrymen complaining about the fact that there is not more representation for women and youth in political leadership or in elected leadership or in political appointments.

Suicide in this African society has been on the increase in recent times, some people blame the economy, they say it has affected the family ties, everybody is struggling for themselves. But does depression affect leaders differently? Does it affect the people at the top differently? What is depression? What is it not?

This is something that affects a lot of leaders but they don’t like to talk about it. Leaders and leaders to be, leadership is lonely, it is lonely at the top, it is only when only you can see the vision and nobody else can. It is lonely because really exemplary leaders invest themselves, their very being, everything they have into the vision. Sometimes they even lose their families in the process. Mandela lost his family, not just his wife, his close immediate family. He was lonely, he married again, too late to start all over. He had paid the ultimate price and it was not just him. Would it have been easy for Mahatma Gandhi to have been in an ashram in a loincloth? Maybe that was not his first choice of how to live his life, but at a point his life was no longer his, it now belonged to the people.

Suicide in this African society has been on the increase in recent times, some people blame the economy, they say it has affected the family ties, everybody is struggling for themselves. But does depression affect leaders differently? Does it affect the people at the top differently? What is depression? What is it not?

This is something that affects a lot of leaders but they don’t like to talk about it. Leaders and leaders to be, leadership is lonely, it is lonely at the top, it is only when only you can see the vision and nobody else can. It is lonely because really exemplary leaders invest themselves, their very being, everything they have into the vision. Sometimes they even lose their families in the process. Mandela lost his family, not just his wife, his close immediate family. He was lonely, he married again, too late to start all over. He had paid the ultimate price and it was not just him. Would it have been easy for Mahatma Gandhi to have been in an ashram in a loincloth? Maybe that was not his first choice of how to live his life, but at a point his life was no longer his, it now belonged to the people.

We live in an era where nations are actually been created. The Soviet Union broke up, while Eritrea, Southern Sudan, , and so many that never used to exist all of a sudden are in existence. Some are thriving and some are failing and what makes the difference? These are some of the things we’re looking at.

Common history, A history that unites and does not divide, common enemies, common values, and common vision is the foundation of a people deciding to move together and be one. You might say that African countries are not nations, because we were colonized and forced to come together , but so was Singapore. Colonized , Ethnic Malays, Ethnic Chinese, a mixture. Religion mixed, some are Muslims, some are Confucianists, they are not homogenous. Some are forced together but they make it work. And some are forced together and they keep harping back to a past that is precolonial. That predates when they were forced to be together and they would not move forward with common values, with a common vision.

We live in an era where nations are actually been created. The Soviet Union broke up, while Eritrea, Southern Sudan, , and so many that never used to exist all of a sudden are in existence. Some are thriving and some are failing and what makes the difference? These are some of the things we’re looking at.

Common history, A history that unites and does not divide, common enemies, common values, and common vision is the foundation of a people deciding to move together and be one. You might say that African countries are not nations, because we were colonized and forced to come together , but so was Singapore. Colonized , Ethnic Malays, Ethnic Chinese, a mixture. Religion mixed, some are Muslims, some are Confucianists, they are not homogenous. Some are forced together but they make it work. And some are forced together and they keep harping back to a past that is precolonial. That predates when they were forced to be together and they would not move forward with common values, with a common vision.

What really causes African or sub-Saharan countries, in general to sort of not fulfill their potential because potentially we are some of the richest countries on earth. Naturally speaking endowed by the creator with all kinds of natural resources, starting from the people. The people are the chief natural resource of the country and then beneath the earth, we’re talking about different resources - gold diamond like no other continent on earth, just blessed beyond imagination, vegetation, lush, water. There is a country that can actually sell water to other countries because of the amount of rainfall in this country, where some other countries are looking for water to buy. This is Africa; I said I’m proud to be an African, I’m proud to be a Nigerian. Patriotism is something you should try too because we have no other country,

You could be a Nigerian-American, a Nigerian-Briton, but you know what always makes me laugh, whenever someone does something dastardly in England, like a random guy just goes down the road and stabs a person, they suddenly remember that his parents were once Nigerian, then they say born to Nigerian parents, da-da-da. There is no example that is better to make this so clear as that of Anthony Joshua. When Anthony Joshua was caught with weed at the back of his car, he was a Nigerian in the UK. ‘Nigerian caught with weed in his car’, he did some time for it, but when he won the heavyweight championship, it was ‘Briton wins th-‘I couldn’t believe it, I thought, wow how did that just happen? In one word, your country of birth, your parent’s country, whatever the case may be, what you are naturally seems to be the only country that you can claim no matter what you do right or wrong. The nations of this continent must become our pride and joy.

How can you say colonialism is not responsible for where we have found ourselves? Colonialism thrived in areas where a ruling elite could be taken over by the colonial institution and they could use the structure to take over the people. The picture that I am seeing is almost like a parasite that lands and uses the existing vessels and structures of its host to feed off its host. Meaning, the colonialists would get to a place if there was no king it became difficult to govern the place. So if you have a senate or a ruling council, how many people did they want to dominate? Ten chiefs, fifteen, twenty? it was easier to impose a figurehead as a leader or the ruler, and then throw the force of the British army behind this person so we got to south eastern Nigeria were they never really had kings, they had chiefs, they had their own ruling council, and they were doing fine, but then it was inconvenient for the colonial powers to rule through their structure, so they appointed kings, so most of the kings we hear about in the east are less than a century old, we all know that.

VOC is a radio broadcast dedicated to unleashing the transformational leader in you. VOC teaches us to ask the right questions from those who offer themselves to lead us and discern between the legitimate leaders and the impostors who seek to serve none but themselves. We seek to birth a national renaissance through the new breed of Nigerian Leaders.

VOC is a radio broadcast dedicated to unleashing the transformational leader in you. VOC teaches us to ask the right questions from those who offer themselves to lead us and discern between the legitimate leaders and the impostors who seek to serve none but themselves. We seek to birth a national renaissance through the new breed of Nigerian Leaders.