True story, several years ago, I think about 18 years ago Mr Okpu who was a younger brother to a very wealthy man whose daughter’s computer I used to fix at the time, gave me a lift from Apapa on a rainy and very cloudy day in his Toyota Sienna to Toll Gate bus stop along Lagos-Ibadan express way. I remember that day vividly like I remember Mr Okpu’s coarse voice. Mr Okpu was a man who had a large personality, he was firm and yet friendly, he had this loud south-south voice (This a region in Nigeria) and had the confidence that could serve seven able bodied men enough if they shared it. I was so lucky to have him allow me ride with him on that faithful because when it rained Apapa was a terrible place to be stranded in those days, no easy access to commercial vehicle and if one were to get one he would pay more than is fair for it.

I remember the day so well and I still feel nostalgic about his advice as it stuck with me like an addict to his addiction, I do not know how Mr Okpu get to notice me being that I was young and a little scrawny or at least that was how I felt, somewhere on the journey Mr Okpu looked at me and said with his coarse and powerful voice “Mike what will make you in life, has nothing to do with what you do between 8am to 5pm” he went further and said ” It is one chance meeting, one person remembering you when it mattered most ” I am usually a skeptic, I do not believe easily but on that faithful day I believed Mr Okpu. I do not know if it is was my way of showing gratitude or it resonated with my dissatisfaction with things at that time in my life.

18 years down the line Mr Okpu’s advice has continued to be proven true, why, I realized every big break I have ever received has always been the work of chance. My skeptical mind though says Mr Okpu meant that I need to meet a wealthy person who will be willing to help me. Well if that is what he meant that has not been my story, most and if not all of those chances he said I need have come from ordinary people, who I cared for, who I never expected anything in return from. They have been my biggest blessing, ordinary people who mention my name where it matters and mattered. I will forever remember Mr Okpu and his advice, may God rest his soul, I can also retell that advice to you “Your Blessing will not necessarily come from what you do between 8am to 6pm” whatever you do be a good one always.