Don’t grow bitterness, be tenacious to succeed, LASUTH CMD tells youths

Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, Chief Medical Director (CMD) Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) has urged Nigerian youths not to grow bitterness but be determined and tenacious to succeed against all odds in life.

Fabamwo, delivering a Keynote Address at the launch of a book written by a young Nigerian Entrepreneur, Mr Opeyemi Ojo, titled: “Be Stubborn” in Lagos on Sunday evening, said that Nigerian Youths must never give up in life.

The medical expert, who used the occasion to share an interesting story of how he decided to be a doctor from secondary school just because a doctor used to come to his college to pick up one of their teachers, said that his life story could be related with what the writer portrayed.

According to him, tenacity and God factor have helped him to pull through various challenges to rise to where he is today, hence the need for Nigerian youths to be envisioned and purposeful.

“This book is about a young man who has decided to chronicle the entirety of his life. It talks about his humble beginnings, challenges, relationship, spiritual life and all struggles he has had in life.

“He (the writer) has been able to portray to us that life is about being determined which we can see from the title of the book ‘Be Stubborn”.

“This book has a lot of lessons for the young people even the old because we need to have a vision and know our purpose in life and have tenacity and recognise the God factor in our lives,” he said.

Fabamwo, the Chairman of the occasion, who said that against all odds he had scaled hurdles to head several positions including rising to be a professor and being a former Chairman of the Yoruba Tennis Club, said: “These are things I never thought will happen.

“Whatever will be will be, there will be obstructions, just keep moving. Whatever the situation, believe there must be a brighter light at the end of the tunnel.

“You must let go, don’t grow bitterness with people you feel had done you injustice or hurt you.

“It is my pleasure this day to formally launch the book Be stubborn, written by Opeyemi Ojo,” he said.

The Book Reviewer, Mr Femi Adekunle said that the book was by all standard classic and contained a lot of lessons for nowadays youths and young adults.

Adekunle, a legal practitioner, who wrote the foreword of the book, said the artistic work talked about family and opportunity and how to maximise all aspects even if it is failures.

“It is going to be a blessing to readers. “Be Stubborn” is a metaphor for being tenacious, obstinate, passionate and never giving up in life,” he said.

Speaking on “Be Stubborn”, Ojo said that the book talked about his life, journey which he described as six F- Family, Finance, Faith, Failure, Fear and Future.

According to him, the book epitomises the struggle of an average Nigerian man in terms of entrepreneur.

“For me as a child that was tagged the black sheep of the family, I eventually became the son of consolation.

“For every parent out there that has lost hope in any child, there is hope and light at the end of the tunnel if you don’t give up.

“My advice to Nigeria youths is that they should not cut the growth process, go and learn. There is a time to learn and there is a time to earn. You cannot jump the process.

“As an entrepreneur, there is a whole lot to learn in that book and for every Nigerian youth. If they keep at it, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.”

It was reported that the author also launched a Content Marketplace called KOKAWE.com, an online platform to market intellectual works.

“The word ‘KOKAWE’ is a child born out of necessity after finishing writing my book and was looking for where to sell the book.

“I found out the average Nigerian cannot even buy on Amazon because of restrictions on your card. That is why we created KOKAWE, it is a platform where writers can monetise their intellectual property.

“On Kokowe.com, once you put your intellectual property there, from day one, you start earning money,” he said.

He said that people that value writers and their works would pay a premium to view their intellectual property on KOKAWE.com.

“If 1000 people watch your movie and pay as low as N200 everyday, it is something for the rest of one’s life. Imagine having a million people or 500,000 people viewing the work.

“No one can download it(the material), share it and pass on the log in to others, you just have to watch it on the platform,” he said.

Several speakers at the event poured encomiums on the writer for being visionary and determined.