There is a saying that for everything there is a season, and a time for everything. It is that time again; the time to celebrate our outgoing mentees. The time to look back on the toil of the past 12 months, the time to weigh our gains, to put them before us and to admire them as treasures that are precious beyond measure. It is also the time to welcome our incoming mentees, to start getting to know them and for them to know us. To start building new bonds that, God willing, we shall nurture to the end of our days. Most of all, it is the time to pause and to evaluate the gains of the past year so that we may build on them and to examine the mistakes that we may, in the future, avoid them. It is time to celebrate WISCAR.
Let me, before proceeding further, recognize, mourn but also celebrate a woman for all seasons. A woman whose impact on our lives is more marked by what is because she was here than the horror that could have been but for her heroic actions. I speak of the late and much lamented Dr Ameyo Adadevoh. She, it was who helped Nigeria dodge the destructive meteor that is the Ebola Virus disease. She it was that turned face-on devastation into a glancing blow and in doing so she sacrificed her life. Please let us stand up and observe a minute’s silence in the memory of a national hero.
I will never cease to be amazed at the giant leaps that WISCAR continues to make each year and the momentous impact that it continues to have. As in previous years WISCAR has kept faith with its WIN with WISCAR model, a proven success. We have continued to tweak the programme to make it even better. We have continued to build on our past successes and that is why each of the features of the programme is so insightful, educational and fascinating. That is why our mentor/mentee matching has always been so inspiring. That is why the WISCARs we feature in each of our MEET-A-WISCAR events have been so motivational; that is why our book reviews and seminars have been so seminal and informative; and that is why our collaboration with HBC (Habiba Balogun Consulting) has been so revelatory of the proper norms and standards of business conduct and organisation.
I thank all our mentors specially for giving of themselves and of their time so completely; our course facilitators for their depth of knowledge and their readiness to share; our advisory board members for always being there; our patrons for your continued support and encouragement; our donors and sponsors for their essential material support, our special adviser, Mrs Funke Amobi, for her operational organisation and guidance, the WISCAR staff for their steady service and most of all, our mentees for seeking to be transformed.
I congratulate our graduating mentees. I exhort you to put all you have learnt into practice and to quickly rise up and up the career ladder.
I welcome our incoming mentees. I envy you the year you can look forward to; the year of learning, of growing, of maturing and of transforming. Please make the most of it.
Before I finish let me congratulate our Patron, Honourable Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar GCON on her retirement from the high office of Chief Justice of Nigeria. She went into office as the first woman in that exalted office, and she exemplified herself in her performance, her probity, her elevated principles and her mentorship. WISCAR and all of us celebrate with her for an excellent tenure. She has broken the glass ceiling and paved the way for other women.
In finishing, I urge us all to be industrious but principled in all our deeds. There is nothing more fitting than that we should rejoice in our own works for that is the true path to enduring happiness. May our deeds provide service and may our successes be meaningful always.
Amina Oyagbola
Founder
