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EXTRA: She for He: Amazing women who stood in for me

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EXTRA: Know when not to demarket Nigeria, By Lekan Otufodunrin
Lekan Otufodunrin

Reflecting on some decisions I took while I was ill for weeks recently that made it impossible for me to honour invitations to speak at some major programmes, I am glad I unconsciously got three women to represent me and they expectedly proved that what a man can do, a woman can do better if given the opportunity.

The first programme was a 60th birthday lecture  which I was invited to speak on Digital and Information Technology and Church Growth about two months before I became ill.

Days before the lecture, it became apparent that I couldn’t make it to the programme despite the wide publicity with my picture and I was worried that the celebrant will be disappointed if I just called to inform him of my situation since he was not aware of my state of health.

You can always find a replacement for yourself if you have to and make a good case for them as a suitable alternative.

I quickly thought of someone I could suggest as an able replacement who I assured the celebrant would do justice to the topic. I called

Adesewa Greg-Ighodaro , Lead, Communication Coach and Strategist at  Corporate Church Consulting who I have not spoken with for long but I follow her work on various platforms.

Despite a few days notice, she accepted to stand in for me and she waooed the celebrant and guests with her excellent presentation.

In the words of the celebrant, Adesewa was “fantastic. She did justice to the topic.”

The second assignment was to be one of the main speakers at a training programme by Labour Writers Association of Nigeria. I told the Vice President of the organization I was ill but should be well by the date of the programme.

It later dawned on me that I was not yet in good shape to make it to the programme. There was someone I assumed I could call at the last minute to stand in but it turned out he had an emergency situation to attend to.

Who can I call two days to the lecture to represent me considering the high calibre of the other speakers and will be able to speak on the Specialized topic: The Power of Social Media and the 2023 elections ? I remembered my old colleague at The Punch, Adesola Ayo-aderele  who resigned from the company early in the year as Editor, Online.

I called and asked that she should help me out of my dilemma. She immediately agreed and I didn’t have to bother about having a prepared lecture for her to read. I had none.

She got her power point presentation ready and delivered it to the delight of the organisers and participants who called to thank me for getting a very suitable speaker on the topic for them.

“She is very knowledgeable on the topic and shared lots of insights,” the programme Coordinator told me.

READ ALSO: INTERVIEW: What journalism practice of over 30 years taught me –Otufodunrin (I)

The third assignment I couldn’t attend was my Multimedia &  Online Journalism class at Nigeria Institute of Journalism (NIJ). I was almost sure I will be able to show up in the class having missed three earlier once, but it occurred to me that I may not make it back from Lagos where I had gone for check up.

Not wanting to disappoint the students, I called Oladunjoye Blessing , Publisher, bonewssng.com and shared the course outline with her to take the class.

She is a former Best Graduating Student of the institution and I was sure she has enough experience to take the course.

Two of the responses I got from the students are below:

“Ms Blessing covered the topics on multimedia journalism.  She inspired me to want to have a blog.Thank you sir.”

” She taught us well.”

 Pay attention to what others are doing and be willing to recommend them to people who may need their expertise and experience.

My appreciation to Adesewa, Adesola and Blessing for not only standing in for me at the assignments, but generously sharing their knowledge and insights.

My appreciation to many others who did other things for me while I was down.

The reminder and lessons from the above for me include the following:

*You can always find a replacement for yourself if you have to and make a good case for them as a suitable alternative.

* There are enough women professionals to speak on any topic if you look out for them.

* Pay attention to what others are doing and be willing to recommend them to people who may need their expertise and experience.

*Otufodunrin is the Executive Director at Media Career Development Network

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