The POLITICIAN 1000

Once in a generation a force of nature descends upon
a nation and the destiny of that nation is forever altered.
Nelson Mandela’s emergence into the apartheid
struggle in South Africa forever altered the destiny
of that nation. Mahatma Ghandi could not stand idly
by whilst his nation was being pillaged by the British
Empire and through the principle of non-violence, he
resisted the British occupation and won India’s independence.
Time wouldn’t allow me to speak about the
impact of men such as Thomas Sankara, Michael Collins,
Kwame Nkrumah and so many others who fought
tirelessly for the liberation and empowerment of their
people and achieved great fetes despite the personal
cost.
Isaac David Balami was born in Borno state in the
North-eastern part of Nigeria. Isaac didn’t have an
easy childhood and economic challenges forced him
to do manual labour, farming and anything he could
lay his hands on in order to make money to support
himself as he tried to acquire an education. Isaac’s
persistence and determination paid off and he was able
to gain a HND in aircraft maintenance engineering followed
by a post graduate diploma in Aviation management
coupled with several other professional qualifications
from Nigerian as well as American institutions.
He is also the recipient of numerous awards
and accolades including the “this day newspaper”
top 50 professionals of 2011 and the
international African role model for business
development. In April of 2010 he was
elected as the national president of the national
association of Aircraft pilots and Engineers
(NAAPE), a position which he was
once again re-elected in this year.
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Isaac is also the spokes person for the trade union
congress of Nigeria. He is an enormously talented and
hardworking professional who attributes his meteoric
rise in the Nigerian social ladder to providence, hard
work, integrity and dedication to his duties. A young
man who understands and fully implements the principle
of deferred gratification, because surely true greatness
doesn’t come except by patience and hard work.
This is the attitude that the Nigerian youth so desperately
need to imbibe in this fast food, microwave
generation where nobody wants to wait for anything.
If they try something for five minutes and it doesn’t
work they immediately throw in the towel and look
for something else to do. This short cut generation
that wants to buy a Bentley even before they’ve even
learnt how to drive car. In life’s numerous endeavours
the principle of “sowing and reaping” holds sway and
the people who we look at today as being “successful”
didn’t achieve that status overnight. They spent many
years in obscurity honing their craft and perfecting
their skills.
Tiger Woods began playing the game of Golf at the
age of 2 and his father would take him to the golf
course daily and teach him that discipline and hard
work are far more much more important than talent.
The world is filled with talented failures,
gifted people who refused to pay the price of
self discipline and commitment. They wanted
overnight success and when it didn’t come
quick enough for them they simply threw in
the towel and abandoned their dreams.
BY PAUL OKADE Jr