Experts drawn from diverse field of endeavours have charged individuals, business owners and employees to imbibe the spirit of tenacity, resilience, and the right mindset in order to overcome adversity in life or business.

This submission forms part of the highlight at the third edition of the Imperfectly Awesome Conversations Summit hosted by Omotola Bamigbaiye and held on Sunday, April 13, 2025 at Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos.

Imperfectly Awesome is Omotola Bamigbaiye’s ode to Resilience and Tenacity, which she first put together in her book titled, “Imperfectly Awesome”. It was written in an honest and relatable tone to help people love themselves, reinvent, and bloom.

Delivering her welcome remarks at the occasion, the convener, Imperfectly Awesome Conversations Summit, Omotola Bamigbaiye, noted that the platform remains a veritable avenue for experts to share their experiences so that people can be inspired and learn from them.

Bamigbaiye said her experience had shown that failure or pitfall is not the end but an opportunity for growth.

In his keynote remarks, the Project Delivery Manager, NLNG, Amos Ologunleko, urged the gathering to begin to act like reformers who are ready to go against the norm and rebuild systems with clarity and courage.

Ologunleko, emphasising the need for the gathering to learn to take ownership as this remains a key principle of transformation, said learning to take responsibility as against passing the buck or blaming one another would go a long way to usher in growth and progress not only as an individual but as a business.

Speaking during the first panel session, the Marketing Manager, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Omolara Banjoko, while drawing from her childhood experience noted that resilience was pivotal to overcoming challenges in life.

Banjoko, charging everyone to keep pushing regardless of whatever maybe confronting them, emphasized the need for young people in the workplace to give adequate priority to their personal growth as they strive to reach their desired heights. She underscored the significance of soft skills in the work place as it remains a tool for professional excellence.

“These days, we take soft skills like precision, consistency, and discipline for granted, yet these are foundational to both personal and professional excellence,” she said.

In her remarks during another panel session, a transformation expert, Dr. Folakemi Fadahunsi explained that the best approach to overcoming impostor syndrome by any individual is to believe in oneself or develop a can-do spirit.

Also commenting, Senior National Program Specialist, United Nation Women, Patience Ekeoba stated that the society has been structured in a way that women suffer all forms of exclusion. Ekeoba called on men, employers of labour to reverse the trend by ensuring that women not only sit at the decision-making table or but also given equal sense of belonging.

Also speaking during one of the panel sessions, Managing Consultant, BusinessMax Consulting, Alex Goma, stressed that every business person must learn to be persistent as this remain a key driver for success. Drawing from his experience, Goma stated that no business leader or person should see setbacks in sales as rejections, but rather as opportunities for self-evaluation and recalibration.

“If sale doesn’t happen, it means you haven’t sold the benefits in a way that meets the customer’s needs. Go back and refine your message. Don’t give up,” he said.

On her part, the Marketing Director, Moët Hennessy, Osato Evbuomwan, stated that mindset remains the cornerstone of both resilience and tenacity.

“Your mindset is the story you tell yourself when something goes wrong.  It’s what determines how you show up the next day. If you tell yourself you’re a failure, you’ll show up as one. But if you believe it’s a lesson, you’ll keep growing,” she said.

The event featured three distinguished keynote speakers who dwelt on topics such as authentic storytelling, resilience and tenacity among others.

There were three panel sessions with a line-up of impressive speakers such as Global Strategy Consultant, Franklin Ezekhome, Founder/Creative Director of The Indigene, Abigail Tiwa Olanubi Host of The Word Café Podcast, The WordSmith, Amachree Isoboyei, Author/Founder Exquisite Magazine, Tewa Onasanya, among others.

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Umar Iliya Damagum, has said that the All Progressives Congress, APC, is more divided than the PDP.

Damagum stated this while welcoming some members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, who defected to the PDP in Nguru and Bade Local Government Areas of Yobe State.

According to him, the PDP is always a formidable opposition force, noting that the party knows how to address any internal issues if they arise.

“If there is a crisis, we know how to solve it. We are united, and our leadership is intact.

“We have one chairman and one secretariat, while the ruling party cannot even hold a NEC meeting for almost two years. You can’t compare the two,” he said.

He pointed out that the ruling party has not been able to hold a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in nearly two years.

“I don’t know why the media continues to report crises within our party,” he added.

Damagum reiterated that the PDP remains a strong and united brand, adding, “We are the party to beat.”

He maintained that the party’s doors are open to those who left in the past, as it prepares to build a credible force for the 2027 elections.

The Lagos State Police Command has denied arresting hundreds of Boko Haram suspects in Lagos.

CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, the command’s spokesperson, refuted this in a statement released on Friday in Lagos.

He stated that in response to allegations, the state’s Commissioner of Police, CP Olohundare Jimoh, ordered an immediate inquiry into the matter to determine the truth of the claim.

“The outcome of the investigation reveals that there is nowhere throughout Lagos State that the group mentioned in the report – Boko Haram – were seen or sighted or arrested.

“Furthermore, in the trailer park communities mentioned, the leaders, operators, and drivers in the indicated places in the report clarified to the police that there were no such elements of Boko Haram seen or arrested in those localities.

“The command, notwithstanding, deployed surveillance police detectives, the Lagos State Police Intelligence Department (SID), and other formations of the Force to the mentioned places for the purpose of verification of the claim.

“No one confirmed the presence or arrest of such group members as reported in the write-up throughout Lagos State.

“Therefore, the report in its entirety is false, malicious, and ill-intended to cause fear and apprehension in the minds of the public,” he said.

Hundeyin enjoined residents to disregard and discountenance the write-up as untrue and a figment of the imagination of the writer which was very unfortunate and despicable and should be outrightly ignored.

“Members of the public are encouraged by the Commissioner of Police to go about their duties and other means of livelihood without fear or apprehension, ” he said.

The image maker enjoined the media not to allow the use of their esteemed publications to incite fake news, and outright falsehood that could jeopardise the peace and tranquility being enjoyed in the state.

“The writer of the story is advised to verify facts and truth of any information before going to the press,” he said.