2025 Was not for Blogging..2026 May Be

Written on January 1, 2026

It is the first day of the second quarter of the 21st Century. Hello world! 

2025 was an interesting year in the sense of new restarts. It was the year things started were ended and new things restarted. 

For me it was professionally significant as it marked the twentieth year of post-graduation career, which also saw my emergence on the exact anniversary of that graduation as a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers. This was extremely fulfilling. Now we are called to mentor younger engineers- deliberately. 

Travel- As you all know, my love for traveling can never diminish. Top new countries visited in 2025? Monaco, Croatia, Benin Republic   and Sierra Leone, where I’m blogging presently as I spent the last days of the year here.

Why Sierra Leone? Well I have familial connections because my sister despite haven never  visited here, is married to a native of this land for almost 17 years. They’re genuinely warm and affectionate people in all my dealings with them and further proven since I have visited. But much leaves to be desired in terms of converting their potential as a small country compared to say Benin Republic, Nigeria’s   Closest neighbour we just rescued from the jaws of a military coup that seems to have taken some page off the books of Rwanda the efficiently run patriotic autocratic state, and say Monaco that tiny principality of France where I smoked the most expensive Shisha (Hookah) in the world at $250. Gracious!

Books- as for 2025 and Books, favorite literature was the book My Nigeria, I re-read Straight to Hell memoirs of a Walk Street Junkie and read after so much postponement the memoirs of  Rtd Major Debo Basorun’s Book- Honour for Sale,  about working with the Evil Genius, which contrasted with IBB’s book ironically named  “A Journey In Service “ . It was interesting reading Major Debo's book with my dad;s version and all his markings. Though gone nine years now, it is crazy how we read alike an his thoughts could easily have been mine! Insight. Legacy.

...and of course African Ngenuity written about yours sincerely and our work at LoftyInc Group. 

You should pick the book. It has a significant part of 18 years of my 20 years professional journey focused on the world of my business of pioneering innovation across Africa. Worth the read 

National Front- after the urgent national assignment, it is the season of deep networking. As we take stock of what we have built and we see the National economy on a more modern footing, 2026 has to be the year of positioning for growth. Electorally, the field of contest is open this new year but one must also focus on positioning than ever. A word is enough for the wise.

Africa Economic Outlook- Key markets continue to look interesting. Nigeria. Egypt. Kenya. Francophone. Took it on the chin in the last couple of years as they undertook painful orthodox market reforms. Time to reap. I will be more aggressive on Congo, Zambia and Benin republic this year if you ask me.

Will I blog much this? Well, watch this space 

2023 - The Year of Big Bold Moves, 2024 the Quadratic Year?

Numbers do have meaning I think. For me, the years of 3's (1993, 2003, 2013) always seem to go by without any resounding big life milestone. No graduation, no birth, no deaths, no drama.

Such was 2023 except there were big moves. Nigeria has an election. I took on a new work leaving a company I built for nearly 15 years, and entered public service full time.

The year was also built around opportunities for me. A year that my emotional intelligence was tested and here we are in 2024, the year of the 4 decades for me.

One week to my birthday, I checked this blog that I have wanted to updated for months and figured it is good to drop a line or two on here -the only word is GRATITUDE.

The journey has been intense but eventful. In this four decades, I'm most grateful to four categories of people on this journey: My Parents - for without them, the core values and opportunities I have today I many never even smell, I stand on the shoulder of giants; My Family - this include my wife, my siblings and my cousins; they've brought only laughter and joy to my life. They've aided, challenged and driven my progress in life in ways they cannot even imagine. Because of them I'm complete and for this I'm grateful; My Friends - I think I've been blessed with the best group of friends any man can ask for. From primary to secondary to university to even my post-school work life, I've been blessed with good humans who always root for me, stand in the gap for me and give me the best advice. Inclusive of this are my very older aged mentors, my older friends; My Children - Isaac and Isabella have only brought profound sense of responsibility to my life's journey. These two angels have been instrumental to my humanity, they are the reason I do what I do when all lights are off and because of them I'm blessed. 

As I look forward to celebrate next week, I'm conscious of the saying that a Fool at Forty is a Fool Forever, how about a wise men? Does the converse apply? I hope it does. 

2022 - Reset, Redisccovering Me in 2023

​This blog holds sort of a timeline of grown adult life for me. It is a collection of thoughts that date back different epoch of my life, first as a young entrepreneur and budding policy wonk, when I discovered blogging. Those early years were fun, I read and wrote copiously. 

Blogging was an offshoot of a favourite last time, contributing editorially to the slew of online message boards and platforms focused on issues impacting my country of origin: Nigeria, from the Diaspora. I had written severally for the likes of Amebo.com, Dawodu.com, NigeriaVillageSqare.com and iNigeria (then NIA).  It was all about learning, growing and sharing.

In the last few years as business and family building took over. & wrote less and I read less. I sort of missed it, even though long haul travels associated with my work has enabled to creatively cheat on the reading one. But writing became harder amongst all the distractions.

Then 2022 happened…life changed

This pages will be filled up for the better. My intellectual juices flowing. Life has happened and there are bountiful lessons to learn and share. Watch these pages 

2022 Travels to Remember: South Korea and Mombassa top the chart…

2022 Book to Remember: 

This book written by an early European business man seeking fortunes in Nigeria pioneer lumbering sector from the 40s is a must read for anyone who loves Nigeria. It shows dramatically how quickly the country has modernized and businesses improved.  

And oh my photo of the year, gotta be this young man …God bless them all.