At the time he was born, in the mid-1960s, Nigeria was in crisis. First was the technically flawed military coup of Majors Ifeajuna and Nzeogwu, both Igbos from Eastern Nigeria and their colleagues, which inadvertently thrust power in the hands of Major General Aguiyi Ironsi, also from the East, in 1966. The coup left Prime Minister Tafawa Balawa, and Northern Nigeria premier Ahmadu Bello, and several others mainly from the North of Nigeria, dead. That was followed by a Northern counter-coup a year later, that brought in a young Colonel Yakubu Gowon to power in Nigeria. These were preceded by the civilian crises in the federal Government of Tafawa Balewa . Everywhere, in Nigeria, there was instability, with the South-west as the major theatre of war.
His infancy was not threatened by the contagious madness of the political world. He was a precocious child. The first male offspring, growing up among younger female siblings. “My education was sheer complexity; from lowly public schools to expensive foreign education, more than 20 institutions in all. I have thus been enriched by a multitude of cultures, religions, people and attitudes and this has given me insights and experiences beyond my years, and consequently, a quite complex personality modulated only by the steady hands of my maternal grandmother. A mystery within an enigma.” He tells me.
His various life activities subsequently were influenced by his varied life experiences as a child. He experienced a mixed childhood, witnessed his parents struggle to establish themselves in life. “I learned to hunt and fish, and to sell bread and provisions to passers-by around my family home. While living with my maternal grandmother, I learned to sell bottled cold water and retail alcohol. I learned to lift cartons of beer and soft drinks and to go on sales trips around Lagos. Indeed, I was being prepared for financial independence and business success. I grew up accepting that sometimes I had to use a pit latrine, and enjoy the company of large green flies.” Today, he has become the sum total of his experiences; humanistic yet spiritual, idealistic yet practical, entrepreneurial and fiercely independent minded.
Welcome to the world of my ‘lunch date’ for this week, a Taekwondo master, a seven times Nigerian Taekwondo champion, listed in the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) Hall of Fame, in May 2013 he was elected the 7th President of the World Taekwondo Federation member national association (MNA), the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation, for a four year term. In 1988 he was named “Mr Nigeria” and represented the country at the 11 Mr & Miss University Pageant in Tokyo, Japan. A graduate of Chemical Engineering at the University of Lagos, In 2003, the Federal Government co-opted him as an official Chaplain for the COJA 2003 All Africa Games in Abuja. He also coordinates the NGO, Town Hall Meetings Project (THMP). He runs his own IATA Accredited travel business and is an official representative of the London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) in Nigeria. He was, until recently the Vice Chairman of the Tourism Group of the Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce, Lagos. A recipient of numerous international and local awards, a minister of God and one with a keen interest in mentoring emerging leaders and giving inspirational talks, to youths, government personnel and the general citizenry, on personal development and nation building. George Ashiru graces these pages this week.
Can anyone relate to those days of attempting Kung Fu moves after watching Bruce Lee?…I am sure I am not alone on this one and just in case you choose to deny it at least George is real about his except that for me, I only made it to a ‘pink belt status’…lol. Hear George share his experience “David Carradine was a popular American actor in those days, acting the lead in the television series “Kung Fu”, and I was an addict. It fascinated me that a human being could jump up or down from buildings, leap through walls and carry searing hot urns with the bare arms. That it was all film stunt did not occur to me. I enrolled in a martial arts class formally in 1976 in order to help me with the healing process for my arm, and to reverse the negative effects that the sinus was having on my breathing.”
“What started as a hobby began to become a passion for me, and I took my training with me to all the schools I went thereafter. Taekwondo became the ice-breaker for me. I continued my training in the UK, and soon became a Champion in many tournaments. While in the UK, I was also back to Nigeria a few times, during the Summer holidays, and won National tournaments. When I was later admitted into the University of Lagos to study Chemical Engineering I established the now legendary University of Lagos Taekwondo Club. In this time I won more tournaments and was part of the first national team that represented Nigeria at the 4th All Africa Games in Nairobi, Kenya.” He says. Many years later, it was a similar story, of Taekwondo and George, triumphing over pain, sinus, burns, and limitations of the mind or those set by others. His crowning glories of his Taekwondo activities has been his elections as President, Nigeria Taekwondo Federation, and Vice President of the Commonwealth Taekwondo Union.
In the 80s, George was Mr Nigeria. He was involved in a few entertainment events at the University of Lagos and in Lagos generally. In the process, he received an invitation to attend preliminary interviews for an event which would later be tagged “Mr University”. Though the process of selection was quite tedious however, he won the local process as Mr University, and then won selection as Mr Nigeria by the international committee in Tokyo. “By November 1988, I and Miss Olufunmi Banjo, who equally won nomination as Miss Nigeria went to Tokyo to represent Nigeria at the Mr & Miss University International Beauty Pageant.” He tells me.
As someone who has been actively involved in the sports sector of Nigeria both as participant and also an official, hear George’s views on the sports sector and way forward. Again, he speaks “Our sports development in Nigeria in the past 54 years mirrors closely our national development as a nation.Exactly 80 years ago Nnamdi Azikiwe, the former President of Nigeria, became the first individual to participate as an athlete in an international event,the Commonwealth Games. This provides an idea of how long we have had the opportunity to build and develop, and sustain a sporting culture and structure that will ensure our global dominance in sport in consonance with our population and natural and human resources.”
“The sporting age group of mainly under 30s are about 120million Nigerians doing an extrapolation from Nigeria’s current population figures. This is the demography that essentially engages in sports as both a career as well as past time. It is therefore a necessity, rather than a luxury, to continue to invest hugely in sporting facilities in every area of Nigeria as well as a robust and actualisable sports development policy which is effectual rather than idealistic.” he admonishes.
Speaking specifically on Taekwondo, he says “Taekwondo under my leadership, is going through a lot of transformation presently. After leading several transformation processes, I was appointed by the Minister of Sports into the National High Performance Task Team. These developments resulted in the best performances of our national teams in international tournaments within two years. 9 international gold medals compared to none between 1987 and 2012.”
That is not all that there is to George. He leads Transformation Ministries “Transformation Ministries began as Sports Prayer Group in 1999 as I started to encourage my athletes to add God to their preparations for major tournaments and for their personal and spiritual development. Every 90 minute training session was followed by 45 minute of worship and prayers. This was ministry began as I counselled athletes about their performances and I discovered many had a disconnect from the moral necessity to succeed in sport and life.” “Several years later, as I saw the expansion of the prayer group, including my invitation to be a Chaplain an Head of Prayer Department for the 2003 All Africa Games, I enrolled in Theological School to be better grounded at ministering to athletes. I earned certificate, Diploma, Degree, and Masters in Theology in yearly succession. By November 6, 2003, I was constantly invited to counsel or minister concerning Nigeria and the Government. So, the Transformation Ministries began, of intercessors for Nigeria.” he informs me.
George is also primarily an entrepreneur with varied activities and investments in aviation, consulting, sports and entertainment, events management, and business development. “My consulting company represents the London School of Business & Finance in Nigeria, and we also have a dedicated Enterprise Development Centre, and a Leadership Training Institute. I do a lot of inspirational speeches as well entrepreneurship training, for several private and government organisations. I am also a professional member of the Institute of Consulting, and the Chartered Management Institute (both UK) and a Fellow of the Institute of Information Management, Nigeria.” Interesting you would say, there is so much to George than meets the eyes.
George’s passion for the youths is revealed to me when he says “Youths constitute 60%-70% of the population, and they are the energy base of the work force. Youths are therefore the future opportunity of any emerging opportunity. Whatever seed we sow in them academically, morally, and professionally, will influence the direction the country will go in the foreseeable future. That is why I have created the “Joshua Generation” leadership conferences. The idea is to start influencing the values of the emerging leaders and hopefully re-invent the moral and work ethics of future generations of Nigerians. I discovered my passions as a youth and was able to be an ambassador for the young in many areas, and I believe if this youths are mentored they will steer our national ship to greatness.”
Speaking about his challenges and giving his parting shots, hear what George has to say. “I see opportunities where there are challenges. I picked up this idea from my martial arts strategic training. So, wherever challenges show up, I dig deep into my memories of tournament wins and ask how did I overcome the various tactics of the adversaries…there I get ideas of how to overcome whatever other challenges turned opportunity that I may have. I always say, a great nation is the sum total of the greatness of each individual in that nation. My passion is to be great, and to mentor others into greatness.”
KEMI AJUMOBI