As the nation transit in the socio-political atmosphere of the 2019 post-election, it is important that the church takes the lead in national development discourse, hence the Covenant Christian Centre has announced that the 2019 edition of ‘The Platform’ will hold on Wednesday May 1, focusing on three key indices of growth at all levels.
The Covenant Place will play host to the event as seasoned speakers are lined up to drive the conversation on the theme –‘The Drivers, Enablers, and Obstacles to our Growth.’
Poju Oyemade, the convener and senior pastor of Covenant Christian Centre, said The Platform is an institution designed for public enlightenment. “We are opening up, and working towards public enlightenment, and education through The Platform,” he said.
According to Oyemade, this edition is to show people what will drive their personal, organisational, and national growth, and what will enable it – the things that they can put in place to enable it, and the things that might be obstacles to the growth that they might not be aware of.
“So we want individuals to come to this meeting and understand these are the things that will drive my growth, these are the things that will enable my growth, and these are the things that will stand as obstacles to my growth,” said Oyemade.
The Platform was designed to facilitate growth in personal capacity and productivity, as well as to foster national development within the country.
The Platform which started 12 years ago holds its events twice a year. Originally, it serves as a platform for discussion of ideas among people to form public enlightenment.
“The first Platform we had, we were concentrated on people. So to think that it is now a political platform is because they don’t know how it started,” said Harold Obasohan, the group chief operating officer, Levene Energy Group.
“This was not the intention at all. It is just something that has evolved and I actually thought about it, that something corrective has to be done to make it clearly stated what it is about.
“This wasn’t designed to talk to the government and try to address government officials. What we want to do is create robust discussions of ideas, and then those things become popular in the culture of the people, and then from there it can influence,” said Oyemade.
Responding to questions on steps taken beyond the conversation and knowledge sharing to equipping people, Chuka Nwobi, Founder, Decagon Institute, revealed that The Platform trains young professionals through its Young Professional Boot Camp initiative.
These professional who are between 20 to 25 years are given a five-day residence boot camp, and get trained by leaders in various industries.
“They get trained, they get equipped, with advice and mentoring that they need to be able to contribute and more quickly fulfil the potentials that they have,” Nwobi said.
The speakers for this year include: Ibukun Awosika, Chairman, Board of Directors, First bank of Nigeria; Segun Adeniyi, Chairman, Editorial Board, ThisDay Newspapers; Sarah Lacy, Founder, Editor-in-Chief, and Chief Executive Officer, PandoDaily; Dr Ndubuisi Ekekwe, Founder, and President of African Institute of Technology, and others.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH
