The plateau concept: ‘Convergence Port Harcourt’, laboratory for next breakthrough – Lanre Oluseye

The ‘Convergence’ series is regarded around the world as one of the most impactful, practical, but elitist conferences mounted to cause upward change in societies and in careers of professionals.

It is regarded as the intersection of ideas and concepts to create new beliefs and systems that can change a thing or a person. For the first time, ‘Convergence’ was staged in Nigeria, in Port Harcourt, capital of the Niger Delta.

The first-ever Convergence conference was convened by a Port Harcourt boy, though a western Nigerian by birth but husband of a Bayelsa woman, and father of children all born in Port Harcourt. That was why he said he is as Rivers as they come and as Port Harcourt as anyone else.

In conceptualising the ‘Convergence’ Lanre Oluseye, thought leader, business leader, and cleric considered the ‘plateau concept’, which is the moment in the life of a career person, a professional, or a business when stagnation seems to occur, for good or bad.

Oluseye may be the Lead Clergy of House on the Rock (Heritage House) in Port Harcourt, but he is indicated to bring a unique architectural perspective to ministry life; a ministry that has been a catalyst for revival, reformation, and renewal across Nigeria and beyond. Records say his calling is rooted in a deep, Spirit-led passion to see lives radically transformed by the truth and power of the Gospel, regardless of age, background, or denomination.

He has achieved this more with a legacy of impactful conferences and transformational gatherings that change lives. He is indicated as a distinguished faith-based motivator and sought-after conference speaker who has pioneered and hosted some of the most influential Christian events in Nigeria, including city-wide crusades and regional leadership summits.

To direct the thought direction of the Convergence in Port Harcourt, Oluseye directed searchlight on the ‘Plateau Concept’, which is regarded as a state of stagnant progress or development where performance levels off despite continued effort, acting as a crucial phase for consolidating gains. “It is often a mental or skill-based barrier that requires changing strategies rather than just working harder.”

Management and sociology experts look at plateau concept from many angles including learning and skill (when progress stalls despite consistent practice); the Plateau of Latent Potential (where no viable progress is made but results are being stored before a rapid breakthrough); the project plateau when enthusiasm wanes; psychological perspective known for ‘stuckness’ and frustration; all these leading to the plateau effect of increased effort but diminishing results.

Oluseye said at the pre-conference press parley that experts and successful people were coming to lead middle level careerists and business owners out of the plateau stage.

Classical teachers show others about three ways to overcome a plateau; the most important being need to change methods because the strategy that brought a man to a plateau will hardly be the one to get him out. Instead, they guide the victim to focus on process, not output because the plateau is usually seen as the ‘valley of death’. So, so less exciting work is required. Another learning is to embrace the “Stuck” phase, and to understand that “This is a time for your brain to process new information, rather than a permanent loss of ability.”

It is with all this in mind that Oluseye (the Convener) welcomed the over 600 participants and experts who he called distinguished leaders, achievers, catalysts of industry.

He chose his words: “If you look around this room, you will find men and women from different walks of life, and across different sectors of the Nigerian economy.

“Our needs are different. Our wants are different. The things that we confront are different. But there is one thing that binds all of us in this room together: it is an acute dissatisfaction with the status quo (the way things are going).

“The reason why you came is because you do not want to accept your present circumstance or present situation as fact. We are at ‘The Convergence’, and this isn’t just a conference; it’s a laboratory for your next breakthrough.”

Over the next few hours, he stated, they were not just going to talk about growth, but they would engineer it.

“So, what do I ask of you this morning? Relinquish your expert status. Become a novice again, so that you can open up to new learning, new ideas.

“I believe in this room are thought leaders, are people who have walked the walk, walked the path, and are willing to share with us the ‘how.’”

He explained why they chose Port Harcourt, saying it was for a reason. “Port Harcourt is a city of industry and energy. In my mind, it makes the perfect backdrop for our transformation.”

Now, the plateau. He said: “The plateau is only the foundation to reach for the stars. Let’s stop grinding. It’s time to start ascending. Welcome to Convergence 2026. Thank you.”

He spoke on government input; “So we just need government participation to ensure that we have the enabling environment. The full room is an indication that we have business people who are doing their businesses in Rivers State, in Port Harcourt, who are willing to invest and grow their businesses here.”

Short but inspiring welcome remarks in a hall of highest ambience with all electronic and digital gadgets functional at their best bring out voice and images in their best forms, with Oby Fakae at the best anchoring wheels while her husband, Niabari Fakae, son of the erudite professor of parasitology, BB Fakae, at the wired background, making sure of perfection.

The plateau concept was more deeply handled by Viola Graham Douglas, Obi Imemba, and Olakunle Soriyan, experts in the field. The discussion centred around; ‘The Growth Gap – Why Promising Businesses & Careers Plateau after the Early Years.” It looked at the real Accelerators across sectors, businesses and experience levels.

Perhaps, the most attractive offering was the ‘Deal Room’. Many who paid between the N100,000 and N500,000 entry fees may have hoped much on the ‘Deal Room’ where they expected to meet officials of Euro Exim Bank for effective Deal Room Networking with pre-assigned table format of investors, business owners, and strategic partners. The Deal Room had leaders such as Perez Araka (Chairman, Premium Trust Bank); Senthil Kumar (Global Head of Sales, Euro Exim Bank); Kate Festus-Abibo (VP, FCMB Limited). Many who peeped from afar hummed that deals must have flown around that room.

NLNG CEO, others spike the audience:

The biggest excitement of the day, perhaps, was the presence and appearance of the famous Falade twins, Gbite and Leye. They are identical twin brothers who are indicated as top executives in the Nigerian energy sector. “They have followed a similar career path since studying electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Ibadan, both starting at Shell Nigeria in 1996.”

Whereas Gbite Falade is the MD/CEO of Aradel Holdings, Adeleye (Leye) Falade has just been appointed CEO of Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG).

Leye Falade was the first keynote speaker: “As human beings, we have responsibilities; that God is sovereign does not mean we fold our hands.” He seemed to know he was at the headquarters of a faith-based organization though dealing with a purely secular matter.

He went on: “Many times we don’t make progress because we undermine our responsibilities and we just hope solely in the sovereignty of God.

“Part of your responsibility is your ambition. It is what gets you up in the morning and it’s what keeps you up late at night.”

He examined the matter of operating at scale: decisions that sustain performance; and how world-class operators build resilient, high-performance systems in uncertainty. He showed how to get a task perfectly done, and how the next task is to repeat it every time.

His twin brother, Gbite, the next keynote speaker, dwelt on; Strategy to Unlock the Next Level of Business Expansion; Expand Your Influence, Access New Markets, and Build at Scale’. He held the elite audience as spell-bound as his twin brother did. His concern was how to expand and scale what good job you have created. Many felt he also expanded on his brother’s treatise of achieving a great task and repeating it. ‘One came to create, the other came to expand’, some members in the audience whispered.

Kemi Adeosun, former finance minister in the late Muhammad Buhari administration, also thrilled the audience with fiscal policy matters and capital levels that make businesses and nations soar. She spoke on ‘Capital Policy and Power’.

She particularly supported fuel subsidy removal and forex allocation removal (now to floating) which she admitted had held Nigeria hostage for decades. Adeosun said with the porous borders of Nigeria, it would be a waste to subsidize petroleum products as, according to her, such subsidized products would only find their way into neighboring countries at the expense of Nigerians.

The former Finance Minister) said: “Subsidy removal is massive. People may not know the kind of wealth that people amassed for doing nothing with subsidy. Nigeria has four international borders: Chad, Cameroon, Benin, and Niger. They’re borders where you can put one leg there and one leg in Nigeria. So if you are subsidizing fuel and you are landlocked or you have porous borders, you are subsidizing the entire region.”

Adeosun urged Nigerians to live up to the challenge and make necessary economic and financial adjustments.

She said during her time, there was attempt to close the borders and put trackers on tankers delivering near the borders, but that the effort failed because the trackers were disabled and the volume of consumption rather went up.

Some participants told newsmen the kind of impact they got. Greatman Badom, head of an education NGO, said: “It’s been a very wonderful time and I’m sure every participant, being very intentional, should get back home with a lot of takebacks to go and work on and see how they can become better. Practically going back, this inspires me the more to keep seeking knowledge.”

Conclusion:

Convergence PH has come and gone but it is up to the Convener and his team to apply monitoring mechanism to measure the impact, to know how many middle level managers and professionals that would have moved away or out of the ‘plateau’ in the next one year.