As the nation Nigeria grapples with and frontally struggles to exit third-world challenges of illiteracy and poverty and transform, through hard work and massive human and material development, into a nation characterised by coordinated infrastructural provision and a society where justice and peace reign supreme, one thing stands out: addressing some critical cornerstones is indispensable to making such a vision a reality.
Inculcating and reinforcing positive political, cultural, and social attitudes amongst our youths as they will provide the nation’s future leadership needs and creating a mood in which the youths of this nation become keen on acquiring skills and disciplines of developed nations are but some of these overwhelming actions that call for our urgent collective attention. That is, if we are desirous of achieving the above objective.
To fully unlock these potentials and excel both globally and sustainably, this is where the idea canvassed by Ambassador Paul Philip Iwok in his book titled ‘The Journey of a Houseboy to Significance’, comes into play.
For a better understanding of the piece, Paul Philip Iwok is an indigene of Nto-Otong Village in Abak Local Government of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, who once served as a houseboy for seven years in Lagos and used the experience garnered to author the referenced book, which is now laced with the capacity to serve as a potent source of inspiration to the Nigerian youth, irrespective of family background, and advises the Nigerian government (state and federal) as well as development professionals on how best to tackle this critical socio-economic issue.
Iwok, as a determined creature, started his primary education at Holy Child Convent School, Nto-Otong, in 1979. Due to his brilliant performance, he never attempted primary six, having been admitted into junior secondary at Northern Annang Secondary Commercial School from primary five. Along the line, he dropped out of school due to some family challenges and worked as a pickup van conductor.
Despite this challenge and temporal setbacks, Paul Iwok proved in his life, as chronicled in “The Journey of a Houseboy,” that it is always wise to summon courage to face the challenges of life by leaving the comfort zone of his village and family and threw his fate and hope in God, who opened the way for him.
Aside from providing a practical road map to self-independence for all Nigerian youth’s inherent resourcefulness, who are toiling in various kitchens and boy’s quarters in our cities with little or no legal rights or abilities to negotiate reward, what stands the book out and qualifies it as a must read for all Nigerians of goodwill was its observance that education and skills acquisition are the most viable options in being relevant in life, with a strategic call on the custodians of “househelpism” to not truncate the future by capitalising on the economic disadvantage of their servants.
Also, working in favour of the book was the author’s recognition that everybody cannot go to school even if education is free up to the university level, suggesting that in the alternative, skills acquisition becomes the next option.
Again, in addition to the book being a gift to the hemp-smoking dwellers under the bridges in the cities who believe that crime is the only way to a good life and a gift to the ‘yahoo-yahoo’ diehards, who exchange their God-given ingenuity for hope of stupendous wealth without foundation, very propound, and of course a valid point that we must not fail to remember was Mr. Iwok’s posture of the book as a template for any government seeking to lift up the youths from the morass of hopelessness to the bowels of hope and productivity.
‘’We must begin to create a future plan for the teachable ones among them, not to say, “Have I not been paying you?” When you know very well that his salary does not amount to anything. Proverbs 29:21. It is time to liaise with the families of these vulnerable groups and discuss if their salaries can be saved with the ultimate aim of acquiring education or skills for a sustainable future’’. The book stated.
A public affairs commentator and talent development specialist says, “The Journey of a Houseboy by Paul Philip Iwok is a must-read for the youths in Nigeria and Africa.” The book is unput-downable as it highlighted major lessons for readers to look out for.”.
According to him, the first and very fundamental of such lessons was Paul’s courage as a young village boy. His selfless service and honesty, his capacity to imagine and prepare himself for a better future, and his determination to be prominent are worth applause and emulation. Courage to take his fate in his hands: when Paul Iwok resolved to leave his harmless, peaceful village to the unknown, strange, dangerous, populous city of Lagos, where he knew no one, he was doing what God asked Abraham to do in the book of Genesis 12:1-2.
Another key lesson as observed from the book is that success belongs to those who make good use of opportunities. The young man’s life is a confirmation of the above dictum. The story of Paul Iwok is the story of a servant who made good use of the opportunity he had in his hands.
For me, two inherent lessons derived from the content of the book that we must not allow go with political winds has to do with, one, his attribute of resilience and undying burning desire to succeed, which saw him reinvent self-several times to become an international learner and leader attending international courses and trainings in globally celebrated institutions and associations such as the British Association for the Study of Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (BASPCAN) Yorkshire University Campus UK, International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) USA, International Child Development Program, USA, Agora College, USA and Institute for Community and Adolescents Resilience-Unifying Solutions (ICARUS-USA).
The second great takeaway was his admonition that, as humans, we must learn not to end a relationship in quarrel. Somewhere in the book, Paul advises servants, youths, and even adults not to end a relationship in quarrel. If Paul, after having the privileges in the master’s house that opened his eyes, had forced himself to leave, the goodwill that followed him from the parting blessings of those he served would have eluded him.
But the wise young man, Paul, gave the mistress six months’ notice of his desire to leave. He humbly served through the six-month-long period of notice. This was a young man determined to be prominent and knew that there is value in courting and sustaining the goodwill of the prominent.
Finally, separate from his rapid and avid learning of small business skills and building a robust network of the high and mighty that crossed the path of that corporate environment, his imaginative bend of a mind induced in him the feeling and the belief that he too could be like them, which is also commendable and exemplary. In nursing his ambition, he was not tempted to dupe or steal to quickly realise his desire. But he painstakingly made himself an apprentice to acquire the requisite skills for his future benefit.
These are great attributes for our youths to imbibe.
•Jerome Utomi, a media specialist, writes from Lagos, Nigeria