Today, I held meetings in London with some stakeholders in British politics and business community, including Lord Jonathan Marland, the Chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC).
The discussion with Lord Marland held particular importance as it centred on prospective trade opportunities, economic advancement, and the promotion of small businesses throughout Nigeria.
It is clear that fostering a robust economy and generating employment, as evidenced by rapidly growing nations like China, Indonesia, and Vietnam, necessitates a concerted effort to prioritise support for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
As I have consistently asserted, our micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) serve as the driving force behind economic growth, and it is imperative that we provide them with vigorous support to enhance development and create significant employment opportunities, particularly within the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
A New and revitalised Nigeria is POssible. -PO
LIFE LESSON
There are journeys that move you from one city to another, and there are journeys that quietly rearrange how you understand life. This was one of the latter.
We set out from Lagos to Abuja on what should have been a routine trip. I was with Mr. Peter Obi, alongside Mama P and Esther Umoh and Dr Yunusa Tanko. Everything about the day felt structured, predictable, like most well-planned movements. But life has a way of inserting its own script into even the most organized plans.
At the airport, reality interrupted expectation. While others proceeded smoothly, it was suddenly discovered that my ticket did not exist among those that had been issued. Not misplaced. Not delayed. Simply not there. And to make matters worse, the flight was already fully booked.
In that moment, you feel it, the quiet discomfort, the uncertainty, the temptation to question how something so simple could go wrong. Everyone else had a clear path forward. Mine had just disappeared.
But life rarely closes a door without testing your patience first. I waited. Not loudly. Not in panic. Just waited, trusting that somehow, something would give. Eventually, the airline manager intervened. There were no digital fixes left, no automated solutions. My ticket had to be handwritten, an almost symbolic act in a world driven by systems. It was as though life itself was saying, “This one will not follow the normal process.”
By the time that was resolved, every other passenger had boarded.
I was the last to enter the aircraft. Walking down that aisle was an experience in itself. Row after row, seat after seat, occupied. Full. No space. It felt like a physical representation of the earlier reality: there is no place for you here.
I got to the back. Nothing. For a brief moment, it seemed the journey might end before it even began. Then came the instruction: “Please, go back to the front.”
Sometimes, life asks you to retrace your steps, not as a setback, but as a redirection. As I walked back up that same aisle, something shifted. The same plane. The same people. But a different outcome was waiting.
A flight attendant, in coordination with the cockpit, led me forward, not just to any seat, but to the very front. First class. First row.
From having no ticket… To having no seat… To sitting in the most privileged position on the aircraft. That is how life works sometimes. It doesn’t always follow sequence. It doesn’t always reward speed or early access. Sometimes, it strips you of certainty, delays you, even embarrasses you, only to reposition you in a way you could never have arranged for yourself.
The lesson is simple, but not easy:
Stay steady when things don’t go your way.
Do not panic when your place seems taken.
Do not walk away when the system says “full.”
Because what is meant for you may not look available at first glance. And when it finally unfolds, it may place you not just on the journey, but right at the front of it.
That day, the flight was not just from Lagos to Abuja. It was a quiet reminder that delay is not denial, and that sometimes, the last to enter becomes the first to sit.
Happy Sunday!!! -DrMo