Senator Adefuye, a distinguished guest at an event, shared an inspiring journey of how he transitioned from an ordinary sales manager to a politician and successful businessman. The story delves into his entrepreneurial journey, highlighting a critical moment when he decided to resign from his job and negotiate for a better salary. His bold move eventually led to his venture into the construction industry, where he developed a thriving business and his political career.
Furthermore, his story emphasizes the importance of dedication, honesty, and hard work in achieving success. Senator Adefuye’s journey serves as a powerful reminder to support and mentor those striving to grow in their respective fields.
Hear him: Awolowo was our visitor, so when I was graduating he was the one who handed me my certificate. When he handed it over to me I was so excited I held his hands with my two hands and I was shaking him, and then everybody went into applause, and then baba said what was that for, I said Baba if not for you I won’t be here with the free Education that you started,.I shook him again, do you understand, I said shake me again and there was big applause so when You are calling UPN he started looking for me, go and look for that boy, do you understand. So they wanted me to be director general of the party and I went for the interview and baba said Yes you were successful when will you start . I said Baba, we haven’t discussed about money, Baba said you are the first person to ask for salary ooh, every other person they are ready to do it for free, I said Baba they want to come and steal ni óò, how will someone work free of charge, it’s not possible, Baba then said okay we will pay 2400 per annum, That was a big money then. At that time they paid in the federal ministry and state ministry 720 naira per annum, that is 60 naira per month, Baba I won’t be able to do this job. He said why, I said my present salary is #36,400 before coming here, how will I leave #36,400 to do 1 thousand something. He now stretched his hands and shook me, I now said Baba, can I make an offer, I am now the one making an offer. He said yes go ahead, I said let me donate that 2400 to the party and then we pay whoever will do this job and every Friday when I finish work I will report here in Ikene, work till Sunday, and Baba said that is a very good idea so that’s how I became a politician. So if you see young ones who are trying to grow and you don’t help, you have not paid your own dues. I want you to help those who want to grow, but some of you don’t want to grow, you just want to make money. There are two different things, growing and making money, two different things. If you want to grow you have to be good at anything you do, anything you do you have to be good at it, you have to be honest about it, and so on and so forth. And all of you will be wondering if they are paying 720 at that time, how did I earn my 36400 now? What happened at that time was that there was this indigenization and they asked the Europeans to hand over to us who are Nigerian managers, so they handed over and they continued to pay the same salary of that 1200. My company was paying 1200 to we Nigerian managers, we didn’t complain, so one day I went out for marketing, that day I made so much sales that I didn’t get back to work till around 4pm, unfortunately one of the customers came looking for me, he went to the MD and they said I wasn’t there.
So before I came back they issued a query, they put it on my table. As God will have it, that day I came with enough orders than that company has ever made before since they started. So I saw the query. I just set it aside, I didn’t say anything. I wrote my report and attached the order to it. The order at that time was about 5 million that I brought. 5 million then was a lot of money, so I sent the report off, followed by my resignation, do you understand. I followed it, and I told them, well I saw your query. I’m guilty for not being at work but I went for sales, since you are not happy with me, please accept my resignation. All of them started running down when they saw the report, ehn Tony where is that query? I have seen it, No, No come upstairs, so we started negotiating. No no we don’t want you to go, then we have to negotiate. They said Yes , what do you want?” I said I want the salary of the person I took over from. They said, ahh no, that is Expatriate salary ooh. Then let me go Abi. Call the Expatriate to come and do the work. Okay, wait, we will give you the salary but we are going to get approval from Natanti, our headquarter was somewhere in Natanti. They said is there any other thing? I said yes ooh, there is something else. I said so you know my routine everyday, they said No. I said my children, two young ones then, as early as 6am I will drop them at railway compound that’s where they go to school, leave them there, then go north to Ikeja to see some of the customers, to allow the traffic going to Lagos to go down then after that I come to Lagos before I come to .., so therefore I can not leave my children at 6am again, I need another car or I need another driver.
They said okay we agree. Okay I am just trying to say something that will make them say No so that I can go my way. I say you agree to that one again they said Yes , then they asked again, is there any other thing? I said Yes ooo, they said what do you want, I said I want 5 percent of every sale I make. They said No ooo not possible, let me go then. Okay we will give you 1%. I said no, I can’t take 1%, they said why can’t you take 1% I said thank you for that question. If I sold 5 million, do you think it is with ordinary mouth? I promised those who bought from me that I will share my commission with them, how do you want me to share 1%. You want me to give everything to them? So they now said okay that one we will do aside, you just take 1%, and what is 1% of 5 million, that’s 500 thousand that was a lot of money, so Instead of me to take the 500 thousand, I used it to buy equipment for myself. So that’s how I became a construction engineer. That time it was difficult to see Nigerians drining those vehicles because we were not trained to drive all those vehicles. But while I was a sales manager I demanded that I be trained on how to operate the equipment because when I get to customers they always want me to demonstrate for them. Number 2, My Nigerian customers don’t know how to operate it. I need to demonstrate to them, so they sent me abroad to learn how to operate the equipment. When I came back, I will sell you the equipment, I will do the contract for you, so the man who had a contract of 100 thousand will at least be so grateful. Maybe he will give me 1000. You know that was a lot of money. So by the time I did those contract jobs I raised money and established my own construction company and I was working for myself. So anything you do just devote your time to it, it will take you there. Don’t steal, if you steal once, it will destroy you, people will say you are a thief. Don’t lie. If you lie once, people will say you are a liar. Say things that people will pity you, like how did you break this thing, I don’t know but I broke it, don’t say No it’s not me, when you say no it’s not me, and I know it’s you, I will prove to you that it is you, then you will become a bad person.
I’m sorry, ooh I don’t know I broke it, I must be stupid, I must be sleeping. You see, you have turned the thing to him, so he begins to pity you, don’t worry, that is how life is. Now you people have what you call social media, you can sell anything. You can buy anything, and so on and so forth. Most of the time, I was watching how all of you were looking at your phone. Yes, but me oo, I went to one hotel to eat two days ago. They said I should begin to scan, I just stood up and said you don’t want to sell. No offense, I am the one who will scan for the food I want to eat. So he brought his phone and started scanning.
So you’ve taken the thing a little bit too far sometimes, a little bit too far. Now somebody was talking of music the other time, it is the music you made for yourself that you will dance to. This music you dance to now, we older ones we just look at you and smile. During our time it was big Agbada like this and Mukaila, is he here, they are the people who will sing.
So it is the music you play for yourself that we will dance to. Some people can not sleep unless they play blues music, light music, then they play it and sleep. For some of you, it’s koko pa ko but it’s good watching you dancing, and I saw some old men trying to dance too. So I want to say to those who have organized this, don’t give up.
