I have just been given a retrospective promotion by the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, with effect from January 1, 2018. This means that I retired from public service as a substantive Director on Grade Level 17 as at August 21, 2018.
This is no mean achievement considering the fact that many could not achieve the feat. It’s all a matter of luck or fate/destiny in most cases. In my own case, I was lucky to achieve the feat by a narrow margin, in spite of the attempt by a DG to deny some of us the privilege.
I would have been a full Director since January 1, 2012, under normal circumstances, but that DG made us mark time on one grade level for 10 years simply because, according to him, he didn’t want a “top heavy” NBC, meaning he didn’t want too many senior officers at the top. He’s the only DG in the history of NBC who’s averse to promoting staff, except his cronies.
As was destined, today I have retired as a substantive Director, in spite of him, thanks to a fair minded, level headed, seasoned administrators in the current NBC Board, headed by Alhaji Ikra Aliyu Bilbis, a one time minister. As luck would have it, among the members of the board is the former DG NBC, Malam Nasir Danladi Bako, OON, Kogunan Sokoto. Incidentally, it was this same person who employed me when he was the DG at NBC. Alongside the board is a supportive management team headed by the current DG, Ishaq Modibbo Kawu.
I have always believed that whatever is yours will not elude you, no matter what. What’s destined to be yours will become yours at the right time. That’s why this lyric by an American singer, Leon Haywood, in his 1980 album, “Naturally”, always comes to my mind:
“Don’t push it, don’t force it, let it happen naturally. It’ll surely happen, if it was meant to be”.