In his over 500-page tome titled ‘Awaken The Giant Within’, the American life coach, self- help author and motivational speaker, Anthony Robbins, offers techniques, formulas and principles to help anybody snatch success from the jaws of failure, triumph over adversity, become a valuable asset to society and leave an enduring legacy for successive generations.
Robbins believes that within each human being, no matter how seemingly disadvantaged, lies the spark of potential, which can be fanned to a bright light of accomplishment that adds value to the human enterprise and shows the light for others to find the way. If Anthony Robbins’ book makes rather tedious reading with its sheer daunting size likely to discourage and intimidate the average reader, the same purpose is more easily and pleasurably achieved by the new book, ‘The Art of Selfless Service’, which has just been presented to the reading public.
Written by Mrs Marina Osoba, a lawyer, poet, columnist and administrator, ‘The Art of Selfless Service’, focuses on the life and exemplary public service career of Mr Akinwunmi D. Ambode, to illustrate the path to success, fulfilment and a truly valuable existence for anybody desirous of making a lasting and positive impact this side of eternity. The subject of the book, which runs into a highly readable 120 pages divided into 15 chapters laced with scores of inspirational, philosophical and motivational quotes from diverse sources, Mr. Akin Ambode, posts intimidating academic and professional credentials.
An alumnus of the University of Lagos, Ambode holds a B.Sc degree in Accounting and a Masters degree in the same discipline with specialisation in Financial Management. Apart from being a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Ambode has over time enriched his mind and honed his managerial skills through several specialised courses at highly reputable institutions such as Harvard Kennedy School of Government, USA; Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, England; Institute of Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland and INSEAD, Singapore. His experience as a Hubert Humphrey Fellow in Accounting and Finance from Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, had a major transformational impact on Ambode both as a professional and a human being committed to offering selfless service to humanity.
It is thus not surprising that he has had a most distinguished and accomplished career as a public sector accountant and administrator spanning close to three decades. During his mandatory National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) posting in Sokoto in 1985, Ambode was deployed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) where he had to work as hard as the regular staff in the Accounts Department of the institution. He thus learnt to develop a diligent work ethic right from the commencement of his working life. After his Youth Corp, Ambode’s career started in earnest on the 4th of November, 1985, when he was employed as an Accountant Grade 2 with the Lagos State Waste Disposal Board at the age of 22 and on a starting salary of N324 per month. Three years later, armed with his professional ICAN certification and the Masters degree in Accountancy, Ambode was employed by the Lagos State Local Government Service Commission as a Senior Accountant on Grade Level 10.
For the next ten years (1988-1998), Ambode accumulated considerable and invaluable experience working in various capacities at the Local Government level in Lagos State. This experience not only gave him an intimate knowledge of the state, it sensitized Ambode to the crucial role of the Local Government level as the foundation for meaningful development because of its proximity to the majority of the people. During this period, he served at various times as Assistant Treasurer to the Badagry Local Government, Auditor and later Council Treasurer to the Shomolu Local Government, Council Treasurer to Alimosho Local Government and Council Treasurer to Mushin Local Government and later Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Government. Of his experience in managing the finances of the grassroots governments in Lagos State, Ambode notes in Chapter six of the book that “…if you work successfully at Local Government level and you are able to make a difference, there is nowhere else you cannot make a difference”.
Following his transformational experience as a Hubert Humphrey scholar at Boston, United States (1998 – 1999), Ambode returned to Nigeria and transferred his service from the Local Government to the State Public Service. Courtesy his hard work, commitment, proficiency and dependability, Ambode’s rise at the state level was meteoric. He rapidly rose from the post of Assistant Director in the Office of the Auditor General for Local Governments to Acting Auditor General for Local Government and then substantive Auditor General for Local Government. In January 2005, he became Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and in February, 2006, Permanent Secretary and Accountant General of Lagos State, a position he held till his resignation from the public service in 2012. One of his lasting legacies as Accountant General of the state was the creation of the State Treasury Office (STO), which revolutionized public sector financial budgeting, management, planning and expenditure in Lagos State.  It is impossible to accurately write the story of the remarkable transformation of Lagos over the last 15 years without acknowledging the role of Ambode as a key Actor in re-engineering the finances of the megacity as a basis for her rapid development.
What then are some of those essential and indispensable building blocks that enabled Ambode to awaken the giant within and make a success of the opportunities that came his way? First is a warm and supportive family environment into which he was born and grew up in Epe on the 14th of June, 1963. Secondly, is a solid primary and secondary school education particularly the excellent facilities, curriculum and teachers at the Federal Government College, Warri, which had such a tremendous impact on the development of his personality between 1974 and 1981 when he completed his O’ and A’ Levels. Third was his sheer determination, discipline and self- sacrifice, which enabled him to overcome such an adversity as the death of his father when he was still a youngster and his decision to set the goal of pursuing both his ICAN certification and M.Sc degree simultaneously and achieving his objective within his specified time frame. Fourth is a life- long commitment to cultivating and improving his mind through continuous education.
The author, Marina Osoba, drawing from Ambode’s life and career, identifies seven essentials of selfless service namely, ‘Courage, Time, Effort, Persistence, Patience and Focus, Love and Charity as well as Vision’. In chapter ten of the book, several of those who have worked with Ambode over the years offer testimonies of how he had positively impacted their lives through self-sacrificial mentoring and being a worthy role model.  Ambode over the years has sacrificed the time, resources, energy and efforts to mobilise old students of his alma mater, Federal Government College, Warri, to identify with and help restore the glory of the school. This initiative has been expanded and has resulted in the establishment of the Unity Schools Old Students Association (USOSA) comprising alumni of 100 Unity Schools in Nigeria to provide “a National platform through which alumni can focus on rekindling and sustaining the vision of the Unity School concept as centres of academic excellence, integration, leadership and unity as well as influencing policy changes in the way and manner these schools are administered”.
In offering such selfless service over the years, Ambode was motivated by sheer altruism with no expectation of reward. It is in this same spirit of selfless service that in 2012, Ambode founded the La Roche Leadership Foundation to offer support to Nigerian students at all levels of their educational endeavours. As the call of destiny and selfless service at higher levels beckons, the best for AkinwumiAmbode certainly lies ahead.
The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has urged Lagosians to vote for the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Party, Mr. Akin Ambode, to sustain the programmes of his administration.