11 Phenomenal Leaders/ Mentors I have worked directly with/ under (Part B)

Rev. James Arheghan (2010) – I remember that while I was pastoring a church in Sapele, I used to come to visit Rev. James Arheghan in Benin City just to get inspiration. Seeing the great work he was doing was just mind blowing. One I will always remember was the Christian Character Management Centre (CCMC) which was a rehabilitation center. It was in this center that I was privileged to teach ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ by Stephen Covey. I therefore had the privilege to study and digest the book and I personally learned a lot from the book and the teaching/ training experience. Rev. James once told me that ‘one thing nobody can take away from you is who you  become as a result of the things you have done’.

Rev. Tari Hudson Ekiyor (2014) – I recently saw a post by someone that confirmed what I’m about to say about Rev. Tari Ekiyor. Among other things, he is a man of great wisdom, excellence and strategy. When I was transferred from Sapele to Benin, being my first experience of transfer, I was wondering how to break the news to the church in the short time that I had and I gave him a call. He advised me to speak with the Directors first, then fix a meeting with the Leaders and workers for the following day where I would speak with them. He also advised that the way I tell them the news will be very important. That if they see from my reaction that I feel bad about the transfer they will be negatively affected. I prayed and followed his advice and it went smoothly. 

 

Rev. Laurie Idahosa (2014) – One thing I can tell you of Rev. Laurie Idahosa is that she is an amazing person. She is VERY hardworking and committed to whatever she is engaged in. She believes in good planning and execution. One thing I also learnt when I served with her as her Assistant Pastor was online communication. Together with other pastors and leaders, we used the internet so much especially Gmail, to communicate and have meetings and discussion. She is very passionate about excellence and she is also very passionate about loving and ministering to people. 

 

I remember joining her to pray several times for very desperate situations in the lives of church members and we actually saw God’s intervention and manifestation. I really appreciate God for the privilege of being pastored and led by her.     

 

Pst. Sharon Ighile – Pst Sharon Ighile is my boss in the office right now. She is a prolific writer, editor and publisher and she is also a great wife, mother and leader. She is very caring and understanding but she also does not joke with work. She treats every one of us in the department as a family and at the same time she makes sure everybody is up and doing and that work does not suffer. I have learnt so much from her about the writing business. She did something some time ago that blew me away. She travelled out of the country and when coming back she bought a gift for me, for my wife and for my daughter.

Barr. Ruth Evon Idahosa – Barr. Ruth Evon Idahosa is a leader that greatly inspires me. As the Founder and CEO of Pathfinders Justice Initiative, she is doing an amazing work to both prevent and eradicate trafficking of women in Nigeria. As a part of her organization, one thing that amazes me about her is her great vision, knowledge and passion for this cause. I have had the cause to interview her a few times and during one of such times, she spoke seriously about the trafficking going in Libya and about a year later the news of the Libya trafficking menace blew out into the open.

She does a lot of advocacy and enlightenment on eradication of trafficking and violence against women and she has a lot of programs and initiatives going on to give hope and restoration to victims of trafficking and violence. 

Ifoghale O. Efeturi

iefeturi@gmail.com