Hello,

It’s great to be writing to you again just hours before the end of 2021. As I write this, I am reminded of the words written in Ecclesiastes 7:8, “The end of a matter is better than its beginning.” Indeed, when a matter ends, you can look back and evaluate and then decide whether it turned out well or not. In the beginning, you can only make projections that can either work out or fail.

So, in retrospect, how was your 2021?

Some people see the year as a set of individual events. When they do this, they quickly remember what they wanted to achieve but didn’t. For example, in Oyo State, there were some projects that we hoped we would complete in 2021 but which we couldn’t. 

But instead of looking at the year in terms of individual successes and failures, I choose a holistic approach. While I remain happy about the wins, my approach to failure is, as German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “Out of life’s school of war—what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.”

For me, an exceptional year is every year we are left standing in the land of the living such that we have another opportunity to try again.

Have you had an exceptional year?

I urge you to look out for my New Year Message, highlighting some of our year 2021 high points. But let me use this opportunity to talk about one challenge we have had with the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba. We are contending with some issues connected with the use of natural turf. These are not unexpected. But I would like those of you who were disappointed by the appearance of the turf during the last 3SC match to rest assured that we are already doing something about it. You will see a turnaround and continued maintenance in the shortest possible time as we hand the entire complex to private facility managers after the second phase of this remodelling is completed.

Let me end this mail by saying I had an exceptional year of sharing all the books I read with you this year. Let’s do this again in 2022.

Here is a pictorial recap of our 2021 books.

Cheers to an even better Year 2022!