Of NASS clerk and providential fervour

“He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust God’s providence to lead him aright” —Blaise Pascal

On Valentine’s Day, February 14, the Clerk to the National Assembly, Ojo Olatunde Amos, clocked 58 years on planet Earth. His elevation to the pinnacle of his career on Friday, July 17, 2020, given the way he had masterfully and doggedly discharged and acquitted himself professionally and intellectually, shows that he is indeed imbued with providential fervour. Talking about providential fervour, George Washington, the first constitutional President of the United States, who was inaugurated on April 30, 1789, in New York, was a personality of many parts; and was equally showered and flowered with providential fervour. At the peak of his success as President of the United States (1789-1797), he  acknowledged the mighty, invisible hands of providence in his chequered existence, when he wrote as follows: “I flatter myself that a superintending Providence is ordering everything for the best, and that, in due time, all will end well.”

Looking at the odyssey of the current Clerk to the National Assembly, Ojo Olatunde Amos, it is not out of place to describe his intellectual, professional and career sojourn as one which has been propelled massively by providence.

In 2004 when Ojo Olatunde Amos joined the staff of the National Assembly as the Chief Architect in the then newly created Department of Estate and Works, he was coming in with a loaded bag of experience and with a mind wide open to prove himself as a ‘diamond in the rough’. Certainly,  becoming the Clerk to the National Assembly in Nigeria, in 2004, would have been the last thing on his mind. This is largely because of the heavily crowded field of equally qualified and distinguished personnel that were constantly visible in the nation’s highest legislative body. However, just like George Washington who had proved himself as an officer in the Virginia militia survived several life threatening situations, before his brave mind singled him out conspicuously as a soldier for American war of independence (1775- 1783), Ojo Olatunde Amos  had through dint of hard work and uncommon intelligence, made history as the first ever Ilobu-Asake indigene, to become a federal permanent secretary in Nigeria. Now he is the first ever Clerk to the National Assembly from that axis of the country.

The intoxicating tale of George Washington and Ojo Olatunde confirms the truism in the postulations of the legendary Blaise Pascal who cleverly captured the natural workings or manifestation of providence when he posited that “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust God’s providence to lead him aright”. Like Washington, Ojo Olatunde has taken the doctrine of truth as his guide, and commitment to duty as a creed, while God’s providence has steadily led him aright to the zenith of his career within the National Assembly. Indeed, the characteristics or behavioral traits of Ojo Olatunde Amos are fabulously saturated with intellect, self-control and self-denial; he is a man of Olympian courage and commitment. Born on February 14, 1963 at Jagun’s compound, llobu, Osun State, the young Ojo Olatunde Amos went to Ilobu Secondary Commercial Grammar School, Ilobu, from 1978 to 1983.

In his Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board Examination (JAMB) subjects, he came out with distinctions, with ‘100 over 100 in Mathematics’. The aroma of academic greatness attracted him to the Obafemi Awolowo University in 1985 where he came out with flying colours in his Bachelor of Science (Architecture) class in 1990. He majestically added a master’s degree in Architecture in 1992.

Before  Ojo Olatunde Amos ventured into the services of the National Assembly, he had secured a history of catalogued selfless service, of great professional competence, of incredible generosity, of compassion for the poor and instinctive good taste, of liberal and enlightened values.

Today, as the Clerk to the National Assembly, one of the most populous parliaments in sub-Saharan Africa, Ojo Olatunde Amos’s shared vision is to be responsive to the creative and innovative abilities of all stakeholders, so that under his watch, impossible things could become possible. As a genuine beneficiary of providential fervour of God Almighty, Ojo Olatunde Amos has given a new character to commitment and competence, in running the affairs of the National Assembly. The Clerk to the National Assembly has simply identified himself as a think-tank, a strategic planner and a mobilization expert that is producing stunning results in the National Assembly.

In celebrating this icon of ingenuity and purposeful leadership, there is a wonderful opportunity to expose to the world a man dedicated to the idea of problem solving, of propagation of official fairness, broad-mindedness, selflessness, brotherhood and self-discipline.

On this occasion of his 58th  birthday anniversary, it is cheering that Ojo Olatunde Amos has become a reference point for progressive, selfless and focused leadership.

• Adesoro is Special Adviser (Media and Labour) to the Clerk to the National Assembly.

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