Motivational Speakers...New Breed...Big Mouths!

Perhaps arising from our bad economy which has led many persons to discover more of their "hidden talents", there is an emergence of newbreed Motivational Speakers in Nigeria.

While it is by no means a bad thing to motivate a depressed fellow, it is even noble to imbibe a life solely dedicated to inspiration of a society...especially when communal economies are in the abyss.

But there it stops!
The propensities for these hordes of "motivators" to cause further depression to their audience is rather sickening. You do not motivate a person by calling him lazy. You deplete his ego!

You do not insist that a fellow human being is not imaginative, not creative or simply not doing enough when he states that erratic public power supply stifles his business or that government policies sorely discourage investment...or that banks impose unhealthy interest rates, unsavoury collaterals or simply refuse to borrow!

For your common sense should tell you that when production costs or running costs are high...and providers factor these into pricing, their prices are simply uncompetitive and their businesses soon close down.

They compete with foreign imports which are much cheaper because of the better economies where they are produced. Such climes are not only more enabling, the governments take deliberate steps to infuse subsidies into exports!

If such "motivators" do not understand english, there is something called enabling environment!

Otherwise, big companies would not be relocating to Ghana and other African countries!

It is high time we called on these individuals to rein in their tongues...as they deploy more cerebral activities to these speeches...while they explore ways of practising their core academic callings...rather than "motivate" the rest of us with lousy speeches!

Dr Tosin Akindele is a medical practitioner and public affairs analyst.