What Does It Really Mean to Drive on a Full Tank of Faith? By TONY OKOROJI 

One Monday morning a few years ago, I was standing on my feet and sleeping at the same time. In fact, my feet did not appear to belong to me. It was by the special grace of God that I did not fall and break my skull. I was spent, finished; all the energy in me gone.

The night before, I had been a ball juggler. I had had the job of ensuring that all the hundreds of elements that must come together to make a sizzling show like the COSON Song Awards to spark, indeed came together.

For those who may not know, the COSON Song Awards was only one of eight different back-to-back events that took place at eight different big venues during an eight-day period of the incredible COSON Week. It was my job to produce the eight events and make each particularly spectacular.

For more many months, I had a job that no one else in the world would want. I had to subject myself to a lifestyle you would not wish even for your bitterest enemy. The earliest I went to sleep any night was 1.00 am. The latest I woke up was 3.00 am. I slept a maximum of two hours a night. There was no bed so, sleep was sitting on my chair at work. There was so much to plan, so much to create, so much to design, so much writing to do, so many disappointments to overcome, so many bills to pay, so many egos to manage, so many devils to keep at bay… so much of everything!

If you were a guest at the COSON Song Awards at Eko Hotel & Suites, you would have had to present your specially crafted and embossed COSON Song Awards passport at the specifically set up immigration stand at the big event. Oh, the passports came in two colours; green for regular and red for diplomatic.

It was only after a guest had been issued with a visa on arrival and his passport stamped and signed by the gorgeous immigration officers was he or she ushered into the glittering world of the “Red Carpet Fantastico” to enjoy choice drinks, finger foods and the ultra-beautiful hostesses and mingle with Nigerian stars of all callings dressed to finish with paparazzi firing and firing thousands of flash bulbs away. Now and again, one of the beautiful hostesses would catwalk with a placard proclaiming love for country.

Some have tried to copy the passport concept but no one has yet copied the immigration spectacle at the COSON Song Awards. Also, no one has yet copied the concept of the ‘Red Carpet Fantastico’, all original ideas.

While everything went like clockwork at Eko Hotel and everyone appeared to have had loads of fun, the event nearly did not happen.

Five times, the immigration stands were dismantled by the hotel officials who believed we were messing up their facility with our crazy ideas. Five times, we re-mounted the stands. I understood the reaction of the Eko Hotel staff. What we were doing had never been done before. It was unusual. If we had first sought permission to do it, we would have been told that shows are not done like that.

At events, I create ideas that rattle people. Those ideas are the spice that have made the events I have produced, unique and memorable.

I am sure many Nigerians would remember when at the Nigerian Music Awards in Lagos, I was lowered on to the stage of the National Theatre from the very high roof of the main bowl. What many may not know is that I had not rehearsed to be lowered from that height. That spectacle was supposed to belong to the late Femi Segun, who was married to Fela’s first daughter, Yeni. The uniquely talented and adventurous Femi was the anchor at the show. A few minutes to the show, with the audience of Nigeria’s best already assembling, Femi decided he was not going to do it again. The idea appeared very dangerous and even suicidal. This was after we had made the necessary preparations and rehearsed and rehearsed. So, I had to quickly change the script and had to go up myself. The rest is history.

These days, I go to events and hear the Nigerian national anthem interpreted in many different ways. The first time I assembled some of Nigeria’s iconic female singers; Christy Essien Igbokwe, Onyeka Onwenu, Funmi Adams and Veno Marioghae to do what I termed “the National Anthem in Style”, a senior police officer came to warn me that I would be arrested for bastardizing the National Anthem if we went ahead. We did it all the same. The ladies sang like angels. At the end, the National Theatre erupted in a standing ovation. Once again, the rest is history.

When the OPEC ministers from around the world visited Nigeria some years ago, I was asked to do a show at the International Conference Centre in Abuja as Nigeria hosted them. Those who attended the show will recall the big steaming metal pot with massive fire on stage from which elegantly dressed people emerged. That also scared some people.

Almost everybody can listen to music at home or watch TV. I believe that people come to shows to have an experience. To me, a show without spectacle and a story to tell is not much. Anybody can organize and produce them.

A show to me is also a mirror of the society and where it is going. I believe that as a people, we are too risk averse. The people who first went to the moon went to where no man had ever been. There was no guarantee that they would come back alive. What they did however opened new vistas for mankind. The young men who flew the first aero plane had no assurance that they would not crash and die. I believe that death will come when it would come. But we should not be so afraid of death that we do nothing significant while we are alive. If we want our nation to be truly great, we must push the envelope.

In the things I have done, I have discovered that the Almighty has placed in each of us more ability than we can imagine, more tolerance than we can contemplate and more creativity than we can visualize. We are more than we think we are. We simply need to push the envelope. Each time it appears that I have reached my limit, a new limit emerges. That is why I believe that there is nothing that a man can conceive that he cannot achieve.

There were many times in the course of the work that I do when it has appeared like I could go no further. There have been severe physical challenges, organizational challenges, financial challenges, challenges of envy and other man-made challenges. I have said repeatedly that I drive on a full tank of faith. Each time I have been challenged, I have looked towards the Man who sent me on this errand, the Almighty. Not once has he let me down. Have faith and you are sure to find that there is no mountain too high for you to climb, no river to deep or wide for you to cross, no challenge that you cannot meet.

See you next week.