You Will Succeed is a movement’

Tomide Olukuade has described the public presentation of his book You Will Succeed: Winning Big When Life Offers a Small Chance as destiny unfurling. He was speaking at the event, which took place on July 30 at Freedom Park, Lagos.
He said: “It is great that you are all here and it is great because destiny is unfurling. This has gone beyond just writing a book; it is a cause and a movement. In days, weeks and months to come, we will be able to intimate you with what we are doing to take it to the next level. But I can assure you that by the grace of God, what we have anticipated in this book is the material with which revolutions are made of, or if you like, transformations. I believe God that we will be able to use this to transform our youths, and bring about transformation in the destinies of young people.”
While thanking those who attended for making out time to be present, he said it is also very much about the older generation. “The way we live our lives, the things we leave undone, the things we feel we are handicapped in doing”.
He said he hopes the book will inspire everyone to do the things that they could never do and achieve the results that seem impossible to achieve presently.
“One thing we have in mind is for this book to be in the hands of as many young people as possible. It is not just about buying the book, it is about enabling lives, shifting burdens, creating possibilities for as many people as possible. And the earlier they come into contact with the message of this book, the better it will be for our generation and for this nation. We will have a more prosperous nation and that is what we are looking forward to.
He said it could mean banding together as the alumni of a particular school to give back to it, perhaps a thousand copies or more, which will be highly welcomed.
“Wherever you can find young people, wherever you can find people that need to be inspired or told that they can become what they were created to be and are able to do what they were created to do, that is where this book should go.
“We are soliciting your assistance in this regard so that together we will do the work of transforming this land. It is team work; I have done the writing, some people have done the printing and now it is your job to take it to the next level. I think you will not let the team down. Thank you very much”.
Indeed, what the author had to say fired up the guests drawn from all walks of life, who braved the rains that morning to be at the event. They all fully took part in the readings, comments about the author and purchased copies of the book. Through it all, there was the never-ending ‘You will succeed’ refrain to intersperse the activities at the launch. His wife, son, daughter, girls the author is mentoring and brother, himself a writer, all read from the book or commented positively about the person of the author. It was convivial all day with soulful music from the guitar strumming Pneuman.
This book presentation event will be remembered for a long time to come for many reasons. One such reason is the remarks by the filmmaker Femi Odugbemi shortly after the opening prayer by Ademola Adeoye.
Odugbemi started by congratulating Olukuade for bringing to fruition the book he first showed to him as a manuscript. He said he read the manuscript a while ago and had so much to say about it. One of which is that Olukuade managed to establish that almost all of us in Nigeria have disconnected from innovation which drives creativity and that if you do not innovate you cannot be prosperous.
While explaining that the kind of education we have obtained over the years tends to make us think that way, he said we are a nation of talkers and we need to translate to a nation of doers.
“The kind of people we celebrate have to be people that add value to our lives,” he added.
Odugbemi declared that 60 per cent of Nigeria’s population is made up of young people who are growing up by the day. He wondered why we have such a large number of young people and all they talk about are the things that have gone by. He noted that with such a huge number of young people nigeria should be a country with a lot of innovation.
“The gap comes from what they are hearing. We need to change the way we are talking to them,” he said.
He said that is where You Will Succeed comes in, as the language with which the author frames the book makes it come across like scripture.
“God has blessed Tomide with a special anointing to put words togther- he takes Biblical principles and recasts them in a way that the 60 per cent can begin to understand. I don’t think there is a greater message this country should be hearing and I don’t think there is a better person to be sending this message than Tomide,” Odugbemi stated.
While saying that God intended for those present at the event to be there, he said he has ordered his copies and would put them in the hands of 10 young people and bid the guests do the same.
“Take the book and find someone you wish well, someone whose thinking you want to take to the next level and give it to that person,” he said.
He said the author must make the book an e-book for it to get to as many people as possible. And on his part, he will continue the reading competition he does with young people where he gives them a book and starts reading it as well so that they can have a conversation.