ESCAPE FROM CLAWS OF LACK: 6 GOSPELS FROM RITA NNA, AGM NIGERIA AIRSPACE MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Rita Nna who has attained the height of Assistant General Manager of Nigeria Airspace Management Agency is a woman who fought lack until it lost hold of her. As young girl at the age of 17 she faced lack head on and made up her mind to survive and succeed despite odds. Fifteen years after her wedding she could not bear a child but eventually did like Sarah who gave birth to Isaac after menopause. Today, JOSEPH DINWOKE of BROJID.COM distills 6 indispensable gospels her life teaches every youth that want to be great despite financial odds.
#1. RAZOR SHARP SURVIVAL INSTINCT
Rita came to terms with the poor financial state of her family very early and did not pretend not to. She did not give up on life, blame God for bringing her into that kind of family or take to dirty trades like prostitution to survive but took strategic steps to manage lack and eventually make it a history in her family. What was her strategic step?“I had to work to assist my father who was a teacher to bring up my younger ones. As I was working, I was going to school.”
She took a decision to work at the age of 17 which was immediately after her secondary education. At that age in life, she it was not rosy for her to combine work and schooling. She confesses, “It was very tedious for me at that time. Sometimes I got home around midnight.”
Despite the tedious nature of combining her work and schooling she was not perturbed since a force of love for his siblings and drive to give them descent education was stronger than the stress she was going through. “It didn’t bother me because what mattered to me was what I was targeting. I knew that my parents were poor and I had to train my other siblings.”
#2 . EMPLOYMENT WITHOUT STRESS
In her quest to get a job, she applied to work as a flight announcer and by Providence she, with her father found that an interview was going on in the Ministry of Aviation and they went there, applied and she got the job. What was the magic want that got her the job at that age without connection? Listen to her:“I was asked to write application which I did and submitted. Then, I was later called for the interview. When the result was released, I got a call to come for the interview. I was told that I performed better than everybody who came to write the interview. That was how I got the job”
#3. KNOW YOUR PHASE AND LIVE LIKE YOU ARE THERE
She lived out the popular quote from the mouth of Bishop David Oyedepo, “Life is in phases and men are in size; live your size per time.” She recognized that she her phase in life was not the one of enjoyment but of surviving together with her siblings and this influenced her spending. She recalls, “Most of my friends at that time were using their money to enjoy and have fun but I couldn’t.” Instead of spending her money on enjoyment, she spent it on empowering her five siblings with education.
#4. DEFINE YOUR PRIORITY AND LIVE ACCORDINGLY
Aware of where he is coming and what his targets are, he defined her priority and live according to them; ensuring that she was not distracted by pleasure.“In school, when my friends were going for parties from one place to another, I was reading. I dared not party. If I had mixed pleasure with my career, I would have fallen by the way side” she recollects
#5. PRIORITY DETERMINED SPENDING
An average girl would opt for the best of clothes and be on the latest fashion piece but hers was different. Her contest with lack and drive to deliver her siblings from its claws made her maintain a simple dress sense. She reminisces“I was not even dressing well. Then, it was only one cloth I had. People were wondering what was wrong with me: people were wearing gold and dressing expensive but if I did that my siblings would not go to school. I was training my siblings alongside with my father…I trained all them to university level”
#6. MOCKED BY MEN; FAVOURED BY GOD
Fifteen years after being married, she could not give birth to a child. It was not easy for as she was mocked and scorned in her face but God eventually smiled at her like Sarah who gave birth to a child after menopause. “During my waiting period, I bottled a lot of emotions inside of me. People laughed at me. I was mocked to my face. This made me go into my shell. It was not really a good experience…”
Her life is a classical story of God wiping away the tears of those that wait on him. She preaches “What we don’t know is that God has a plan for us…it is just timing that might be different… when it was time for God to bless me, He did it and the whole world saw it.” She went further to sermonize, “Wait on the Lord relentlessly. Anything that comes from God lasts and does not come with sorrow. If you get married and get a child immediately, thank God but if not, don’t panic.”
Today Rita Nna, a mother of a 4-year old girl, has beaten lack hands down, trained her five siblings to university level and has been thriving in her job.
