•Tags It ASHABI @ 50
Popular Lagos Senior Civil Servant, Ashabi is in a happy mood right now. It’s her 50th Birthday and she is held a Thanksgiving Birthday party to mark it. She has a lot to be happy about. She has joined the Golden age. She has bagged her doctorate. Her children are all doing well. And she is in good health.
Although everybody calls her Ashabi and her birthday is tagged Ashabi @ 50, her real name is Dr. Taofikat Olatunbosun Omoshalewa Ashabi Kasunmu. She is a beautiful, no-nonsense celebrity lady who is there for all her friends. She is always full of life. She is bubbly but highly principled and serious-minded. She is also a very brilliant lady who loves academics.
How does she feel at 50, we asked her? What is on her mind, as she celebrates? “I feel happy. I feel fulfilled”, she explains. “I feel I have come of age. I can say, I am fulfilled in all ramifications. I can say I just want to really know who I am. And I know that now at 50. I now know who I am. And I just want to just be like that. I want to be happy. I am fulfilled. My children also told me, Mummy now you are 50, you just have to be happy. They have told me that I shouldn’t worry about them, that they will be ok, once I am ok. What I need now that I am 50 is to be what God has called me to be, which I have known. I want to be happy. I want to be able to know God and to serve God more. To serve him more. To appreciate him more. And to do my best to inhumanity”.
Is she happy at how people rallied around her as she celebrated?” Yes. I am happy with all the love and support from people, colleagues, friends my ogas. It was my children who first interviewed me the day I turned 50. They just asked me. Mummy, how do you feel at 50? I told them that I just feel that I am done with a phase of my life. Now, I am matured. I am not afraid of anything again. I have come into a world of my own. I have known my own purpose of why I am here on earth. My own purpose now is to serve God. I have gone through a lot of challenges. I have scaled many hurdles and in all of these, I have put all those challenges behind me. It is only God that has made me be who I am today. I have gone through a long journey to be where I am today. It has made me realise that my purpose for being 50 is for me to know God more, and to serve him more. He spared my life to attain the age of 50. I have written a book to show what I have been through. I thought I love people and I don’t always think people should love me in return. But I have realised that many people love me. This my 50th birthday has made me discover that people love me, to my surprise.”
Why did she pay attention to academics and going ahead to bag a doctorate? “It is because I love books. I love reading. I discovered when I was growing up that I love books. I am a bookworm. They always tell me to go and sleep and leave the books I was reading then. I grew up in a slum. I was trained and brought up in SHITTA Rabiatu in Surulere, where Fela and Co., operated, with all sorts of human beings growing up there.
Yet, I was always inside the house doing all sorts and reading. Even with my PhD, people make fun of me that I like books. Yes. I do. Up till now, I read a lot. In my office, I am surrounded by books. I like to read, that is what keeps me going. I like improving myself. I did my OND at Kwara Poly. I did my HND at Yaba Tech. I did my PGD at LASU. I have my MBA from LASU. About 3 years ago, I went to write GCE to do Law. But I changed my mind after people advised me to pursue my Accounting line. So, I decided to do Masters in Nigeria. So, I started a course at London Graduate School. I did the Masterclass. When last year that the pandemic came up, I wanted to improve myself. So, I went for sustainable training in Leadership Course. I completed the course in October and I had to look for how to pay my fees for my PhD. It is not me. Its God. But I had to be consistent and hardworking. I had to juggle all my roles. I had children going to school. But I have remained focused because I want to grow big academically.
Of recent, I have been thinking of becoming Chartered, because I am the youngest fellow, of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria. I emerged as one of the best in one of the training we did recently.”
“Life has taught me a lot at 50. That is why I wrote a book. I have been through a lot. Life has taught me a lot and the lesson I got out of it is that it can only be God. It is only God that can do anything and everything. It is only God. I have gone through a lot in life. There was a time I really committed suicide. I got to a point in life that when I opened my eyes I wanted to die. That I bounced back, it can only be God. That is what life has taught me”.
Let’s tell you more, about her life. Dr Taofikat Olatunbosun Ashabi Kasunmu was born on the 4th June 1971 in Daddy Maternity Home Idumagbo in Lagos, Island by Alhaji Sanusi Adegboyega Alade Kasunmu and Alhaja Sikirat Alake Kasunmu Nee Onigbanjo. She attended Babdel Nursery School at Rabiatu Thompson Crescent, Shitta in Surulere. She began her primary education in Government Demonstration, School II in Onitolo Street mainly afternoon school then, until Governor Lateef Jakande built Rabiatu Thompson Primary School where she joined from Primary 4 in 1982. Thereafter, in 1984, she was admitted into Gbaja Girls High School, Gbaja, Surulere, Lagos State where she obtained her West Africa Leaving Certificate (WAEC) in 1989. She proceeded to Kwara State Polytechnic and obtained an Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Accountancy in 1993. She did her one-year compulsory Industrial attachment with E.’ Investment, Joseph Street, Lagos. She later went to Yaba College of technology and obtained Higher National Diploma (HND) in Accountancy and Finance in the year 1998. She did her compulsory National Youth Service Corps with the Department of Petroleum Resources DPR in Eric Moore, Surulere. She joined Lagos State Civil Service in the year 2001. She became an Associate Member of Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM) in the year 2003 and was admitted as a member of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (CNA) on the 8th of February, 2005.
She attended Lagos State University, Ojo for her Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) (specialization in Management). She was later awarded her masters in Business Administration majored in Financial Management from the same University. She was granted the Master Class Certificate in Leadership and Sustainability from London Graduate School, MAYFAIR POINT, South Molton, London.
She was duly admitted as a Fellow of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (FCNA) on the 7th of November, 2013. Awarded the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Specialising in Accounting and Finance from Commonwealth University, London. She is a Fellow of National Accountants of Nigeria FCNA; Fellow of Institute of Management Consultants FIMC, an Associate Member of Nigeria Institute of Management NIM, an Associate Member of Institute of Certified Economist of Nigeria ICEN. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Consultants (CIMC) Canada/USA. A Patron of Nigeria Red Cross Society and a member of the Emergency First Aid team in Lagos State.
She enjoys helping and inspiring others, travelling, singing, reading, dancing, playing table tennis and being in the presence of God. She was married for twenty-three years and blessed with two wonderful sons.
As part of her 50th birthday celebration, she launched her autobiography. This publication “God Beyond Me” chronicles the travails and triumphs. It mirrors her childhood, education, work, carrier, challenges how she, escaped death severally by the Grace of God that wilt continues to sustain her and her family life. Focusing on the value, philosophy of standing by God at all times of challenges that have severally earned her the ability to know that it can only be God and no one else can do anything without Him.
The publication is, no doubt, capable of serving as a stimulant to others, who desire to uphold the core value,) of knowing God’s worth in His entirety which gives peace, hope and joy that have; significantly made the author know God of Mercy for who He truly is and changed her life. She is a Doctor of Business Administration, Professional Accountant, Chartered Management
Doctor of Business Administration, Professional Accountant, Chartered Management Consultant, Mentor, Motivator and Public Servant.
Taofikat Olatunbosun Kasunmu is an intriguing and ever ready-to-help personality whose main concern is motivating and helping others to attain success in life.
She is a rare model in integrity, humility and selflessness. She holds Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Accountancy from Kwara State Polytechnic Kwara State. Higher National Diploma (HND) in Accountancy and Finance from Yaba College of Technology Yaba Lagos, Post Graduate Diploma PGD in Management from Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos. Master in Business Administration (MBA) majored in Financial Management, also from Lagos State University Ojo. She was granted the Masterclass Certificate in Leadership and Sustainability from London Graduate School, Mayfair Point, South Molton, London. Awarded the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Specialising in Accounting and Finance from Commonwealth University, London. (Honoris Causa)
She enjoys helping and inspiring others, travelling, singing, reading, dancing, playing Table Tennis and being in the presence of God. She was married for 23 years and blessed with 2 wonderful sons.
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