PROPHET PAUL HILDA MAFUAH CELEBRATES HIS  #BIRTHDAY WITH A LAUNCH OF BOOK:::

 

PROPHET PAUL HILDA MAFUAH arresting message of hope and deliverance through the years the ministry has grown into a big church had lots to feel good about leaving an indelible imprint that has towered beyond unmatchable grace. The down to earth man of God who is the G.O of God’s Preparatory Ministry recently in total obedience to his calling rolled out drums to mark his 40^th birthday. In this interview he opened up on his experiences and what life means to him after four decades on earth with chinedu Michael…

How do you feel celebrating your 40^th birthday?

I am very excited celebrating my birthday this beautiful day of my life. There is no year come by that I don’t celebrate my birthday. But this one is a prophet one. I normal call friends, well wishers and pastor friends to mark my birthday.  Interestingly most of the time, I either go to orphanage homes or with friends to the beach.

What we saw here today is more appealing, what would you say made it unique?

 It was designed to give God   his due glory. When I was  37 years old, the Lord spoke to me  that I should  not mark  my birthday until I’m  40.The  Lord told me  specifically that  at  my 40^th birthday a house and other goodies of life  would be given  to me. And I remember sharing it with the congregation that  the Lord says  I  should  not make my birthday until am 40.To my greatest surprise  it came to past in march 2013. A house and other good gifts were given to me .Over the years the Lord has continue to surprise me. Actually my birthday suppose to be celebrated on   26 December, 2013 but because of planning and logistics it was lifted till this day.

When your birthday was shifted to this day, do you have a strong believe it will be this splendid?

Well, I did not. It is just like a dream. Because we have serious challenge of how our property we are planning to get would be successful issue. The people gave us time to pay up and have our property. It was challenging. As a leader one need to be reasonable to have as a reasonable followership. Their was no way I would have preferred a social gathering to the things of God. We deposited several millions of naira to have that property. It was a wonderful project and the differences we have so far made is as a result of what makes a  good  team under my care,  pull together  to effectively  fulfill it  even  to  the extent we have  gone. With all these,   I thought my birthday could no come to past because everything has to done before last year December.

You seem to have established a fashion style that is not a mere pattern. Is it actually a surprise?

Oh my God, (laughs) I can hear you thinking.  You mean that I’m looking extremely beautiful in this attire, it is a believe that God is on my side. I see it as a sign and enhance of beauty from people whom   God has used as a blessing to me. This is courtesy of my elder in the church in the person of Elder Dangwa. He contracted a fashion expert from India who is here today to celebrate with me. He has made the clothe since last year but was kept for today to instill an atmosphere of happiness and God’s faithfulness.

Can you share what you know more importantly and what you imagine that made this birthday fantastic?

It is a self-reinforcing of the prophetic word of God that came to me many years ago. I’m over whelmed the way people overstepped to give me this wonderful treats.  I know before then that we have the issue of money. A son of mine who is also a partner in the ministry was able to make a difference. A ten man committee was inaugurated and the joy or it all is what we see today .We have to lead, to inspire, to motivate, to guide, to shape, with   a difference. It is a great role and I delight in it.

Was it expected as a tall order or the committee sharing God’s faithfulness? 

Well, I would say from the onset that the committee started working on their own and I wasn’t part of it.  I did not know the countless efforts they were making until everything   became very impromptu. Yes it was to me. I  only  joined  them  the last  Sunday to my birthday  at least to know how  far  they have gone  so that  I  don’t  become loss  in my day.

Can you tell us when you started your ministry?

 I started God’s Preparatory Ministry when I was 24 years old. It was a long time ago precisely 1998. I can’t get very wordy and complex because God is faithful. Without God it is not worth taking a moment.

God knows you need the skills, strength, and grace to deal with difficulties. How has it been in your ministry life? 

We must come to a point in life where we decide and believe what the bible says. Do we believe that Jesus Christ took away our sin. If you have that at the back of your mind challenges will come and go the way they came. I believe the right to do well is when you take what God put in your hand seriously. Our crawling, standing and walking period wasn’t easy. God is faith. I wasn’t a pastor before but was worshipping in a church as a prayer warrior when the message came and immediately I did not make excuse. People have already started calling me pastor before I became one.

When was God’s Preparatory Ministry inaugurated?

The church was inaugurated 14^th February 1998.

What was your major challenge then?

My problem then was space. I tried to get a space at one hotel but their was no chair.  I begged one Sunday like that to get a rented chair and to my greatest surprise all of them settled my request without collecting a kobo because God is at work.

At 40, what are we expecting?

Life has just begun at 40.  This is the age of great commitment it also signify strength. I am also trusting God to do more exceeding things on what He has trusted into my hands. I wrote a book that is been lunched today. I am starting an outreach ministry that will drive the world to keep on pressing for our Lord Jesus Christ

 What is your advice to Christians?

Praying without ceasing for our leadership.  And I want tell all true Christian that 2014 will be a beautiful and wonderful tear. God have never failed any generation that put their trust in Him. I pray that youth of this great nation be sold out to the King of Kings. He that has spoken will confirm it.

A GOOD PR FIRM MOST GO BEYOUND BRAND APPEAL ----- PR EXPERT

Lekan Ishola is the Managing Director of PRREDline. His PR outfit is a stakeholder communications company. In an interview with classic magazine, the renowned PR expert uncovers every area leaving no stone unturned on what make a good PR practitioner among other business aspect…

What makes a good PR practitioner?

A good PR practitioner must be first and foremost a qualified practitioner. The truth is that PR is a profession. When we talk about the evolution of PR you will agree with me that PR have gone through some stages. It used  to be the media department of government establishment in the past which evolves to become its own practice but significantly associated with the media practice, particularly electronic media. Then as time goes on it become a practice and a profession that there is certain expected qualification whether academics or professional.  Also there is specification and qualification of PROs. People from the outside would say PR is this and that without actually stating the obvious. However, people that practice the job know we have different aspects of PR practice. For you to be thinking PR, you most have undergone academics and practical of professional training in different aspects or specific aspects that you choose as the case may be. A good PR person must have integrity. Gone are the days when you talk about PR as a form of giving people bribe, organizing protocols or placing things in the media gone are those days. You need integrity first and foremost, you need to be somebody that will say yes and it is yes. Not only to your colleagues or clients but faithfulness upon yourself and to the practice it self

What do you mean by different aspects of PR that you are talking about?

 PR is a vast profession. Be it strategy development, media relations, advocacy, consumer’s engagement, stakeholder engagement and other platform that we have. For you to be a professional as a respected professional or a respectable professional you must have a full in any of these over a given period of time. A step which has to do with academic qualification, professional qualification and also specification and specialization is the character or personality aspect of the practice.

 What does it take to run a good PR outfit?

 You need to get down and ask yourself what role you want to play just like any other business. The truth is that the business can be a small business and it is thriving or it is a big business and it is not performing.  Do you want to play big, medium or small scale? That choice determines the number of people you need to work with you. It determines the capital outlay and the type of business you want to do. Their some business that if you don’t plan to play big you would not succeed even if you use what ever means to get there you cannot perform. And then your integrity will be faulted. Also there are a business that attracts certain type of package like cars and other things depending on how you want to play. For maintenance if you want to play small your salary scale will be affected, the number of staff you have will be affected, the office type would be affected. So it depends on the conscious choice on how you want to play. It also depends on the level of trust that you have been able to build as a brand. For you to run PR business as a brand you must know certain things and be known for something. It is a conscious thing and you have find links. Do you want to be known as someone who is doing a PR or someone who have contributed to the growth of the company or business? Do you want to be known as a brand or someone who want to just come and razzmatazz and go?  But for the business to be very successful it must run over a period of time.

Are you saying that a PR organization must have a long time engagement?

 There are organization that you hear their names that have  run  for  over 15 to 20 years. There are organizations that still play small for over 15-20years. What is important is confidence and what people know you for. People should be able to say, if you are talking about PR  practice then go to XYZ, so to say. For instance if you are talking about a PR firm that are good  in  stakeholders engagement  go to so so and so  firm. If you are looking for a PR firm who is very good at financial PR a direction would be given. That is the kind of PR firm one should look out for that has confidence and skill before you can talk about profitability.

What do you mean by profitability?

Yes the figure does not count but profitability. If you run a business and you revenue is 100 to 200 million,  what in matters is profitability. Because that is how you are able to deliver to owners of the business. You must work at the two aspect of the business which are income generation and the expenditure aspect. You must be able to balance the two. But people feel that PR is all about razzmatazz, all about showing up, all about wearing good shoes, things you will say when you go out, driving the best car, staying in the best hotel and all that. All these remember must come at a cost.  If you do all these things,  is there means you biting more than you can grind. Business is different from show up. Those things are not important but depending on how you want to play. You must consistently do things for over a period of time for people to indentify your professionalizing.

What is your opinion on your PR firm and others?

 For us,  you need to understand first and foremost we are not a stand alone firm. In other words we did not come and to be a PR firm.  We are a subsidiary of a group and that is a centre spread group. It has an advertisement agency for over 30 years ago and along the line.  The centre spread group had an opportunity as they were doing some things. The saw an opportunity of PR and they started doing it regularly.  So what that means is that we were able to build integrity that made it easy to unveil a PR firm. We have integrity,  we have professionalism and that gave us the opportunity of dabbling into areas that are PR and to help PR.  We understand the whole essence of marketing communication and integrated marketing communication. There is no way you will do integrated marketing communication you will not go into other aspect that goes PR.  So PR is part of it and advertizing is also one of them among other aspects. We are on ground and that is what made us thick. Now we lucky to come from group that has other subsidiary In the integrated market communication. We are able to draw from other of our subsidiary in making up our own PR outfit. And at that is why our offerings are always robust. We also have commitment on the area of financial accounts and when those accounts have more you will never have any course to include any other guide because their is performance. Integrity to the business and commitment to the clients is a good deal. We have everything nationally and internationally which is an advantage to us. We don’t work with you because we want to make money, we work with you because we want to grow your business from one point to another. As you are growing we become an integrated part of your business that you find it difficult to tell us to go. The reason is that you know we are adding value to you and also cost conscious.

What do you think you like most about yourself?

Challenges.  When I started I was limited to media communication but along the line I started seeing the strategic aspect of PR and that is where the real challenges are. It is not what you do with the media but the brainwork plotting a good PR outing. It also mean going beyond what you are told. I see PR as more of something that requires intelligence and aspect keeps me happy.

Your PR firm handles big brands in Nigeria. What is it like?

Yes we have been working for money gram for years and they have been growing. Money gram is the only money transfer firm that has their office in Nigeria. Western union doesn’t have any office in Nigeria. Money gram has done a lot not only in Lagos but outside Lagos. They have grown beyond brand appeal, relevance and commitment. You can’t do such a business with companies like that if you don’t have integrity. We work with different PR communication team to get things done. You should also study the public very well that your client want to reach.