FunmiAyinke releases new Gospel single, ‘I can make it’

She is a philanthropist, with her reach-out programmes touching the lives of hundreds of thousands of widows and students.

Engr. (Dr.) FunmiAyinke Waheed Adekojo, the lady behind FunmiAyinke Humanity Foundation is a woman of many parts.

As an accomplished Engineer, she is a Fellow of Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE), Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FNIMechE), Institute of Management Consultant (FIMC),  Institute of Management Specialist UK (FIMS), and APWEN (Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria, a division of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) among others.

She pilots a hugely successful engineering firm committed to excellent delivery of projects.

She has bagged several awards and honours, including Honourary Doctorate Awards in Engineering, Project Management and Corporate Governance from European American University and another Doctor in Public Administration from the Universite Protestante Delafriq in West Africa.

Dr Adekojo delved into music and put her Midas’ touch on a musical single entitled, ‘It’s Our Time’. It was a huge success as it soon gained currency in major television  and radio stations across the country.

The success of that endeavour has prompted her to release another single entitled “I Can Make It’.

It is another hit in the making, because it has all the elements that made the first endeavour a success.

“I had this project, a Mechanical and Electrical Engineering drawing project which had given me sleepless nights. At a point I now decided okay, I had to tidy up this job, and within a couple of hours I had finished. And I said whaoh!, so I can make this, and by the time we presented the job, everyone acknowledged it was an excellent one. That formed the foundation for the lyrics, the fact that we were able to make it. Irrespective of the environment, the situation around us and the pressures facing us  we can be one of the best in the world if we want to.

“That inspired the song. Then I set out to change the notion that as you lay your bed, so you lie on it. The notion that your morning decides your night; this is wrong. If you lay your bed in the morning, you can still change the way you will lie on it in the afternoon before the night comes. It is the afternoon that determines the night. These two principles form the focus of the song.”

Going down memory lane, she disclosed that her journey into music started from her days as an undergraduate. She was a member of the Winners Chapel Choir. She also sang at Canaanland’s Annual Shiloh programme at a point.

To her, music has always been a source of refuge when she wants to relax, get her groove back after being stressed.

Unlike many others who will claim music run in their family, for her this is not the case.

However, she has come to see music as an integral part of her life so much so that once in a while she sits down compose and sing songs all by herself.

Speaking on her songwriting prowess, she says they come to her naturally.

‘They come as inspiration from God,’ she revealed, adding that it is God using her to pass a message across.

“Look at this last one. I had the inspiration and wrote it around 1.00am in the morning. Indeed, I wrote three songs that night and after looking at them, I sent them to my producer who picked ‘I Can Make It’ and that’s why it is out. I have other songs I have also written.”

So what really informed the songs she is singing, we asked the engineer.

According to her as a philanthropist, she has been reaching out to young people but she realised that passing the message across these days is a little difficult.

“Majority of Nigerians don’t read. Even when I posted pictures of myself being given an award, months back, with a write-up to illustrate the motivational piece, they would be congratulating me, which indicated that they didn’t read the write-up”.

“Again, on several occasions we have seen that people got satisfied whenever they approached me for Counselling. The situation of Nigeria has caused mental depression, hence, getting people’s attention and making them believe in themselves has become more difficult.

“This is where music comes in. Everybody listens to music. They don’t read but they listen to music and so God gave me the inspiration to reach out to them through music so that the message of hope can get across to them. Anywhere they are they are always listening to music, and music has a way of working on people.”

How does she manage all these different parts of her busy life?

She said she had come up with a way of apportioning time for everything. Then some things not high up on the priority list or that are not relevant get no time allotted as she maximizes the 24 hours in a day to achieve everything she plans to accomplish.

She said that sometimes it was difficult to respond to telephone calls because of her tight schedule. This has in a way limited her social circles as some take offence. But this has not in any way weighed her down.

So where does she see herself in music in years to come? The Engineer musician is quite optimistic.

She said as someone who does not abandon projects midway, she is committed to using music to take her motivational activities to the highest level attainable.

She said it would be like when people underestimated her zeal to continue her philanthropic activities.

“We have outgrown their predictions and expectations. Same way we will outgrow anyone who thinks this is just a flash in the pan. We are unstoppable and with God being our source, we will continue to ride high. You see, the inspiration for this comes from God and since He cannot be limited, we cannot be limited”.

She also called on established brands to support up and coming ones especially those who are using music to perform humanitarian works.

Given the nature of her music, we asked her how she would feel if the songs are used by others.

“Yes, of course, anyone can use it. They can remix it, but they have to acknowledge that it is our song. The lyrics are ours. We have copyrighted them since I wrote the songs. It is important that when works like these are used, we acknowledge their owners so that we do not run foul of the law,” she concluded.

Listen to her new single on her YouTube channel here.