Nigerian expat Philip Michael joined World Security with no experience in 2013 and he is a marine officer now
Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/from-nigeria-to-dubai-the-inspiring-journey-of-marine-officer-philips-michael-1.1684321227327
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Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/from-nigeria-to-dubai-the-inspiring-journey-of-marine-officer-philips-michael-1.1684321227327
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
#UAEnews #Dubai #Taqdeerawards
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NewsTranscript
00:00My name is Philip Michael.
00:10I am from Nigeria.
00:14I was born and grew up in Lagos, Nigeria.
00:17I am the fourth son in my family.
00:19We are 10 total in number.
00:22The rest of my siblings, they are my stepbrother and stepsisters.
00:27My mom died when I was at the age of six to seven years.
00:31I was having some younger ones, and they all died.
00:35From the same mother, they all died.
00:37So I was the only surviving one, but I have stepbrothers and stepsisters who are behind
00:43me.
00:46My father was a timber dealer, and at the same time he was fishing.
00:53When I look at myself, I look at myself.
00:55I said, if I have to continue in this way, maybe this is how I will end up my life.
01:02So I told my uncle that I want to travel.
01:04If he has a link, a connection, link me up.
01:07I want to just go out of the country.
01:12He linked me up with his friend.
01:13His friend was coming to Dubai for vacation with the family.
01:17So then the process is, he gave my passport.
01:20Two weeks later, boarding onto the plane to Dubai.
01:26Seeing all this metro connection, beautiful houses, that gave me that zeal, that motivation,
01:33that desire that I will not go back home anytime soon until I achieve what I want in life.
01:41So when I came out, seeing the environment, the beautiful houses, I said to myself, I'm
01:50not going back home anytime soon.
01:54Where I came from was a riverine area whereby those who grew up there, they knew how to
01:59swim.
02:00I met someone again who was in Nigeria.
02:02So when I told him where I came from, he said, ah, you should know how to swim.
02:06I said, yes, I know how to swim.
02:08Then there are some companies, they are recruiting lifeguards.
02:12Make a lifeguard CV and apply.
02:15That will give me a chance, a better chance to get a job, being a good swimmer.
02:20I make a CV, started going randomly, moving from one place to another, dropping CV.
02:26Three days later, I received a call, that this is World Security.
02:30Is that Philip Michael?
02:32I said, this is Philip Michael.
02:34Can you come for your offer letter by 2, before 2 p.m. today?
02:38Then I divided from there, I went to World Security.
02:43Why I chose World Security was, the first time I went there for the interview, I met
02:47some young guys, they were debating about football.
02:52So when I asked them, they said that there was an internal football competition.
02:55Well, my passion is to play football.
03:00There was an internal football competition and a Nigerian played, Nigerian employee,
03:06they played against Cameroon in the semifinal.
03:10So I told myself, this is a company that loves the gathering of other people, in spite
03:15of different nationalities, and bringing people together in terms of football, is one of the
03:22characteristics of unity.
03:26I said to myself, by God's grace, I will be employed in this company.
03:30I went to the interview, after the interview, we went for the swimming test in Palm Jumeirah.
03:36So we went for the swimming test, after the swimming test, I would say I'm one of the
03:41luckiest person because so many people went for the interview, but I was one of the three
03:47people who were selected.
03:50I applied for the Marine Guard.
03:53So in January, I was selected and was deployed as a Marine Guard.
03:59So when I started as a Marine Guard, I began to have passion for what I was doing.
04:07Philip is a hard-working person, he is distinguished in his work, he comes in the morning, he is hard-working,
04:15he starts by himself, without anyone else working hard, he has ideas, ideas other than
04:21the ideas of the person in his field of work.
04:24So we noticed this feature, that he is hard-working in his job.
04:37When I see my officers then, I was having that dream that one day I'm going to put on this white uniform,
04:44which I'm wearing right now.
04:46So I said to myself, I'm going to put on the white uniform.
04:50I went ahead and took a license, RYA Level 2, boat driving license.
04:55I took the license.
04:56So later in time, I think it was around two years, the vacancy occurred as an open vacancy for boat driver.
05:04I applied, then I became a boat driver.
05:10I said to myself, I need to grow.
05:13I need to grow. Being a boat driver, I need to grow.
05:19So from lifeguard to Marine Guard, later promoted to boat driver, now I'm a currently Marine Officer.
05:30I give God the glory because UAE is a land of possibility.
05:35Where you come, you achieve what you want.