He had a plethora of ideas when he stepped into the Ghanaian capital Accra, in December 2000. But only one thing remained prominent amongst the rest - weightlifting.
It was his second time of heading to Ghana, having visited earlier in October the same year to do some feasibility studies, about the sport he wanted to develop.
His name is Michael Johnson Abotsi, generally accepted as the 'father' of Ghana weightlifting.
Head over heels in love with weightlifting and with an irrepressible passion to develop the sport in Africa, the Nigerian-naturalised-Ghanaian landed in Accra, where he got into contact with an elderly man - one Mr Adomako, who became the first chairman of a combined bodybuilding and weightlifting association. The association was fairly new at the time with no real athletes available to train.
After a series of deliberations, Abotsi decided to take the bull by the horn to train people who were passionate about the sport. Adomako, though, not financially strong, but was ready to assist in his own small way. A widow's mite was better than nothing at all.
"I knew it was a huge challenge to me, especially in a new terrain. However, I accepted the task - believing I can succeed with the strength of fortitude and perseverance that have always been my hallmark," he recalled.
Originally known as Oluwamuyiwa Johnson, Abotsi started putting together a team made of Bernard Fetrie, Albert Abotsi, Kwame Super, and a young lady called Ada. The team, later to be joined by a few other prospects were training on a rocky rickety platform - and under strenuous circumstances - where food was gold. Indeed, it was an embarrassment to see the athletes train with a single barbell as they virtually queued and waited for their turn.
There was absolutely nothing like vitamin supplements after a hard day's work.
After scaling one frustration to the other - and with no real financial support, Abosti left back to Nigeria in 2002 - where he worked as the physical training head coach for the Nigeria Police weightlifting sport team.
The sport in Ghana was momentarily left desolate as the weightlifting kingpin may have scampered a lot away.
Abotsi's departure was triggered by the nation's failure to include the weightlifting squad in Ghana's contingent to the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games.
"We had trained and sacrificed a lot and thought we were going to make the cut, but weightlifting was omitted from the campaign. It was heart-throbbing," he recalled.
"I had trained adequately well and was hugely convinced I and others were going to win a medal in Manchester."
Thinking his presence was probably not needed or appreciated, he returned to Nigeria.
Grippingly, after the Manchester Games, he had a call from some officials who convinced him to "come back and continue your good work."
"I agreed to return because I knew there was an unfinished business to do," Abotsi insisted.
Predictably, he worked his fingers to the bone and clinched Ghana's maiden international medals in weightlifting at the Abuja All Africa Games (now African Games) in 2003, swaggering away three medals - two silver and bronze - with injured Bernard Fetrie missing bronze by inches, after putting up a tremendous performance in the heavyweight category.
What was fascinating about Abotsi's feat was he was the head coach of Ghana's weightlifting team, determined to make the nation proud, at all cost. That was leadership by example.
Realising the enormity of task at hand after that swash-buckling performance in 2003, Abotsi 'threw a hand for support' to fellow Nigerian - Najetie Ogbogu - who was later to naturalise and be known as Majetie Fetrie. Fetrie's invitation was triggered by a recommendation from Mr Clifford Johnson Aboagye, then President of the Ghana Weightlifting Association (who took over from Adomako) and Bernard Fetrie. Without any hesitation, Majetie landed in the country, the weightlifter having just retired prematurely from the sport in Nigeria, after running into a spat with the game's authorities in that country.
Straightaway on arrival, he formed a formidable duo with Abotsi as they put their heads together to produce a fearsome generation of weightlifters who amassed hordes of medals on the African terrain.
In March 2006, Majetie would proceed to lift a total of 309kg to take Ghana's first ever weightlifting gold at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, 1kg better than India's Mohammed Asdullah and 10kg clear of Muhammad Irfan of Pakistan. Abotsi also picked a gold medal as Ghana's coach.
Ahead of that, he won gold medal in the 90kg category at the Gauteng Powerlifting Championship in 2004, and later picked a medal in Powerlifting and Bench Press Championship held in South Africa on April 2, 2005.
Abotsi left Ghana in 2006 after being offered a contract as Conditioning and Fitness Coach by Orlando Pirates, an elite football side in the South African League, an engagement he also later had with Golding Lions, a Rugby Club in the same country.
The African Games multi-medallist found himself in India in 2019 and was employed by Mohun Bagan, a premier league side as their physical trainer for the 2019-2020 football season.
Before agreeing to the deal with Mohun Bagan, Abotsi was working as the strength and conditional coach for Highland Park Football Club, Johannesburg, for the past eight seasons.
One of his specialities is to prepare athletes and sports persons to avoid injuries and enhance their power and fitness. Abotsi is also an expert in fast injury recovery and rehabilitation process.
A Strength and Conditioning specialist for South Africa Rugby Union for the World Cup 2007 and winners of World Cup 2007 - (Springbok) SA, the 49-year-old strong-charactered man, is of the continent's most experienced coaches.
Enthusiastically, he has positioned himself with finesse, having acquired lots of certificates in his treasured discipline, including the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) certificates in coaching in 2001.
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Abotsi was also awarded a certificate of Recognition and Appreciation during the XVII Commonwealth Games as Coach in Weightlifting at Melbourne, Australia, in 2006.
Three years ago, the hardworking Ghanaian returned to the country to continue from where he left off.
"Whilst away, I had one eye on Ghana with regard to the development of the sport, and I reckon I must come down to help push the dream a notch higher," he told the Times Sports recently.
The weightlifting mogul is now the head coach of Ghana's weightlifting team and also a Sub-Technical Committee member of the Accra 2023 African Games to be held in March, 2024.
For now, he says, his immediate task is to supervise Ghana's march to winning hauls of medals at next year's African Games.
"I'm really focused and want to work tooth-and-nail with my team of coaches to ensure we deliver the goods to Ghanaians."
Abotsi was appreciative of the prodigious role played by stakeholders to power the sport to its current esteemed status.
"Indeed, I must express my heart-felt appreciation to the government and all chieftains of weightlifting - without which the sport would have ceased to exist long ago. The likes of Adomako, Johnson Aboagye, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, Ben Nunoo Mensah and the current president - Jerry Ahmed Shaib, have all played phenomenal roles to keep the sport afloat."
