First of all Congratulation @aderonkemi
This shows that you really have been devoted and committed to this community.

How followers are important to growth of Steemit

Every community needs followers to achieve their goals and objectives... Not just followers but effective and supportive followers. Follower are important because it goes to show that you are doing something right and that they enjoy your content. Most times it could be that they see something in you and the way you write or it could be that you have a great blog and they want to see more of your work. And also followers are there to give feedback to your content and then the writer improves upon that feedback to give them better content.
And lastly, every follower is a potential resteem or upvote for your unwritten works!

Happy Steeming... Cheers