By Nkasiobi Oluikpe - Correspondent, Lagos
•Oduwole
Ikoyi Club 1938 will not easily forget Babatunde Olatunji Oduwole, son of the first Alhaji and prominent Muslim leader in Ijebu land, for saving it from being the laughing stock of the whites who then, had just handed over the club to Nigerians.
Oduwole, in 1993/94, raised the alarm that instigated inquiry into the fraudulent practices of some Nigerians, who ran the club into a N35 million deficit. It was so disgraceful, as Oduwole puts it, because the Oyibos, who weren’t happy to hand over the club to Nigerians, were already sneering at the capability of Nigerians to handle such a club.
In February 1994, the Club’s audited account was unexpectedly in the red. Oduwole went round and collected signatures of members and called an emergency meeting that authorised the trustees of the club to set up a panel of inquiry into the affairs of the club. He wrote a memo to the first panel and also gave evidence before the panel.
This led to the establishment of many committees that straightened the affairs of the club. This single act earned him the appellation “the saviour of Ikoyi Club” from some old members of the club. Today, the club can boast of billions of naira in assets despite the Nigerian leakage syndrome.
Some have, however, wondered why Oduwole had to stick out his neck, considering that he might have be stepping on big toes. In his explanation, he didn’t care whose ox was gored. All he wanted was for the records to be straightened because when he came back from England in 1975 and couldn’t fit in anywhere, it was Ikoyi Club, according to him, that gave him his bearing.
Oduwole is an English trained quantity surveyor with an impeccable track record. He had done prominent jobs such as the Central Library in Holloway, England and the drainage of the Barbican Site in London. Back home, he did the University of Jos master plan and several others for the Nigerian Army, the Air Force, the Ministry of Agriculture, banks and so on.
He said he had always wanted to be a quantity surveyor. But he never knew there were so many branches to the course until he got to England. So when he was asked which of the branches he wanted to specialise in, he was confused. But the English people studied his result and recommended the aspect of quantity surveying that fitted into his result, that which combines law, architecture, accountancy and engineering to him. And so far, he has not regretted towing that line.
While in the UK, Oduwole had success stories and also made money. At a point in the UK, he became a household name in the field of quantity survey, yet he returned home, a situation not common with today’s youths. He explains why:
“Well, I feel sorry for them. I think it is because of the environment that most of them won’t want to come back. If the environment is good and there is no armed robbery, NEPA or traffic wahala, they will gladly come back. I see many of them abroad, without jobs, who regret going there. It’s just very few of them that have good jobs and a whole lot live rough lives.
“In 1975, when I came back to Nigeria, Nigeria was good. At that time, I thought I would work for somebody for at least 10 years but after three years I set up my own company. There were a lot of jobs to do and there was good life. At that time life was still safe.
“It was after the Shehu Shagari regime when Nigeria came into sudden money. In construction, for instance, when you have a project worth about N20 million, it will be split into two or three phases. Nowadays, you have a project worth N20 billion and they will just give it to one man. The problem with Nigeria was money.
“It was after MKO Abiola made that big money from ITT, that every Nigerian wanted to make as much money as Abiola. Even the IBBs, Olusola Sarakis and Sani Abachas of today, saw the kind of money Abiola made and were inspired to want to make as much or more. That was what ruined Nigeria; it’s a pity. That is my own analysis and I am proud to say it anywhere that before the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) regime in 1979/80, Nigeria wasn’t this bad.”
As a prominent quantity surveyor, universities send him corps members and IT (Industrial Training) students for training. And from his assessment, Oduwole will not join issues with people who believe that Nigerian graduates are not employable.
“I would not say that. Most of the universities that send people to us for IT and postgraduate studies are doing quite well. My policy is that I never reject students. The man who walks through your door today as a student, you don’t know what he would be tomorrow. That was what I learnt in England. First, when they saw me, a black man, they were shocked. The next thing was that they gave me a chance. That chance was what I built on and, today, I also give young graduates that come to me a chance because I believe that they could go places. There are actually students that come in half-baked but we give them a chance. My attitude is, forget what you have learnt previously and be prepared re-learn when you get to this office.
And like their engineering counterparts, Oduwole said that quantity surveyors are also shortchanged by foreigners. According to him, “The problem is that some organisations don’t patronise Nigerian quantity surveyors e.g. Shell. But, I am not bothered about them. I have countries in the Arab world that that are better than Shell, which value my services. Many of us have had good times, like El-Rufai, MacGrego and others who have been making their impact in the field and very quiet. As far as I am concerned, we have had our fair share of projects and people who know us patronise us.”
Oduwole is proud to tell anyone, who cares to listen, that he is not only his father’s look alike but that he is proud to look like him. When asked why, as a staunch Muslim, he did not take after his father’s polygamous lifestyle, he said: “Personally, I don’t like polygamy because after my father died, I didn’t enjoy it. When he was alive, it was a beautiful happy house with relations everywhere. Our house was a beehive of activities, but after he died everything changed. Yes, Islam supports polygamy but the African system doesn’t allow polygamy to work. There is a pre-condition to polygamy. It says you must have the money to maintain the women, love them equally and treat them equally. But the African system does not make it work that way.”
Being born into a polygamous home, as most of his contemporaries would tell you, wasn’t a bone in the neck. Siblings and wives rivalries during the good old days, he recalls didn’t exist, especially with the head of the house alive. He said: “When you have many wives, there are usually many children born at the same time. We woke up in the morning and went to school together, we came back home, played football on some days and went to Arabic schools. In the evening, our compound was always lively. Eating was an art in my father’s house because my father loved good food. We ate in groups. We would go to sleep, and the routine continued. Sometimes, we didn’t even sleep until around 11p.m. to 12a.m. because our mothers had local bakeries. We were the first to have bakeries in Ijebu Ode. Four of my father’s wives had bakeries in our compound. And sometimes, they would bake bread all through the night.
“Our mothers were very friendly and never lacked anything. When a particular mother refused to give her child food, another mother would give him to eat. Sometimes, you didn’t know who was the mother of a particular child. But when my father died, the mothers who were friendly became enemies. It was really a bitter experience. Thank God one survived it.”