CHIEF OBAFEMI OLOPADE (INDUSTRIALIST) I Still Played Football at 89

Interviewed by Funke Olaode

At 89 you still look agile. What drives you?

Nothing drives me but the grace of God. God has been kind to me that I am blessed with good genes. Again, I don’t bear grudge, I don’t keep malice. I try very hard to be honest at all times to those whom I relate to. While I was much younger, I was into sporting activities. I recently participated in a football match during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s birthday in Abeokuta. Prof. Akin Mabogunje was the goal-keeper. Dr. Onaolapo Soleye was on the reserve bench. I felt great playing football at my age. I fell on the pitch and stood up unaided. It was fun.

How would you describe your growing up?

It was wonderful growing up in the good old days of colonial era. I grew up in Port Harcourt in the Old Garden City. My late father was an entrepreneur, a produce buyer, building contractor and timber merchant who settled in Port Harcourt in 1919. He was reasonably wealthy. He had 10 children from four wives. How did you survive polygamy? There was nothing to be afraid of because my father was equal to the task. Ironically, we didn’t experience intrigues associated with polygamy in my home because my father was in charge of his household.

How would you say having an industrious father has influenced your life?

Well, it affected my upbringing. The way I was brought up was to believe in the dignity of labour, and must be prepared to work at any time of the day or when called upon. For instance, there is a saying by my father: If you are working and tell him it is raining. He would simply tell you to continue what you are doing because rain is doing its own work and you also must do yours. This has moulded all his children and grand-children to imbibe the traits of hard work.

What influenced you to study engineering?

I was influenced by my father to pursue a career in engineering because he was a contractor. Then as a young man, I was hyperactive, which suited my line of profession. I moved to London in 1955 after my secondary education in Nigeria. It was in vogue for those who could afford it to send their children abroad for studies. Again, University of Ibadan started in 1949 and it had limited faculties and space for students. I went to London and enrolled at College of Technology in Brighton where I studied Structural Engineering.

I also did some courses in London. What was childhood aspiration? My parents were staunch Methodists, and the aspiration was to be a minister of Methodist Church. I was a choir boy for many years because I enjoyed church music. As a stubborn young man, I was forced to live with a minister in a Mission House. I jettisoned the ambition of becoming a Minister of God when my father died at the age of 72 in 1951. I was saddled with a lot of responsibilities. I was running up and down to complete his contracts with the Nigerian Railway, Elder Dempster Lines, and a shipping line in Port Harcourt then. With the assistance of his late Italian friend, G.G. Dolcino, I was able complete some of those jobs. When did you start your career? I stayed back in England for some time after my studies. I came back to Nigeria and took off again at the outbreak of civil war. I finally came back in 1968 and floated my own company: International Engineering Consultants. I have not looked back in the last 47 years. I am still working because an idle hand is a devil’s workshop. I have been into manufacturing since 1973 doing toiletries. We had a break but we are resurrecting it now. I am doing disposable syringes with needles and I hope to be out with condoms very soon.

Aren’t you planning to slow down?

Slow down? There is no end to work. God has created 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 days a year. And the Bible says in Gen. 6:3 that we can live up to 120 years. Why should I slow down? Anything one enjoys doing if you still have the strength, do it. And when your creator feels He needs you He will call you. What lesson has life taught you? Life has taught me to be honest, to be good and kind to my fellow human beings. Show love and affection to everybody. Above all, don’t bear grudge and malice.

If you had to rate your satisfaction with your life so far, out of 10, what would you score yourself?

I will score myself 100 per cent. God has been kind to me. I am the luckiest man on earth because if I complain I look at others and continue to give thanks. Ask me, why I shouldn’t give thanks to God? Here I am at close to 89, I move around unaided. When I look at my life trajectory, the level I have attained and look at my contemporaries, I have every reason to be grateful to God.