‘I Cherish My Juju Music’
From law to politics to business, Chief Oyekunle Alex-Duduyemi has crisscrossed the path of greatness without his blowing trumpet and rolling out the drums. He granted Solomon Elusoji a rare interview at his Lagos office, where among other things, he talk
The office is at the topmost floor of a giant building on Adeola Odeku Street. From the window leaped a sprawling view of the Lagos beach. Here, the bustle of the famous Odeku street evaporates, and is replaced by a righteous calm and the quiet patter of office talk.
“My office was formerly at Western House, on Broad Street,” Alex-Duduyemi tells me. He is reclining on a seat, just in front of his desk. A cup (of tea?) had been placed by his side. “But we started experiencing infrastructural defects, like the lift not working.” The poor service delivery forced him to leave Broad Street, and take solace in Odeku. But the ‘lift’ problem has remained. “Even here, sometimes, the lift does not work. Whenever that happens, I just stay down and ask them (his employees) to fetch me some files. At this age (he just clocked 80), I can’t be using the stairs. I used to do that before, but not anymore.”
He doesn’t look or act 80 though. Throughout the interview, his memory is lucid, as he recollects snippets of historical details with effortless ease, his quiet voice bouncing across the office like a pinball. And, true, he has come a long way. He was a member of the Nigerian delegation to the 20th session of the 1965 United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The secret to his eternal youthfulness, he tells me, is the way he has chosen to live his life. “I try to live well, eat well, and also work. I exercise a little, and praise God for everyday that he keeps me alive. I don’t offend people. I love my neighbours and friends, and they love me too. I don’t make unnecessary enemies. I still make new friends. And, I rejoice in whatever God has granted me.”
An astute businessman, he continues to serve as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bolex Holdings Limited, Manucom Fishing Company Limited, Petroleum Services Nigeria Limited, Equity Shipping Company Nigeria Limited and Manufacturing and Commodity Company Limited. He is also the proprietor and founder of the Henry Alex-Duduyemi Memorial College.
Recently, he was honoured by THISDAY with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
“I was excited when I received the THISDAY award,” he says. “I never thought anybody in the media would have thought I’m one of the twenty eminent people in Nigeria. I thought I would be 100, or 200, or even 1,000. But I don’t know what they found in me to make me one of the 20. So, it was very exciting. I cherish that.”
The award given to him was for his many contributions to national politics, economy and education.
“I’m passionate about education because I see a lot of poverty around us,” he says, explaining the drive behind his many interventions in the educational sector. “And the level of education is so low that anybody who has little means should go in there and encourage the less-privileged to go to school, or send their children to school; so that they can all become knowledgeable of things around us. That was why in my village, I thought about establishing a secondary school. (Alex Duduyemi Memorial College) They are doing very well. I’m proud to have owned it, and I rejoice in the success story of the college.”
His overriding philosophy is to continue to be of value to his fellow men. He has no regrets for the choices he has made in the past, including absconding from legal practice.
“I left law early. I don’t regret it. If I had been practising, maybe I would have done a little bit better. But I find what I’m doing now more rewarding. I have a vision to live a little more for myself and my family. With the fruits of my labour that God has granted me. I’m contented.”
For him, “the important factors for a successful life are honesty, integrity, faith and love. These are the cardinal things that if you possess, and with God’s guidance, you can get to the top.”
But these “cardinal things” seem to have no relevance to today’s young people, and Alex-Duduyemi re-echoes that sentiment.
“Then, you were guided by God, your mission and vision. But these days, nobody is guided by that. Everybody wants to work in a bank, an oil company, and make quick money. And if it is not coming quickly, they steal it. In our days, it was not like that. Everybody was satisfied with what he or she had. It wasn’t like they were not ambitious, but they stay wherever God has put them, work hard, get promoted, and pursue opportunities that can enhance their career. If you were a Postal Clerk, and you wanted to be Post-Master General one day, it was a step-by-step process. But today, if you stay there for few years and you can’t get money, you will want to jump ship.”
He tells me that he’s a good listener of music. “But I don’t listen to jazz or hiphop. I cherish my juju music and Nigerian methodical music. If they play it, I listen very well, relax with it, and memorise them sometimes.” On food: “I eat anything that’s good and digestible. There is no food that I don’t eat.”
Now, he barely reads books, due to time constraints. But he doesn’t miss the daily newspapers. “I have to stay up to date with what’s happening around me. Occasionally, I pick up some magazines. But I don’t know when last I picked up a whole book, other than biographies and memoirs.”
For most of his adult life, Alex-Duduyemi has lived in Apapa. When asked to compare the port-city’s past with the present, he tells me that, with the traffic situation deteriorating, Apapa’s glory days seem to be over.
“By the time I went to Apapa, it was probably the most peaceful area in Lagos. I was forced to go there, after the Tafawa Balewa coup. I used to live in Ikoyi, in the government quarters. When we were driven away from the military, I had an in-law who lived in Apapa then. I, my wife and the children just moved in with them. It was from there I started to look for where I would stay.
“Since then, I’ve never lived anywhere other than Apapa. But today, it is horrendous. It’s a different story. It takes me over two hours to get from my house to the office, because of the gridlock on the road. Normally, it should take me between 20 to 30 minutes. If I want to go home in the evening, it takes me hours to reach home. So, that’s the difference. I’m planning to relocate back to Ikoyi.”
With Nigeria clocking 55 recently, I asked him to share his vision for the nation. He sighs.
“You can’t write down the Nigeria of my dreams,” he says. “If you look at other countries of the world, look at ours, and compare how we live, you will realise that we are far away from them. We are only praying that one day, we will get to where they are: free healthcare, free transportation to certain extent and, of course, security of lives and property. It is corruption that is the most terrible thing.”
He doesn’t look or act 80 though. Throughout the interview, his memory is lucid, as he recollects snippets of historical details with effortless ease, his quiet voice bouncing across the office like a pinball