Solomon Oluyinka Adekunle is Head, Human Resource & Admin at ELALAN Construction Company. In this interview, he shares the story of his 60-year sojourn on earth, with SEGUN KASALI.
How do you feel at sixty?
I feel good. In fact, I felt excited when after sending out invitation for my 60th birthday and people kept asking if I am really 60 years old. They say, “You are 60, it’s a lie. You are not 60; you don’t look 60 at all.” Therefore, at 60, I thank God that people are still saying to me, “You’re looking younger than your age.” I feel good; God has given me good health and blessed me with good family support.
At 60, many tend to dive into something new. Will it be politics for you?
It’s not my thing. I don’t want to, because if I go into politics, I may not survive it. The reason is: based on my upbringing, if you are right, I will tell you and if you are wrong, I will say so without blinking an eye and I think our brand of politics doesn’t allow that. It’s obvious and we all know that we cannot accommodate that. If you come to me to inform me that you want to contest an election and I know you will not win. I will tell you, “back out, and don’t waste your time.” But people don’t want that kind of thing.
Can you describe your happiest and lowest moments so far?
If you are talking about the most exciting day in my life, that would the day I got to know that I would be leaving the University of Ibadan (UI) with a second class upper honours –very close to a first class. This is so because people did not see me as a serious-minded guy, because I was involved in a lot of campus activities. I was involved in campus politics at the faculty level. At a time, I was the Public Relation Director of my faculty and it involved going around and campaigning. Aside from that, we had a campus band which I played keyboard for. We normally attend all these departmental gigs. I was also playing keyboard for churches and gospel musicians. All these gigs gave many people the impression that I was not keen about my studies. They were all proved wrong by my result at the end of the four-year course. Some students saw me as somebody that was not that serious but I know how I studied and I know the kind of grace God has given to me.
How did you perform that magic?
Magic? There is no magic for success but hard work and that was what I did. All I needed to do then was attend classes. Once I attended a class, whatever I learnt, I would follow up by reading. Unfortunately, some students up till today don’t know that it’s all about planning and being organised. I knew from the beginning that if I did not make 2:1, my probability of getting a job would be tough. So, after compiling my results and discovering that I made 2:1, I was very happy. That happiness was probably at its peak when we graduated and I got an award. I think I didn’t know I would get the award because in my faculty and department, there were other things that mattered apart from academics. For instance, when I was in school, I put together one or two things. One, I arranged students and formed a kind of group through which we could help each another academically and in non-academic areas like a support unit. There was no internet then, no Google but we created a customised research unit.
Then if you were looking for anything, you would have to go to the library and read all the books on the shelf before you can extract what you want. So, I was involved in a lot of things. I thank God that I’ve been able to, up to this moment, still be active in academics. At least, I have three Master’s Degree certificates and I’m rounding off my PhD programme. God knows I’m trying my best to excel as well.
Can you please speak about the lowest moment of your life?
I will build the saddest day of my life around the unexpected death of my darling mom. I’ve always been looking to probably surprise her while alive. By the time I started working in Lagos, I set a goal concerning my mom. In fact, let me take you back a little bit. Before I got admission to UI, I waited for about two years. During the time, I tried to travel abroad. My mom had some money with her at the time and we went from one agent to another looking for a visa. On one of those trips, she fell off from the bus and she was injured. That was when I said it was time to stop looking for opportunities to travel, and face my academics squarely. I also said when it is time for me, God will do it just like everything. Eventually, by the time I finished my degree programme, I came to Lagos. When I was a trainee, my salary was not much but later on I got promoted, I was able to afford a three-bedroom apartment in Lagos, and then I got a car. That was when I thought, this is the payback time for my mom. I’m going to make sure that she’s well cared for and take her abroad with me, considering she suffered over it.
Were you able to achieve that?
I wasn’t able to because she died before all those things could materialise. That is one of the regrets – the major one. Even up till now, when I remember how I’ve been unable to really pay her back, it pains me to the marrow. That’s the story. However, my solace is that while she was alive, my late brother, sisters and I tried well to take care of her and she always commended us.
How was life growing up in Ibadan?
This gives me a kind of nostalgic feeling because Ibadan of those days was very safe and things were easy. In fact, while we are growing up you cannot differentiate the son or daughter of ‘A’ from ‘B’ in the neighbourhood. There was no, ‘this one is the son of Lagbaja or somebody else.’ We were children to all of them. Anyone could give us food, beat us, and discipline us the way they like. No mother would ever object to that. Ibadan was very safe. When we were in secondary school, we would go to parties. We were staying at the mission house of Christ Apostolic Church, Yemetu, Ibadan and mummy must not know that we were going to party. While she was asleep, we would leave our room and we would sometimes go from one disco party to the other. And we would stroll back home around 3:30 am without any fear because we needed to be at home before 5:00am when we would have morning devotion. You would walk the length and breadth of Ibadan, and no one would harass you. You would see the security man and tell them where you were coming from and that would be the end of the story. There was no reason for them to clamp down on us. Ibadan was very peaceful. We had friends here and there.
How was your secondary school life then?
I attended CAC Grammar School, Aperin, Ibadan, a boys-only school and we had a lot of fun. We had other schools that were girls’ only. St. Patrick is also boys’ only; Government College, Ibadan is boys’ only. Interestingly, though unwritten, the boys’ schools shared the girls’ schools among themselves. For CAC Grammar School, it was Queen of Apostles Secondary Commercial Grammar School. For Government College, it was Queen’s College. For Ibadan Boys’ High school, it was St Teresa’s College. For St. Patrick, it was Isabatudeen, they were both in Basorun. So, when we went for inter-house sports competitions, we pitched tents according to these divisions. Sincerely speaking life was cool and calm at that time.
You dare not deal roughly with girls from Queen of Apostle, when CAC guys were around. It’s always like, ‘what are you doing to my sister?’ Like I said, it was not a written law but once the girls at Queen of Apostles saw CAC guys, they knew they were covered. It was fun. Yes, that time we also had a few people who belonged to what is today known as cult but during our time, the pirate guys and others were not harmful. They were peaceful organisations. They would come out once a year when they were holding their anniversary. Of course, we would see them; you would see your friend there and that was where it ended. They could even invite you for their anniversary because they do get-together. It wasn’t violent. At least up to the time that I left school, if there was violence, it was pocket of violence, it’s not something that it has now become such that one cannot be proud of. You cannot see it as a dreadful cult then.
I still relate with some of my secondary school mates like Festus Akanbi, an editor with ThisDay who once worked with a former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; Korede Fasoyin; Chief Yinka Afolabi and a host of others in and outside Nigeria.
Who influenced your life more, mom or dad?
It’s my mum and most of the things I have now are things that I got from my mom because I lost my dad when I was just six years old. He didn’t have that opportunity to really train and care for me and it had always been my mom since my father died. She had never, for once, shied away from her responsibility to make sure that we (my brother, my two sisters) were fine. She sacrificed everything for us and made sure she didn’t get married again after our father’s demise. When we are talking about a virtuous woman, she was one. In fact, every one of us took turns to cook. There’s no food that I cannot prepare. I used to make gbegiri (bean soup) perfectly then. Apart from that, we were brought up in a strict Christian way because we were staying in a mission house. My mom was called Iya Agbebi. She was a matron at the church’s maternity home. One of the things I learned from my mom is that what is going to happen is going to happen.
Do you have any direct experience of this?
When I left primary school, I sat for common entrance exams and I was given admission to Government College, Ibadan. I saw my name posted on the wall but when I went back for registration, I discovered my name was no longer there. It was traumatic for me and I went home angrily to narrate the incident to my mom and she said, ‘Don’t worry. What is going to happen will happen, God will do it at His own time,’ but I expected that she’d carry her bag and say, ‘let’s go there’ to know what happened. That year, I didn’t go to any secondary school but I enrolled in modern school. So, that was how I attended modern school for two years before I now got admission into secondary school.
Was there a repeat?
The same thing happened when I sat for the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) exam alongside my A-level. I got a double admission at the University of Benin and UI in 1984 but I lost the two because the system then only allows you to use either of the two. It was also a traumatic incident for me but my mum was calm and asked me to wait for God’s time. It paid off eventually the following year. What I did that particular year in 1984 was that I sat for JAMB exam and equally obtained another form for direct entry with the belief that if one didn’t work, the other would. So, the first thing I saw was that I was sent an admission letter and was very happy. When the A level result came out, UI equally sent me an admission letter. UI programme was for three years and that of UNIBEN was four years. I decided to enroll at UI. When I was about starting the registration, UI gave me a letter which read, “You have been discovered to have obtained two sets of forms. Your admissions into UI and UNIBEN are hereby nullified.” At the end, that was how I didn’t get admission in 1984. Meanwhile, I had seven points in my A-Level. Seven points was enough for me to get admission to study Political Science in 1984 and 1985. By 1986, so many people passed A-Level such that even those seven points were not enough because the cutoff went up as high as nine points for the minimum grade.
How did you meet your wife?
I met my beautiful wife, Abosede Omotola Adekunle through a colleague at the first company I worked with on completion of my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme. I joined a printing press in Lagos as a graduate trainee in human resource department which gave me the opportunity to interact with almost everybody across all departments in the organisation. So, one of the guys on the top floor became my friend. One day, his wife and her younger sister came to see him in Lagos. So, when I saw the girl, I said, “ogbeni, I like your wife’s sister o.” But then, there was no phone. He said, “Let me see, maybe I can talk to her later and if she wants to give you a chance, so be it.” After a few weeks, he went back to Ibadan because that was where he stayed. When he came back, he said he spoke with her and she didn’t mind seeing and talking to me.
Fortunately for me, she was staying with her sister in Lagos then. So, it was arranged, she came around, I saw her and I began to talk and we began to go out together. The first signal was that my friends in the company, especially, Akin Iluyemi, were always telling me then that, “This girl na wife material,” and stuffs like that. So, before you know it, I got her introduced to my mom. And as you can see, we are happily married.
Has human resource always been your dream?
Let me be frank, I don’t think I knew anything about human resource prior to my relocation to Lagos. There was this church where I usually played keyboard outside the campus during my university days in Ibadan. Interestingly, I was doing it for fun and always turned down any attempt to remunerate me; I was doing a pro-bono job there. After my NYSC programme, I went there in absence of work and after the service the pastor engaged me to know what next. I told him I was searching for a job and he asked me to prepare myself for a trip to Lagos with him. I told my mom and she allowed me to go, saying “maybe God wants to use him.” So, when we got to Lagos, he just got me introduced to the MD of the company and said, “Look, this guy used to play keyboard for us on Sundays and he was doing it for God. We offered him money, but he didn’t take it. He has completed his course. He’s now a graduate. We need to give him a job. He needs a job.” Then the MD asked me what I studied and my grade. I took my certificate along with me on the trip. He was surprised I have second class upper and thereafter called the HR controller. He told him I had potential and could function in his team. Right there, the guy asked when I wanted to start. I told them anytime. It was on Tuesday so, he told me to start the following Monday as a trainee. I remember my first monthly salary was N1,000.
What year was that?
That was 1991. I still have my employment letter with me. In the letter, they said, “Your consolidated salary is N1,000.” N1,000 was a big money then because by the time I did this and that, I still had some money left for me as a bachelor. You know, in life, the first problem you have is accommodation, but to the glory of God, my friend’s brother was living in Lagos and asked me to stay with him. I commenced my training there and was made an HR officer. Then I rose to become senior officer, then assistant manager before I left for Megavone, where I led the HR team. So, after a while in Megavon, I relocated to the United Kingdom where I spent nine years, doing project management before I decided to return home.
You returned to Nigeria when many are doing unimaginable things to enter UK?
For me, home is always home. My nature is that I’m used to this environment. Apart from that, the way they do things in that clime didn’t align with my system. At a point, I looked at the way things were there and decided it’s not going to work for me. That was how I came back. People say home is where you find it and I couldn’t find it in UK. I still find home in Nigeria. Even when I was there, every year, I would come back to Nigeria and I always felt the atmosphere, sitting with guys and having fun together. I think it’s different for me. For me, I needed my groove and it’s here in Nigeria.
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