Dr. Oladimeji Alo is the Chairman, Berger Paints Nigeria PLC and founder, Excel Professional Services and Learning Resources Associates. He shares his life experiences in this interview with Eric Dumo
What has the journey been like at 60?
It has been a great journey because when I look back, I have every reason to thank God. His grace upon my life has been very amazing.
Can you tell us a bit about your childhood days?
I come from a family of middle income earning parents. My parents were textile traders and they moved from one city to the other frequently as a result of their business. I was born in Osogbo, Osun State and started my primary education from there at the African Church Primary School. When I was in primary four, my parents moved to somewhere in Kwara State called Basita where you have the Nigerian Sugar Company. So I was sent to my hometown in Ilesha, Osun State, to complete my primary education where I lived with my maternal grandmother.
I completed my primary education in 1966 and I was to go to the secondary school but my parents said I was too young and so I was made to wait for a year before going to secondary school. I later realised that it was not just about age but because my father had four children moving into secondary school the same year and he couldn’t afford the fees especially being a polygamist. So, I, being the youngest, was asked to wait for one year. I spent that one year in a special school meant for people who did not pass their entrance examination even though I did very well in my exam. After that one year, I gained admission into Ilesha Grammar School.
At that time we used to finish secondary school in December and universities resumed in September so most students who wanted to go to the university would have to wait at least nine months to do so. Quite a number of my mates went on to do Higher School Certificate but I opted to join my parents in Kwara State where I took up a job as an accounts clerk in the wages section of the Nigerian Sugar Company. I worked there for a couple of months before I began to write professional exams.
But remarkably while I was there, I wanted to pursue my core interest which was to become a police detective. That was my ambition as a boy after reading a lot of detective stories. I was admitted as a cadet sub-Inspector of Police in 1973. Interestingly, only two persons were taken each from the 12 states of the federation at that time and I was one of those to be selected from Kwara State. But I never allowed my parents know all this.
On the day they brought cable (because those days there were no internet), it was sent to the Divisional Police Office in Basita and the boss there sent one of the officers to trace and hand over the cable to me and also brief me. I was doing my job as a wages clerk at the time and the policeman came in uniform and whispered to my supervisor who then called me and said the DPO would like to see me. I followed the policeman to the station but unknown to me; those who saw the scene and thought I had done something wrong and had been arrested, went to inform my parents. But at the police station, the DPO congratulated me; he was so excited and happy for me. My salary as a sub-Inspector was going to be many times higher than what I was earning as a wages clerk so I was very excited. Police officers at the station came out to look at this ‘small boy’ who had got this huge opportunity to become an inspector in the force. That was in 1973 and to become even a corporal at the time was a big deal, so the officers felt that for a ‘small rat’ like me to have such huge opportunity, I was really lucky. As a cadet sub-Inspector, we were going to be in training for one year before becoming a full inspector.
How did your parents take it when you informed them?
I went back home very happy and still hoping to keep the news to myself but unknown to me, some of my colleagues at the wages department had gone to inform my father that I had been arrested. After returning, my father called me aside and said I wasn’t saying anything about my arrest but I told him I wasn’t arrested. That was how my father found out the truth about my admission into the police force. I had already written my letter of resignation at the Nigerian Sugar Company and was ready to take up the new challenge with the police but my father refused to give his consent. I felt I needed to follow my heart this time around but my mother felt very bad, as if someone had died. In fact, that was the first time that I saw my mother cry and that made me change my mind about becoming a police officer.
After turning down the appointment offer from the police, how did the authorities feel about it?
They were surprised. Though, they couldn’t force me or persuade me against my will but they were simply dumbfounded as to how I could allow such a golden opportunity slip away from my grip because joining the police then was a very competitive thing.
During my interview for the police job, I failed the chest measurement, I did not meet the required length and so the panel was going to drop me based on that but the commissioner at the time waived that for me and told them that I was going to grow with them. So, to imagine that after giving me special preference, I still didn’t take up the job. It must have been a great disappointment for the police authorities especially the commissioner.
Why did you decide to study Sociology?
I looked at all the courses on ground at the University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University and the one that really caught my fancy was Sociology and Anthropology because of the sound of the name. But after resuming fully, people told me I should have picked Economics because of its lucrative nature. I then made efforts to switch to Economics but soon realised it wasn’t going to be an easy task. Economics had been overpopulated and the other courses too needed people to enroll so they were not going to release any of their students.
A couple of students, whose parents had strong connections, had their wishes granted while the rest of us who had nobody to fight for us were declined. But they told us that if we did well that first year, they would allow us change to the courses of our choices. I held on to that promise and for the first time in my life, I decided to work hard as a student. Before that time, I had just been doing my thing, I mean drinking, partying and playing football even though I did averagely well in my academics. So, at the end of the first year, I did very well to the point that I got a national award. Now armed with that result, I went back to pick the change of course form to switch to Economics Department, which was ready to accept me but my department was now unwilling to let me go. They were not going to let their best student leave. So, the result that became my joy to switch became my albatross from leaving.
Didn’t you feel bad?
I took on the head of the department and reminded him that he promised to allow us go if we did well but the man walked me out of his office and told me that if I wanted to change course I should withdraw from the university or rewrite the prelim exam afresh. I hated the man for that reason. As God would have it that same man became my mentor. He is late now and his name is Prof. Akinsola Akinwowo. He became a father to me in different regards along the line.
The following year, I got a merit award from the Oyo State Government for my academic exploits. The two awards came with full scholarship but then you were not allowed to combine both so I opted for the national award. Throughout my first degree I was a national scholar and I emerged the best student in my department.
While we were in school, companies came with employment offers and those who had educated relations were guided on what to choose. My parents were traders. I don’t know how much education my father had but I remember that he could read and write and could speak Pidgin English. He didn’t know the course I was studying, he just knew I was in the university and I was doing well. So, I had no guidance and no counsellor. I later went for my National Youth Service in Awka, Anambra State where I thought Political Science at the College of Education then.
When everybody was applying for jobs here and there, I applied for a civil service job in Oyo State, I passed and I was one of the very few the selected. So, even before I finished my youth service, a job was waiting for me at the secretariat in Ibadan as an Administrative Officer. I spent five months there and I knew it was not where I really wanted to be. I soon resigned and went back to Ife to start my master’s degree. The department I graduated from employed me as a graduate assistant. Before that time, young lecturers were sponsored overseas but during our time there was no money though they would still sponsor you locally. Immediately you finish your master’s degree you become an assistant lecturer.
After my Master’s degree I got a scholarship to study at the University of Bordeaux in France to do my doctorate. It was an exchange programme between the university and the French institution. When I got to the embassy, I asked that they should allow me three months before I resumed there. A young guy who attended to me was very rude. He shouted at me and abused me for wanting to take the offer for granted. I couldn’t stand his insults, I told him I didn’t even need the scholarship because I had my master’s already and could afford to survive in Nigeria. But unknown to me that this guy was just a clerk at the embassy; I should have presented my request to a more senior person or written a letter to the embassy rather than engaging the young man. It was later I was told by the embassy that the guy had no business attending to me and that they had been expecting to hear from me. That was how that opportunity went and I didn’t go to France for that programme.
I went back to Ife and did my PhD and I finished in 1984. Before getting to that stage, I had published a lot of articles in international journals and had been promoted to Lecturer Two even before getting my Ph.D. By the time I got that, I was already looking at becoming Lecturer One. So, within a space of four years I moved from being a graduate assistant to lecturer grade one.
Coming from a polygamous family, what was the home front like for you? Were your parents strict or they allowed you do whatever you wanted?
My father was like a small god. The mere mention of his name could bring order to the home. You couldn’t ask him questions. The word we used to refer to him was a word of adoration. He had 10 wives at the time he died and my mother was number five. Each mother took care of not just her own children but the children of the others too. He was a figure of authority you couldn’t even get so close to.
When my father and the rest of the family moved to Basita in Kwara, I moved to Ilesha for my education. I lived in a big house owned by my father in a part of the town. Though, my grandmother lived downstairs, I had the entire upstairs to myself, it was freedom unprecedented. What that also meant was that when my father gave you pocket money, it wasn’t just for two weeks or one month, it was until the next time he sets eyes on you again. So if you go ahead and finish such pocket money in three weeks, it is not his business, you would starve until he comes around again. That really thought me how to manage resources prudently, cook and take good care of myself.
But the danger of it all was that I was very free. Once I returned from school, I would go and play football until late in the evening. I would come back, shower, eat and start reading. I had friends who were gambling; smoking and we were all carrying girlfriends and going to parties. However that did not mean that I didn’t know what I was doing.
At what point did you first have a real relationship considering the kind of freedom you enjoyed as a young man?
The fellow who is my wife today, I met her when I was in primary six. She was in primary four at the time and we became friends then. We started dating formally in 1971 when I was in form four. The thing about that time was that we didn’t know anything about commitment; we just did the way we deemed fit. We had so many girlfriends and they all knew that they were not the only one you were seeing. So, after we began dating in 1971, we got married in 1981 after 10 years of courtship. It has been the grace of God I tell you and I am extremely grateful to Him.
So what has the experience of getting married to this same woman been like?
I have been extremely lucky because I married someone I had plenty of time to study and know better. I also married someone who could withstand my person because I am sure that if I had married someone else maybe my marriage could have crashed before now. But because the fellow I married is someone I had known all my life, life had been very easy for me. My work schedule is tight, not so many women can stand that. I am a very strict person as a result of my background, most women can’t stand a man like me but my wife has tolerated me and I really appreciate her for that.
After getting married in 1981, we had all our children in two years. We had one girl and a set of twin boys. Immediately we had the boys, I told my wife that it was over for me as far as bearing children was concerned. I was afraid that being an ordinary university lecturer I wouldn’t have the money to take care of a large family so that was why I decided that three children were okay.
Did the experience of growing up in a polygamous home and you having to wait one year before going to secondary school because your father could not afford to raise the money at the time, add to the reasons you decided not to have so many children?
Yes. In fact two factors informed that decision. I did a course at the university called Demography and Social Statistics where we were taught about the linkage of poverty and the number of children people had. Our eyes were opened to how Africans had continued to hold themselves back by just giving birth to so many children.
In our parents’ time, the more children they had, the more hands they had to work on their farms. But today nobody is working at the farms, so the question you ask yourself is if you really need so many children. Of course as a child, I had to wait for one year before going to secondary school. I didn’t want such happening to my child and so I made up my mind not to have too many children.
Though, at that time I didn’t have the thought that I could get to where I am today, I saw myself as an ordinary university lecturer. Also, I was lucky to have the two sexes within that short period and so I saw no reason to keep having children.
So when things started looking up and God’s blessings began to rain on you, did you consider having one or two more children?
I never did. What would have led to that is if I had taken another wife. When I was younger, I thought I would have two or three wives especially because of the background I came from. Everybody around me when I was young was a polygamist and so I had it in my mind already that I could also end up that way.
But as I grew older, I understood some things better. I realised that it was unnecessary trouble and if one could avoid it, the better for such person. Also because I had a good wife, the thought of looking for another woman never occurred to me at all.
In fact one of the reasons I chose to marry my wife was because I felt she could accommodate my having a second wife if I so desired. But I realised later that I was just deceiving myself and that like every normal woman, she wouldn’t even want to hear about another woman. I have no regrets not going that way or having more children.
You have had a robust professional career, how easy has it been for you rising to the top of the ladder over the years and combining all the different roles that you handle?
I must emphasise that I have benefitted from the amazing grace of God. Right from my school days, I have always been active and the energy that I had always displayed had gone into several things. In primary school I was the time keeper, I would be the one to close the school doors and also open it the next morning before anyone came. I was everywhere even in secondary school, doing sports, music and going to parties. So, even from a young age, I was used to a life of activities. When I started my professional career, I realised I had the capacity to play many roles at the same time.
But I must say that if a man finds a good wife, his life is half made. So having a wife like mine afforded me the chance to build my professional career. Those things have assisted me in more than a few ways. At every point in my life I have got commensurate reward with the efforts I put in to what I am saddled with. So, this has pushed me on and get me to where I am today.
Talking about salary, what was your first salary?
My first salary was N23 and I bought my first motorbike as an undergraduate for N317. The first 504 car that I bought cost N4,750, it was brand new. When I was going to get married, I went to England to buy my suit, my best man’s suit and wife’s gown, our ring, a camera, a radio set and so much more and all I took with me was just N1,000. That was in 1981. So, with that little money, I did all our wedding shopping. It was just God’s grace.
Having risen from a country boy to this height, what important lessons would you say life has taught you?
I have learnt to appreciate God’s goodness in my life and serve Him diligently. I have also learnt to put in extra effort into anything I am doing and not take things for granted. I have also learnt that honesty is priceless. Giving is also very important, so I have learnt to give in different ways. Life has also taught me that we must do unto others how we want it to be done unto us.
Looking back at your journey, if you have the power, are there things you would have loved to change?
I have reflected on my life and one of the things I would have loved to change is the opportunity to study in France which I mentioned earlier. I wish I had a better counsel back then; I wouldn’t have turned down that opportunity. If I had gone to Bordeaux, I would have had a second language. I have no regrets doing my Ph.d at Ife but then going to France would have added more experience into my life.
Sometimes I asked myself if I had waited too long before leaving the classroom or maybe I should have stayed on a little longer and become a professor. I still think in my mind if I should go back to the university but then I haven’t decided yet. As an undergraduate, my classmates called me professor because of how much energy I put into my studies but to think that with all that antecedent I didn’t end up a professor, it is something that still strikes me at times.
Also, earlier in my consulting career, I did my work without bringing in emotions, if people had to be sacked, so be it. But as I grew older, I became a bit more sensitive to things that had to do with reorganisation and laying off people. Though, everything I did was just a professional doing his job, maybe if I had those opportunities again I could be doing things differently. In fact now, if we had to lay people off, I pray about it because if you have to lay men who have mouths to feed, it is not an easy thing to do. So I’m learning to do things differently now and I thank God for giving me the grace to be able to correct some mistakes I have made in the past. But with all fulfillment, I would say life has been fair to me at 60.
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