ERIC TENIOLA
The South West governors have reconstituted the board of directors of Odua Company Limited. The new board is headed by Dr Lawrence Olusegun Aina (65), past President of West Africa Bankers Association and former President of Otan-Ayegbaju Development Association in Osun state. Other members of the new board are Chief Segun Ojo, a former Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning in Ondo State, Dr. Tola Kasali who served as Commissioner for Rural Development in Lagos State between 2003 and 2007, Barrister Seni Adio, SAN, the Managing Partner of Copley Partners (Solicitors & Barristers, Mr. Olusegun Olujobi who is ex-Accenture and Energy Industry player and Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, a renowned banker and immediate past Commissioner for Commerce and Industry in Ogun state. The Group Managing Director of the Company is Mr. Adewale Abiodun Raji, a former Managing Director of PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc., who was recently reappointed for another term. The inauguration of the new board is a welcome development, for Odua Investment Company is one of the three regional groupings in the country. The other two bodies are the Interim Common Services Agency for Northern Region and Eastern States Interim Assets and Liabilities Agency (ESIALA), which we don’t hear of, these days. Profitability was achieved by Odua Company between 2014 and 2018, an unprecedented dividend of N1.2billion was paid. The fulcrum of credible strategic partnership is gradually taking shape with the recent strides in the Imeko Tomato to Paste Project and the Westlink Iconic Estate JV at Alakia, Ibadan. These and many more like the Power Generation Project at Ikeja, The Farming Company Limited JV at Oke-Ako Ekiti, the Vitalo Brand Project are initiatives that are unfolding to grow the revenue base of the Company.
The Odua Investment Company is an offshoot of an Economic body of the Action Group, which came to power in 1952 in Western Region.
The Action group (Egbe Afenifere) led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo was formed on March 21, 1951 at the Oke-Bola residence of Chief Awolowo in Ibadan. The house still stands today. I remember with nostalgia when I was a reporter in the Nigerian Tribune in 1972, I used to take stories on phone in that house on the Oniru land case dispatched by the Nigerian Tribune correspondent in Lagos, Mr Bayo Osiyemi. It was that time I met Chief Awolowo for the first time in my life. I almost fainted seeing the man bearing in mind the myth I grew up with about Chief Awolowo in my home town in Idanre, Ondo state. The seven others who formed Action Group with Chief Awolowo were Chief Samuel Olatunbosun Shonibare (1920-1964), then manager, UAC (Technical) Ltd, Lagos, later Managing Director of the Amalgamated Press of Nigeria Limited and Federal Publicity Secretary of the Action Group; Chief Abiodun Akerele, a lawyer; S.T. Oredein, Secretary of the British-American Tobacco Company (BATC) Workers’ Union, later Principal Organizing Secretary of the Action Group in the Western Region; Olatunji Dosunmu, a journalist, later Administrative Secretary of the Action Group in the Western Region; J. Ola Adigun, a journalist; Adeniga Akinsanya, Manager of the African Press Ltd, Ibadan and Ayo Akinsanya, a chemist and a druggist. In setting up the Action Group, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, had two broad objectives in mind; one was political, and the other was economical. As for the political, he enlisted Chief Akintola, Chief Enahoro and others. That political arrangement broke down later. As for the economic, he enlisted Chief Samuel Olatunbosun Shonibare (19201-1964), Chief Sule Oyesola Gbadamosi from Ikorodu and Chief Alfred Ogbeyiwa Erewarone Rewane (1916-1995) alias Osabokolo from Warri, who later became Chairman Western Nigeria Development Company. In terms of managing business, Chief Shonibare, Chief Rewane and Chief Gbadamosi were gifted. They were capable of turning anything to an asset.
It was the same scenario that played out in South Africa in 1994 when President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918-2013) encouraged the then Vice President Thambo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (77) to be in charge of government while the present President of South Africa, Mr. Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (67), then secretary of the National Union of Mine Workers was in charge of the businesses for the African National Congress. The arrangement worked then in that it reduced rivalry. It paid off for Mr Ramaphosa who has an estimated net worth of $450million as of 2018, with 31 properties and previously-held notable ownership in companies such as McDonald’s South Africa, chair of the board for MTN and member of the board for Lomnin
Chief Shonibare and his group established the National Investment Company along with Chief Rewane and Chief Gbadamosi. It was this company that built the Western House in Lagos, Cocoa house in Ibadan and Bristol hotel in Lagos. It was the same company that built most of the companies that are under Odua Investment Company today. It was this group that was behind the Western Region partnership in the establishment of worldwide redifusion in Ibadan, Nigerian Plastic Company (1954), Ibadan, Nidogas, Lagos, Nigersol Construction Company (1959), Nigerian Water Resources Development Company (1959), Ibadan, Nigerian Pre-Pressed and Concrete Company, Abeokuta, Crittal Hope Nigerian Ltd., Mushin, Vono (West Africa) Mushin, Tower Aluminium Ltd Ikeja, Asbestos Cement, Ikeja, Nigerian Sugar Company, Apapa, Nigerian Mosaic and Glass Manufacturing Company, Ikeja, Pioneer Biscuit Company, Apapa, West African Portland Company, Ewekoro, Nigerian Textile Mills Ltd., Ikeja.
On June 20, 1962, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the Prime Minister of the Federation, appointed a commission headed by Justice George Baptist Ayodola Coker, to inquire into the financial and investment policies and practices, the management and the business operations of six statutory corporations in Western Nigeria since October 1, 1954.
The affected companies are Western Region Marketing Board, the Western Nigeria Development Corporation, the Western Region Finance Corporation and the Western Region Housing Corporation. Other members of the panel were Mr Oladiran Booyamin Kassim, Acting Judge of the High Court of Eastern Nigeria, and Mr. Akintola Williams (100), a Lagos Chartered Accountant. The Commission sat for 92 days and had 50 witnesses. Chief Awolowo who on November 2, 1962, had been charged again with conspiring to overthrow the Federal Government by force had refused to give evidence before the Coker Commission of Inquiry. From Lagos Prison, when awaiting trial, he sent a letter to the Chairman of the inquiry, Dr. Coker saying that he had come to conclusion that no useful purpose would be served by his further participation in the inquiry. The enquiry did not find Chief Awolowo guilty. They made only two recommendations that the Western Nigeria Marketing Board should take over immediately all properties of the National Investment and Properties Company Ltd, that the Board should take steps to recover from the Action Group a sum of N8, 000,000 which Action Group had received from the National Investment and Properties Company between April 18, 1958 and May 31, 1962. In a White Paper issued with the report, the Federal Government endorsed it. In a statement signed by Chief Awolowo, the Action Group rejected the report. The party alleged that it was “produced with unprecedented ruthless speed and wanton disregard for facts.”
Incidentally, the affected companies mentioned at the Coker Commission of enquiry are today the foundation upon which Odua Investment Company was built. They are today the goldmines. The stone that the builders rejected has now become the corner stone.
Odua Investment Company was formally established in 1976 when Ondo and Ogun states were created out of Western state. The company was to take charge of the assets and liabilities of the whole Western Region. As a reporter with THE NIGERIAN HERALD at that time, I covered the inauguration of the new company at Cocoa house in Ibadan with the governor of Oyo state, Colonel David Medayese Jemibewon (79) from Aiyetoro Gbede in Kogi state presiding with two other governors present namely, Colonel Seidu Ayodele Balogun (Ogun) from Ido Ani in Ondo state and Wing Commander David Ita Ikpeme (Ondo). The pioneer Group Managing Director of the Company then was Mr. Christopher Sunday Olatunji Akande. Mr. Akande (1927-2005) was from Arigidi, Akoko in Ondo state. The people who flew the flag of Odua Investment Company especially the past and present governors who served in the south west, are appreciated. The flag must not fly half-mast during the era of Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN,(Ondo), Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu(Lagos), Mr. Gboyega Oyetola (Osun), Mr. Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Dr. Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) and Prince Dapo Abiodun(Ogun). I also appreciate Otunba Mohammed Jobi-Fele (1940-2011), a cocoa merchant from Ikare in Ondo state, who had earlier served as Chairman of Odua and who stood his ground during his tenure and ensured that the company survive and sustained.
I understand that the Odua Investment Company wants to diversify into agriculture, which was the main goal of Chief Obafemi Awolowo when he established the farm settlements in the old Western Region. Efforts must be made to save Odua Investment Company and the South West governors must ensure that this regional legacy must not only be sustained but improved upon. As long as Odua Investment Company exists, those clamouring for restructuring and regionalism are on solid ground. If other zones of this country are encouraged to develop on their own, there will be less dependence on the centre. And the way we are going now, there may be nothing left to share again in the centre. In short, we are heading towards a situation where everyone will be on their own.