Akeem Lasisi
The essence of AMNI International Chairman, Akogun Tunde J. Afolabi, MFR, as a catalyst for the development of tertiary education in Nigeria came to the fore recently when the First Technical University, Ibadan, awarded him the Honorary Doctor of Science during its maiden convocation.
Although Afolabi’s philanthropic initiatives cuts across many areas, his interest in education has been particularly phenomenal. He actually occupies a unique place in tertiary education affairs in the country as he is Chancellor in two universities, with that of the Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, being the first.
In both institutions, he contributes greatly to infrastructural and academic development, especially through the Josephus Foundation, which he established to make a change. It was, thus, not surprising that, apart from being awarded Tech-U’s first honorary doctoral degree, he was roundly saluted by the university’s management, students and parents during the convocation. Interestingly, it was the AMNI Chairman, who is also the Akogun of Yorubaland and the Parakoyi of Ibadanland, that conferred the award on four other prominent personalities: Splash FM’s founder, Chief Femi Akande; seasoned administrator, Chief Amal Pepple; erudite scholar, Professor Toyin Falola; and the Managing Director of Guaranty Bank (Holdings), Mr Segun Agbaje.
In his address at the event, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Ayobami Salami, said Chief Afolabi’s chancellorship of the citadel had been roundly beneficial.
Salami said, “I want to thank our Chancellor, Akogun Tunde J. Afolabi, MFR, an astute, accomplished and benevolent business champion and philanthropist per excellence. He has been a strong pillar to the institution since he became the Chancellor. There are two major scholarships in Tech-U. The first is the one by the Local Governments, which is a full scholarship. The second is from the Josephus Foundation, founded and run by the Chancellor. This scholarship pays up to 70 per cent of all fees of the students who qualify for it, through a competitive examination process. In other words, the Josephus Foundation is the second largest scholarship provider in the First Technical University and we salute the Chancellor for this.
“Of course, he has always been responding positively whenever we require his interventions in other areas. The university has continuously leveraged on his goodwill.”
For Tech-U’s Best Graduating Student, Mariam Afonja, who hails from Sepeteri in Oyo North, it was a golden opportunity to, on behalf of the students and beneficiaries of Afolabi’s scholarships, to thank him in the presence of their parents, officials of the Oyo State Government and other stakeholders.
Afonja said, “I express my heartfelt gratitude to the Chancellor of the University, Chief (Dr) Tunde J. Afolabi MFR, for the establishment of the Josephus Foundation, which many Nigerians are benefitting from in terms of the scholarships it consistently gives. On behalf all the Tech-U Scholars I also appreciate your monthly stipends which have helped us to be more academically focused. Can we please give Chief Afolabi a round of applause.”
In his address, Chief Afolabi went down memory lane in terms of the genesis of the dream and vision that became Tech-U. He, however, also coached the graduating youths – 63 of them – on what guarantees success in life. Below is the AMNI Chairman’s speech at the convocation:
BEING THE TEXT OF ADDRESS BY CHIEF (DR) TUNDE J. AFOLABI, MFR, THE CHANCELLOR OF THE FIRST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, IBADAN, AT ITS MAIDEN CONVOCATION ON THE MAIN CAMPUS ON MARCH 5, 2022.
I was there in the beginning. Unknown to many, the idea of a Technical University devoid of all the encumbering problems of a truly great university was not without my input. So, it is providential that I got appointed as the pioneer Chancellor of this Innovative university. At a dinner, in the beautiful Ajoke Mohammed garden, Abuja, while celebrating the MFR decoration of Chief Mrs. Kola Daisi, the whole table got talking, running from one topic to the other. When the topic turned to the state of Nigerian universities, it was all lamentations and nostalgia of the lost glory. Sitting amongst the dignitaries were Gov. Abiola Ajimobi and Chief Kola Daisi. These two great men decided to confront the challenge and offered to create modern universities appropriate for our time and with the potential of being so for all ages. This is the beginning of the First Technical University, Ibadan and its twin idea, The Kola Daisi University, Ibadan.
Dear graduands, while I congratulate you for this great achievement of yours, I want to reiterate that the import of the story of the beginning of your citadel where you are graduating from today is that things happen first through idea and are concretised when you focus and implement. The reality of the new world into which you are graduating is that it is extremely competitive and somewhat brutal. You win laurels and defeat the monster with ideas – good ideas about what you really want out of life! If I hazard a guess, it will include but not be limited to comfort, recognition, adding value, making a difference, developing spiritually and aspiring to make heaven, etc.
Graduating today is a good step towards achieving your aspirations but this is just the beginning. Going forward, you have to be equipped with the spirit of appreciation. Appreciating your parents/guardians or sponsors who denied themselves to pay your bills through school, your teachers and the good people you have come across on your journey through school, your environment and ultimately God, goes a long way to defining your path. Through appreciation you find space in your heart to find role models in any or some of these contacts. You need to find your role models and your dreams. You have to find your passion and whatever you do, you do with passion and with fear of God.
You must be able to plan. You must have daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, short term, medium-term, long-term plans. When you plan, you mitigate failure, when you fail to plan, as they say, you plan to fail. It is important that you plan your life. The fuel of achieving your plans is discipline, hard work, dedication and consistency of purpose.
As you journey in your new life, you must be prepared to take chances, take risks and not be afraid to fail. If you recall the popular but old IQ test with nine dots, and you are tasked to draw five lines with a pencil within these nine dots without lifting the pencil, you know that the only way out is to draw outside the box. A lot of issues that will confront you will require that you are not afraid to go outside the box. You have to, a lot of the times, think outside the box. You have to have initiative, creativity, boldness, courage and resilience to take risks and to overcome fear. Fear is an albatross. You must learn to defeat fear this early part of this journey.
My prayer is for all of you to do well and become very successful in life. Our dear pioneer students, all eyes are actually on you. Wherever you go, ensure you justify the learnedness invested in you and the confidence reposed in you. Make your parents, school and country proud by being excellent academically, socially and morally in your sayings and deeds. when you get a job, do it with zeal and resourcefulness. Pay attention to your attitude because that is what will give your brilliance life. And for those of you who will be establishing your own businesses, I encourage you to do so. It is never too early.
I started life in comfort. Graduated and got lucrative jobs. I excelled and was liked by my superiors and supervisors. Despite this, I didn’t know peace. I knew that I have talents that are latent and pushing me to express them. I saw my type of talents expressed in a number of my role models. I was also constantly reminded by the story of talent ghosts told by Danzel Washington, the great actor. He said that talents are ghosts eager to be brought to life. That on our death beds, the ghosts of our talents that we didn’t bring to life will surround our beds, tormenting us for disappointing them because we didn’t bring them to life. I didn’t want that to be my story. So, I quit the comfort of a well-paying job to plunge into a risky life of self-employment. I started AMNI International Petroleum Development Company Limited as the only indigenous exploration and prospecting company to compete and play in the same murky waters with the international oil companies.
I was not afraid to embark on this journey and I was not afraid to fail. For your information, I tried starting this company four times, failed three times and made it only at the fourth attempt. Today, AMNI is a success story. It came with idea, vision, passion, plan, hard work, skill, knowledge, confidence in self and confidence that God has placed my feet on path of success. I remain grateful to God for this. I also do one thing. Whatever I dream of, I thank God, in advance for it, that He has done it for me as I claim it. I also thank God for the things I have, I use them to lift others up. In all things, show gratitude and give God thanks. God is happy with this.
Beautiful graduands, your journey has just begun. I hope my short speech contains enough nuggets to guide your ways as you embark on your journey through life. May the ghosts of your talents never hunt or torment you. May you all succeed. Congratulations to you all!
Lastly, I congratulate Tech-U again on the success of graduating its first set. I congratulate the Governing Council, the Senate, Management, Staff and students. Particularly, I congratulate the Vice Chancellor, Professor Ayobami Salami, who has diligently and excellently put in everything to steer the university to today’s historical victory. Your Excellency, the Visitor and Governor, I congratulate you again, wishing you and the state more of beautiful outings like this.
Thanks for listening and God bless you.
