A former chairman of Ikoyi Club, Lagos, Chief Akinbayo Adenubi, speaks with GODFREY GEORGE about life at 80, growing up in Lagos and related issues
What does it feel like to be 80?
I clocked 80 on November 11, 2022. All I can say is that this is simply all about the calendar, if one is lucky to have good health. Seventy years used to be a big landmark then, but now, we thank God, we are getting older. When I got to 80, I just said, “Well, I am here”. It feels great to be 80. This is because one knows about the average life expectancy level of Nigerians right now. So clocking 80 is quite a feat. It would be me playing God if I say I expected to be 80. I never dreamt I would be 80 but I am thankful to God for sound health. When I became 79, I became a bit anxious and I was really hoping that I would clock 80. When it came, joy filled my soul.
How did you celebrate it?
I was very fortunate that I had a very small function in my house. It was unplanned but my children organised it and I danced for more than two hours. I walk around my estates four times a week for, at least, one hour every week. I play golf twice every week. If I am lucky, I do it three times a week. My exercise regimen has been very strict. All the trouble of exercising every day is eventually paying off. On that day, I got a lot of gifts. Friends and family came around and they were happy for me.
At 80, what gives you the most sense of fulfillment?
I wouldn’t want to pinpoint any particular item but I consider myself extremely lucky to have very solid family support. My wife, children and grandchildren make me feel so fulfilled. And I have also had the privilege to serve in a lot of voluntary organisations. I was a chairman of the Ikoyi Club sometime ago. Even though it has been a long time, whenever I go around there, they will be hailing me, “Chairman Emeritus!” It makes me feel so good. All along, I was elected an honourary member, a special kind of membership. I have been a committed individual all my life.
In 1978, I moved from Ibadan to Lagos to work as the Director of Studies for the Nigerian Institute of Bankers. I worked for four years and then became the Registrar for 14 years. Although I retired 26 years ago, I couldn’t have asked for more. I have also had the privilege to serve as the President of the Nigerian Institute of Management. All these opportunities to serve mankind make me feel good. What makes me very happy is that on the occasion of my 80th birthday, the institute, which I had left over 26 years ago, placed a one-page advert in PUNCH Newspapers to celebrate me. They said they were celebrating a quintessential leader and his contribution to the institute and all that. I have a copy here. Such things make me so fulfilled. After all, I was paid for my services, enjoyed the job and had fantastic members of staff who worked with me but they still came around and gave me a cash donation and still presented me with a gift. It was so surreal. It was an honour. It just shows that my contribution to mankind was recognised.
Service to mankind has always been fascinating to me. Even in the estate where I live, I have had the opportunity to serve as the chairman, and it has been fantastic. Everywhere I have had the opportunity to serve makes me feel fulfilled.
What are some of your most cherished memories growing up?
I would say my parents and my close friends were a critical part of my journey as a child. My father had such a great impact on my life. I didn’t know it – or maybe I didn’t appreciate it – until about 10 years ago. My father was a teacher and I wanted to be a teacher very badly so that when I was in the university, during vacation, I taught in a primary school where he (my father) was the headmaster in Lagos. When I finished university, I still went on to teach, despite the fact that my colleagues were applying to join UAC, the civil service and other multinationals. For me, I just wanted to teach.
In which of the schools did you teach?
I have taught at all levels of education. I taught at Igbobi College. I was there for four years. From there, I went to the University of Ibadan and the then the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife). I spent one year in Ife and three years in Ibadan. Later on, I came back to Ibadan in 1978-79. I also taught at a polytechnic before I left Ibadan for Lagos. In fact, when I came to Lagos, I didn’t apply for any kind of job; I applied to be Director of Studies. So, I was the one in charge of interventions, programmes and so on. I was there until I was later appointed as a chief executive.
This is why I say my father had a great impact on my childhood. My father wasn’t a man of very many words but if there was any man of integrity that ever lived, my father was. When he was headmaster, he made sure he engaged his teachers in small financial contributions. He spent 25 years as headmaster where he headed that social intervention scheme, and no one ever accused him of taking a Kobo. I learnt how to save from my father. He might not have called us and told us exactly how to save but we (children) watched the way he carried on in his responsibilities as a man.
Not surprisingly, a year ago, I wrote a book about him. It was about 70 pages. I just wanted to have a copy. So, I printed just a few that I sent out to my very close friends. The title is “My Father, My Hero”.
There is this saying that 20 boys cannot be friends for 20 years. How lucky have you been in keeping your childhood friends?
Honestly, I have been blessed. I have had friends from my childhood that are still my friends now. They have stood by me and I have stood by them. I left Ibadan more than 50 years ago but there are people who I left there that are still my very close friends to date. I have an old boys association for my secondary school, Methodist Boys High School. We meet regularly and even our wives knew when we met because we wore the same dress and we trusted one another to a fault. I have a best friend, too. I remember that whenever I got into trouble, I would call him and he’d be there. If he got into trouble, he’d call me and I’d be there too. I have been really blessed to have very rare friends.
I also have people who became friends later, like former governor Segun Osoba. He even came for my 80th birthday, and I felt good. He had a tight programme but he came. Another friend of mine, Senator Badamosi, an industrialist, also came.
How have you been able to keep this friendship cord for this long despite the distance and years?
The truth is that some people you meet in life are for a lifetime. No matter the distance or years apart, you know that they are there for you. Some of these friends I am talking about are abroad permanently but we are still very close-knit as we used to be when they were still in Nigeria. We speak on the phone regularly. I remember one of my friends who left the country and settled in the United States for almost 50 years. He came back a few months ago and it doesn’t seem like he ever left this country. Childhood friends are precious. Many don’t understand this till they get very much older. The friends you make as adults may not be as tight-knit as childhood friendships. I am so happy you mentioned this childhood aspect of my life because that is one of the most interesting parts of my journey in life. If any of us is sick, we don’t have to be told, we have to contribute money to make sure that person survives. We don’t place ourselves on a high pedestal.
Did you grow up in Ibadan?
No, I didn’t. I was born and bred in Lagos. I am a proper Lagos boy.
What is the most significant change you have noticed in Lagos now that was absent in the city back then?
A lot of things have changed. I am 80 years old now and things must have been very different when I grew up. In 1962, for instance, Surulere was a village. I grew up on the island but my parents had to move to Surulere. I didn’t want to join them. Surulere was called New Lagos at that time (laughs). There was no Eko Bridge. There was just one old Carter Bridge. In the 50s and 60s, everything was so smooth.
I schooled in the Methodist Boys School in Lagos but I lived on the Island. We trekked every morning a distance of three to five kilometers to our school. We didn’t think we were being made to suffer. After all, my dad had a car but I didn’t mind that he couldn’t drop me off at school. Whenever I tell my children this story, they always ask, “Was your father that wicked?” (laughs). I always make them understand that it is a different generation entirely. We all walked to school; it was normal for us. Even in the sun or rain, we walked to school and we walked back home.
Lagos 70 years or 60 years ago was a different kind of city. There was no Third Mainland Bridge. Yaba was what they called Garden City. That was where most members of the Nigerian elites stayed. Only the whites and a few bourgeoisie could stay on the Island.
When I joined Ikoyi Club then, it (membership) was 90 per cent white. The protocol to get in at that time was something else. The club is a good example of what Lagos was in the 50s and 60s. Federal Palace Hotel was one of the biggest hotels then. Lagos was so small and there was no traffic. It was manageable. Because it was small, we felt it was beautiful. Although both my parents were from Ijebu, they had their two feet here. I will never claim to be a Lagosian but Lagos is home for me. My children and grandchildren are here. Ibadan is just too quiet for me. Funnily enough, my wife was the one born and bred in Ibadan. When I went to Canada recently, I just wanted to come back home.
Which do you prefer; the Lagos of then or that of the now?
I will answer your question indirectly. The Lagos I described to you earlier was the Lagos of the past, and we will never have it again. I studied in London in the 50s but when I went back almost 20 years later, London had changed. It is a matter of time, not a matter of preference. If I have to choose, I will prefer the once beautiful, small and manageable Lagos, but that is not realistic. I still love Lagos – chaotic, traffic-filled, etc. I know where to go, when to go, and how to go there. The only problem in Lagos now is poor management by our government. They will say Lagos is the best state in Nigeria, and the richest, I agree. But the facilities in the city can no longer ‘carry’ the residents. Lagos is growing faster than the managers can handle. They are doing their very best but the city is too vast for them.
Where were you when Nigeria became an independent nation in 1960?
Oh! I cannot forget. I left secondary school in December 1960; Nigeria became independent in October of the same year. We didn’t know what independence meant in terms of being free and the like but we were excited because we saw a new life. There was one ceremony performed on September 30, 1960. There were a lot of gunshots in the air. I can never forget that. It was excitement all over there. It was a glorious time for Nigeria. We were there when the Union Jack was brought down and our new flag was hoisted. We sang the national anthem, not this current one. There was one before this current one. It was a landmark in my life. I was just a few months shy of being 18 years old or thereabouts, I think.
Has the country lived up to the expectations you had when the nation became independent?
I think we have done well. I call myself an incurable optimist. We have done well, but we can do a lot better. I live in Surulere right now on an estate that is exclusive. It was unthinkable before. The problem with this country is resource control. My prayer now is that democracy should continue. We have the right to choose who will like. We have to look more at security; it is a key issue.
You mentioned that your wife grew up in Ibadan when you were in Lagos. How then did you two meet?
We met as friends. I have seen people say that when they met their wives, they just knew they were going to be married. It was not the same for me. I have been married for a long time, for more than 50 years, and for me, I think love grows over time. The older the love is, the more you get to appreciate it. Initially, we were married; we were still getting to know each other. It was in the marriage that we grew fonder and fonder of each other, and that has been what has kept us. The feeling became stronger, bigger and better over the years. That is the beauty of it all. All the children have gone away and it is just both of us. Whenever I go out, she is looking forward to having me back. It is so marvelous and sweet.
What are some of the lessons that marriage, family life and fatherhood have taught you in the years that you have been married?
(Laughs) Do you know why I am laughing? I have attended many weddings where the chairmen of the occasions will step up the podium and be lying to the couple about what marriage is and is not. The truth is that marriage grows on one. There is no textbook on marriage anywhere that can prepare one enough to be married. When you get married, you see something entirely different from what you knew before. The thing is no man should take their wife for granted. Be each other’s friend. Once this happens, you have made it. A lover can get angry and kill you but a friend can never kill you. There is another thing I would love to add – never ever hit your spouse, no matter what.
How do you keep fit?
I play a lot of games right from my time at the University of Ibadan. I went to the gym for more than 40 years. Now, I play golf, and I do it twice a week, by God’s grace. I was so good at sports that, before I became the Chairman of Ikoyi Club, I was the chairman of the sports section of the club. Games are a critical part of my life, and I don’t need to plan for them. If I do games, I do them very comfortably. We do our best to be strong.
Nigeria is approaching an electioneering season in a few weeks. What advice do you have for Nigerians before going to the polls?
In 2015, when a new government came to power, we felt the country was going to crash. Did it crash? Elections are not a matter of life and death. May the best guy win. The electorate should remember that we have families back at home who want us alive. We must not betray their trust.
