Creation’s Finest: Tribute to Mr. Oluwole S. Oduyemi @ 80

Okpokor Ezewu

The quintessential banker and administrator, Mr. O.S. Oduyemi, who was a former Deputy Governor and my boss at the Central Bank of Nigeria, turned 80 years old on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. How time flies.

Sometime in 1987, a colleague pointed at a tall trim man striding across the mezzanine floor overlooking the banking hall of the iconic but now disused Tinubu Square, Lagos building of the Central Bank of Nigeria. “That is your new Director of Banking Operations, Mr. O.S. Oduyemi” he announced. This disclosure did not elicit any particular warmth or excitement in me as I viewed the appointment as a case of “adverse” selection over our revered “Double Chief” who was already acting in the position and was considered by us, the shopfloor folks, as the natural choice to fill the vacancy created by the posting of MS Udoh, to NIDB (now BOI) as Executive Director.

In what is a testament to the enormity and depth of his sterling personal and professional attributes, this somewhat bland, if not outrightly unwelcoming initial reception, was soon to be reversed. In the settling-down familiarization meetings and interactions he engaged in, we were treated to a deft display and natural flow of eloquence and intellect that was at once deep and open as well as humble and honest. Events were to quickly evolve and unfold to show that in Mr OS Oduyemi, we had a debonair, urbane and quintessential professional that had come to turn things around for good.

Two years on, the year 1989 opened up with what could arguably pass as the most turbulent in the annals of financial stability in Nigeria. The liberalised bank licensing regime of the 1986 Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), had left in its wake, a litany/string of poorly capitalized and badly managed banks. These banks and an even larger number of so-called finance houses, were now a veritable source of systemic risk for the financial system and the overall health of the economy at large. CBN Governor Abdulkadir Ahmed’s response to the problem, was to empanel an in-house team of technical eggheads, with OS Oduyemi as Head and Gani Ogunleye as Secretary. With an eclectic and detailed case by case diagnostic approach, he led the Committee to produce a report in record time which was adopted and wholly accepted for implementation by the authorities.

This effectively stemmed and reversed the slide, resulting in the stronger and more resilient banking industry with which we were ushered into the 1990’s. In this assignment, as with all other high stake assignments that were to follow, he exhibited a prodigious ability to draw from the deep intellectual and scholarly exposure he had garnered both at work and from the several academic and professional portals he had gone through over the years: Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta (School Certificate); University of Lagos (B.Sc Accounting); Chartered Institute of Bankers, UK (ACIB); and Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (M.Sc Banking & Finance). An upgrade to Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (FCIB) and a UNILAG Distinguished Alumni Award were to follow in later years.

Then came that momentous Friday, July 20, 1990 news broadcast on national radio, of his appointment to the position of Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The appointment was an elevation to the very heights of banking in Nigeria and with it, expectedly, a heavy burden of high level responsibilities. But guess what was one of the first tasks he focused his attention on: how to financially salvage Ajisegiri, his Office messenger, who, we were told, on receiving the news of the appointment, had “declared surplus” amongst his friends and neighbours, partying all through the weekend in celebration and was now broke! All through his career, this caring personal touch and emphasis on the human angle to issues, would be a regular feature of his work style.

The 1990 appointment as Deputy Governor turned out to be an unprecedented and yet-to-be-broken record tenure of 14 years. The tenure saw him through the administrations of 3 illustrious CBN Governors – Abdulkadir Ahmed, Paul Ogwuma and Joseph Sanusi. Under these Governors and indeed together with them, he was to undertake and achieve a wide range of financial engineering feats in the management of the Nigerian financial system and the economy at large. Some of the breakthrough initiatives he directly superintended during this period include the decimalization of the currency structure, the introduction of buffer stock strategy to the management of the currency and the revitalisation of the Printing & Minting Company for an enhanced local sourcing of the currency indent. There was also the reform of the structural rigidities associated with the clearing house system, particularly in the area of upcountry interbank payment settlements, as well as the strategic regularisation of the Bank’s warped staff complement following the recruitment hiatus of the 1990’s. His 40-year tour of duty at the CBN was brought to a close in 2004 in a blaze of glory marked by an unprecedented series of emotion-laden valedictory/sendforth sessions and retirement parties that spanned a 2-week period in the Bank.

The CBN-era was followed by a co-option onto the Board of Directors of Guaranty Trust Bank (GT Bank). He became Bank’s Chairman in 2010 and retired mandatorily on May 3, 2013 when he turned 70 years. This reference to the GT Bank tenure, draws attention to the lesser known commercial banking dimension to the rich career record of our celebrant. Earlier in 1982, he had a stint with the redoubtable Subomi Balogun in his audacious trail blazing incursion into private banking with the founding of FCMB. A recall by his mentors and senior colleagues in banking – Oladele Olashore and A. Adesina, amongst others, was to see him return to his bank examination and banking supervision duties at the Central Bank. Preceding all these, was the 1961 – 63 start to his working life at the then Barclays Bank DCO (the precursor of today’s Union Bank Plc) as a rookie bank clerk/cashier. There has thus been an interesting non-central banking phase to the career record we celebrate today. The commercial banking account is further made significant by the interesting turn it adds to the celebrant’s career record – a career cycle that started at the bottom rung in a commercial bank, as a bank clerk/cashier, was providentially brought to a climatic end, also in a commercial bank, at the very top, as bank Chairman.

A further noteworthy feature to the career feats we celebrate today, is the open, generous, humane and helpful disposition with which he carried out his work. Ever so accommodating and ready to lend a helping hand, he had in the course of his long and eventful career, extended succour, relief and comfort to sundry individuals. The sublime quality to the substrate and base on which he carried out his work, was such that not only touched and shaped the destinies of countless individuals, but also of institutions, sectors and systems across the economy and nation at large.

His has been a world view and disposition to others that is completely shorn of base considerations of gender, creed, tongue or standing in society. This was perhaps best seen in the polyglot and melting pot makeup of his Offices over the years: from Grace Eromosele to Mathias Essien, Mercy Ekezie, Henrietta Atukum and Bukky Adenubi. From yours truly, ‘Okor Ezewu, to Clem Buari, Paul Oboh, Tanimu Musa, Abiodun Williams, Dada Autason, Abubakar “Computer” Adamu, Mike Egbuniwe, Garba Abdullahi, Umoru Ameh, Ajisegiri and Akpan. From Gombe, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Niger to Kogi, Edo, Delta, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi to Ondo, Ogun and Lagos States – there was hardly a part of Nigeria that was not represented even when there was no deliberate act of profiling towards a premeditated end result.

The broad spectrum and cross-sectional spread, as well as wide reach of his circle of friends and close confidantes, similarly testify to this: Oba Otudeko, ARK Ishmael, Halilu Musa, Galadinma Borno, Lugard Aimiuwu, Alfredo Prado, Vincent Omoike, Mathew Odano, Pat Ataman, Prof. Odebunmi and Mr. Adeyemi
Faithfulness, made manifest in a deep sense of loyalty, obligation and deference to colleagues, present and past, were among the other features of the mindset with which he discharged his duties. Never one to forget a past relationship, he was always a dependable ally and would often be seen personally and directly attending to requests for favour, particularly coming from past senior colleagues. One recalls in this regard, the several times he would be seen leaving his seat as Director of Banking Operations, to personally see to a commonplace request like a mint note cash exchange from say, a personality like the last sole Deputy Governor of the Bank, Alhaji AOG Otiti. I also recall joining him as his Special Assistant, in a number of informal courtesy visits to the then retired Governor Abdulkadir Ahmed, some of which entailed day long, out-of-the-way trips to his Kaduna home and that emotional last visit to him on his terminal sickbed in London, England!
Besides and beyond workplace accomplishments, there are other sides to the life Mr. Oduyemi has lived these 80 years that make it deserving of today’s celebrations. An acknowledged champion husband, father and patriarch, he has been married to Mummy Veronica, his Agenebode, Edo State princess wife these last 52 years (and still counting). Together with their three sons – Adesina, Adebayo and Ademola (and a growing number of grandchildren through them), they constitute a close knit and love-centred family home that have over the years, served as the solid front and base from which he has launched forth to the ‘outside’ world. Their home has also served as the stabilizing and rallying centre for the expansive Oduyemi family clan of Ibogun-Abeokuta, Ogun State. It has also been a shelter-home to countless other relatives and non-relatives, in-laws, and even their children’s school friends.

His faith-walk and work, is yet another aspect of his life worthy of celebration. Evidently in recognition and appreciation of the place of divine benevolence in all he had been able to accomplish in life, his service to God, has emerged an important area of focus for our celebrant, particularly in the later years of his life. In 2004, the Oduyemis and 18 other families in the New Estate Baptist Church, Surulere, Lagos, were commissioned as pioneer missionaries, to found and establish a new Church on the Island-end of the City. With unwavering commitment to the call, they together with others that have since joined them, have succeeded in establishing the New Dawn Baptist Church at Oniru, Victoria Island, Lagos, the thriving ministry of which now serves as a veritable beacon of hope and an oasis for the spiritually thirsty and deficient in and around the Islands catchment area. The beautiful edifice they have erected for the Church is a landmark which proudly adorns the V.I. Annexe skyline.

Here then is a synoptic albeit high-level outline of the life and times of Mr. OS Oduyemi up until this day, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, as he attains the age of 80 years. It has indeed been a life of professional excellence, mentorship and guidance, as well as unending benevolence. The uncommonly impactful and almost inimitable nature of the record of his accomplishments make his life not only worth celebrating but one that presents a challenge and standard for all who aspire for high public Office. One could in fact be led to ask or wonder if in him, we don’t have one of creation’s finest? I personally answered that question long ago in the affirmative, from my privileged close association and interactions with him these last 36 years. To me, Mr. Oduyemi is certainly not a mere man but one who through the diligent application of self, has earned his place amongst Kings. He is, without doubt, one of creation’s finest and today, I joyfully join all people of goodwill in saying: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIR. 
My wife Asoa, joins me in extending warm and affectionate felicitations, as well as praying for his many more happy returns to May 3 in the years ahead, in Jesus name. Best wishes, Sir.

Okpokor (‘Okor) Ezewu, Special Assistant I to DG OS Oduyemi (!990 – 2004), Abuja, Nigeria, May 3, 2023.