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How Life Unfolds Is Often a Mystery: My Journey Is One Such Example

Posted by: Benjamin Onuorah

Written by: Dr. Usman-oladipo Akanbi

One day I met Dele Ogunbode, my classmate at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin at the Unilorin MBA School located along Offa Road, within the Ilorin GRA. We got talking on various issues and he particularly lamented the meagre salary he received as a lecturer at the University of Ilorin, comparing it to what I might be earning as a banker.

I replied that my salary was no better. He then asked why I did not take up lecturing as well, but I claimed I was not sound enough, having graduated with a Second Class Lower degree. He observed that, given my level of activism on campus — Faculty President, Students' Union President and so forth — I was far from being a dull student; it was simply that I hardly sat down to take academics seriously. That I had graduated in the same year as them without any hitch, he argued, was indicative of my genius.

I responded that if I had possessed the patience he had, perhaps I could have settled better in academia and emerged with a better grade. He insisted it was not too late, that I could make up for it with a postgraduate degree, for inherent in me was a strong capacity.

Was I convinced? No. I even considered myself fortunate to have led the pack in securing employment with First Bank of Nigeria Plc in 1995, having scored 8 out of 10 (being the only applicant under the northern regional administration of the bank who scored in the multiple-choice test and coming top with 84 per cent in the interview that was conducted.

The interviewers could not hide their admiration for me and wondered aloud how I could have graduated from the University of Ilorin with a lower grade. Coming top in the examination gave me the impression of a potentially rewarding career in the bank, which unfortunately turned out not to be so. The reason was simple: the salary structure was perpetually low and incapable of sustaining my status as a newly married man, hence I was under constant marital stress.

Soon enough, I bolted out of the banking sector whilst Dele, the best graduating student in my set, was lured into it. We met again at Apapa; he was working with a bank whilst I worked with the National Maritime Authority (NMA), now the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). He began to lament the demands of banking and the incommensurate earnings.

I warned you, I said — the grass out there may not be as green as you thought. He laughed and asked if I could help his wife, who was also a banker, secure a role similar to mine, but I said I was incapable, as I had obtained my job through connections. My NMA job offered fairly good remuneration, even though I still harboured an inward longing for another career, not necessarily premised on salary considerations.

Three months after our meeting, we lost Dele Ogunbode. He died in an accident on his way to attend the wedding of a colleague in the Eastern part of Nigeria. It was a profoundly sad moment for me. I attended his burial at Ikoyi Cemetery. It was a sobering lesson. Incidentally, I sighted the grave of the late Muthairu Saraki, father and grandfather of the late Dr Olusola Saraki and Dr Bukola Saraki respectively. How could I have known I would eventually end up as a lecturer in the very school I told Ogunbode I was not suited for? Many had predicted I would end up as a politician, after all, but that was never to be!

I had left the maritime sector to resume work as the State Project Coordinator of the World Bank-funded Kwara State Fadama Project, having meandered through a gruelling recruitment process in which I was nearly cheated out despite emerging top in the interview. The job was strenuous and the wages were low, but fortunately, savings from daily travel allowances enabled me to pursue a postgraduate programme and acquire a property at the highbrow Agric Estate in Ilorin.

My long-time friendship with one of the lecturers, Prof. Olubunmi Omotesho , who had always believed in me without even knowing my background, was the major impetus that led to my emergence, not only as an agricultural economist but as a lecturer in the field. My late father could not hide his admiration for a man who, despite not knowing my background, helped nurture me into academia when even he himself had never imagined it.

My activism as a student had easily brought me to the notice of the staff of the University of Ilorin. Even though the University was over seventy per cent Christian-student dominated, I emerged dominant in students' union politics despite being a Muslim — few could have thought Sheu Usman Akanbi would! At that time, over ninety per cent of the lecturers were Christians and were quite surprised how I came to hold sway in students' union activism. They were to be further shocked to discover my father belonged to the elite community when he attended my convocation in 1993.

My obtaining a Ph.D in 2014 aroused in my father the desire that I pursue a teaching career and, to ensure I did not leave Ilorin after resigning from the Fadama Project, he sought the assistance of the late Professor AbdulGaniyu Ambali to secure me a position in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management — the very department I had told the late Ogunbode I was unwilling to work in! My father literally begged Prof. Omotesho to ensure that I remained in academia rather than leave Ilorin again. "Ladipo, you are useful to me, that is why I prefer you stay in Ilorin than leave," my father said to me then! The rest is history. I became a lecturer and rose to become a Reader and one-time Head of Department.

What is intriguing today is that I have supervised over a hundred undergraduate students, over ten master's students and, just yesterday — 30th September 2026 — I graduated my second Ph.D student!

I am eternally grateful to all my teachers in life, but most especially to Prof. Olubunmi Abayomi Omotesho who, without initially knowing my background, lovingly propelled me to great heights in the academic world. I also acknowledge many others, particularly the likes of Dr Adetunji Oredipe (Fadama) and Camillus Ukah (ANA), who helped shape the story of my life.

I dedicate it all to my parents, particularly my late mother who believed so much in my ability and spurred me on to conquer both in the arts and sciences field, which I delved into.

I had resumed at the University of Ilorin as a fresh student on the 21st of October 1987, and that was about forty years ago.

To God be the Glory. Alhamdulillah Robil Alamin!
Pic below: congratulating my second Ph.D student, Jatto, Kabir Adedayo, after his successful oral examination.

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