A fiery politician, Femi Fani-Kayode has asked for justice to be done after accusing deposed Sanusi of murder.
Deposed former Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi and Femi Fani-Kayode
A former Minister of Aviation, Femi-Fani-Kayode, has accused the dethroned Emir, Muhammad Sanusi II of beheading Gideon Akaluka.
He made this known in a Facebook post.
Fani-Kayode further called for justice against the murder of Akaluka.
He wrote: "Now that he that beheaded Gideon Akaluka has been deposed it is time to bring him to justice for murder.
Akaluka was butchered by a Kano mob in the mid-1990's for allegedly desecrating the Koran.
The deposed one led that crowd, severed his head from his body and paraded it on a long pole.
He was hidden from Abacha in a Sokoto prison for two years after committing this heinous crime whilst all his co-conspirators were summarily executed by the security forces.
A prominent banker whose son has been convicted of Islamist terrorism in America intervened on his behalf, begged Abacha and consequently he was later set free and allowed to go down south and into banking.
The full edition of this story will be told on another day."
Doctors have reportedly found a new cure for coronavirus ravaging a very large part of China.
Doctors in China are claiming to have cured a patient suffering from the Wuhan coronavirus using a HIV wonder drug.
The Chinese authorities said the patient, who received the medication during a drug trial, had fully recovered and has since been discharged from hospital.
Shanghai's Municipal Health Commission said the drug "somewhat successfully" stopped the spread of the disease to cells, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The news was also carried on Wam, the UAE’s news agency.
Beijing Municipal Health Commission confirmed the use of the HIV drugs to treat patients suffering from the Wuhan coronavirus on Sunday.
Three Beijing hospitals began administering lopinavir/itonavir – two antiretroviral drugs used in combination to treat HIV – to patients suffering from the coronavirus, according to a statement published by Chinese media.
The drugs work by blocking HIV's ability to reproduce by binding to healthy cells.
The medication was used to “substantial clinical benefit” on patients suffering from Sars, another coronavirus which swept through China in 2002 and 2003.
There are seven known coronaviruses, the majority of which result in symptoms no more severe than the common cold.
However, Sars – that killed almost 800 people from 2002 to 2003 – had a fatality rate of 14 to 15 per cent. Another coronavirus, Mers, kills about 35 per cent of people it infects.
It is not yet clear how severe the Wuhan coronavirus is. There could be many infected who develop such mild symptoms they do not know they even have it.
It is currently believed to be much less severe than Sars and Mers, with a fatality rate of about 3 per cent.
When Rose Adhiambo left Kenya for a job in Lebanon, she could have never imagined that six months later she would be returning home in a coffin.
Twenty-four-year-old Adhiambo did what many poor young women around the world do: she left her homeland in search of a better life abroad. This brought her to Interlead Limited, a Kenyan website that promises to help "job seekers to find top jobs."
Most workers have only one day off per week. Even then, their employers often forbid them to leave the house.
What the Interlead Limited website did not say was that Adhiambo would be working as a maid in slave-like conditions. Her parents, who live in Nairobi, thought their daughter had gotten a plum job in the Middle East. It wasn't until the girl called and complained about her employer's treatment that the family knew there was a problem. Adhimabo told her aunt, Margaret Olwande, that she planned to escape. "Tomorrow is the D-Day. Please pray for me," she said to Olwande in a telephone call in August, according to The Standard, a Kenyan newspaper that covered the story.
Two weeks later, the body of an unnamed Kenyan migrant worker--presumed to be Adhiambo--was found on the first floor balcony of a building in Beirut's Sahel Alma neighborhood. A Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar, reported that the worker had fallen from the sixth floor while trying to escape her employer's house by hanging from a nylon rope.
Adhiambo's relatives have still not been able to locate her body, though the employer, speaking through an agent, did confirm her death. The Lebanese consulate in Nairobi gave Adhiambo's family the names of four hospitals, all of which claimed they did not have her remains.
But the clearest indication of how little Interlead Limited cares about Adhiambo came when The Standard contacted the organization following her death: "Our business ends after we find a sponsor (employer)," said Ali Muhamad, managing director of the agency.
Unfortunately, Adhiambo's death was not an anomaly. Human Rights Watch estimates there are 200,000 migrant domestic workers employed in Lebanon, primarily from Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, the Philippines, and Nepal. The vast majority are women. The money earned by these workers is a booming business for their countries: migrant domestic workers in Lebanon alone sent over $90 million overseas in the first half of 2009.
Recruitment agencies in the workers' home countries are responsible for the abuse as well. Many lure vulnerable young women with tales of lucrative jobs in far-off cities. Human Rights Watch reports that agency fees are usually paid in the country of origin by the women wishing to migrate. These fees, which range from $200 to $315, must be paid before departure. Many women cannot afford the fees, so they end up going into debt before they even arrive at their jobs. Often their first few months' salary goes toward repaying the money.
Once these women arrive in Lebanon, they are given a standard contract in Arabic, which most cannot read. It typically offers less money than the original contract and sets stricter terms. Although the Lebanese Ministry of Labor initiated a standard contract in January 2009, outlining the responsibilities of the employers to the workers, there are still loopholes: while workers are entitled to a day of rest, it is up to the employers whether they have the right to leave the house on their days off.
And the kafeel, or sponsorship, system that binds a migrant domestic worker in Lebanon to a specific employer is rife with abuse. Lebanese labor laws exclude migrant domestic workers from protections such as paid leave, benefits, workers' compensation, and a guaranteed minimum wage. If a worker leaves an employer for any reason (even if she is being abused), she loses her legal status in the country and risks being detained, fined, and deported. Even lodging a complaint against her employer can mean risking her job and even her life.
Many employers and labor agencies also instill fear in workers by confiscating their passports, which makes their already fragile legal status even more precarious. In a case that HRW investigated, a judge in Beirut dismissed a complaint two women had brought against their recruitment agency for taking their passports. The judge defended his dismissal by saying, "It is natural for the employer to confiscate the maid's passport and keep it with him, in case she tries to escape from his house to work in another without compensating him."
These abuses lead many to try to run away. HRWfound that, on average, at least one migrant domestic worker dies every week in Lebanon. In August 2010 alone there were six deaths. These deaths are primarily due to suicides or bungled escapes--many, like Adhiambo's, falls from high buildings.
I recently spent an afternoon at an agency in a suburb of Beirut, watching a secretary shouting at a 24-year old migrant domestic worker from Madagascar. After one year of a three-year contract, the worker had refused to go back to her employer because she missed her 3-year-old child back home.
"Did you read the contract before you signed it?" the secretary demanded. "Did you read it?"
The girl dug through her bag and pulled out a brown envelope, showing the secretary a piece of paper. The secretary waved the paper in the air, pointing at the girl's signature. "Did you sign this?" she asked. "Did you know what it said when you signed it? Did you read it?"
The reality was that if the worker did not go back to her job--and could not find the money for her return plane ticket--she would most likely be placed in a detention center until her embassy or a non-governmental organization came to her rescue. From there she would be deported, but not before being imprisoned for an indeterminate amount of time in an overcrowded, hot, dirty cell with minimal food.
I visited two different detention centers in Beirut--Verdun and Adlieh--to meet with domestic workers who had been detained for allegedly running away or committing crimes such as theft against their employers. At both centers, young women depended on friends and strangers to bring them necessities like water, a toothbrush, and sufficient meals. For those without friends and family in Lebanon, their time in detention was far less bearable.
Some countries are taking action. The Philippines, Ethiopia, and Nepal have banned their citizens from going to Lebanon to work, but poverty has pushed many to ignore the bans. Meanwhile, there has been some progress in other parts of the region: Jordan recently amended its labor law to include migrant domestic workers, guaranteeing protections afforded to other workers. In Bahrain, the law requires that there be no more than two weeks between court hearings, meaning that most cases can be resolved in three months.
But in Lebanon, migrant domestic workers remain beholden to employers who have complete control over their destinies. The truth of the matter, explains Nadim Houry, the Beirut director at Human Rights Watch, is that it's not just a question of changing the laws--it's also a question of implementing the laws. "These are abuses that are happening behind closed doors in the home," he says. "And the government is reluctant to interfere."
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RUTHIE ACKERMAN is a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute. She has reported from Lebanon on a grant from the International Reporting Project.
A video recently surfaced online showing the moment a lady having it with a dog.
There have been speculations of girls sleeping with dogs for money when they travel to Dubai or Italy, but the video seems to confirm that the rumours are true. In the video, the lady is seen on her knees while the dog is on top of her in a very compromising position. The act of having sexual intercourse with animals is known as bestiality and it is illegal in most countries. Information Nigeria recalls controversial actress, Cossy Orjiakor was said to have sex with a dog for real on the set of the movie, Itohan.
Watch the video below:
A group of 20 experienced Californian firefighters were due to travel to Australia on Monday to help combat the wildfires that have ravaged roughly 12.4 million acres of land and killed at least 24 people and millions of birds, reptiles and mammals.
The firefighters are all leaders in their units and collectively have more than 100 years of experience, each being five- to 20-year veterans.
“It’s an impressive dream team of sorts,” said Angeles National Fire Service spokesperson Andrew Mitchell.
Many in the group performed an array of tasks during California’s fire in Saddleridge in October – one was the captain of a hotshot crew, another oversaw a firefighting unit, some worked on aviation assignments.
They all will assist the Victoria Rural Fire Service, the largest fire service in the Australian state of Victoria.
Jonathan Merager, a fire-prevention technician and 18-year firefighting veteran, said he didn’t hesitate to volunteer for the assignment when a request for help was submitted to various state and federal agencies.
“Our Australian sisters and brothers have helped us over the years,” he said. “It seemed natural to reciprocate that assistance.”
Merager, 47, said that his only apprehension is that he will be leaving behind his wife and sons, ages 9, 11, 15 and 25. He said the family has expressed concerns after seeing images of the fires’ path of destruction throughout Australia.
But they’re used to his travels throughout California and across the country to combat fires.
In 2009, he battled the Station fire that blackened more than 160,000 acres of the Angeles National Forest.
In October, while firefighters in Southern California battled Saddleridge, Merager was dispatched to North Carolina, where fires burned thousands of acres of land.
The request to Angeles National Fire Service came from the National Interagency Fire Center – the government agency that is coordinating the deployment of firefighters from the U.S.
Roughly 100 firefighters have traveled to Australia over the last four weeks after a U.S. liaison visited to help determine the scope of U.S. resources.
Those dispatched Monday from California are part of a group of 50 to 60. At least sixteen other firefighters from California were deployed earlier.
Mitchell said that while the terrain in Australia is similar to that of Southern California, environmental hazards to plants and animals differ.
“There’s a lot more snakes that could bite you,” he said.
The group will receive a brief orientation before receiving their assignments in Victoria, where they will remain for 35 days.
Merager believes that his assignment will be on the ground at the cutting line, removing brush around the perimeter of the fire.
The exchange of fire resources is made through an agreement between the of U.S. Department of the Interior and Emergency Management Australia.
“It works really well because Australia has a different fire season than we do in the United States,” NIFC spokesperson Kari Cobb said.
In August 2018, Australia and New Zealand sent roughly 140 firefighters to the United States for nearly 30 days.
The group was stationed in Northern California, Washington and Oregon.
This is the first time since 2010 that the U.S. is sending firefighters to Australia. Canada is also sending firefighters for the first time.
The firefighters earn their normal salary on the special assignment, Cobb said.
The communities disclosed this on Wednesday when a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent visited Babuwuri and Ngummachame settlements, which are tagged“Hard-To-Reach (HTR)” in terms of healthcare by the EU/UNICEF.
The Heads of the settlements, Malam Magaji Abdu and Alhaji Ahmadu Garba, disclosed that the only means of transporting pregnant women and sick ones to health facilities were donkeys and ox-drawn trucks.
“This is due to the hard to reach nature of our settlements coupled with the lack of road networks and distance from health facilities.
“If a woman developed obstructed labour or any delivery complications as well as sick ones who cannot be conveyed on motorcycles, the last option is to use either donkeys or ox-drawn trucks.
“This is done over a distance of 20km or 15km depending on the location of the settlements and health facilities,” Abdu said.
The community leader, however, thanked God that in 2018, the EU/UNICEF introduced a health programme whereby a medical team came to their settlements once a month to conduct antenatal on pregnant mothers and children below five years.
On his part, Garba said: “They visit our settlements once in a month and render various medical services including antenatal, nutritional, minor ailments, immunisation and others.
“Fortunately for us, both the services and drugs are given to us free of charge and it has reduced both maternal and child mortality rates.”
The community heads, who are also the village mobilisers for the programme, stressed that in spite of EU/UNICEF assistance, they still used donkeys and ox-drawn trucks to convey patients during emergencies.
They called on the state government to provide them with roads, health facilities and schools, as well as to sustain the EU/UNICEF outreach programme in their areas.
The Team Leader of the programme in the council, Hajiya Amina Abdu, said that between April 26, 2019, and Oct. 22, 2019, the team treated 11,937 patients in 16 settlements of Sarma, Dunkurmi and Kafin Sule wards of the council.
Abdu, who is a retired Nurse and Midwife, disclosed that the team had also treated 10,289 patients between May 2019 and November 2019 in another 16 settlements under Ajali, Sirka and Beti wards of the council.
She called on the state government and other non-governmental organisations to sustain the programme after the EU/UNICEF might have pulled out of the areas due to its importance.
The team leader said that the beneficiaries were under-5 years children, who may be suffering from minor diseases and antenatal care to pregnant women.
She said that cases considered beyond their capacity were either referred to Dankwi Kasuwa Primary Healthcare Centre or Misau General Hospital, a five-hour journey, to access the facilities.
Mr Abdullahi Musa, a volunteer, said that when the team started, most of the parents were sceptical and preferred alternative medicine to the conventional ones, but the situation had changed for the better.
Some of the beneficiaries interviewed expressed delight towards the EU-UNICEF project and called for its sustenance.
They said that their children and pregnant women were given antenatal care and treatment from minor ailments.
The House of Representatives, Tuesday rejected a bill seeking to provide for a single tenure of six years for president and governors.
NAIJALOADED learnt the constitutional amendment bill also seeks to provide for an unlimited term of six years for members of the national assembly and state houses of assembly.
The bill, sponsored by John Dyegh from Benue state, scaled second reading at today’s plenary session.
However, during the debate on the floor of the house, many lawmakers kicked against the bill, arguing that there was nothing wrong with the system Nigeria currently operates.
However, a few lawmakers including Sergius Ogun from Edo state argued it would save the country the funds used to conduct elections after the initial four-year tenure.
“This bill intends to also save the money being spent in elections for the second term. It will save this country and our democracy,”
Ogun said.
Henry Archibong from Akwa Ibom state said the focus should be on improving Nigeria’s electoral process and not on the number of terms an elected official stays in office.
“How can we make electoral processes and elections credible and less expensive,” he asked. “This is the issue we ought to address and not the number of terms.”
Yusuf Gagdi from Plateau state concurred with him saying there is nothing wrong with the current system of four-year tenure with a limit of two tenures for the executive.
He added that in an ideal democracy, “you cannot ask the president to perform a six-year tenure and expect a good performance.”
“Our problem is our inability to respect our rules. Our democracy does not need six-year single term for the executive,” he said.
“What it needs it to maintain what is in place for the executive and national assembly. What we need is to improve our elections and ensure we have a system that will not fail Nigerians.
“It is not the time to say we will amend the tenure of the executive and the national assembly members.”
Haruna Bello from Kano State also kicked against the bill, saying it will fuel the speculation of tenure extension for President Muhammadu Buhari.
Have we honestly stooped to the extent of blatant unwarranted 'fake news' and 'hate speeches' just to bring a man down?
Allen Onyema
The saying ‘there’s no smoke without fire’ most certainly applies in perpetuity in Nigeria than in any other country in the world, and the reason is not far-fetched. Ours has unfortunately become a society where the issues of national significance get politicized and muddled up with facts that are shamelessly unrelated and, in some cases, outrightly untrue. Our public sphere is currently at the lowest and most barren depths of ‘interpersonal and inter-ethnic abuse and strife’.
It is in view of this reality that it was not surprising when various socio-cultural groups raised the alarm of a clear conspiracy in the matter involving the allegations against Mr. Allen Onyema by the United States Department of Justice. Their claim was that there was a well-thought-out sinister attempt by ill meaning forces to drag the person of Mr. Onyema down.
While it might have been easy to dismiss the claims due to the ‘sentimental’ nature of average Nigerians, the event that ensued on the US’ seizure of a jet belonging to ‘a Nigerian involved in a multi-million-dollar fraud’ and the way it was craftily spun to reflect on the allegations against Mr. Onyema, was clear evidence that this smoke is one of the poorly orchestrated agenda and conspiracies of the highest order.
The methodology speaks for itself. Here are some facts – Not long after it was reported that the EFCC had allegedly probed and seized the passport of Mr. Onyema on the account of the allegation, did this recent news on the seizure of a jet hit the online space. However, tracing back to the original source of the story on an American news forum called ‘WSB-TV 2, Atlanta’, it was found that the accused owner of the jet “was in court on Tuesday” the 10th of December in Atlanta, “for an initial appearance”, and that “a removal hearing will also be held to send him back to New York where the charges he faces were originally filed”. Fast forward to the next day, when our Nigerian online news platforms got wind of the news, did the evidence of conspiracy reveal craft at its ugliest.
We are now faced with a situation of lopsided reporting where the part of the news release where it reported that the accused appeared ‘physically’ in court was conveniently omitted since it is fully known that a man whose passport is supposedly still being held by the EFCC cannot travel out of Nigeria to ‘appear in an Atlanta court’.
In fact, it was quite appalling to see how the news morphed all so conveniently an unknown Nigerian’s jet being seized, to suddenly declaring that the “US had seized Allen Onyema’s Aircraft” as reported by a few news platforms in Nigeria by the 11th of December 2019.
This kind of agenda-setting, that begins to eliminate facts, just so the perceptions of unsuspecting, and well-meaning Nigerians are morphed into believing that Mr. Onyema is a man of ill-character, has now gone out of hand.
Have we honestly stooped to the extent of blatant unwarranted ‘fake news’ and ‘hate speeches’ just to bring a man down? Could it be, that a man whose love for his people and country propelled actions of patriotism, can get dragged to in the mud on the premise of ‘over good deeds or excessive display of love’?
Mr. Onyema’s patriotic efforts have not gone and will continue to go unnoticed as encomiums have been poured endlessly on the man who’s been described by many as a role model, businessman par excellence. Just recently, he was honoured with the most distinguished ‘Alumnus of the Year’ award at the premier University of Ibadan. At this point, it is clear that the Nigerian people are beginning to discern truth from ill-meaning agenda.
It seems interests have exchanged hands in what is a move to fuel these untrue narratives. The deal it seems, is to keep the negative fire burning, but to what end? Perhaps the right question to ask is: who is afraid of Mr. Allen Onyema, and why?
Tayo Dauda is a Public Affairs Analyst. He can be reached via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Finding work can be a challenge for new migrants to Australia who often arrive with limited English skills and lack local contacts.
But finding work for people seeking asylum can be even harder, as we found in a study that looked at the experience some had in trying to find a decent job.
We surveyed 59 asylum seekers in Victoria, current employers of asylum seekers, and staff from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), a not-for-profit organisation that supports people seeking asylum.
Some found their qualifications were ignored, others were left to take what are known as survival jobs, which is any job they can get just to earn a basic living. And the challenges they face can be compounded by the traumatic experiences in their past.
Yet we found asylum seekers face layers of complex, structural barriers to employment. Some we spoke to had been relying on not-for-profit organisations for years to make ends meet.
Many described their job search as “desperate” and “helpless”.
Visa conditions of some had changed and their work rights denied for periods, often based on seemingly arbitrary factors such as how they came to Australia. For example, people who arrived by plane and are on a bridging visa can’t access concession courses at TAFE while those who arrive on boat can access concession rates.
Even years after first arriving, some are still struggling to find work, as one respondent explained:
Now I have been without a job for almost two years, and it is very difficult to get back into the workforce.
Even participants with high-demand skills and qualifications have few opportunities to use them, hence they depend on survival jobs.
For example, one held a master’s degree and wished to pursue a PhD in Australia, but said he was struggling to access essential living services, let alone attain a scholarship. He said:
I would love to teach and become a lecturer to contribute my quota in this country, but I have been relegated to warehouse job wasting my talent.
One of the managers from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre we interviewed referred to this as “de-skilling”. She said by virtue of entering Australia, most asylum seekers are automatically denied recognition of any of their skills, qualifications or experience and are forced to “work their way up from the bottom”.
She added:
I find it hard when I speak to (asylum seekers) on the phone about the fact that they are now working night shift in, say, a pharmaceutical company, when they are just (like), ‘This is not what I really want to be doing. I am a particle physicist’, or something, ‘from my home country’.
These survival jobs are often financially unsustainable. Many respondents relayed stories of being underpaid and forced to work in exploitative conditions. For example, one said:
I faced lots of racist people who took advantage of me and recruited me under normal pay because I am an asylum seeker.
Our study found this exploitation was rife across the sector, but as one respondent said, government policies didn’t help as they were “so punitive that it completely reduces people’s ability to feel like they can stand up for their rights”.
Government cuts make it harder
These are just a few of the many factors that trap asylum seekers into a vicious cycle of precarious livelihood. The situation was made worse by the recent government cuts to the Status Resolution Support Service (SRSS).
The SRSS is the only source of government-funded financial and social support available to asylum seekers, offering vital necessities including counselling for torture and trauma, subsidised medication and income support.
The asylum seekers most hard hit by these cuts also had the lowest skills and qualifications. Unable to even find survival jobs or access social security or mental health support services, these people are forced to rely on not-for-profit organisations for help.
Despite these organisations’ best efforts to provide personalised training and support, they are flooded with demand beyond their capacity.
As a staff member explained, they are merely “doing the best with what they have”.
What can we do?
Our report suggests some ways forward to alleviate these challenges.
Most notably, given the inadequacy of federal policy responses, state governments should work with community organisations and employers to provide more targeted services to asylum seekers who have fallen through the cracks of SRSS cuts.
They should fund programs that help recognise their skills and provide support to get them ready for any employment opportunities.
This should help address some of the “de-skilling” and survival job challenges asylum seekers face, and help them contribute significantly to the local economy.
It is a rhetorical question to ask whether everyone wants to get rich. In other words, dear reader, you too are interested in wealth!
Then, here is a story that can inspire you:
How Henry Fajemirokun made his billions
By Dotun Adekanmbi
The history of Nigeria’s organized private sector would be incomplete without mentioning the role of High Chief Henry Oloyede Fajemirokun. During the seventies, Fajemirokun was one of the biggest fish in the widening ponds of big time entrepreneurs. His credentials were like an awesome investment catalogue under the name of Henry Stephens Group of Companies.
Remarkably, Fajemirokun did not have the advantage of starting out anywhere near the upper rungs of the business ladder. His point of entry was as a trader in commodities, cocoa beans, groundnuts and cattle bones for export to Europe under the name of Henry Stephens and Sons Limited, Lagos. Perhaps, something in his background suggested correctly to him the business direction to take when he started out. Fajemirokun made a huge success of the export business. It was only a matter of time before his nimble mind fashioned out opportunities in other sectors of the economy. Suddenly, the theatre of the export and commodity trading concerns became too small for his huge business talents and a business conglomerate was in the making.
Intrepidly but shrewdly, Fajemirokun horned in on a new target. He established Henry Stephens Shipping Company which owned the Nigerian Far East Line and the Nigerian South American Line. The company owned three Nigerian flag vessels and operated a number of chartered vessels while maintaining regular line services between ports in the West African sub region, the far-east and south American ports.
Fajemirokun’s business interests further yield the Nigeria Maritime Services Limited (NMS) whose operations run the gamut of clearing and forwarding, sea and air freighting, as well as free and bonded warehousing. The company also undertook packaging and removal activities with a specialization in door-to-door movement of goods. At its peak, the NMS was described as the foremost removal company in Nigeria.
Henry Fajemirokun, right, and his wife. Photo credit. Photo credit: Lagoschamber.com
Monumental success followed swiftly and Fajemirokun’s Henry Stephens Group spread to every sector of the economy. There was GILCO (Nigeria) Limited which handled sophisticated electrical equipment and machinery, electrical and mechanical power transmissions, marine radar as well as navigational and radio communication devices. Fajemirokun widened GILCO’s operations to include serving as agents, stockists and main distributors for the products of many foreign electrical equipment manufacturing firms. These included Hawker Siddeley Electric Export Limited (Brush Swithgear Ltd) Brash Transformers Limited, Hawker Siddely Power Transmissions Limited, Crompton Cables Limited, Chloride Group of Companies and Doulton Insulators Limited. Others were GEC (lamps and Lightings) Ltd, GEC (Street Lighting Limited), manufacturers of fluorescent, flood and industrial lighting fittings, Hampson Automation Limited, manufacturers of power generating sets, D. Nagata, Midland Electric Manufacturing Company Limited , Aluminum Wire and Cable Company Limited, Sperry Marine Systems, Horstman Gear Company Limited, Safety Products Limited, Gandy Limited and CRC Limited.
Described as a practical businessman and excellent manager of both human and material resources, Fajemirokun possessed an uncanny eye for opportunities. This is obvious from his establishment of Henry Stephens Engineering Company Limited one of his many companies. The company was established obviously not as a hunch but at a time when there was an upsurge in construction activities all over the country.
Munificently funded by proceeds from the petroleum sector, the upsurge in construction was phenomenal. Fajemirokun cashed in on this. Henry Stephens Engineering dealt in construction machinery and equipment. It also served as a distributor for many British, American, Swedish and Indian companies. Shoals of construction equipment were sold for companies like Winget Construction Limited UK, Brown Lennox Limited UK, Dynapac Maskin AB of Sweden and Stenberg Flygt AB of Sweden among others.
Another of his companies executed a ceaseless flow of contracts of all types of building materials throughout the country. There was also a transport and haulage arm including foreign travels and ticketing.
As his businesses grew, so did his statue in the business community. Fajemiroukn held many positions in various Chambers of Commerce. By 1966, he was an executive council member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry. At about the same time, he was president of the Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Other honours followed . These included vice president, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (1970), president Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Mines (1972), first president, Federation of West African Chamber of Commerce (1972) and vice president Federation of Commonwealth Chambers of Commerce (1978). Fajemirokun can certainly be described as a business mogul.
In his 52 years of life, he virtually turned the Nigeria corporate terrain into a mosaic of his foot prints. Aside from more than ten companies in his stable, he also sat on the boards of several up market companies both within and outside the country. Some of these include Oil Exploratory Company Limited, Marine and General Assurance Company Limited, Schiffarts and Handelgesellschaft mbh, Hamburgh Germany. He was also a director, First Bank Nigeria Limited, director Nigeria Krafts Bags Limited, director Nigeria Sewing Machine Manufacturing Company Limited, deputy chairman Johnson Wax Nigeria Limited, chairman Rank Xeros (Nigeria) Limited and chairman National Bank of Nigeria Limited.
Unlike his lowly beginning in the world of business, Fajemirokun’s roots in Ile Oluji was Brahminic. Fajemirokun was born a blue blood on 14 July 1926. He started his primary education in 1932 at St Peter’s School, Ile Oluji and left in 1936. After a years break in his schooling, he continued at St Lukes School in the neighbouring town of Oke Igbo where he completed his elementary education. A year after completing his primary education in 1940, Fajemirokun gained admission into the prestigious CMS Grammar School Lagos where he spent a year. Then he crossed over to Ondo Boys’ High School where he spent two years. He left the school in1955 to enlist in the old Royal West African Frontier Force.
One year after enlistment he was posted to India to join the 82nd West African Division. He served with distinction at the General Headquarters of the 2nd Echelon. Thansi, of the then United Province India. Fajemirokun’s romance with the military profession lasted for only two years. He returned home in 1946 and joined the Posts and Telegraph Department (P&T) where he developed an interest in trade unionism. His commitment to workers’ welfare culminated in his election as the president general of the Nigerian Civil Service Union in 1957.
As an entrepreneur of towering stature, the appreciation of Fajemirokun’s worth transcended the confines of the corporate environment. His numerous philanthropic gestures were recognised through the conferment of many chieftancy titles on him. In 1968 he was conferred with the title of Yegbata of Ile-Oluji, Asiwaju of Oke-Igbo (1971), Lijoka of Ondo (1973), High Chief Orunta of Ifewara (1974) and the Obaloro of Ado Ekiti (1977). The University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife also conferred on him the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science in Business Administration in 1972.
Perhaps the only known area where Chief Henry Fajemirokun did not record any success was his desire to move into publishing. His bid to take over controlling shares in the Daily Times Group in 1975 was checkmated by then management of the newspaper which felt that Fajemirokun would have too much power at his disposal if his bid succeeded.
On 15 February 1978, the candescent career of Fajemirokun was suddenly extinguished in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, while leading a trade mission. In 1983, that is, five years after his death, the Federal Government honoured him with a posthumous national award of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). By then, Fajemirokun had strolled into his well earned place in the pantheon of entrepreneurial giants.
Originally entitled “Henry Fajemirokun: ahead of his Time,” Dotun Adekanmbi contributed this article to People in TheNEWS, 1900-2000, a special publication of this medium in year 2000
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