Today October 20 marks one year remembrance of the late Pamela Ibironke Adefolaju, a multi-disciplinarian, career civil servant, businesswoman, teacher, and minister of God during her lifetime.
An Owo princess, born into the royal family of Ogunoye on July 26th 1950 to her late parents Chief Joshua Adetifa Alamurin and Madam Comfort Ogunoye both from Igboroko and Oke Ogun in Owo.
The last of five children, Ibironke started elementary school at St. Mary’s Anglican School at the age of six. At age 11, she gained admission to St. Louis Secondary School, Ondo, where she met many of her life-long friends and also became a Catholic thus changing her name from Mercy to Pamela. She later became a born-again Christian as a married adult.
Upon obtaining her West African School Certificate in the year 1966, she proceeded to St. Teresa’s College Ibadan for Higher education and subsequently gained admission into the prestigious University of Ibadan, where she earned a BSc. in Agricultural Biology.
After her NYSC, she was recruited as a pupil Research Officer at the Nigerian Cereal Research Institute Moor Plantation. She later joined the National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), in Ibadan in 1980 where she was a Senior Librarian. She helped in editing several publications that are still available in the library till date. She served as a mentor to several of her junior colleagues at that time and continually explored opportunities to promote dissemination of information and foster the job training and collaboration with other agricultural organisations. She voluntarily retired in 1995 as Assistant Chief Librarian after rendering meritorious services.
A very enterprising woman, she engaged in a lot of entrepreneurial ventures including a bookstore, a poultry farm, a piggery farm and real estate. She was engaged in business both in Nigeria and the United States of America. She was married to the late Dr Olatunbosun Adefolaju and they had four children.
She raised her children to serve God and be committed in a local church wherever they were. She was a true philanthropist. For several years, she celebrated her birthday by spending time and donating generously to orphanages in the city of Ibadan.
Following her husband’s demise, Pamela shuttled between Nigeria and the United States of America. She spent part of the year at her residence in Ibadan and the rest with her four children in the US. She always made it a priority to plug into the local church assembly and immediately became a blessing to both young and old. Many young couples would come to her for counseling about marital issues. Young mothers would have long conversations with her which gave her opportunity to give them wisdom concerning parenting and their children’s physical, emotional, spiritual and academic welfare. Continue to rest in peace.
- Abolaji Raheem Owo, Ondo State.
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