Aĺl Progressives Congress chieftain and former Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture in Lagos State, Asipa Kaoli Olusanya, hit the milestone age of three scores and ten (70) today July 17th, 2022. The Ikorodu-born educationist and founder of Kith and Kin Schools, whose daughter, Abisola Olusanya, is currently the Commissioner for Agriculture in the state, recalls his journey through life in this interview with Assistant Editor, ‘Dare Odufowokan, revealing how meeting with the presidential candidate of APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, turned his life around for good. He also recalled the tough times he experienced after serving as a commissioner in the Civil Service Commission for five years.
By tomorrow, you will clock the milestone age of 70. How do you feel becoming a septuagenarian?
I feel extremely grateful to God almighty to have come this far. It is by the grace of God. I will forever be grateful to God for finding me worthy of this huge favour. It is God’s design that I will be alive and well today. I also thank my wife and my children for being their wonderful selves. Whenever I look back and remember where I am coming from, I cannot but give thanks to God almighty. I will continue to enjoy the grace of God as long as I live.
Nothing really has changed. I had gradually been adjusting long before now. I had quit drinking alcohol long ago and I had also limited my socialising, though I do not miss important functions of my social clubs. The general meeting of Oriwu Club, Ikorodu holds annually and I do not miss it.
I am also a member of the Rotary Club and the Island Club, which I joined when Chief Babs Akerele was the chairman. He was one of my leaders in the National Republican Convention at the time. Chief Akerele had so much wisdom to share. I was constantly in awe of him.
At the end of my tenure as Commissioner for Agriculture in Lagos State, I returned to my hometown, Ikorodu, permanently to be with my family and be close to my school, Kith and Kin. It was difficult to go to Island Club at Onikan from Ikorodu, so, although I retained my membership of the club, I stopped being a regular participant. I go there whenever I have any business around there. And when it is time to vote, I go there to vote.
I will continue to strive for new targets. Setting and pursuing new targets are what drive me. New targets make me want to live for something. I will continue to run after something till I die. I do not want to retire. I want to go on working.
When I observe the life of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, I see how he is dedicated to work and growth. He never rests. Although I am a Celestial Church man, I go to Redemption Camp every now and then, and there is a more recent development every time. That is the man I am emulating as I grow older. I have decided to forge on because it gives me energy and the reason to live.
In all these, I always have the support of my darling wife. That is another great encouragement.
How did you meet her?
My wife, Kemi, as I call her, is God-sent. The first time I saw her, I was struck with her awesome features. I was a Commissioner at the Civil Service Commission when she came around in search of a job. I was immediately smitten and we began courting almost immediately. Of course, after the initial coyness, she said ‘yes’ to me. Our courtship lasted five years.
Many people attempted to dissuade her from marrying me. They bombarded her with warnings and she later confessed to me that at a point, she became afraid to marry me. They asked her why she, a spinster, wanted to marry a man with six children after two failed marriages. I also had my fears. I was particularly worried over how she would relate with my children. I was also scared of failing again in marriage. But we continued our courtship and it blossomed over the years.
She visited my official house in Ikoyi regularly. She also came with me when I moved to my house in Ibeshe after my tenure. My house in Ibeshe was a carcass when we moved in. No windows, no toilets, no electricity even. It was almost uninhabitable but she stayed with me. The living condition was far different from what we had at the government quarters in Ikoyi.
My children were to later tell me they had cried often because of the stark difference in our condition of living after I left office in 1997. By then, Kemi was working at the Ministry of Education as an Inspector. She did a lot to ensure we ate good food. She would bring foodstuff back home and cook for us. I also brought food home from my sister’s canteen in Surulere each time I stopped by to visit her.
Kemi was so supportive during those very trying period after office. She always complimented me. Whatever is good for me is what she wants. And we discuss our goals and aspirations together always. It was her who suggested I start a school after I left office as commissioner. She reminded me of my love for children and the way I taught my children regularly at home. I took that advice and that became Kith and Kin Schools today.
In 1999, I went with my family to see her people in Ibadan, and that was how we got married. We didn’t have a church wedding; we wedded at the Ikoyi Registry, and that was my first legal marriage. We are blessed with children. She joined me in the Celestial Church in spite of her background in The Apostolic Church.
From being a commissioner who lived in Ikoyi, you went to start a makeshift school in Ikorodu. How easy was this change in fortune?
Kith and Kin, as the name connotes, started as a school for my children and some other children in the neigbourhood. I went about speaking to my friends and neigbours about the school and invited them to bring their children. From July 1997 when we started till September, it was free. We started charging N2000 in September so that I could put food on the table for my family. We started very small. My first child and I were doing the teaching. My son, Lookman, who later became a Vice President at Google, was in his early twenties and had just graduated from UNILAG (University of Lagos) then.
His siblings were also supportive in many ways. My uncompleted house was the school location. I made blinds to cover the bare windows and dug a pit at the back of the house for toilet. There was still no electricity and no running water. I had to dig a well. I painted the walls black in some rooms to function as blackboards. Subsequently, during holidays, myself, my wife and my children served as teachers. Everyone had a teaching role. That was how the school began to grow.
Years after years, what started small grew in leaps and bounds. In those years, I taught all the subjects except French and Yoruba. Even till today, I go into the classrooms to the delight of the students. I walk around the school and when there is a need to intervene, I do that. I still teach briefly, supporting the teachers.
In spite of the need for financial breakthrough back then, I was largely encouraged by my wife and my love for education. Those were the twin driving forces. Education is a process that helps to develop the human mind, and this development is the best thing one can offer to humanity. This is why I am devoted to education.
The best way to get people out of poverty is to give them education. I had experienced abject poverty while growing up in Isale-Eko, and education was my means of escape. Thus, I try to help people in a similar way through my school. Some children desire education for themselves, but because they do not have anyone to care for them and their parents do not have the means, they become vulnerable and out of school children.
That was what encouraged me then, and what I do today is to regularly help such children with what God has given me. “Bring your children here; bring them,” I would say to indigent parents. Then I would put the children in the hostel, feed them and do everything for them. It does cost me a lot, but my prayer is that they make good use of the opportunity I have given them.
Many of them are doing well, and that is the source of my perpetual joy. But there are others struggling to catch up. We continue to pray for them and support them in every way we can. Kith and Kin School is now 25 years old. I look back to the way we started and I give all glory to God.
You sure had some low moments during that difficult period. What kept you going at such moments?
I was no longer in the Civil Service Commission, I could not return to poultry farming and I didn’t want to be dependent on anyone. So my wife’s advice that I start a school was it for me. Since it was something I loved doing, I put my soul into it. Although I knew it was a private enterprise that would have to be sustained, I wanted my school to impact the society. Above all, I had the education I had always desired and I wanted to give it back to the society. Education is my passion. In every home I had lived, my blackboard is always more conspicuous than my television set. If there was ever anything that would be as conspicuous as the blackboard, it was my bookshelf.
Books, notepads, writing materials and other things like that were always on my shelf. I invested a lot on books and made my children fall in love with reading. I used the whip on my first two children but later I learnt to stop flogging as the whip hardens the heart and make children rebellious. And it was then I learnt the beauty of corrections, monitoring and discussions with children.
So, what point in your journey through life will you describe as the turning point?
I will say it was at the point I first met Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu through Chief Mufutau Ajisebutu, a close ally of mine, in my earlier days of electoral contests. The year was 1998 and I had established my school the previous year. So it was still in the early stages of operation.
It was while I was engrossed with the work at the school that Ajisebutu, my political godfather at the time, asked that we meet Tinubu. He just called me one day and announced with determination that it was time for us to meet Bola Tinubu. He seemed confident that the meeting with Tinubu would help my political growth. So, reluctantly, I agreed to go with him.
I had twice contested elections in politics and failed; I was not sure I wanted to try again. All I wanted was to be allowed to nurture Kith and Kin School. It was also my venturing into politics that hastened the failure of my farming business and left me indebted to the bank.
So, we met Tinubu at Sunday Adigun Street, Ikeja, Lagos. He exuded confidence and his word was his bond. And to put me more at ease with him, he called me by my first name only a day after I met him. “Kaoli”, he called me as he gave me my first assignment. I was amazed because people don’t usually remember the name ‘Kaoli’.
Soon after tasking me with assignments to ensure his victory in Ikorodu during the primary election of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), he asked for my CV. He seemed impressed as he looked through it. He was contesting for the ticket of the party with Funso Williams of the Network Alliance. I worked hard for him alongside Ajisebutu in Ikorodu. I gave it my all and was glad he won the primary election. In that same election, Ajisebutu nominated me to contest the House of Assembly. But I eventually stepped down for Ola Animashaun after Rauf Aregbesola hinted that I had been penciled down by Tinubu for appointment.
Eventually Tinubu won and was sworn in as Governor of Lagos State in May 1999. He nominated me as the Commissioner for Agriculture in keeping with his promise, and that was a big one for me. On the day we were sworn in, it rained endlessly, but all that was on my mind was the journey of my life and where I was proceeding to from that point. There were many people who vehemently wanted the slot I got as commissioner. Some of them made so much effort and went through all the eminent personalities anyone could think of. I did nothing and Tinubu kept his word. That was why I viewed and considered myself lucky that he decided to pick me ahead of others.
Also, the reconstruction of my life was earlier predicated on a happenstance of a meeting with one pretty, black complexioned, tall, big-eye-balled, busty lady that crossed my path around 1995 when I was in the Civil Service Commission. It was a time I was emotionally traumatised and struggling with taking care of six children as a single parent. I had distanced myself from flirting around and this lady that crossed my path was not sure whether she should marry me or not. She was to later tell me that what she saw me doing with my children at lesson time prompted her to say yes. The lady is Kemi, my wife.
At the expiration of my tenure in 1997, she decided to start living with me. She was the balm that made the transition of my family from the opulent official residence at Ikoyi to a dingy unfinished house in Ikorodu bearable. I salute the courage of Olukemi. Her display of optimism in those days was rare and infectious. It helped me greatly and made things easier for me. She had a baby boy in 2000 and I named him Samuel Ayowole. Above all, my overall belief is that without God, nothing can be achieved. The travails of my life taught me to believe so. I believed and I found my purpose.
Upon your nomination by Tinubu, did you foresee your posting to the Ministry of Agriculture?
I had guessed that my portfolio would be agriculture, especially with my qualifications and career. It came as no surprise when it was announced. I assumed office the following Monday morning, the day the governor held a meeting with all new commissioners and inaugurated the executive council. The structure of the Ministry was such that the Commissioner was the political head, in charge of policy and the Permanent Secretary was in charge of administration. Alhaja Titilayo Agbalajobi, wife of the famous Dr. Femi Agbalajobi, was the Permanent Secretary when I assumed office.
When I took over from the previous commissioner, I had to study the state of affairs in the ministry. That was the starting point for me. One of the greatest tasks before me was learning how to harmonise old projects with new ones. Some projects we inherited were in different stages of completion. I had to continue them and start new ones. So, I had to find a way of aligning them. My past experiences helped me. I managed the affairs of the ministry well. I was in office for two terms of eight years and my ministry was not changed at any time.
The first thing I did was to determine areas of priorities where I could make impact within the time I would stay in office. Rehabilitation of farm settlements was my greatest priority. Farm families were already there in their units while facilities were in very bad state. So, I taught that it was best to rehabilitate them instead of starting new projects. So I set about doing that and Tinubu supported me with approvals for funds. Five farm settlements in Ikorodu, Badagry, Ojo, Imota and Epe were rehabilitated and the result of this on the agriculture of the state was massive.
I then faced the Agege abattoir. I ensured that the governor went there with me to see things for himself and that did the magic. So we also worked on the rehabilitation of the abattoir while also exploring the field of piggery. We reviewed the use of government lands through the Agricultural Land Holding Authority. We put many of the lands to good use for piggery, farming and other agricultural purposes. I set new targets and priorities different from what has been set before, and I endeavoured to meet them all. I made it a point of duty to go for inspection regularly, and this helped my performance a great deal.
What manner of man would you say Asiwaju Tinubu is, going by your experience while serving in his administration?
A people’s man. Asiwaju Tinubu could not live an isolated life. He loved having people around him all the time. We used to eat together during his lunch break back then. While eating, we would discuss burning and contemporary issues. Those who were usually present at the lunch time meetings included the current Vice President, Yemi Osibajo; Muiz Banire; Rauf Aregbesola; Dele Alake; Opeyemi Bamidele; Wale Edun; Yemi Cardoso and Kemi Nelson. We spent the time arguing about and arriving at solutions to many issues. Tinubu would listen and contribute to the discussion freely.
So, the governor’s lunch break helped us bond together as a team in a relaxed atmosphere. It was always more than having a meal together. Tinubu was as approachable as he was accommodating. He listened to everyone and was always open to criticisms.
