‘He was an extreme workaholic. He didn’t see problems. If you go to him and say there is a problem, he would listen to you and, after a few minutes, Dipo would bring out the
possibilities in the problem. He did not take ‘No’ for an answer. He would always find a way out. You will literally drag Dipo away from his table at the closing hour’
There was a loud cry at the Cocoa House headquarters of the Southwest development agency, Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission on Friday April 21. It was the announcement of the death of its Director-General and chief executor of the vision, Mr Dipo Famakinwa.
The news immediately threw the development house into mourning for many reasons.
One, Famakinwa set up the agency and recruited every member of staff. Two, he directed the activities of the technical work group that developed the DAWN Strategy Document, and on the back of that, led and coordinated the processes that culminated in the setting up of the Commission. Three, Famakinwa left a thriving business to lead DAWN, just as he pulled his Deputy, Mr Seye Oyeleye, from a very gainful employment and shining career to join him for a rather less paid job and selfless service at the commission.
Four, Famakinwa worked against all odds to bring the six Southwest states together to pursue development agenda through the platform of the DAWN Commission. Five, Famakinwa offered an uncommon leadership to his team and members of staff to the level that they all embraced and unconsciously developed similar passion for the regional development vision. Six, Famakinwa was excessively passionate about remaking the Southwest. He was an icon of hope to every Yoruba that was getting despair about the receding Nigeria.
As Oyeleye recalled, the late D-G would sometimes bring out the portraits of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Samuel Akintola, looked at them intently and declared: “But these people did not have two heads, Seye. They had only one head like ours. Then, nothing should stop us from achieving or even doing better than they.
“We can recreate the past. We can recreate the old Western Region where everything was first- first skyscraper and first television station, among other things. We can go back to that era without scrapping states.”
It was not only the DAWN family that was thrown into mourning. The house of the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), the socio-political organisation of exceptional technocrats and other Yoruba eggheads that envisioned the DAWN Commission was also thrown into mourning.
The Yoruba Academy, the organisation Famakinwa led before moving over to the DAWN Commission was deep in mourning. So were the six governors of the Southwest states of Lagos, Ekiti, Oyo, Osun, Ogun and Ondo.
Civil servants in the various state ministries who have been working with Famakinwa on various DAWN intervention programmes were shocked. Politicians, academics, youths who have had one thing or the other to do with DAWN were all shocked. Indeed, the house of Oduduwa is mourning the demise of a young man who spent the last eight years preaching development and breaking barriers against southwest regional development.
Famakinwa, 49, was an entrepreneur and development technocrat.
As D-G, he provided strategic insight and leadership towards delivering on the vision and mission of the southwest development agenda.
While serving as D-G, Famakinwa led his team to achieve a lot in integrating the Southwest states for development.
He succeeded in establishing the Southwest Governors’ Forum which made the six governors to work together as development partners of the region. Though the move suffered a setback after the initial inauguration of the commission in July, 2013, Famakinwa’s DAWN succeeded in making the governors overcome party differences to come together on the same table in reviving the idea in November last year. They met at the Oyo State Governor’s Office, Ibadan.
The second one was held in February in Ekiti Government House while the third quarterly meeting was to be hosted by Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, on April 24. It was cancelled at the last minute to honour the deceased.
Famakinwa’s DAWN worked on creating regional collaborative solutions through different programmes, including Heads of Service Strategy Briefing on the DAWN Development Index, Regional Workshop on Security, Law and Order in the Southwest and the Pre-inaugural Meeting of the Regional Technical Team on Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability in the Southwest.
It also developed strategic roadmaps with its OneBloc Document, a framework for organising Southwest Nigeria for global competitiveness. DAWN developed Homeland Strategy Document – a high-level attention document for Yoruba Homeland Affairs.
It hosted a Strategy Retreat on the Southwest Creative Economy which was sponsored by the Oyo State Government. It also made preparation for the presentation of the Southwest Creative Economy Strategy Document in the final stages.
Famakinwa’s DAWN also worked on Social and Human Development Strategy in the Southwest, developed the Southwest Nigeria Sports Development Strategic Plan of Action and also organised a strategy retreat on S o u t h w e s t E c o n o m i c Competitiveness Strategy which was sponsored by the Lagos State Government.
The commission also developed an Integrated Commercial Agriculture Development Programme for Southwest Nigeria.
DAWN also organised the Southwest Governance Innovation Conference, held a roundtable on Education Development and Advancement in the Southwest which was hosted by Osun State Government on June 20, last year.
Since last year, Famakinwa’s DAWN held Stakeholders’ Workshop on Urbanisation and Economic Corridors as catalyst for economic development (Northern and Southern Nigeria) held in June, last year at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja and Eko Hotel, Lagos State which was co-hosted with the World Bank.
It also held Optimisation Dialogue on Solid Minerals Development and Exploration in Southwest Nigeria as well as Optimisation Dialogue on Digital and ICT Sector in Southwest Nigeria.
It is currently working on a project in partnership with the World Bank on Enhancing the Economic Performance of the Lagos–Ibadan Corridor and another in partnership with the DFID with the title: “New Vision for Agriculture: Building a Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture in Southwest Nigeria.
Recalling how Famakinwa made every member of staff buy into the DAWN vision, Mr Oyeleye said: “He would say there is no looking back. We have put our hands in this plough and there is no looking back. Apart from being young and having the energy to drive the vision, he believed in it and had the passion for remaking the West.”
Describing the experience of working with the deceased, he said: “He was an extreme workaholic. He didn’t see problems. If you go to him and say there is a problem, he would listen to you and, after a few minutes, Dipo would bring out the possibilities in the problem. He did not take ‘No’ for an answer. He would always find a way out. You will literally drag Dipo away from his table at the closing hour.
“There is no money here. The work here is an intellectual work. If Dipo was looking for money, he would not have been here. He always came up with ideas. And he always worked out ideas with me.
“There were times we had challenges. But because of the way he related with members of the team, they so much believed in him. He was not a typical boss.
“Trying to bring six governors to believe in this dream was a very tough task.”
The big shoes left by Famakinwa can only be worn by a thoroughbred technocrat with rich experience and passion for the development of the Southwest region.
Famakinwa had more than 24 years of extensive and high-profile professional experience serving various sectors within the Nigerian and multi-national markets. He had led successful missions in the provision of management services to clients in financial services, aviation, retail, oil and gas, among others, and had also managed diverse talents and teams across functional areas.
Among others, he worked at senior levels at Landover Aviation Company Limited (Business Manager) and Vigeo Oil and Gas Limited (Group Head/Regional Manager, Niger Delta).
In 2006, Dipo founded Famedge Travel and Logistics Services Limited, a management services company providing air travel and logistics support to middle market and high-end clients, and later, from 2008, worked as Head Consultant/CEO of Bluehall Advisory Services, a leading-edge firm of consultants in management, capacity building and strategy consulting.
Dipo was a member of the Oyo State Social and Economic Management Team (OSSEMAT), he was also on the Osun State Public Service Reform Committee, and led the consulting team that developed the Ekiti State Service Compact and Citizens’ Charter.
Dipo was also involved with the KPMG/Bluehall team that conducted the Strategic Health-Check Review on all the companies under Odua Investment Company Limited.
A certified quality auditor, Dipo was an alumnus of Obafemi Awolowo University, the Lagos Business School, and Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
