His story spiraled from the errant boy groomed in the rustic but agrarian Ijesa-Isu in today’s Ekiti State, to the boisterous town of Ibadan the once political hub of the First Republic, coursing through the never-say-die world of students unionism in the University of Ibadan, and climaxing in esteemed position in the Nigerian Customs Service. The author’s biography simply showcases unwarranted favour which could only come by the grace of the Almighty God.
“Enjoy the journey of a peasant farmer’s son who retired as Ag. Comptroller-General of Nigerian Customs service, and may your eyes be enlightened as the mystery of God’s exceedingly great grace that ‘raises a man from dust and causes him to sit with kings’ is laid bare once again…” says Comptroller Eporwei Edike the author’s former colleague who wrote the introduction to the book.
The circumstances of the author resonates with his father Chief Jeremiah Akande Olugbemile, the only surviving son of his father’s nine children. Tayo too himself from a polygamous home is one of the surviving four of the eight from his mother’s siblings.
Interestingly the author was born few weeks after the Second World War and at a time agitations for self governance particularly in Africa were rife. Thus the author’s parents, well aware of their son’s adventurous spirit, had to weave a web around his movement sometimes restricting him from catching fun with his playmates
This adventure eventually propelled the author’s journey to education. He recounts how, out of sheer curiosity, he sneaked behind his elder brother Dele to school only to be ‘trapped’ by a sharp-eyed teacher who then summoned him to place his arm over his head and see whether it measured up to his left ear, an archaic practice of which to ascertain children ripe to begin school in those days.
But even then, the author’s sojourn in school was pretty challenging given his poor background.
“A school bag and sandals were not part of my early schooling life,” the author recalls. “Father could not afford such luxuries. I walked barefooted to school, carrying my books in my hands. For several years, I attended primary school without shoes and had quite gotten used to it. This was to the extent that when in later years I got my first pair of shoes I wore them to the ‘bush latrine’ and forgot them there.”
His father’s default in paying his school fees was another headache; but thanks to the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s free education policy which the author credits , describing the gesture as the ship that saw his education dream sail.
The second chapter of the book is dedicated to the author’s mother whom he fondly referred to as eye mi. Eye mi was well aware her son’s childhood escapades but would rather tolerate him and leave the scolding to her disciplinarian husband. Though she was the third wife, Eye mi, says the author, displayed virtues of humility and love to her husband and two elder wives, attitudes that earned her a coveted position among senior wives in the entire household. Eye mi was also the type whose eyes were fixed on merchandise. She assisted her husband in nurturing food crops in the farm and selling same in the market, while using the proceeds for petty trading. As a young boy, the author too would not look the other way; he usually walks his mother six miles on foot to neihgbouring villages to sell. This was here the author’s enterprising spirit was sharpened.
“I developed a spirit of courage and fearlessness. If anything, my sense of adventure deepened,” said the author in a tribute to his mother.
His childhood pastimes such as farming, hawking, hunting, drumming and playing flute in school still lingers in his memory. Those little experiences, he believes, contributed to what formed the foundation of his life.
However, like the proverbial two sided coin, the author’s father, was the exact opposite; a disciplinarian to the core. Aside his penchant for corporal punishment or a disgraceful public spectacle each his children err, Chief Olugbemile would have none of his children performed below first to third positions. To him, every other position is a woeful failure once a child failes to meet that benchmark. The author recalls one of the sad episodes where his father accompanied him during his final year valedictory in primary school. Chief Olugbemile must have been disappointed when his son’s name did not feature among the first three. He was livid! As usual, the author had his ‘dinner’-his father had him thrashed by the cane. But despite the pains, the author has learned a lesson.
“The lesson I learned from the incident is to maintain an excellent path in life. It became important for me to sustain a good track record in whatever I did. This is a guiding principle that has helped me throughout my professional career; it is one which I have imbued in my children too,” he recalls.
Securing admission at Ansar-Ud-Deen High School Ikole Ekiti at an older age was another uphill task.
Despite this, providence smiled on the author as he shone like a million stars among his classmates compelling the school management to grant him double promotion. The luxury however did not come without some hitches- the author’s former classmates developed inferiority complex, while his current contemporaries saw him as an usurper. That not whistanding, few still bonded with him. He was later to dwarf others clinching the first position at every turn to the envy of others. This feat, the author recollects, further cemented his relationship with God and compelled him to write his ‘Goal attainment list’ which he religiously followed for uninterrupted 13 years.
It was at this secondary school the author also consummated his passion for social life and sports. He featured prominently in certain sporting activities including triple jump, discuss throw and marathon. This was in addition to enlisting in the school drama group as well as literary and debating society which the author believes helped him oil his talent in public speaking. Even when the author’s father ran into financial crisis and couldn’t afford paying his son’s school fees because his (author’s father) only helping hand in the far had left him, the school management had to wave the author’s fees and allowed him pay in installment. Reason: management simply could not lose a material like Tayo who remained prominent in virtually all facet of the school activities.
Having completed his secondary school in1966, the author’s desire to migrate to Lagos surged. He had always imagined himself being a part of the hustling and bustling of life in that coastal city. Following a passage read out to them about the beautiful city by his former English teacher chief Tunde Aluko, the author in company of his friend Ephraim, had sneaked to Lagos. Tayo lied to his father who had initially turned down his request to move to Lagos, that the school was taking them on an excursion to Lagos. The author spent a week with his elder brother Dele visiting all beautiful places especially the upscale Ikoyi. Thereafter, his mind was glued on coming back to permanently settle in the beautiful city- but that would not materialise until 31 years after.
His sojourn to Ibadan at the instance of his father after completing School Certificate was like a blessing in disguise. Through the instrumentality of his uncle, he hadsecured a temporary job at Olivet Grammar School, Ibadan; initially found himself in the school principal’s bad book because of the rather controversial circumstances which he was employed. He later had a scruff with the same principal over alleged intimacy with a girl in his class, resulting in his termination of appointment. The author later moved to Lagos on the guise of going to write GCE as ‘transferred candidates’ who suffered displacement owing to the Civil War. Through a former schoolmate, the author began a new life in Lagos as a clerical officer in the Ministry of Transport, reveling in all economic and social life of the sprawling city. Having substantially resolved issues bordering on his continued stay in Lagos with his father, the author passed his A Level exam and was subsequently offered admission into the University of Ibadan to study Sociology.
“Indeed, that was one of the happiest days of my life,” he recalls with nostalgia.
Life in UI, the author soon found out, was a different kettle of fish as against his exploits in elementary and standard schools. His course-Sociology, opened his eyes to variations in human behavious. The era also coincided with the Civil War at the climax of which the Government of Western State gave a bursary of 100 pounds per session to all students of Western State extraction. For the author, that was a big financial relief as the bursary guaranteed he would complete his university education.
His extrovert nature continues to propel him even when he ventured into the often murky waters of politics contesting for the office of the vice president of the Students’ Union of UI in 1971.Yet, he would not forget his first baptism of fire as a student unionist. Upon a successful election of which he was a part, the SU executive had decided a welcome party for ‘ freshers’. The author as a sociable person was the arrowhead of the planning. Unfortunately, there was a cholera outbreak in Ibadan at the time and the then vice-chancellor the late Adeoye Lambo a professor of Psychiatry and former Director-General of the World Helath Organisation,, would have none of that. Lambo directed that the planned welcome party be cancelled forthwith, a decision that irked the author and other members of the SU executive. The SU replied the management with a strongly-worded letter signed by the author, saying they would not budge.
The SU executive members were summoned to the vice chancellors home the following day. The author without a prophet knew the implication of such action. He could see in his mind’s eye there was trouble in the offing.
“(From his (VC) tone, “the author says in retrospect, “something told me I was in deep trouble. My ‘Goal Attainment List’ flashed across my mind. I had a feeling he had mentally registered my name in his memory for disciplinary action. If I did not retrace myself, I could earn myself suspension if not rustication from the university. But back to the realities on ground, I could see that Prof Lambo was very angry with our confrontational stand.”
Buoyed by the successful protests the UI SU staged across Lagos and other parts over the rude invasion of the Portuguese mercenaries by the Republic of Benin during that period, the SU ha swung into a fresh protest over what it saw as poor standard of students’ welfare in the Zic Hall of UI. To register their displeasure, students in the Zik Hall had embarked on a three-day hunger strike. The development later resulted into bloody protest that saw the author and SU president Solomon Agunbiade arrested but later released, as well as the shooting of one of the students Adekunle Adepeju, 27 and a final year Agricultural Studies undergraduate by the anti-riot policemen that came apparently to quell the crisis. To add more salt into the injury, Aderoju was the only surviving son of his parents.
News of the deceased had spread like wild fire into other campuses, inflaming students of the UNILAG that went on rampage burning down police post at Unilag and the Sabo Police station in the process.
“Students of University of Ibadan were given orders to pack out of the campus within 24 hours and the university was shut down. I took the opportunity to travel home to present myself before my parents at home in Ijesa-Isu, as news had floated back to the village that I had been arrested, “the author recalled.
Unlike what we have now, then was also the era of transparency where students generally had to make sacrifices to raise funds for the executive.
“There was openness and accountability, said the author in retrospect. “ Indeed, the Students’ Congress passed a motion describing our own executive as ‘infallible’ due to the manner we conducted the union’s affairs. There was confidence in our team which was demonstrated in the way in which they supported us. At least on two occasions, students gave up their lunch for funds to be remitted to the union coffers to meet exigencies. Once the students had given their approval, the university’s bursar remitted the funds to the SU’s account. If the students had no faith in our government, they would not make this kind of sacrifice.”
“Arguable the current crop of student activist unfortunately lack the focus and fevour to make changes. Sadly in my view, the problem is that the polity is corrupted and Students’ Union compromised. Students today, perhaps for selfish reasons, pursue a cause for personal interest. The pervading corruption in the system has eroded genuine students’ activism in Nigeria universities,” he further recalled with fond memories,
Upon graduation in 1972, the author shunned the civil service jobs government was then wooing fresh graduates to take; his interest however was glued on journalism. While almost his classmates secured jobs and began in 1972, the author remained unemployed for four months. He had to squat in his elder brother’s house. By strings of luck however, he reunited with Agunbiade who was then in the Nigeria Customs and Excise, his former SU president who, through his instrumentality, the author secure a job in NCS.
Despite that many of his contemporaries later resigned afer several years due to either slow or non promotion, the author stayed put, taking his fate rather philosophically.
“I chose not to compare myself with anybody and I anchor everything about my life on the master key-holder, my creator, “he said.
The latter part of his career was beset with pitfalls as the author sees NCS as the ‘microcosm of Nigeria’. According to him, NCS is fraught with policy somersaults, pull –him-down colleagues, leadership succession palaver including other self-inflicted problems,
Eventually however, he attained the peak of his career as the Comptroller General of Customs, albeit in acting capacity.”
“In the course of my career in the Nigeria Customes Service, there were expertly pockets of serious challenges- anxieties, disappointments and palpable fears. Through the abundant grace of God, I passed them all unscathed,” he concluded rather triumphantly.
