Alawusa Adewuyi
Company Secretary at Asset & Resource Management Holding Company (ARM HoldCo).

Good evening, everyone. I digress today to celebrate a titan, a leader of men, one who greatly impacted my life and career, Dr. Erastus Bankole Oladipo Akingbola, OON. He was 72 last Wednesday, October 26. I appreciate that people have different views about him, but I celebrate today Akingbola the employer and leader.

The bank he led was a competitive one, not for the faint hearted. It was fierce but humane. People can tell you stories of oppression from several quarters; I have mine. My first shock was his personality. From Idejo Street junction on his way to work in the morning, he will pack staff into his car. Jisting will start about work, targets, suggestions. In those days, if you did not conclude the discussion, he will follow you to your table to finalise that point before going to his office. It took a long time before I realised that he was “walking the corridor” to stay abreast of staff expectations and desires.

Two of my fond stories of him happened to two ladies. The first got pregnant before 6 months of employment. Sacrilege! HR already asked her to resign but due to her grade, MD had to sign off. It was the questions of the MD that this could not be intentional that led to discovery that she had been married for 15 years and that was her first pregnancy! His conclusion was that there was something in the bank that aided fruitfulness. Of course, that was the end of that rule, as we knew it. Secondly, at one Monday morning meeting, MD came in and asked the head of HR to explain maternity leave. He quickly informed MD that it was 12 weeks for every birth. That is how the MD said that he heard a woman had quadruplets at a branch which meant 12X4 weeks, 12 weeks for each birth, and one year paid maternity leave. HR struggled to counter, but it was too late. They had to amend that policy to state that it was for each pregnancy cycle.

My fondest story was at a global Village meeting held around 2004 pre-merger at a big hall in Unilag. After addressing us on the merger, he asked for any comment from the audience. I raised my hand to speak (only God knows where courage came from and could be a testament to the leadership) and said that the mortgage process was skewed in favour of senior staff, whether they had stayed 5 years or not. The mantra of the bank was that after 5 years as a staff, you must be a landlord, but people struggled to access at 8 years or more. I was not yet qualified, but I had seen examples. His response still shocks me even today. He asked everyone that required a mortgage and was over 5 years in the bank to stand up. He then declared that they had approval in principle subject to providing the requirements and he left the meeting. I need not tell you that it took over 30 minutes before the supervising ED could call the meeting to order. Happy birthday, Dr. Akingbola. Like you always say, may the roads be rough! I welcome your comments. .

Waow, that was how he approved mortgage for staff? How could the bank have survived then? The fact that ladies that became pregnant within 6 months of engagement were fired was an unfortunate policy. You just succeeded in exposing the bank's the policies and practices, that other professionals may find challenging.


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QuinModah:

Congratulations to him. One wouldn't know that he's over seventy years of age.

Anyway, they dealt with him with strong hand and I don't know if they have resolved his case with the efcc.

Long life and prosperity, sir!