OGD @ 64 AND THE BEAT GOES ON…

Five years ago, I penned an article in celebration of His Excellency, Otunba Gbenga Daniel’s 59th birthday. It was titled “59 Quills for Gbenga Daniel”

Since, this Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Directors, Nigeria has continue in his giant strides such that his worst critics would admit that he has continued to acquit himself creditably in all his undertakings.

The past 5 years saw him making a very good attempt at becoming the Chairman of PDP, run the primary campaign of a Presidential candidate successfully and deliver a first class hotel which had been delayed by political intrigues for almost a decade.

Most significantly, OGD or OGIDIOMO as he is known in political circles, resigned from politics  about a year ago, yet his most recent social outing had in attendance bigwigs from both major parties including a former President, the wife of the Vice-President, five serving governors and several other spiritual, political, business and traditional bigwigs. Such is the personae of this son of Africa, the multi-award winning chartered Engineer of repute, Justus Olugbenga Daniel Who turns 64 today.

I reproduce the article below as I join others in wishing OGD a happy 64th birthday.

“The history of politics in Nigeria is replete with the destruction of reputations built through hard work, sweat and tears on the altar of sheer jealousy and the ‘put him down’ syndrome” – Dideolu Falobi.

Justus Olugbenga Daniel, ex-deputy managing director of H.F. Schroder (WA) Limited, ex-managing director of Kresta Laurel Limited, two-term governor of Ogun State, recipient of several chieftaincy titles, honorary and professional accolades, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and the Academy of Engineers, a father, husband, quintessential manager, politician and son of a Reverend Father was 59 years old on Monday April 6, 2015.

I am not sure of the number of congratulatory advertisements that were in the newspapers (as at the time of writing this article) but you can bet that it will not be anywhere near what used to be the case between 2003 and 2011 when OGD as he is popularly referred to in political circles, sat astride the government of Ogun State as its Executive Governor. Such is the transient nature of power, and nothing humbles a man as much as a transition from an executive governor to an ordinary citizen.

Sometimes when I visit government houses and I count the number of security men, special assistants, personal assistants, advisers, clerks, cooks, waiters, secretaries, drivers and so on that are put at the disposal of only one man, I wonder how the man will on one hand be able to focus on governance without being arrogant and self centered, and on the other hand, how the man is expected to be satisfied with post-government life. I must also admit that I marvel at the cost of governance. This is not the topic for today. Rather, today is about paying tribute to a boss, leader, friend, teacher and mentor whose paths crossed mine twenty-six years ago. It is about telling the world the less showcased part of Engineer. J.O. Daniel as I would rather call him.

Speaking about names, Justus Olugbenga Daniel, to the best of my knowledge has five names with each one depicting different parts of his life. He is Gbenga to his school mates in primary and secondary school and at home, Danny to his friends in University of Lagos (UNILAG) and early professional life; he is Engr. J.O. Daniel to business and professional associates, colleagues and clients both in Nigeria and overseas. He is also Otunba Gbenga Daniel in traditional, and especially Ijebu, circles where he is an Otunba as well as in the palace of the Ooni of the Source where he was honored with the title of Fesojoye of Ile-Ife at the relatively young age of 35 years. Of course in political circles, he is known as OGD an acronym for Ogidi Omo or Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

In all these roles, he is the same yet different while my 26 years of close association with Engr. J.O. Daniel, FNSE, FAEng gives me a bird’s eye view of each of his personalities.

I believe I am more than competent to discuss Engr. J.O. Daniel, the professional engineer having served under him in H.F. Schroeder and for some years as the founder of Kresta Laurel Limited. More so, running Kresta Laurel Limited for the past 10 years should also more than qualify me to comment authoritatively on him.

It is my hope that this little piece on and about him will tell us more about this man whose political life has virtually pushed to the background his person as an accomplished engineer thereby robbing the Nigerian engineering industry of the services of a very brilliant engineer too soon.

Engr. J.O. Daniel’s education in Baptist Boy’s High School, Abeokuta, The Polytechnic, Ibadan and the University of Lagos culminating in his graduating with honors in Mechanical Engineering is now well known. Suffice to state that he excelled at all his academic pursuits.

The story of his career from the School of Engineering of Lagos State Polytechnic as a Lecturer, to H.F. Schroeder as deputy managing director and to the founding of Kresta Laurel Limited 25 years ago is also well documented.

His foray into politics and the ups and downs of his political years to date have also been well-documented. So what is missing? Why am I writing this?

Engr. J.O. Daniel as a professional, combines all the full attributes of a very brilliant engineer, brilliant businessman and typical Ijebu man in his person. An Ijebu in business is reputed to be shrewd, frugal and with a keen eye for identifying where good money is. The Ijebu has a reputation for turning everything he touches to gold while at the same time giving full satisfaction to his customers. They are not too different from Ijesas. I am an Ijesaman and most people have always wondered how an Ijebu man like OGD could entrust his business to an Ijesa man given the age-long animosity and mutual suspicion between Ijebus and Ijesas which probably has its origins in the Kiriji war era and later accentuated during the Osomalo days of the Ijesa. This is another story for another day.

In professional life, Engr. Gbenga Daniel is extremely hard working. In our H.F Schroeder and early Kresta Laurel days together, our days used to last till 11pm or 12am. When we started Kresta Laurel Limited, we sometimes had to sleep in the office. Only the best was good enough for him and he had eyes for talents who he would groom and bring up to work at his pace. His diligence meant that you must know your onions and be ready to defend your submissions. His frugal nature meant that you must earn your pay; an attribute that won him many enemies in politics where such is generally not the norm.

However, the most defining part of Engr. Gbenga Daniel’s professional life is his belief that all problems are solvable. He would throw himself at challenges and would never accept blackmail from either superiors or subordinates. He always believed he could go “hands-on” anytime it was required. Such is his “Fix-it” attitude. Justus Olugbenga Daniel’s credo as an engineer is summarised in the dream statement of Kresta Laurel Limited which recognised that “with hard work, discipline, thoroughness and maintenance of high standards” it is possible for a Nigerian company to hold its own in the international arena with best practices in all ramifications.

Kresta Laurel, with her certification in 2014 as the first and only (to date) ISO 9001:2008 certified elevator company in Nigeria is an eloquent testimony to “walking the talk” as he midwifed the company and positioned her among the elite companies in the Nigerian engineering industry.

It is this concept of challenging Nigerian engineers to perform to their utmost that defined his days in Ogun State when all the projects were executed by Nigerian engineers including the Olumo Rock, the Lalubu road, the Abeokuta/ Siun/Sagamu road, the OPIC Place, the new state secretariat and the numerous housing complexes. His frugal nature also made it possible for the projects to be executed with minimal cost.

A typical case is the Shagamu-Siun road which was dualised at a cost of N1.9billion inclusive of street lighting, compensation and construction of alternative, more modern homes for those displaced. Even in 2005/2006, the cost of N50million per km on the average was far below the standard for that kind of road. It was executed by OGROMA using Ogun state engineers and technicians.

I join numerous friends and colleagues of Engr. J.O. Daniel, FNSE, FAEng in wishing him a most memorable 59th birthday celebration and many more years of service to humanity.

Congratulations Sir.“

Let the beat go on as you celebrate your 64th birthday.

Dideolu Falobi, FNSE, FIoD writes from Lagos.