IT is no longer news that Mr. Gamaliel Oforitsenere Onosode has attained the milestone age of 80. The many congratulatory messages in almost every national newspaper congratulating the old man on his attainment of the very significant age left nobody in doubt regarding the place of Onosode in public consciousness. The story of the sunny side of Nigeria’s evolution would be incomplete without recurring references to him. His life has been one of dedication to national service qua nation building. Onosode is a national treasure having served Nigeria most diligently through the era of colonialism to the tortuous experience of post-independence. He belongs to the generation that dreamt great dreams about the future of Nigeria as the nation evolved from a colonial enclave into an independent entity. But, some dreams die fast and things didn’t hold for long for the country he romanticised. Nigeria couldn’t sustain the ideals upon which his grand dream was built. As an octogenarian he must now be looking back ruefully and asking if this was the country he gave his all in his prime. Onosode like other concerned members of his generation must now be weighed down by the bogey of misrule that has plagued Nigeria. They would be amazed at the incubus called corruption, petrified by the insecurity assailing the land and appalled at the malignant poverty buffeting the majority of Nigerians.
Gamaliel Onosode “simply Mister” was born on 22 May 1933. He hails from Ughelli, where I have resided as a teenager since 1990 and now raising children. He attended the prestigious Government College, Ughelli (GCU) before going to the then University College, Ibadan to study Classics, the doyen of all academic disciplines. When he graduated in 1957, he made history as the first university graduate from Ughelli Kingdom. Onosode is a boardroom legend whose exploits are far out of the ordinary. His distinguished and unblemished career in a festering setting like Nigeria remains intriguing.
Born into a family with deep Baptist conviction, Gamaliel Onosode is Nigeria’s face of integrity. A seasoned technocrat, Onosode began his long run of meritorious service with the then Colonial Development Corporation later known as the Commonwealth Development Corporation in 1957. His brilliance and enthusiasm was soon to earn him a 15-month training course in Business Administration in England. The intellectual menu during the training was made up of courses in Company Law, Office Organisation, Book Keeping, Accounting, Economic Theory, Applied Economics, Commercial Statistics and more. The experience turned out to be life changing as it armed him with the necessary tools that turned him into a colossus in the boardroom and business world.
Onosode’s career took a new direction when he became an Executive Director with NAL Merchant Bank in 1969. He was later to become the Chairman and Chief Executive of the bank. His dizzying record of successes earned him many other corporate appointments and by the 1990s he was Chairman of over 20 blue chip companies.
Onosode was at a time synonymous with Cadbury Nigeria Plc as well as Dunlop Plc. He had also chaired different national committees including the Presidential Commission on Parastatals in 1981, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Working Committee from 1985 to 1989 and later the LNG Limited from 1989 to 1990 and the Niger Delta Environmental Survey. He was not too long ago the Chairman of Zain now Airtel Communications Ltd.
Onosode’s path also veered into politics. He was appointed as Nigeria’s Presidential Adviser by the Shehu Shagari government in 1983. However, he had no time to deploy his magic wand to economically turn Nigeria around before a band of soldiers led by General Muhamadu Buhari overthrew the regime.
The transition to civil rule programmes of the 1990s also saw Onosode squaring up for politics without success. He tried vying for the Presidency, but Nigerian politics is not for gentlemen like him. When the National Political Reform Conference took off in 2005, Onosode led the Delta State delegation and voiced his golden opinion regarding the Nigerian project. Before then he had chaired the Delta State Think Tank between 1999 and 2001. He was also the Chairman of the Governing Council of more than three universities including the University of Ibadan, his alma mater.
As Gamaliel Onosode clocks 80, many of us at home, home being Ughelli, feel that he has given more than enough to Nigeria. We yearn for him to return home and live among us so that the younger generation can draw inspiration from him. How great would it be for him to live in Ekiugbo-Ughelli and pay occasional visits to his old school, Government College, Ughelli about two kilometers from his house and give the students pep talk. It would also be stimulating for him to mount the pulpit at the First Baptist Church in Ughelli on Sunday and preach the gospel in his now famous emphatic cadence. For now he is like a myth and not a reality to the people at home. In fact when I first saw his name in a newspaper in the 1980s, I had mistaken him for a Yoruba!
Mr. Gamaliel Onosode is simplicity personified, yet he is highly principled. Dignity and integrity remain his watchword. He is a gentleman per excellence. In spite of his well-garlanded shoulders, he has distanced himself from titles and other unnecessary accessories the well to do are known to give anything for. He has been honoured with more than eight honourary doctorates, but never will you see Onosode answering the honorific “doctor” or “chief”. He has remained endearingly Mister or Deacon Gamaliel Onosode. He is a worthy role model in a country that is seriously lacking in ethics. His peers are Mr. Christopher Kolade, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, and a few others.
I often wonder how many members of their generation or their protégés imbibed the virtues that made them the ideal personalities that they are and for which they are acknowledged. Nigerians very badly need to rethink themselves and their commitment to selfless service, integrity and other touchstones of patriotism. Ours is a sinking nation and only the virtues for which Onosode and his ilk are now seen as avatars can redeem our country.
For now let Nigerians rise and toast to everything good to Mr. Gamaliel Onosode the grand dandy at 80!
• Dr. Awhefeada teaches Literature at the Delta State University, Abraka
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