The Race & The Runners

With 134 days to go into the election on September 22, the preliminaries and the heats for the main race, we continue our review of the purported contestants, even though only a few of them have formally declared.

Fajobi: Running For The APC Slot

Engr. Abiodun Fajobi was born on the 17th December, 1952. He attended D.C Primary School, Ode-Omu between 1958 and 1963. He thereafter, proceeded to the Federal School of Science, Lagos for his Advance Level Studies between 1970 and 1972.  He later attended University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, between 1972 and 1975 and obtained a B.Sc. (Hons) Degree In Civil Engineering.

He worked with the Nigerian Railway Corporation between 1975 and 1976 as a Youth Corps member. He worked as an Engineer with Julius Berger Nigeria Plc between 1976 and 1977.

At Julius Berger, he was involved with the Construction of Seme-Podji Road Project, the Design of Isolo Road and Costain Roundabout. In order to acquire further experience he worked and rose to the position of a Senior Engineer between 1977 and 1983. He was involved in the design and construction, supervision of a lot of buildings and roads like the Students Village, University of Jos, Odogbolu-Eyinwa Road, Sapele Port Project to mention but a few.

Engr. Fajobi later joined the services of the new Towns Development Authority (NTDA) as a Principal Civil Engineer in March 1983 and contributed to the development of many Government Estates like Lekki Peninsula Schemes I & II, Magodo I & II, Central Business District Ikeja, Amuwo-Odofin Residential and Industrial Estate, Victoria Island Annex, Park View Estate among others. At NTDA, he was the Head of Engineering Department between 1985 and 1998. He was promoted to the post of Director Engineering Services in July 1995. He also acted as General Manager (NTDA) several times when the incumbent was on leave.

He was at the Lagos State Urban Renewal Board as Director of Projects between 1998 and 2001. He transferred his service to the mainstream of LagosState Civil Service in July 2000 as a GL 16 Director with effect from July 1995. In view of his wealth of experience, he was later in 2001 posted to the LagosUrban Transport Project Office (LUTPO) to assist in the preparation of the World Bank Lagos Urban Transport Project as Director of Road Maintenance and Traffic Management. He was promoted to Director (Civil) GL. 17 in July 2008.   He was the Director of Roads at the LagosMetropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) the implementation agency of the Lagos Urban Transport Project (LUPTO) from October 2003 to December, 2010.  At LAMATA, because of his contribution to the success of the Bus Rapid Transit system (BRT) and other projects undertaken by the agency, most of which were midwifed by him, he was nicked named “BABA LAMATA”. He statutorily and meritoriously retired in December 2012 as a Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Waterfront Infrastructure Development.

Since his retirement, he has gone into civil engineering consultancy and construction. He has also been actively involved in politics under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a leader in Ayedaade Local Government Area of Osun State. It is gratifying to note that he is from a politically-conscious and progressive family. His father, Late Chief Gabriel Oyetunbi Fajobi was a Councilor under the Action Group, his uncle Late Chief Adeniyi Akanmu Fajobi alias “ I beg to move “ was a member of the Old Oyo State House of Assembly under the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN)  (1979-1983) whilst his mother, Late (Chief  Mrs. Comfort Mojirola Fajobi) was a Woman Leader in Ayedaade Local Government Area under Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Engr. Fajobi has served in many committees such as Lagos state Lekki Peninsula Resettlement committee, Lagos state committee on the review of Government rates, Osun state Committee on master plan (structure plan) for Oshogbo, the capital of Osun State and its environs, Committee on the Review of Land Policy in Lagos state, etc.

He is a Corporate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineering (UK), Registered with the Council of the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), a Fellow and Life Member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE) and a Fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (FNICE). He has attended many local and International Professional and Management Courses.  In fact, he is a Life Member /Alumnus of Lagos Business School after successfully attending the Chief Executive Program (CEP 17 ) in Nigeria and Spain. He is also a Fellow of the Civilian Institute of Democratic Administration of Ghana (FCIDA-Ghana).

He has been honoured with several awards, including, the Distinguished professional service award by the Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineer; Long service award by the New Towns Development Authority; Award of excellence by Gbongan/Ode Omu Anglican Grammar School (GOAGS) Old Students Association, Ibadan Branch; Merit award by Geography and Regional Planning, Transport Planning and Management Development of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye; Outstanding service award by LAMATA and Meritorious and excellent service award by Lagos State Government as a Permanent Secretary.

He is married to Chief (Mrs.) Catherine Oluwatoyin and blessed with children and grandchildren.

 

Adeniji: In The Race For PDP Ticket

Engr. (Dr.) Ezekiel Olajide Adeniji PHD, FNSE, FNIM, was born in Ila-Orangun in Ila Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria on the 11th June, 1961 to the family of Late Chief & Mrs Balogun Adeniji of blessed memory. He attended St. Mathew Primary School Ila-Orangun (1969-1974);          Ila Grammar School, Ila-Orangun (1974-1979); University of Ife Now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) (1979-1985).

Founder, EJAF (Engr. Jide Adeniji Foundation) a body that enables the less privileged to pursue their educational career without hindrance. In search of knowledge, Engr. Jide also attended many other institutions where he sought post-graduate degrees. Some among these Universities and the resultant degrees includes, University of Lagos (2001 – 2003) with Master Degree in Project Management (MPM); Nanjing Institute of Meteorology, Nanjing, China (2003), with WMO Certificate in Instrument Fabrication Meteorology; St. Clement’s University, West Indies (2009 to 2012) with PhD in Project Management.

Engr. Adeniji had a stint with teaching at his alma mata, Ila Grammar School, Ila-Orangun where he taught Mathematics and Additional Mathematics immediately after he passed his WASCE as an Auxiliary Teacher.

After the completion of his NYSC in 1986, he was appointed the Project Manager of the Task Force on the face-lift of the General Hospital in Markurdi, Benue State and later as the Project Manager of the General Hospital in Yola, Adamawa State.

He remained in Adamawa State as the Project Engineer in the Task Force on the Specialist Hospital, Yola, where he rose to the position of Director of Civil Engineering.

In 2002, after he had transferred his Civil Service Career to the Federal Civil Service, Engr. Jide Adeniji was appointed Director of Engineering and Technical Services at the newly established Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), an Agency under the Federal Ministry of Aviation, Abuja.

In 2007, he was appointed Acting Director-General/CEO of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency. He retired from the Federal Public Service after meritoriously serving his fatherland in August 2010.

Like the golden fish which scarcely have a place to hide, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, appointed him as the Chairman, Governing Board of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), in July, 2012.

Adeniji had held several other offices in the public service and these include, Project Engineer on Construction of Cottage Hospital, Song (1989); Senior Resident Engineer, 23 Armored Brigade Internal Road Construction (1990); Principal Resident Engineer for Capital Projects (High ways) State Ministry Headquarters (1990 – 1991); Acting Assistant Director of Civil Engineering (1991-1994); Coordinator of Public Works Unit of the Ministry of Works & Transport (1994-1995); Coordinator of Direct Labor Task Force on Urban Infrastructures (1995–1996); Local Supervisor for Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) for Adamawa & Taraba States (1995–2000) among others.

Adeniji was a Co-opted Member, 2011 Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Campaign

Committee; Member, 2011 Presidential Inauguration Committee, among others.

As Engr. Jide is an inestimable jewel to the society, so he is to the Christian Society in Nigeria. He was elected the President, Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International, Yola Chapter (1994 – 1996); Lay Leader, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) (1996 to date); Field Representative, Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International, Adamawa State (1999 – 2002); First Patron, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) (2005 to date); Grand Patron, Niger Delta Students Association (2009); Field Representative, Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International, Abuja (2010 to date).

As a professional, Engr. Adeniji holds membership and induction into fellowship of Several Professional Organizations among which are: Chartered Engineer (COREN) (1992); Fellow, Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE) (2005); Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Civil Engineers (FNICE) (2006); Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Structural Engineers (FNISE) (2006); Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Management (FNIM) (2009); Fellow, Institute of Corporate Administration (FICA) (2010); Fellow, Institute of Management Consultants (FIMC) (2010); Fellow, African Professional Managers (FAPM) (2010); Association of Consulting Engineers (2001); Project Management Institute (USA) (2002); Member, Institute of Cost Management (2003); Member, Nigerian Meteorological Society (NMS) (2006); and Member, International Facility Management Association and Facility Management Professional (FMP) USA (2011)

Adeniji has bagged several awards and they include, NYSC Merit Award for 1985 set for Benue State as the Best Performing and regular Corp Member (1986); ICON of Leadership Award for the recognition of his leadership quality in 2005; Outstanding Engineer Award by the Abuja Branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) (2005); Certificate of Honor by the National Association of Nigerian Students in Politics (NANSIP) (2009); One of the 50 Outstanding University of Ife Alumni by the GUARDIAN Newspapers (2009); African Leaders of Integrity Merit Award by the African International News Magazine (2009); Honorary PhD (Public Administration) by Pacific Western University, State of Colorado, USA (2009); and

Grand Patron, Niger Delta Students Association (2009).

• Next week, will look at another set of contenders for the governorship race.