PROFILE OF CHIEF OLUWOLE OLUDAISI AINA PhD FABS ASIWAJU OF IRESILAND BIODATA Chief Oluwole Oludaisi Aina PhD FABS (Asiwaju of Iresiland) was born on the 17th of May, 1954 as the first son of his parents in Iresi, now part of Boluwaduro Local Government Area of Osun State, Southwest Nigeria. EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE The young Aina attended various primary schools but finally concluded his primary education in 1967 at the Baptist Day School, Minna, in today’s Niger State. This earned him a Primary School Leaving Certificate. It is pertinent to note that Oluwole did so well in his academics that he was given a federal government scholarship to further his education at the secondary school level. After leaving Primary School, Oluwole briefly attended Federal Government College Sokoto and later Baptist High School, Igbaja, in Kwara State. He ultimately concluded his secondary education at the Niger Baptist College, Minna, Niger State, in 1975 and bagged his Teachers’ Grade II Certificate. Again, it must be noted that Oluwole did not leave Niger Baptist College like any other student; he stood out from the rest as the best in his set. Not content to be a secondary school graduate, Oluwole sat for GCE examination and passed at the first attempt. Subsequently, the young Aina went further to secure his Cambridge A Level at the School of Basic Studies, Kwara State College of Technology, Ilorin. This was achieved after two years of study, which ended in 1978. Without braking speed, Oluwole Oludaisi Aina left the Kwara State College of Technology and immediately became an undergraduate student of the prestigious University of Ibadan. Three years later (in 1981), he left the institution as the holder of a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. Oluwole served the nation, as required by law, after his university education and began working shortly thereafter. After about three decades of being away from formal schooling, Oluwole Oludaisi Aina enrolled for his Master’s Degree Programme with the GMF Christian University and bagged his MA in 2009. Without losing steam, he again enrolled for his doctorate at the same University and was awarded the highly coveted PhD in Christian Leadership in 2012. But, quiet apart from these traditional institutions of learning, Oluwole Oludaisi Aina has availed himself of the many opportunities for learning available through several other media, including Workshops, Seminars, Conferences, Symposia and enrollment in specialized institutions. Some of these are stated below: • Haggai Leadership Training Institute, Maui USA; • Ministerial Leadership Training; Peace House, Gboko. • School of Discipleship Training; RCCG. • Rhema Bible Training Centre: Kenneth Haggin Ministries, USA. • Personnel Appraisal Course with OAKFIRM (Progressive Management & Human Consultants); • Effective Selling Course (Progressive Management Group) • Managers’ Training Course (Transform X Management Consultants) • Bullet Proof Manager Training OLUDAISI AT THE WORK PLACE Chief Oluwole Oludaisi Aina first worked as a Primary School Teacher in 1975 after his secondary school education. While in the University, he worked with the Nigerian Television Authority Minna Commercial Division during vacations. After serving the nation, Oluwole Oludaisi Aina did not stay long in the labour market as he was almost immediately employed as an Assistant Sales Manager with North Brewery Limited, Kano. He later became Acting Sales Administrative Manager and, finally, Customer Relations Manager with the company before his departure in 1984. After North Brewery, Oluwole Oludaisi Aina spent some time with another Brewery – Standard Brewery – where he worked as Area Manager (North) before leaving in 1986. His next paid employment was with Nigerfirst Integrated Farms Limited, where he worked for about three years – between 1986 and 1989. Nigerfirst marked the end of an era because, after leaving that company, Oluwole focused his energies on his own company, which he had registered a few years earlier in 1984. OLUDAISI AS AN ENTREPRENEUR Oluwole Oludaisi Aina registered his first company (known as DABSON) in 1984. Through that company, he produced and marketed dairy products and later went into some engineering services. In 1989, he obeyed the call of God and went into printing, which was uncharted territory for him at then. Besides, he neither had interest nor did he have any mentor in the field to be inspired by. In any case, he registered The Regent Printing and Publishing Limited for the purpose of going into printing and became its Chairman/CEO at inception. Oluwole Oludaisi Aina took The Regent (as his company is fondly called) to the zenith of the printing business until sometime around 2008 when he began to wind down and finally exited the business, even though a few years earlier than his initial plans, which was to exit at or before the age of 60. All through this, Oluwole Oludaisi Aina became a member or fellow of several bodies, institutions and organizations, including the African Business School (Fellow), Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria, Nigerian Institute of Management, Nigerian Marketing Association, Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agric., Third World Leader’s Association, IBB Golf Club, Peoples Democratic Party, and Universal Peace Federation (Ambassador/Member) OLUDAISI THE POLITICIAN Officially, Oluwole Oludaisi Aina is, today, a politician. His political history is also the history of the largest political party in the Black Race because he ventured into politics shortly after the birth of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. If the PDP is 16 years old today, so also is Oluwole Oludaisi Aina’s age of membership. His first intercourse with the PDP was over the issue of production of ballot papers for the very first convention of the party, which took place in Jos, Plateau State. Since then, Oluwole Oludaisi Aina has played many critical roles in the PDP beyond the production of sensitive party materials: he has served in many communities, including national convention committees and a special committee set up to conduct gubernatorial primaries in Enugu State in 2010. In his immediate community – Iresi – Oluwole Oludaisi Aina is the de factor leader of the party and, against all odds, has stamped PDP on the face of Boluwaduro Local Government Area, which is chaired by a member of the opposition and which boasts many heavy weights from the opposition party. Through time, financial resources, and sheer dogged effort, he has created a PDP enclave in an APC stronghold, swimming against the tide to give the PDP a nest in a politically hostile region. This goes to show the political energy of the man, who recently did it again by winning Boluwaduro Local Government Area for the PDP in a state election that was keenly contested and which saw the full force of the opposition unleashed in a show of strength. Last year (2013), Chief Oluwole Oludaisi Aina was appointed by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as the Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, in Abia State. As attested to by all who are privy to his exploits, Oluwole Oludaisi Aina has taken NRCRI to the next level and is poised to do more. Apart from improving the general image of the institution, there are specific achievements that this bulldozer of a man has recorded in just a few months. Today, the NRCRI has created sub-units to allow for efficient and effective delivery of their mandate, and especially to create a platform for aggressive revenue generation. These sub-units are all under the NRCRI Holdings and are, namely, NRCRI Farms Limited, NRCRI Commercial Ventures Limited, and NRCRI Consultancy Limited. Hitherto, NRCRI used to be a cauldron of crisis but, using his deft management skill undergirded by strong leadership sentiments, Chief Oluwole Oludaisi Aina has ensured industrial harmony in NRCRI by positively dealing with the issue of staff welfare and also engaging in massive employment. From 200 students, the institution now has over 2000 students. At the last count, within the tenure of the new board he chairs, at least 200 new staffs have been employed. Interestingly, sixty of these new 200 staffs are indigenes of Osun State. The fact is that, in Chief Aina’s mind, his people are never very far. As a true son of Iresi, when providence provided an opportunity, Chief Oluwole Oludaisi Aina was not slow in utilizing it for the good of his people. Just last month, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the federal republic of Nigeria (represented by the Honourable Minister of Agriculture) laid the foundation stone for a new NRCRI Substation in Iresi. This Iresi Substation is currently the one and only NRCRI substation in the whole of the Southwest. Through this substation, farmers in the geopolitical region as a whole will have a decided advantage in their practice of agriculture, thanks to the efforts of their loyal and faithful son, Chief Oluwole Oludaisi Aina. OLUDAISI THE PHILANTHROPIC GRASSROOTS DEVELOPER To give the right perspective on his trailblazing achievements, it is appropriate to state that, long before his board appointment at NRCRI by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Chief Oluwole Aina had made a name for himself as an aggressive community developer. The first voluntary community development project Chief Aina embarked upon was the rehabilitation of a bridge linking two sections of his community, which was already collapsing at the time. Indeed, that project was a stitch in time that saved nine because the collapsed bridge would have cut off one section of the community from the rest. This project was done several years ago and, since then, he has taken responsibility (both solely on his own and in concert with others) for many of the infrastructural developments in Iresi. Chief Oluwole Oludaisi Aina is a member and currently the President of Iresi Zenith, which is a sociocultural and community development association whose membership is restricted to sons of Iresi at a certain social strata. Iresi Zenith is a subgroup of the larger Iresi Progressive Union (IPU). Through Iresi Progressive Union and Iresi Zenith, Chief Aina joined hands with others of like minds to establish the Iresi College of Technology and currently serves as a member of the board of that institution. In contributing his own quota to the infrastructural development of the Iresi College of Technology, Chief Oluwole Oludaisi Aina undertook to build a block with four classrooms in the institution. This block is now known as the Mrs. Grace Oredola Aina Block, and was so named in honour of his late mother. Oluwole Oludaisi Aina is a man of faith and he is not ashamed of his God and has revealed his passion in word and deed. He is a member of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International, where he has been active for years taking the gospel of Jesus Christ (coupled with humanitarian activities) to many places within Nigeria, within the sub- region, and all over the world. For instance, he was fully involved when the FGBMFI began airlifts to Niger Republic and has repeated these efforts to various other destinations like Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Uganda, etc. At the personal level, Chief Oluwole Oludaisi Aina runs a foundation (known as the Oludaisi Aina Foundation) through which various reliefs are offered to those in need. Although the Oludaisi Aina Foundation is focused on educational intervention by way of scholarships, it is also engaged in other efforts such as hosting students to seminars and prize giving events, all geared to inspire and encourage them to seek further education and do well wherever they are at the moment. At least 50 students have benefited from scholarship grants from the Oludaisi Aina Foundation and two are, today, graduates of tertiary institutions. OLUDAISI HONOURED In recognition of his role in his community (which, honestly, goes beyond his work with the Oludaisi Aina Foundation) the paramount ruler of Iresiland honoured him in 2010 by naming him the Oluomo of Iresiland. But that title was not the ultimate. In Iresiland, the leader of the sons of the land is known as Asiwaju. Having surpassed the stature of Oluomo of Iresiland, the Oba of Iresi was delighted to elevate Chief Oluwole Oludaisi Aina and name him the Asiwaju of Iresiland and this happened just a few months ago and is an absolute testament of appreciation by his community. Beyond the title of Asiwaju, there is no other honour available in Iresiland for someone in Chief Aina’s group, except it will have to be invented. Beyond Iresi, Chief Oluwole Oludaisi Aina has received accolades from other potentates. He is the Fiwajoye of Omido Eku Apa land in Kwara State (1997) and also the Gbobaniyi of Ilobu (2013). OLUDAISI AS A GLOBAL CITIZEN Chief Oluwole Oludaisi Aina has spent many hours in the air exploring the world to gain a better perspective on people and interact with various cultures. Indeed, he is well travelled and, at the last count, has visited at least 22 countries spread over Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and the Caribbean Islands. OLUDAISI THE FAMILY MAN Chief Oluwole Oludaisi Aina is the husband of Chief Mrs. Olabisi Aina, and they are blessed with five children and five grandchildren as at now. He plays golf to unwind and is also reputed to be a gourmet cook. When time permits, he cheers his family by cooking for fun.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 16:19:07 +0000