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My Life As A Mechanic – Chief Ademola Dada

Ademola DadaChief Ademola Dada is the Chairman of the prestigious Island Club, Lagos. In this interview he talked about his humble beginning. Read on…

As a young boy, one would have a dream. What was your dream?

As a young boy, my dream was to become a medical doctor. However, my father was a policeman, and he loved me so much that wherever he went, I went with him. That was during the era of local government police. He died when I was a little above seven years old. My mother had six children for him before he died; then the struggle of life started immediately he died. In the olden days, when the husband died, his wife was taken over by his male siblings. But none was interested in my mother because she already had six children. It became very difficult for the family to survive, but we thank God we survived. Two of my brothers were already in secondary school. Imagine a boy of seven years old; I was just in primary One when he died. I thank God I ended up in evening classes at Benevolent High School, Yaba. I never thought I would become a man in my life.

How did you make it?

The family of my mother took over, and so we were all scattered everywhere. I was asked to go and live with my grandmother and from there, I continued my schooling.

What did you become eventually since your dream of being a doctor couldn’t be achieved?

I became a mechanical engineer. I first of all became an auto mechanic before I developed interest in mechanical jobs. From there I went to Yaba Training Centre where I learnt mechanical trades. From there, I decided to further my education and that led me to England. When I came back, I was involved in waste management in Lagos State. I worked as a leasing executive for Lagos State government at the Lagos State Vessels Disposal Board. It’s a long journey before you could rise to the level of a leasing executive in the Lagos State government. All those expatriates that managed waste in Lagos, I brought them from England.

People believe that for someone to be the chairman of the Lagos Island Club, you must be very influential

That’s true. When you are humble, you will be influential. The key to becoming influential in life is for you to be humble and for you to be sociable. If you are sociable and humble, the sky will be the limit for you. Not only that, if you are transparent and honest, you will be influential.

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You must be a moneybag to be a member of Island Club, is it not so?

Not really, you don’t have to be rich; all what you need to have is high integrity to be a member of the club. We had a member who used to ride a bicycle. He would ride a bicycle from his house to the club and he was highly respected. You must have a good name. Good name opens doors anywhere. Money will come and finish, but it is the good name that will last forever even after your death.

Do you still miss that dream of becoming a doctor?

At 65? At the age I was thinking about that, I was not really mature. I did not really know what I was doing then.

Since you did not become a doctor, did any of your children become one?

I have 10 children and nine of them are graduates. They all studied in England and none of my children has less than 2-1 at degree level. It’s either first class or 2-1. I have a mechanical engineer, a doctor, computer engineer, lawyer, chemical engineer among them. My first born is 41 years old and they all had qualitative education. It’s because I know the importance of education. I might have suffered myself, but I worked for my children not to suffer in life.

We hope all the controversies surrounding the Lagos Island Club have been settled?

Well, in any club, you must have controversies. In any place where you want to suppress democracy, there must be controversy; but anywhere where you allow democracy to grow, there will be no issue. At that time, some people wanted to suppress democracy. Before you can become a chairman here, you have to be elected. It’s a social club and whoever is elected is the chairman. If we like, we can elect a blind man if that is what the people want. In this club, we have professors; there is no class of Nigerians that we don’t have here and if they now choose that they want to have a disabled person, that is what they want and where you want to stop that, you will create problems for yourself.

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Is it not possible for the club to set the pace for politics?

That is very right and this is even why someone like me is now there, because democracy thrives in Island Club and even the Federal Government learnt from the democracy in this club. If not because of that, someone like me would not be here. I am not a Lagosian; I’m from Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State. If not for democracy, I would not be here. Someone would just ask you, “Where is your father?” We are all equal in this club. The moment you become a member, you can vie for any position; you are not going to be appointed. You can only be there by election. Any Nigerian on the street is a potential president and any member of the club is a potential chairman of the club. You are to be elected and not appointed and the choice of the people must be respected.

What was the significance of the president coming here last year?

The Island Club was founded in 1943 and turned 70 in October 2013 and I happened to be the chairman. At that time, I wanted to make a difference; I wanted to bring quality people to the club, and of course any sitting president is the grand patron of the club and I felt that the celebrations of the 70th birthday of the club would not be complete without the presence of the president. So we organised a month full of activities and during the grand finale, I invited the president. We organised business lectures and brought governors, speaker of the house of representatives, our past patrons who are first class kings in Nigeria, from the Ooni of Ife to the Alake of Egbaland, to Obong of Calabar and Ashanti of Kumasi of Ghana; they all came and donated handsomely. It was televised worldwide.

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Does the club accommodate all political parties?

There is no party that is not in the club. It contains the crème de la crème of the country. The essence of coming together is to seek the best for the country. We discuss a lot and come up with different opinions; what interests us is Nigeria.

Is the Lagos State governor a member?

He is a member and he is contributing a lot. He was a member before I even became the chairman.

He must have used his position to make everyone an APC member here.

No, he cannot; he has a free mind. As I have said earlier, superior argument takes over every other thing.

As someone who suffered early in life, did it affect your marriage?

No, it did not affect me. I was able to marry very nice women who have responsible children for me. It is by divine arrangement. I have two wives and we live together. You can hardly notice any difference among the children. You can marry one wife and still have problems.

As a prince, do you see yourself becoming a king someday?

There is nothing like that at 65. What is important is to be who you are and to remember that death can come anytime.

Has there been any conscious effort by the Island Club to produce a member as a governor in any of the states?

Once you are contesting for any position as a member of this club, people rally round you to support and donate towards it because we are our brothers’ keepers. People will assist and advise you not to go wrong. Fashola is an example. We keep advising him to do well.

Courtesy: The Punch