OLOLA OLABODE OGUNLANA: NAVIGATING INSURANCE INDUSTRY FOR 70 YEARS
Tope Adaramola
I like to start this write up by scooping from the salutary letter of the President of The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, Mr. Rotimi Edu, to Olola Olabode Ogunlana on his 70 meritorious years of service to the insurance industry. Edu had noted that “in the famous book of J.C Maxwell, entitled “Ultimate Leadership”, the Law of Navigation posited that “Anyone can steer a ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course”.
For Olola Fredrich Olabode Ogunlana, it has taken these 70 years of solid commitment and devoted service to the Nigerian Insurance industry to carve such a great niche for himself as one of the leaders of the professions in Nigeria and by extension, Africa. Save the Accountancy sage, Akintola Williams, there is no living professional in Nigeria, whose years of services surpasses Olola Ogunlana. Although joining the insurance industry at a time when the Nigerian nation had not really evolved or extricated herself from the colonial strangle hold must have posed several besetting challenges to surmount for a fresh bee like Ogunlana, it is on record that at that young age he was stoically determined to turn all obstacles encountered on his way to required stepping stone for greatness in life.
It was not an accident of fate that Olola chose the profession of Insurance, having obtained the prestigious award of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London, making him one of the very few professionals to have been so qualified at the time. Driven by significant passion and inspiration from the likes of respected mentors, like Late Pa E. A. Elebute, the horizon was quite promising for him against all perceived odds. All those who come across Olola in social conversations are never spared of his fond memories of the part played by Late Elebute in his life by infusing in him integrity, sense of duty and strong character which were the oxygen required for anyone to make a success in life and career. On return from England he reminisced living with Pa Elebute who had become a household name amongst the few insurance practitioners, expatriates and insurance clients at the time. Olola often averred that Pa Elebute’s footprints remained indelible in the establishment of such companies like Royal Exchange Insurance and New Africa Insurance Co. Ltd.
In the last 70 years, it has been sheer grace of God and providence that Olola’s career had crisscrossed several phases and decades of history in the insurance industry, having been around when the industry was at its formative period with few operators, to the epoch when the industry got to the threshold of history with the emergence of the corporate insurance giant, National Insurance Corporation, popularly referred to as NICON Insurance. The lot fell on him as the first Nigerian to head the reputable insurance company, which later served as the springboard or fountain for so many generations of insurance practitioners in Nigeria. As a consummate manager, Olola sat competently over the company, giving it the required direction to weather the odds by giving insurance protection to the growing national assets of the country, being the first indigenous insurance company owed by the Nigerian government. He and his team gave an enviable narrative to NICON as a critical player in the nation’s burgeoning financial ecosystem that later gave birth to other reputable business entities which thrived for a long time. It was indeed the golden age in the history of insurance business operation in Nigeria!
The need to harmonize the existing potentials of the insurance industry by ensuring a strong bond of collaboration by then few qualified insurance practitioners led to Olola’s active involvement in the then newly established Insurance Institute of Nigeria (IIN), which later metamorphosed into the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria after its charter. Although he could have become the President of the Institute, perhaps shortly after Late T.A Braithwaite, his four year senior in secondary school, Olola’s preoccupation and passion for knowledge impartation delayed his interest in the Institute’s topmost position as President. It remains indelible that the unquenchable passion for training and scholarship prodded him to, among other things, establish the Financial Training Centre, located in your home town, Ogere, Ogun State. Many lives and careers have been shaped through that great citadel of learning for which the entire financial system would ever remain grateful. At the continental plan, Olola has his footprints as one of those who sowed the proverbial seed that has grown and renowned as the African Insurance Organisation (AIO), with the intent of providing platform for exchange of knowledge and professional expertise amongst insurance practitioners in the continent.
As a cerebral and seasoned professional, Olola has remained respected for his strong voice of advocacy when it comes to ethics and professionalism. The icon was one of those whose opinions about a stronger and virile regulatory organ for the insurance industry led to the creation of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) from being a mere department the then Federal Ministry of Trade. All insurance institutions, particularly the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria and The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers of which he is the Chairman of the Elders Committee value his impactful contributions. Olola has brought his administrative sagacity and adroit leadership to play in founding Scib (Nig) & Co. Ltd and positioning the company as one of the foremost Insurance Broking companies in Nigeria today. In chance discussions with Olola one could not but notice his admix of emotions in his reflections on state of insurance industry yesteryears and what it is today. His sore points border on the massive erosion of ethics and professionalism, coupled with the dying culture of camaraderie which made the industry thick in the years of yore. Be that as it may, he has not lost complete hope in the capability of the modern day operators to turn the tide through their sophisticated environment and vast exposure to information beyond what was extant in the past.
A vanguard of the Yoruba culture and tradition who does not lose touch with base, despite his providential grace of wealth, Olola has without a doubt remained a leader who connects excellently well with everyone across age and social status. As first class folklorist and author, he remains a tireless reader and writer of solid scholarly books and folklore. His advanced age has not in any real measure slenderized his warmth and creativity with which he energises those around him, including the younger fellas. Olola is a churning caldron of ideas.
In appreciation of his profound contributions, it was not news that the insurance industry, under the aegis of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, invited the crème de la crème of the professions to the high profile metropolitan club to solidarise with this great icon of the professions for trudging on and pathfinding the industry these 70 years. His life no doubt has remained a study of how a professional could remain untainted, relevant and constant in ideas and principles in an ever changing environment like we have in our clime today.
We can only wish Olola Ogunlana many more years of positive contributions to our world and the profession of insurance in Nigeria.
