Christopher Kolade: I lost a mentor, TheNiche lost a friend
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
I was in the middle of a meeting on October 9, when my friend and colleague, Emeka Duru, sent me a message: “What is going on Iyke? I am just reading on Facebook that Dr. Christopher Kolade is dead! Please can you help us confirm that?”
I froze. While praying that it should be a fake news, I still braced myself for the worst. Though I had not seen him this year, the last time I visited him at his Ogudu GRA home, he was in good shape. I started working the phone and my worst fears were confirmed minutes later. That saddened me no end, not necessary because he died. At 92, and only two months away from his 93rd birthday, Dr. Kolade enjoyed the bountiful grace of God. And I also know that he was one of the few men, who, with equanimity, reconciled himself with the fact of his own mortality long before he transited.
I was sad that our beleaguered country has lost a man of honour and integrity, a study in the virtues of discipline, humility, and excellence, one of the very few still remaining in the country where evil outpaces every virtue that defines human essence. I was saddened because in his death, the youths of this country lost their greatest advocate. I was saddened because TheNiche lost its most loyal reader and a friend. I was sad because I lost a mentor. Above all, I rued the fact that the last time Prof Anya suggested we pay him a visit about three months ago, for some reason we couldn’t make it.
I had the privilege of knowing Dr. Kolade personally and sharing many private moments with him. And despite his huge reputation that always went before him in all he did, you needed to be close to fully appreciate the depth of his altruism, his virtuousness, selflessness and patriotism.
Of course, I knew him by reputation even before we met. But come to think of it, who didn’t? Born in 1932 in the bucolic community of Erin-Oke, Osun State, ‘Mr. Integrity,’ as he was fondly called, saw it all, ordinarily earning a bragging right. But for him, a devout man of uncommon humility, longevity was an unmerited favour from God.
His was a life of incredible accomplishments. A teacher, journalist, administrator par excellence, boardroom doyen, diplomat and academic, Kolade who started his public service after graduating from the famous Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, as a colonial era Education Officer in the mid-50s, went into broadcasting when Nigeria gained independence in 1960. In his 18-year (1960-78) sojourn in the media space, he reached the peak – Director General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). A man with the Midas touch, his stint at Cadbury Nigeria Plc. where he was the managing director/chief executive officer and later chairman is still adjudged the golden era of the multinational company.
The story was the same when former President Olusegun Obasanjo tapped him in 2002 to proceed to the United Kingdom as Nigeria’s High Commissioner. When he retired mid-year 2007 from the position, Britain knew that a different kind of diplomat came to town.
Before he left for the United Kingdom, he was on the Faculty of the Lagos Business School as lecturer in Corporate Governance, Leadership and Human Resource Management. After his tour of duty, he returned to the school to continue his teaching and research and in February 2009, he was appointed Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Pan-African University.
For his contributions to nation building, he was awarded the national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 2000. He was a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, the Society of Nigerian Broadcasters, the Nigerian Institute of Management of which he was President from 1985 to 1988, and the Institute of Personnel Management in Nigeria where he served as President from 1988 to 1994.
Many people in Kolade’s intimidating shoes would be boastful. Not him! A deeply religious man, he believed that those accomplishments were not of his making. They were simply opportunities afforded him by God. For his devotion, in 1981, he received the medal of the Order of St. Augustine from the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was also a Lay Canon Emeritus of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Diocese of Guildford in the UK.
I met Dr. Kolade for the first time in 2019 when Prof Anya O. Anya delivered TheNiche annual lecture and we wanted him to chair the event but none of us knew how to reach him. Then about a month to the lecture, I went back to Prof Anya to enquire if he could help us reach Dr. Kolade. He promised that he would. Two days later, he called to say the man accepted.
I was over the moon. But could we meet him to formally deliver our letter? Prof Anya said he would ask him. Again, after some days, he reported that Dr. Kolade said there was no need. “He said I should tell Ikechukwu and his team not to worry, that he would be there,” Prof Anya reported back.
I was skeptical, knowing the ways of our “big men.” Should we make alternative arrangements in order not to be caught flat-footed if he disappointed? Yes, he had a relationship with Prof Anya, but he was under no obligation whatsoever to honour our invitation. But as it turned out, our disquiet was misplaced. Dr. Kolade was not the typical Nigerian elite. His word was his bond. He was the first to arrive at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), venue of the lecture, on that fateful Thursday morning, October 18, 2019. He was there even before those living on the Island woke up from sleep. That was the man – Dr. Christopher Kolade. For him, punctuality was the soul of business. That was the beginning of my relationship with the man who always signed off on his text messages to me with his initials ‘CK’, the colossus who instantly became a mentor and one of TheNiche’s most loyal readers.
READ ALSO: Why I am hopeful for Nigeria – Dr Kolade
What many people didn’t appreciate well enough is his passion for the youths – a craving which came through at the 2019 lecture when he lamented that many young Nigerians who are creative in various fields of human endeavour were not recognized and celebrated. “There are active talents but they are not being given recognition,” he said.
When TheNiche had an exclusive interview with him in March 2022, he elaborated on the issue that had become a consuming passion and one of the two reasons why he believed that Nigeria was not a lost cause despite its many challenges.
And then our relationship became more personal and less formal. For him, I became Ikechukwu, the man who engaged in “good trouble, necessary trouble” the credo that defined U.S. lawmaker John Lewis throughout his life. By this time, I had become a regular visitor to his house. In each of those visits, we spent hours discussing the greatness of Nigerian youths and how to harness their creative energy.
It was at one of such meetings that the seed of one of our niche products – TheNiche Young Entrepreneur – was planted. “I don’t know how you will do it but I am thinking of a product that will highlight the achievements of our youths who are ever creative. Go and figure it out, I will support the page with N1,000,000,” he said.
It took us two months to develop the concept. When we published the first edition, I didn’t tell him. But, of course, he read it and called. “You guys are good. You superbly captured the concept. Whenever you can, come to the house and pick your cheque,” he said.
That was the quintessential Dr. Christopher Kolade, a man who devoted the last days of his life to the pristine project of redirecting the productive energy of Nigerian youths into productive endeavours.
“I am hopeful for Nigeria and I will give you two reasons,” he once told me in my moment of despair. “One, we have people of an age where they can perform well and can do things that I cannot now do. Two, God is in authority. And we pray every day that His will be done. Let God do His will. That is my hope,” he enthused.
He knew Nigeria had a leadership problem, which unless it is solved the country will continue to plumb the depths of despair. But he was not a revolutionary. He believed that even the bad leadership that afflicts the country is the will of God since nothing happens that is not God’s purpose. That was where I disagreed with him. He once sent me a text message which read, “We trust the Lord to help us find the way to His mercy and grace, and to the better Nigeria that He will surely give us. We pray every day that His will be done. That is my hope.”
On March 7, 2024, I wrote an article titled, Lawrence Wong: Leadership recruitment lesson from Singapore, where I stated inter alia: “Those adept at rationalising our inexplicable leadership recruitment folly argue that sainthood is not a prerequisite for good governance. Maybe! But we don’t need criminals at the helm of affairs, either. It will be a miracle for Nigeria to make any appreciable progress under the watch of certificate forgers, treasury looters, hedonistic leaders who have no iota of respect for the electoral will of the people and who know that there are no consequences for their vile conducts in public office.”
He sent me another text message: “Ikechukwu, I have read your piece on Singapore and Lawrence Wong. In this ongoing discussion, there is one point that we need to remember. Business organizations tend to achieve better results and track record than government or civil service, although both are led by Nigerians. I believe that the top reason is that the private sector tends to select leaders tested on the basis of proven performance, and they are then called into ACCOUNTABLE leadership. When their performance falls below expectation, they are sent away without sentiment or ceremony. We should pray that the nation should learn the lesson from its own private sector citizens. CK.”
Dr. Kolade was a very contented man. But that didn’t necessarily come from age. Many of those ruining Nigeria today are by no means spring chickens. He lived for others, not self – the philosophy that underpinned his worldview. He believed in transcendental leadership.
Witty and urbane, Dr. Christopher Kolade had a very persuasive way of making his point without being offensive. He was one of Nigeria’s finest. His death, no doubt, marks the end of an era – a golden era for Nigeria. May his soul rest in peace and his memory be a blessing to all who seek for a better Nigeria.
