NAL Merchant Bank: Remembering a Day of Infamy.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the month, in 1995, when Nigeria’s premier investment Bank decided to do away with several of its staff. It was not due to any professional misconduct on the part of the affected staff. And neither was the bank in financial distress. Ironically, it was only a couple of weeks earlier that the same bank declared a good profit. But the new CEO and some senior management staff got greedy. They wanted an increase in their collective benefits. And the only way to achieve this was through the massive staff lay off.

Unfortunately, NAL offered no gratuities or pensions. Each of the victims was only given a token sum of money which the bank called a “Golden Handshake”. The hardest-hit were those with outstanding loans. The little sum was summarily utilized to off-set their loans. Sadly, many of them walked out with nothing. And, unlike some of us young folks, there were those long-serving guys on whose backs the bank was built. They had invested the major part of their lives in the bank. Within the next couple of months therefore, the sad effects began to manifest in their lives. The shock was so palpable for some guys that they became psychologically-disoriented. Some others fell into manic depressions. There were those whose marriages fell apart. And worse, a couple of guys died.

Why all these severe reactions? In Nigeria of those days, NAL was a place to be. The salary was enormous. The benefits were gargantuan. There were assorted allowances. From Furniture to Housing and other allowances. Some perks were even duplicated. Monthly car maintenance allowance came with luxurious buses for those who preferred to be chauffeured-driven free-of-charge. Staff enjoyed generous monthly luncheon vouchers in addition to groceries that were called “essential commodities”. Opportunities for loans at very low interest rates were vast. Examples were mortgage loans, Car loans and shares (stocks) loans. Personal loans were interest-free. In addition to a paid annual leave, every staff was also entitled to a leave allowance. Every December, double salaries were paid for Christmas celebration. This would be followed by an elaborate Christmas party at a selected posh hotel. And lest I forget. At the end of every financial year, staff were paid “Incentive Bonus”, a share of the bank’s profit. But on the day of infamy, everything came to a screeching halt!

On that fateful day, I was the first person to walk out of the premises because I had earlier been tipped off about the impending doom. The source also gave me the names of those in the panel that compiled the list. In retrospect though, I will always thank God for His grace and mercy. I also congratulate the other survivors. But what about members of the panel, especially those of them who seized the opportunity to witch-hunt their “enemies”? Under what circumstances did each of them eventually leave the bank? And what about the CEO? Now, fast-forward to 2015, how much fortunes have they all amassed since 1995?

As for the bank, the March, 1995 mass sacking was the prelude to its demise. Neither its latter-day recourse to retail banking nor name-change could save it. It has since vanished from the nation’s banking landscape.  In 2006, I visited Nigeria and was (one day) driving by the erstwhile “NAL Towers”. A dear friend, who was with me, was so touched by the ghastly appearance of the building that he subsequently wrote a newspaper article about the rise, decline and fall of the bank.  It was aptly titled “In Loving Memory of NAL”.



Pictured above is the erstwhile majestic and magnificent "NAL Towers" towering above all other buildings along the Lagos Marina landscape.

Taking Nothing For Granted: I remember 1991.

It was around this time in October, 1991 when I suffered from a dangerous case of food poisoning. That was a classic example of a gradual process of dying. Right before my eyes, my life was slipping away at a horrific pace. But I thank God for His grace, great luck and a good, prompt medical attention at the Eko Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria. I survived the ordeal. I was given so many injections and I.V. bottles that I thought there would be no more spaces on my butt and hands to punch holes with needles.

And I thought there was something extraordinary about my medical case---until I heard about some rich, powerful corporate C.E.O. in the room next to mine. He was suffering from renal failure, “a medical condition in which the kidneys fail to adequately filter waste products from the blood”. And just opposite my room was a woman, said to be the wife of a top shot in the government. She was suffering from colorectal cancer. This is “also known as colon cancer, rectal cancer or bowel cancer, a type of cancer that attacks the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine)”.

When I heard of those more serious medical cases, I felt ashamed that I had made a big deal about my ordinary case of food poisoning. It didn’t matter to me anymore that by the time I was brought to the hospital, my heart, liver, kidneys and other vital organs were diagnosed to be at their lowest ebb. It was also no longer important that my doctor said, had I not got to the hospital at the time I did, there was a strong possibility of a massive heart attack. At that moment, what mattered to me was the sad news that the two hapless patients mentioned above did not survive their ailments!

Since then, I resolved to never take any good thing in my life for granted. So far, I have been richly blessed with all the good things of life. But even the mundane stuff pale insignificantly and grossly little when compared to my great physical and mental endowments. And there were great bonuses in the persons of a most wonderful wife and joyfully-enriching children for whom I will do anything to appreciate, protect and daily thank the almighty God.

An Advice from Michelle Obama to her Younger Self.

“Understand that no one (especially folks who are truly successful) simply coasts from achievement to achievement. The most accomplished people in the world fail and fail big. That’s how they learn so much and grow so quickly and become so interesting and wise. In short, stop trying to be someone who will impress everyone else, and just focus on being and becoming fully, sincerely and passionately yourself.”

– Michelle Obama (Excerpt from People Magazine).

Disappointed in God?

When my mother passed away, the sad event was so sudden and emotionally devastating that my immediate reaction was to lapse into an utter shock. Two questions kept nagging at my mind. The first was a simple-sounding word, “Why?” And the second was the whereabouts of God when that tragedy crept into our family?

My mother was a very religious woman, a good Christian filled with a very strong faith in God. Ironically, as the woman suffered a massive stroke and began to slip into coma on that fateful day, she was screaming and gesticulating with her hands out-stretched, for God to save her life.  But death still took her away. As far as I was concerned, God must have shrugged his shoulders in total nonchalance at a time the woman needed him most.

And so, for many years afterwards, I cut off all relationship with God!

There were some individuals, families, friends and colleagues, who tried to reconcile us but I rejected the idea each time. They must have considered me obstinate.

I know there are individuals out there who must be feeling the same way right now. Theirs could be loss of jobs, repossessed cars, loss of homes or some other issues. But what could ever be worse than the loss of a loved one as it was in my case? Whatever the case might be though, it is better to allow the affected individuals to reconcile and make peace with God at their own time. That was how it happened in my case. And I learned a lot of great lessons in the process.



In the first place, God gave me the grace to know that even though I no longer reckoned with him all that time, he continued to bless, adore and abide with me. The manifestations were glaring, much to my embarrassments. Secondly, God gave me the grace to “walk with him” and during the encounter, in retrospect, I began to ask for his forgiveness. I also decided to thank him profusely for my mother’s life. Within the short period of her life, the woman positively touched so many lives (one way or the other) that had she lived up to ninety, she couldn’t have done any better.  Her memory is fresh and alive in the hearts of many people she touched in her lifetime. Thirdly, I realized that my mother could have woken from the coma only to become a “vegetable”. And God knew very well that we (the kids) and our father were in no financial or emotional condition to be saddled with such a huge responsibility.

Therefore, I will advise those who are feeling disappointed in God over one thing or the other, to spare a moment to “walk with God”. The walk simply entails giving God the opportunity to “explain his own side of the story”.



 

 

The Damned Human Race by Ebun Olawole.

In Mark Twain’s literary work, “The Damned Human Race” (1905), he conducted an experiment that compared man to other animals. He concluded that man should be called the lower animals while the so-called lower animals should be regarded as the higher animals. He found Darwin’s theory wrong.

In terms of brutality, lower animals are better than man. He gave humorous examples of how brutal man can be. He continued that man has a flaw. And with the flaw, he is unable to reason because he descended from lower animals.



I agree with Twain (p. 8), that man is greedy, compared to the so-called inferior animals. In line with Twain’s opinion, it is man that will keep accumulating excessive things, especially riches, far beyond his actual needs because he is never satisfied. Man always wants more. For example, a well-fed, satisfied lion won’t kill another animal merely for the fun of it.

With man’s brain and intelligence, he is supposed to be able to differentiate between good and evil. However, it is not so in reality. As Twain noted (p.10) man is the only animal that agonizes over insults and waits patiently for a sign of weakness, then retaliates. A dog has no brain that is so sensitive as to realize that it has been offended and has to retaliate.



Twain recognized the many bad traits of the human race. Man is the only religious animal, yet the same man fights each other because of religion. There is a good example where, in the name of religion, a Moslem sect in Nigeria is currently holding about 150 abducted high school students hostage.

I also agree with Twain that man is the only animal that engages in war. Examples are the Ukraine-Russia crisis, Israel-Gaza war and many more. While the human race is known to possess the best brain, man will often act before he thinks.

 

 

 

They Could Have Killed Me

When my son, Adeoluwa posted the above picture on Facebook some days ago, little did he know the flood of memories and emotions it brought to me.

A couple of days after this picture was taken, I was about stepping out of my home to leave for work and wondering why my wife kept me waiting.

On that fateful morning, she wanted to pay a visit to her parents with our 3-month-old baby boy. But I soon got tired of waiting and told her that I had to leave. She said fine but I should give her  just a few seconds before driving off so that she could package some breakfast for me. I asked her to please send it down
to me in the parking lot right inside the compound.

As I got downstairs, my kid brother, Kehinde had just washed the car. I got inside the car to start the engine while my brother walked toward the gate to open it. Unknown to him, three men were waiting outside the gate. As Kehinde pushed the gate open, the men rushed inside the quiet compound, all armed. Instantly,
at gun-point, one guy ordered Kehinde to lay prostrate on the ground without a word. Another guy stood in the middle of the street, directly opposite the house to ward off possible sympathisers. And the third guy, obviously the leader, casually but firmly walked toward me.

"Hey..." he barked at me as he touched my forehead with the barrel of the revolver in his hand..."Did you feel the coldness of the gun?"

I nodded.

"I just wanted you to know that this is not a toy gun." he stated very camly as if we were just having some friendly chat.

"I believe you." I answered in utter fear even as I stared at his very cold eyes. "Please...take the car..."

There were only two families in the entire compound of twin duplexes. And there were assorted cars including a Mercedes Benz parked in the compound. I thought
the guys were interested in the cars.

"What?" the man got angry at my suggestion."Who do you think we are...car thieves? What an insult!"

"Ah...I'm sorry." I pleaded. "So, what do you want...money?"

This other suggestion even made the other guys angrier as the one standing over my brother yelled at their leader to "shoot him and let's go!"

On hearing this command, I glared at the man as I pleaded for my life. But the man was not impressed with my plea. He ordered me to face the wall.

Somehow, something made me refuse to face the wall and I told him point-blank that I would not face the wall.

"Please tell me...who sent you..." I asked him. "May I know who wants me killed?"

This time, the two other men were terribly angry with their leader as they yelled at him to stop chatting with me.

"Shoot this guy and let us go!" they ordered.

Oblivious of the sad drama, my wife had sent the house maid to bring down my breakfast. On seeing the guy with a gun pointed to my head, the poor girl
stood temporarily transfixed to the spot on the staircase. The gun man now pointed the gun at her to shoot but I found myself standing between him and
the maid. With this action, the girl bolted upstairs, screaming that "someone wants to kill Deolu's daddy!"

The man now looked at me and said since I refused to face the wall, he would just go ahead to shoot. At that moment and within a micro-second, my mind
went into frenzy as a lot of pitiful faces came flying past...my wife, my baby boy, my brothers...everyone...all looking sad as if they were already mourning my
untimely death. That was how I knew how people felt under such a crazy circumstance.

Then, a click from the gun suddenly made my mind return to focus on the assassin. The gun had jammed.

Right before me, the guy checked the revolver, assured himself it was okay and pointed it at my head. He fired. But again, all that sounded was another click.

Now angry with himself, he unloaded the six rounds of ammonition, checked them and reloaded them into the gun chambers. As he did this, I simply stood
there helplessly waiting for my death. Quickly, he pointed it at my head and fired. But there was yet, another click sound.    

For a few seconds, the guy stared hard at me without a word. Then, he said "What kind of a person are you?"

When I said nothing except to keep staring at him, he finally said "You're not an ordinary person...are you?"

Suddenly, he barked at the other men, telling them they had to leave.

"What do you mean we have to leave...?" the guy standing over my brother querried.

But without an answer, the leader of the team jumped into my car and ordered the two other men to join him. That was how they left.

Fortunately they left at that moment. My other brother, Shola was running down the stairs in reaction to the maid's alarm. Up till today, I ask myself what if the men had shot me and were suddenly confronted by Shola's presence at that moment? Of course, they would have shot him too. And what would that do to
Olawole's family...the loss of two persons in one day?

Some hours later on that same day, my car was found somewhere in Ikeja. Nothing in the car was touched or stolen. Not even my wallet which was heavily loaded with cash was touched. I was going through the cash after starting the car shortly before the assassins rushed into the compound. 

There was a friend (he knows himself) and a cousin (he also knows himself) and maybe some other people (who I don't know yet) who may "sometimes" feel irritated each time I use the Facebook to thank, praise and glorify the Lord in appreciation of my life, my family and especially, my kids, now they can understand the reason. This story here is just one of the many situations where I could have lost my life. I know God has been preserving my life for some reasons best known to Him.