How integrity catapults Otunba Oladiti into success, a lesson for Nigerian youths, By Emmanuel Ajibulu

It is very true that human epochs are replete with great men and women in the various fields who defined and continue to define their peculiar histories with the magnitude of their accomplishments. One of such unique individuals in Africa is Comrade (Otunba) Salimon Akanni Oladiti (JP); the national Chairman of Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of NUPENG.

It is on this score that it becomes apposite to inspire the Nigerian youths about the virtues of this ingenious mentor that hard work combined with the fear of God are incontrovertibly rewarding. Apart from his remarkable legacies, he remains a blessing to humanity with penchant for espousing esteemed sense of transparency, accountability, integrity, probity and also reaching out to those in need.

For his courage, tenacity and single-minded devotion to labour issues, he earned himself many respect and honour. Otunba Oladiti is truly a man of vision, those who have worked with him very closely are really not surprised to see him breaking barriers and raising the bar of performance and success in the Union.

He is a silent achiever, not lousy and does not blow his trumpet. He strategically organized numerous retreats, training and workshops locally and internationally on ‘thinking outside the box’ in the recent past and the impact of that has significantly enhanced dedication to service, responsibility and also engendering nationwide effective/efficient service delivery for the greater good of industrial, commercial and domestic satisfaction of all Nigerians in petroleum products lifting and distributions.

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Through God’s given wisdom, Otunba Oladiti transformed the PTD and also pushing the frontiers but not for pecuniary gains; opening various chains of lucrative business opportunities for the Tanker Drivers to the admiration of other Branches within NUPENG. From membership, discipline, revenue generation, right investment decisions, fiscal discipline/funding, Branch management and respect for constitution, excellent conduct of members from unit level to national level; working in harmony with the President and General Secretary of the parent Union (NUPENG) coupled with the strength in reinventing the ability to reward positive conduct and sanction recalcitrant, anti-union conducts etc. His task has been to work with the Union leadership at all levels and other industry stakeholders in a most civilized manner to pull their members together in order to build a strong, virile and united Union.

Here is the story of a man who was once a Motor Boy but today has become Oil and Gas giant to be reckoned with, in the entire Petroleum industry value chain.

His childhood was very tough, having faced many challenges of life without receiving help from anyone. He enrolled in Primary School in 1959 with the inclination that he was going to be one of the best Nigerian professors in the academia. But in 1964, the unfortunate incident happened as he lost his dad while in Primary four as a result of that he could not go any further, the young Oladiti had to engage himself in child labour for survival under severe and inhuman conditions.

One of his experiences was his service as a motor boy. He used to follow a lorry on a trunk jounrey and within six months being an intelligent and very smart child, he could drive very well without supervision. Between 1968 and 1969, he became a professional driver. But in 1971, he later joined a Lebanese company in Ibadan. The company was into loading of petroleum products.

Again, he was visited by another unfair side of life which abruptly made his career as a driver looked bleak and threatened when he had an accident in 1980 and was subsequently hospitalized for eighteen months. After he was discharged, he went back to the company, but the management told him he could not continue unless he re-applied. He did so but had to start all over again. In 1983, he decided to try something else and successfully bought a 6-wheeler petrol truck.

But before then; after the accident, the doctor had advised him not to drive for long distance, and also that if he didn’t start work that time; he would not be able to walk again. He however forced himself back to work again, but in the middle of that he began to plan for his future by saving money gradually, despite the meagre income he is getting. When there was a change of ownership at the Lebanese company, the management said they no longer need many drivers. One of dealers he used to deliver to, asked for him from the company and they told him that the young Oladiti was among those the company laid off.

He sent for the young Oladiti and asked him the cost of a tanker, and further told him he would like to buy one. That time, they were selling both tanker and tractor for N60-80,000. He told the man to buy fairly-used one. The man agreed, so he went back to his former company whose management wanted to sell all their trucks.

Oladiti who was known for unrivaled credibility and integrity right from childhood was given N20,000 to buy a truck and he bought it for the man.

After a long while, someone told Oladiti that a 6-wheeler truck was up for sale adding that both tank and tractor were not up to N6,000 at that time. So he went back and approached the man who earlier bought truck from his old Lebanese company for assistance, thankfully the man helped him to buy one, but not without telling him said he would pay back with interest and Oladiti agreed with his lender’s terms and promised to pay him from the salary he was receiving from truck driving. When he eventually gave him the money, Oladiti bought new tyres for the old truck and he kicked off operations.

During that period of humble beginning Oladiti had a boy then, whom he gave this truck to drive. After a while, Oladiti bought another truck, and then another one, making three. Then he was thinking of how he could become owner of bigger tankers, a dream which only did not come to pass but reshaped him into having a big business empire in the oil and gas sector through dint of hardwork, sacrifices and steadfastness.

Another interesting aspect of his inspiring story of journey of life was that apart from his driving career, at age of 9, Oladiti was already going to farm to fend for himself, always laying his hands on anything productive no matter how tedious it may be but was conscious of not bringing shame to his family name no matter the temptation.

There was even a time in his life he wanted to be making broom and basket so that he can sell at Ibadan local markets then.

Records have it that he climbed palm trees with his bare hands to push through his dreams. He was never found lazy or allowed negative circumstances of life to ruin his dreams, he utilized every challenges as a springboard to his success story. This little revelation can now make people have an idea why Otunba Oladiti has penchant for investing in large scale farming. And of course empirical evidence still shows that Comrade (Otunba) Salimon Akanni Oladiti still has a date with destiny in numerous ways.

Impressively, the story of Oladiti can instructively serve as a guiding tool for Nigerian youths and even young entrepreneurs, especially in encouraging them on how to embrace the culture of hard work, learning, sacrifices, resilience, diligence, discipline and perseverance in order to realise their God-given potentials and achieving success, while also bearing in mind that there shouldn’t be excuses for failures or resorting to crimes or any other defiant behaviours in life.

▪︎Emmanuel Ajibulu is an infoprenuer, publisher of veracitydesk.com.ng, writer, communication consultant and social media influencer.