Monday Column By Emmanuel Yawe
royawe@yahoo.com | 08024565402
I first met Sarafa Tunji Isola in 2007. At the time he was a Cabinet Minister in the government of President Umaru Yar’ adua. The meeting was as a result of the efforts of Alhaji Nojim Jimoh with whom I have been friends since our university days in the 70’s. What is common among men in such high offices in Nigeria is the pompous air that surrounds their persona and the awe in which they are held by their cringing subordinates. But this Minister was different; he was courteous, humble and even humorous, I reported back to Nojim after the meeting.
“We are happy that the high office has not changed him. Everybody who meets him agrees with your view and that is the general impression about our Minister” Nojim Jimoh agreed with me when I told him about my impressions about the Minister after our meeting.
Sarafa Isola was born on 25th November 1960 from humble parents. He did not come into this world with a golden or even silver spoon in his mouth. He made his way up by his intelligence and dint of hard work. Beginning his education at Oke Ona Primary School Abeukuta 1966- 1971; Nawar-Ud-Deen School Grammar, Abeukuta 1973 -1977, he ventured out to the UK where he studied Marketing and Investment at Chattered Institute Marketing and South West London College UK 1978 – 1981.
Back to Nigeria, he did his National Youth Service Corps as a lecturer at the Federal College of Education in Katsina 1982-1983. After his NYSC year, he could easily have gone back to his state in Ogun and gotten a job but he chose to build bridges which have served him and in his country very well. He stayed on in Katsina for additional three years (1983-1986) lecturing at the same College in Business Statistics, Marketing and Economics. It was after the three year stint that he came down to his home state of Ogun to work at the State Broadcasting Corporation as a Sales Executive from 1986 to 1990. He then went into private business as Executive Chairman, Taist Nigeria Ltd from 1990-1997.
He then plunged into politics and was elected as Chairman Abeukuta North Local Government Council in 1997-1998. During this time he also presided as Chairman of all Local Government Chairmen in Ogun State and also the South West of Nigeria. His rise in politics was very rapid for by 1999 he was appointed a Special Assistant to Hon Minister of State for Finance, Jubril Martin Kure, a job he held till 2003 and which raised his profile such that in the same year he was appointed Secretary to Government of Ogun State. By 2007 he was appointed a Minister by President Umaru Yar Adua and held the Cabinet office as Minister of Mines till 2008. These appointments came with National and international exposure as he routinely attended conferences to discuss and tackle issues of development like the one at Harvard University, Boston Massachusetts USA which specifically treated the issue of leaders in development.
In the early days of the current political system, the state governors became very powerful, often dictating who became a Local Government Chairman, member of State House of Assembly, member House of Federal Representatives, a Senator and Ambassador of the Federal Republic. This development made the first President, Olusegun Obasanjo and his successor Umaru Yar Adua prisoners of the powerful Governors Forum. This explains why his tenure as Minister of Mines was cut short when he was in that office for only one year.
As a man of his people, he went back to Abeukuta and continued to operate his business as Chairman Taist Nigeria Ltd; Taist Merchants Eshawller Investment Ltd; Platisol Investment Ltd. These entrepreneurial engagements provided the sources for the survival and his up keep and that of his family while he continued with his political activities. Thus he found himself as a founding member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, party that emerged when a number of progressive politicians defected from their parties and merged into one party to challenge the People’s Democratic Party’s domination of power. He also defected from the PDP remains a pillar of support for the APC party in his home state of Ogun state and his extensive contacts in the north which started in his NYSC years in Katsina and were solidified during his service as a Minister to President Umaru Yar adua turned him effectively into a bridge for the party in the state to cross the national divide and engage his northern brothers when issues arose that could not be handled by less exposed and connected politicians. Till date he remains one of the key links between the South West and the North.
All through this period Chief Sarafa Tunji Isola retains his humility and has been honest to his friends and the political associates he has assembled in his years of dedicated service to Nigeria and humanity. His appointment as Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom by President Buhari is thus very much in order and further confirmation of his credibility as a politician. The High Commissionership to the United Kingdom is considered one of the highest diplomatic appointments in Nigeria. As the former Colonial master of Nigeria, a world power and a key Western European country, Nigeria requires a man of high integrity to handle her relationship with the United Kingdom. London remains the clearing house to the international community on Nigerian issues. In appointing Chief Sarafa Tuunji Isola, President Muhammadu Buhari has taken a decision that will bring a lot of credibility to his government in international circles.
Those who know Chief Sarafa Tunji Isola intimately say he is going to serve Nigeria very honestly and that at the end of his tour of duty, there will be enhanced political and economic ties between Nigeria and the United Kingdom due to the excellent quality of his stewardship as Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
