Onosode: Beacon of Corporate Nigeria
Gamaliel Onosode, 65, is a beacon of hop of Nigeria a country troubled by all sorts of voices. A man of integrity in all aspects of life especially business and religious matters, Onosode commands high demand in corporate boardrooms and at public functions. At one point, Onosode was on the board of over 30 companies including blue chip firms like Cadbury, Dunlop, Vanleer, nal merchant Bank, and the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Project. It is like his very membership of such boards give it added value.
Onosode, revealed that he has had to turn down many invitations either because he cannot personally attend all given his busy schedule, but has encouraged these people to seek other credible citizens to perform such roles. He attended the University of Ibadan and thereafter joined the Commonwealth Development Corporation cdc through a highly competitive interview process.
He rose from executive assistant to regional controller f the organisation. But he quit on principles in 1965 when he disagreed with is employer 's decision to finance the federal mortgage bank solely on its share capital. This set a trend that was to work Onosode's public career.
Unlike the typical Nigerian who will not quit in the face of irreconcilable differences, he proved otherwise. At the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank ndib which he joined later and Commerce Bank where he was pioneer chairman, he quit when he disagreed fundamentally with the way things were going there.
He prides in his sojourn and experience at cdc which moulded him. "But I will always remain grateful to that organisation because I was well trained by it, because of the spread of projects all over the Commonwealth and I was given the opportunity to study everyone of those projects. I think more than anything, that single important experience was responsible for what I am today." Every other work he did on experience acquired was not dramatically new as the cdc.
Onosode has a strong character and is a man of deep convictions. He believes that he picked these traits from proper upbringing by his parents and God's interference in ensuring that he not only got good training but also good examples to follow fro his Baptist minister father and mother.
On his quitting jobs, he says "it is a question of integrity. Some people say I am a coward, maybe I am. But I prefer to be that kind of coward. My view is that since I never asked for any position, the position doesn't bring anything to me. On the contrary, I try to take something into the position. So on the basis of that, I couldn't possibly have any problem quitting a position."
He surprisingly declared his membership of the United Congress Party of Nigeria, uncp and ran for the party's senatorial nomination. He was disqualified but like the principled man, he remained in the party and participated its activities rather than quit politics, decamp to another party or protest over his fate.
He was presidential adviser on Budget Affairs during president Shehu Shagari's second term in office, and blames the country's problem on corruption and lack of integrity including distress in the banking industry. "There was widespread corruption, within the entire system. And if there is widespread corruption you can never get anything right. No policy can come up right."
He is chairman of the Niger Delta Environmental Studies Project which takes some of his time today. He was the first indigenous chairman/ceo of nal Merchant Bank and Chairman/ceo, Intercommerce and Consulting Associates Limited, his consulting firm. He is still chairman, Dunlop, and President, Institute of Stock Brokers. He is also a Baptist Deacon.
Newswatch June 29, 1998
" Newswatch 1998