Business
OLATUNDE PASEDA : A POLITICAL TACTICIAN WITH A HEART OF GOLD
By Femi Salako(Triangle News Media)
So much value is attached to names in the Nigerian society because of the fact that whatever name we bear definitely has a defining role to play in our lives. Olatunde Rotimi Paseda is one individual who has continually enjoy the ample benefits of manifold presence of God. His name has also become a household name within and outside of Ogun state because of the major character traits that he shares with the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo.
Otunba Paseda as he fondly called by his supporters is clearly a blessing to Ogun state in view of his character traits that is firmly focused on providing for the needs of the vulnerable and giving back to the society that has produced him. His involvement in politics is premised on the quest to reenact the political ideals of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the area of harnessing state resources to meet the critical needs of the masses. Otunba Paseda has proven his mettle in world of business outside the shores of Nigeria and has left no one in doubt that he can actually achieve the same success in politics if giving the opportunity.
He is the Elisha of our time that is on assignment to reignite the laudable achievements of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in Ogun state in particular and the South Western part of Nigeria at large.
Olatunde Paseda is a successful business man with entrenched interest in the United Kingdom where he has done very well for himself and family. The Omu man has successfully established engineering firms in the UK with business interests in the fabrication and building of heavy machinery; manufacturing of water tankers, fire engines, garbage/compacting trucks and the likes. Political interest of Paseda has largely been awakened by his conviction that he could conveniently leverage on his business successes in the United Kingdom to develop the people of Ogun state, the state itself and Nigeria as a nation.
Ogun state is very lucky to have a man like Olatunde Paseda who is conscious of the world of difference between a political leader and the followers; yet he has sufficiently bridged such gaps. The consciousness of this difference has always inform the image, actions, and communication mode of Otunba Paseda. The fabrication giant carries himself with an aura that never suggests that he is in anyway better than his followers; but will always elect to have an objective perspectives on wide range of issues bothering on his domain.
Rotimi Paseda sure has a gentle mien but posses a tough character traits. This has often than not helped him to take tough decisions whenever the need arises. He is never unmindful of the fact that difficult and timely decisions need be taken in certain situations if the the best interests of state and party are to be given premium consideration. Decisions of this nature are not always expected to go down well with everyone, but he had always effect them with the required firmness, authority, and finality. Olatunde Rotimi Paseda is never given to taking unilaterally decisions; rather he has made himself an advocate of collaborative decision making process that would bring about party cohesion and positive developments.
Paseda is also a model of empathy who always look out for solutions to the challenges being faced by his people. He takes it upon himself to look inward in providing pragmatic solutions to whatever problem that is encountered by any of his followers with a firm focus on forward movement.
Rotimi Paseda has proven himself as a leader who has earned the trust of his followers. He would always do a personal follow-up on all outstanding issues, pay personal visits to his supporters, and make it a point of duty to monitor the effectiveness of party policies and procedures. Paseda will never hesitate to commend party members that are worthy of commendations while reprimands would also not be spared for those that fall short of acceptable set standard of conduct for party members. Paseda is a distinct leader that would promptly identify any problem before it becomes an emergency and would not waste time to proffer effective solution.
Olatunde Paseda has established himself as a political leader who is confidence inspiring. He is also a fountain of good counsels who has helped in a great deal to shape and better the lives of so many of his supporters. He is a model of a resolute mind that will stand firm to fight for and champion all worthy causes for his followers.
Olatunde Rotimi Paseda radiates positive energy and communicates this through his thoughts and deeds. He is no doubt a man with an heart of gold and in whose veins kindness flows. This explains why he always feels genuinely concerned for other people’s welfare. Paseda is never short of practical solutions to issues and words of reassurances that edify the souls of his party members. He is a team player who abhors pessimistic thoughts that are capable of dampening the highly effective unity of purpose spirits of his supporters.
Olatunde Rotimi Paseda is one of the very few politicians around that cherishes ethical practices and believes that only diligence, reliability and honesty are the bedrock of a lasting success. He so much personifies these high moral values to a point of emulation that his integrity has never been in doubt. He would not hesitate to openly share information and avoid spin control.
ORP has no doubt proven himself as a leader that motivates followers to best performance through effective, clear and concise communication. He throws up subtle challenges to those around him by setting high and yet attainable standards for them. He would follow it up by providing the much needed support, exposure, training and latitude for the pursuance of visions, so as to attain the very height that one can possibly climb.
The 2015 gubernatorial candidate of the Unity Party of Nigeria has not giving up on his dreams and visions to effect a total turn around in the body polity of Ogun state.
He still remains a strong advocate of job creation for millions of Nigerians that need a means of survival. Paseda remains unpleased with the fact that the nation in general and Ogun state in particular are yet to unleash the potentials of the youthful generation in view of the available manpower.
Olatunde Paseda is still very much itching to effect a change that will usher in an era of innovative governance, people-oriented programmes and an all inclusive government that will be based on the tested principles of the old Unity Party of Nigeria founded by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo for a guaranteed future in Ogun state.
ORP still finds the prevailing incremental development in Ogun state very much unacceptable. He believes the only and best way to go for the state is to join the league of state like neighbouring Lagos state and take the full advantage of total development which is bound to usher prosperity into the state. In the words of Olatunde Paseda, “Yes, some can argue that there are pockets of developmental projects scattered here and there in Ogun state under the present administration, but most of these developments are obviously not people-oriented and did not benefit everyone”.
The grassroot mobilizer still take exception to the prevailing governance style in Ogun state that is deliberately crafted to favour few privileged ones at expense of the larger population. Paseda still remains convinced that free education from nursery to tertiary level for all Ogun State students is achievable under the Unity Party of Nigeria. He also has his sight on provision of free health services and facilitation of integrated rural and community development in Ogun State. The Omu political tactician once lamented the health and educational states of Ogun thus: “Our tertiary institutions remain grossly underfunded and tuition fee is out of reach for majority of Ogun State students”.
Olatunde Rotimi Paseda equally remains committed to the creation of full and sustainable employment opportunities for the people of Ogun state. He is of the opinion that free education and free healthcare are no rocket science as some detractors would want to believe. According to him, “I’ve said it on different fora that achieving this is as simple as intelligent budget manipulation”.
NNPCL and Corruption’s Final Throes
By Pius Olasanmi
In the twilight of the Obasanjo administration, when Nigerians were still capable of being outraged, when Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries was a buzzword that still held some mysticism to bamboozle citizens, during a conversation, a certain man said something profound. The man said, “As a businessman, if I were the owner of these refineries, knowing that they are three decades old, I would take the last money I have, hire bulldozers, raze them to the ground, and obtain loans to build new ones.”
When we pressed him further on why he would engage in such waste, he explained that repairing the refineries is the real waste. He explained that even if the TAM were honestly carried out, a thirty-year-old refinery would never compete favourably with a new one that would integrate contemporary technology. Operating at its best, such a refinery would never be comparatively more efficient. It is therefore pointless to have spent another one naira on the refineries at that point.
A few months later, I had a conversation with a then-lawmaker on an entirely different matter. I mentioned that the National Assembly has failed by not crafting legislation that would criminalise and punish public office holders who foist wrong decisions on the country. The logic: a public office holder need not steal to be punished, wrong decisions should attract penalties for an office holder who opts for the worst of all options when there are less injurious ones.
These established premises speak to the ongoing nauseating efforts at revisionism by those who wrecked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its previous iteration, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Notably, this campaign to rewrite history is traceable to Engineer Mele Kolo Kyari, the disgraced immediate past Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL and his hirelings. They have suffocated the news and the public opinion space with even more lies than they spun while in office.
The Saint Kyari campaign is anchored on convincing Nigerians that the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna Refineries were fully functional when he was booted out of office. So brazen is the campaign that one of its talking heads challenged the group chief executive officer (GCEO), Engr. Bayo Ojulari, to “inform Nigerians categorically what happened to the functioning refineries he inherited from his predecessor, Engr. Mele Kyari.” The effrontery.
We have not forgotten so soon the charade that followed the baffling claim that Nigeria has spent $2.8 billion on the repair of the refineries, while they are not churning out even a single litre of refined product among them. Saint Kyari and his goons played all manner of tricks, all of which embarrassed President Bola Tinubu, who had counted on ticking off the return to productivity of the refineries as part of his achievements, only to realise that he was deceived into celebrating phantoms. Tragic.
Lest we forget, 200 trucks were arranged as props in a well-directed video clip to celebrate the re-streaming of the Port Harcourt Refinery. The disappointment. Nigerians were to learn from several reports that the Port Harcourt refinery was not producing and was instead using old, stored petroleum products to load trucks. Worse still, the Kyari crew was passing off sanction-tainted Russian-sourced crude oil refined in Malta as locally refined products. More insult was piled on the assault on our collective sensibility with the lies that the Port Harcourt Refinery exported semi-finished products. Brazen.
Meanwhile, Kyari and his hirelings called those who pointed out or protested these glaring scams all manner of names. They hid behind industry technicalities and jargon to create the impression that those of us who knew Nigerians were being robbed did not understand what we were saying. The point remains that a $2.8 billion investment can potentially build a refinery with a capacity of around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Of course, the actual capacity of such a refinery will depend on various factors, including the complexity of the refinery, the technology used, and the location. That is the amount that Kyari’s regime at the NNPCL took and did not give Nigerians refined products.
Fast forward to Kyari’s sack and the appointment of Engineer Bayo Ojulari, who has demonstrated that things can indeed be done differently. Kyari’s exit was expectedly followed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) going after him and his associates. The extent of the theft is better understood against the backdrop of N80 billion being found in the bank account of one of his associates. They went on the run.
Perhaps because the EFCC was biding its time on securing international warrants for the arrests of these characters on the lam, they have become emboldened. They have decided to fight back and rewrite the story of their participation in the greatest fraud against Nigerians. Engineer Ojulari’s renewed mindset, which is entrenching a semblance of the transparency Nigerians demand, became their natural target. The demons that once roamed around the corporation came out with malevolence. They started spinning stories of corruption to tarnish the incumbent who refused to hide their crimes. The objective: bring Ojulari down. But alas, he is winning the war as it stands.
His innocence is proven, and it is glaring that those who want him out are mere charlatans who can no longer ply their corrupt wares because of the impact of the new reforms. Corruption in the NNPCL is in its final throes. The fake news being unleashed against the incumbent leadership is akin to corruption’s last kicks as reforms in the sector strangulate it and its practitioners. The reforms must take place in the NNPCL, whether the industry demons like it or not.
As a parting shot, Kyari and his associates would do well to prepare their defence. In addition to accounting for the $2.8 billion they laundered in the name of repairing the moribund refineries, they must also answer for the poor decision to fix that which is irretrievably broken. Awarding contracts for Turn Around Maintenance of 59-year-old refineries that a right-thinking person had suggested should be demolished almost twenty years ago, when they were only 30 years old, is criminal. Trying to deceive Nigerians that the fake repairs worked is treason.
Olasanmi is a public affairs analyst writing from Lagos.
GRANDIS 5STAR LUXURY APARTMENT & SUITES SET TO REDEFINE LIVING IN VICTORIA ISLAND
Set to Rise elegantly against the Lagos skyline, is the Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites. According to Adejuwon Ademola, The General Manager of the Development company, it is more than just a residential building
“it’s a lifestyle statement. Standing 17 floors high in the heart of Victoria Island, this revolutionary masterpiece of modern architecture will offer a panoramic 360° view of Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island, and Ikoyi, transforming every apartment into an exclusive penthouse experience for the world’s most discerning elite.”
Developed by Dumarco Construction Limited, a globally acclaimed company with decades of delivering complex, high-value projects in the highly regulated petroleum, oil, and gas industries, Grandis 5Star brings unmatched international safety standards, uncompromising quality, and timeless elegance into Nigeria’s luxury property market.
> “When you live in Grandis, you’re not just buying a home—you’re investing in peace of mind, world-class safety, and an effortless luxury experience that will remain pristine for decades,” says Adejuwon A. Ademola, General Manager of Dumarco Construction Limited.
The Gold Standard in Safety and Quality
Dumarco’s roots in the oil and gas sector mean the company operates to some of the strictest safety protocols in the world. Every stage—from conceptualization, design, construction, to long-term maintenance—follows internationally accepted procedures and quality assurance measures. Cutting corners is simply not in Dumarco’s vocabulary.
> “In the oil and gas industry, there’s no room for compromise. We’ve brought that same discipline and zero-tolerance for mediocrity into property development,” says Ademola. “That’s why Grandis will be one of the safest and most enduring residential developments in Nigeria.”
To ensure transparency and prevent (project complacency), Dumarco deliberately separates the developer, contractor, and consultant roles, engaging only the most competent professionals in each respective field. Dumarco’s project team includes globally recognized contractors such as Julius Berger, Cappa & D’Alberto, and Elalan, Migliore Construczione & Tecniche (MC&T) and their partners VENCO IMTIAZ CONTRACTING COMPANY (VICC) based in Dubai, UAE, Business Contracting Limited, alongside leading consultants like Morgan Omanitan & Abe, LAMBERT, and James Cubitt.
Grandis – Investments, appreciation, returns and profitability
Our selection process for the location of the project alone was pains-taking and completely thorough scientific process. Top professional companies were employed to conduct a scientific data acquisition and analytical survey of the entire Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki and Eko Atlantic before a project site is selected. Analyzing and acquiring areas developmental charts and trends, studying and gathering historical and present sale prices, rental charge and occupancy rates over a 50 year period from every individual street before the selection of the location of any of our developments especially true for the Grandis Project
He adds,
“Our clients and residents can be rest assured that the location of Grandis has been scientifically proven through all existing data to provide our clients with a 100% occupancy rate, highest developmental location, highest rental income and investment returns. ”
The Grandis Experience
Located minutes away from international corporate headquarters, embassies, and landmarks such as Eko Hotel, Radisson Blu, and the Radisson Red, Grandis offers unmatched convenience for professionals, diplomats, and high-net-worth individuals. Every residence is designed for both indulgence and efficiency, with high-grade finishes, smart-home systems, and private amenities that ensure seamless living.
From sunrise over the Atlantic to the glittering Lagos night skyline, residents will enjoy uninterrupted luxury, supported by discreet and highly trained staff, advanced security systems, and a design that prioritizes comfort and privacy.
> “We designed Grandis for people who want everything—security, elegance, convenience, and the assurance that their home will look as spectacular in 20 years as it does on day one,” Ademola notes.
A Legacy That Lasts
With its combination of visionary architecture, peerless safety, and meticulous maintenance planning, Grandis is built to remain iconic for generations. Thanks to Dumarco’s meticulous approach, the building’s service charges are expected to remain low while its value and appeal continue to appreciate over time.
In a market often marred by shortcuts and substandard practices, Mr Ademola says
Grandis stands as a beacon of what luxury living should be—safe, spectacular, and built to last.
“Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites — Where safety meets sophistication, and every detail is designed for a life well-lived.”
He added
Website -www.dumarcoltd.com
Project website – www.26idowutaylor.com
Email [email protected]
Tel / WhatsApp +234 9077777883
GM – Adejuwon A. Ademola
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