This BISROD son is a genius

The calls were persistent. He had read Saturday Tribune package on the waste wahala in Lagos State; the billions of naira invested in the failed efforts at cleaning up the stinking streets, the messy tripartite disagreement among the state government, foreign partner Visionscape and local champions PSP operators and the growing frustration of the residents who are resorting to cave-age modes of dispensing with the daily waste. Architect Olaiya Hammed  Rodipe pushed through an appointment and pronto, he was at Tribune’s Motorways’ office in Lagos last Wednesday.

It is very likely his unsuccessful attempts at getting moneyed and influential ears, to buy into his ground-breaking waste management invention, have a leg in his appearances at such high-profile offices, sadly occupied by those who have eyes but not insight. The gobi (Yoruba modernised native cap) which accompanied his modest appearance at our appointment, could easily pass him for a Yoruba graduate (no offence meant to such graduates) who majored in Ijala (hunters’ heroism narrative). But I have learnt never to take anything at the face value.

Am I glad to invest my three hours into listening to this uncut gem. Before he unveiled himself as a son to the popular deep pocket tree planter and furniture maker; Giwa Bisi Rodipe (BISROD), he had bared his frustration getting a listening ear from Lagos and Ogun State governments as well as other big names in private, public and diplomatic institutions, for his astonishing story of pure ingenuity in waste wealth. Despite being an architect with no engineering trainings, he had developed a handy household incinerator, which can take on 15kg of waste at a go, sieve the items, convert the waste to bio-fuel, trap the entire smoke from the processing in a compartment of the wonder-on-kitchen table and the bio-fuel getting mixed with another substance (procurement) from another compartment, for the owner of the 15kg odd-and-end, to have clean, ready-to-use 20 litres of petrol! Sounds too good to be true?

But the son of Rodipe had all figured and worked out, only waiting for investment, to flood homes and factories with the mini-incinerator, get waste converted to wealth at generation point and the streets blazing again, since there would be nothing for the dump again. The costing looks right and a million jobs, could be in it, for procurement manufacturers. We suspended a planned interview, for him to complete the running processing of his patent rights, before profiteers would turn his dream project to pirated nightmare. Maybe because he is “just” a lecturer at The Federal Polytechnic Ilaro and not introduced by the US embassy as the academic who solved the refuse challenges of all the 51 states in America, those he approached around here, including his own Ogun State, are currently treating him with disdain. I predict that soon, they would be braving a lot of financial odds to get in Sokoto (a northern state) what they are treating now as an undesirable in their apo sokoto (trouser pocket).

Rodipe is too certain he’s going to blow very soon and appears like someone who won’t forget those that walked the wilderness with him, particularly his co-labourers at Ilaro Poly. With effortless grace, he moved from technology to poetry, serenading me with some special lines, for which I encouraged him to get “anthologised”. Then, this genius, shifted into motivational deliveries with the whao effects. Drenching me with the calculus of salaried employment, I confessed to him that he almost got me resigning with alacrity, save that different seasons of my life are in God’s hands. A line keeps tugging at my heart though; you don’t get rich by working for others. Guess, reason he refused to work for his famous 79-year-old Dad.

Olujimi’s epiphany

The fiercely judgmental Nigerian public mob can be very subjective and emotive. With the not-too-ruly crowd, you are either a saint or sinner, depending on which mirror being used to make you out. The Nigerian senate is constantly viewed with the rear mirror as an institution but not all senators are considered democracy-errors. The unelected chaotic jurors, still judge contents of character and not as erratic as a few may want to take them. In the “slappy” affair between Ekiti volcanic senator, Abiodun Olujimi and the National Assembly union leader, the female lawmaker as the weaker vessel, should ordinarily have the judging public on her side. But the jurors ruled her the villain and toasted to the reducing treatment she allegedly got. The excellency-wannabe should be worried, because she wasn’t really ruled offside because the senate is a chamber of sin and all senators, sinners. She has a history behind her in matters of public office and public conducts, which made her guilty verdict, an easy conclusion. And it was near unanimous.

For an ex-this, ex-that Distinguished, to be so easily extinguished, she likely has zero capacity for leadership connectivity. That the usually noisy senate, the hopeless police and their always-embattled and constantly-disgruntled image-breaker Jimoh Moshood, aren’t summoning and questioning the affected unionist, points to just a conclusion; the senator is an affected brand. But it isn’t too late for her to start a re-write of her story in public office, even if the public is close to inking the last line of its own epilogue about her. She can still change the narrative of being a front-row member of a clan of leaders, so used to comfy corner of power that the brain, is now with permanent room-temperature IQ. I wish her excellency well.

Kashamu’s beep

Reading Buruji Kashamu’s latest diatribe against, who else, Ayodele Fayose, a nursery rhyme jumped at me; “A beefy senator with a king-size beef”. For once, the one with warring-DNA in Ekiti has met his match in this Ijebu warrior. Since both erstwhile soul-mates won’t divulge the real reason(s) for their parting of ways and Fayose, uncharacteristically, being charitable, it is time Buruji let go. The king-size politician may not be a real “homer” but he must have heard the folktale about the tortoise being dog’s in-law and getting caught, stealing dog’s yam. At the end of the tale, it was the owner of the stolen yam that carried the final shame, because the dog didn’t know when to let go. On a lighter note, the senator cuts the tortoise image more and the governor, the dog.