Despite being a graduate, I did menial jobs to survive in UK —Aina

Olusola Aina is a banker and top computer programmer in the United Kingdom. He spoke with SEGUN KASALI on his struggles for survival there after relocating from Nigeria.

Your father died when you were just eight years old.

Yes, and consequently, growing up was very challenging. It was going to be rosy until he died in a motor accident. But it was not challenging, because my extended family is very unique.  They believe in helping each other. So, when my dad died, his three brothers were responsible for taking care of everything about him, including the children. So, we didn’t suffer in terms of education. And these uncles have very modest means. Even though they had their own children, it meant they had to share.

What are your fond memories of him?

I was little but I remember him. He was a Methodist Reverend and you would appreciate that there is not a lot you can remember between age eight and the age I am now. But I have visions of him in his white robe. He was a very generous man. He was a people’s man and so the house was always full and we still have the influence of that up till now as he would never be forgotten. People are still talking about him. The thing I remember most about him was the day he was lying on his bed and I was there with him when he was reading a very strange book with the title ‘The end of something nice’. I think, very long after he died, I saw the book once. I also remember that he used to tell us stories and he used to sing. He liked pounded yam as well.

I picked up on his generosity. I like to think that I am generous like him. He had love for people.

How did you come about your nickname ‘Eba’?

I got that from secondary school. I attended Christ School, Ado-Ekiti, which was a very famous school that great people attended. Typically, anybody who is called Aina inherits the name Eba because someone who had graduated from that school had that name. And the problem in the school was that the more you don’t like a nickname, the more it would stick. If you protest that you don’t like it, then you are more or less advertising.

How was life with the family you never knew you would be with?

I like the way you phrased that. I never knew I would be with them but I knew them. I lived mostly, initially, after my dad died, with my uncle who was called Dr John Olusola Aina. We bear the same name while I am Samuel Olusola Aina. He was a lecturer of Biology at the University of Lagos. There is no way I could say he and my aunt did not treat me as their child. They treated anyone who stayed with them like their own child. So, I can’t grumble.

And your mum?

My mum was a very powerful woman because when my dad died, she became the widow of a reverend and you know what that entails. And she was very passionate about everything. Even today, she is still what everyone called her then “Mama Yard”. So, we were all dispersed into various families. She was and is still a strict disciplinarian. Despite that, she was very industrious. She was a teacher, tailor and craftsperson.

You never went astray amidst all these?

It was utterly impossible for me to go astray because even though Dr Aina whom I was staying with was a university lecturer, he was also like a minister. And it was like everybody was looking out for you. While I was with my uncle, lots of people were always coming to check up on me. So, there was no way I could have gone astray.

All I can remember is that I had a shielded life and lots of things happened as a child that I did not know about. And my family was very religious. It was a Christian family. Although there was an impact of my dad’s death on me, which I probably did not recognise as a child but later did in life.

What do you mean, sir?

What that does to you, is not to make you feel a sense of entitlement. It makes you feel everyone is doing you a favour despite their best efforts. You would feel you are not entitled to what you are getting. So, that could easily affect your confidence. That aside, I had gifts growing up. I was very intelligent and practical. Everybody knew that I would become an engineer.

This was because I was good at making things as a child. I built battery-operated cars, and flashing lights and I did experiments as well.

I was not born in Nigeria but in the United Kingdom and I left for Nigeria at age 4. Apart from that, I regularly visited my uncle at the university and saw him as a scientist- That was Dr John Aina at the University of Lagos. Around age 7, we used to visit him and I used to see all his books. There, I would be looking at different pictures of inventors.

Is that why you studied engineering?

Yes, and everyone knew that, though there was one barrier. The barrier was that at age 9 after my dad’s death, I was not performing in school any longer. I was always at the bottom of the class. I used to share the bottom of the class with my friend who died a long time ago. A maa n du ni (we used to drag the position). So, everyone wondered what was going to happen to me. But then, things changed as I transited to secondary school and then moved from one uncle to my other uncle. It was at that time I suddenly switched and became the most brilliant in the school.

Describe this transition

It might have been a constant observation of the people around me who were saying ‘what is going to happen to this boy perhaps he should become a mechanic’. There is nothing wrong with being a mechanic but they only felt I was good with all these things except academics. They were very worried and I was not wayward. So, I started reading voraciously in secondary school, reading three books at a time. There was one occasion we had a prize-giving day and it was in class 2. Surprisingly, every single gift for each subject was taken by me. The name of the school was called Bashita in Kwara State. But then, it was the desire of my uncle for me to go to the same school he attended which was Christ School, Ado-Ekiti. So, I was transferred to Christ School, where I completed my secondary education.  Perhaps it was a matter of curiosity, I had a different idea of what the university should be. I have always had the mindset that a university is a place of innovation. We had people like Dr Awojobi, who was an inspiration.

How was life after school?

By the time I graduated, there was a problem with employment in Nigeria already. So, I was one of those people who found it hard to get a job even as a university graduate. I served in Keffi, Plateau state. Remember I said I was not born here. So, I had to go to the British Embassy to arrange for my passport because anybody born in the UK would be an automatic UK citizen at that time. So, that was how I got out of the joblessness. I did not really succeed in Nigeria as an engineer. So, I took my passport and headed straight to the UK.

In UK, waiting for me, was another uncle, Emmanuel and this was in 1989. So, I moved in with his family and I was with him until I was able to settle down. But, in those times and even now, the certification from Nigeria was not worth anything in the UK although you have the advantage that you have the education. So, it was very hard to get an engineering job. I worked in some entertainment area where I was cleaning. I worked in a restaurant where I was helping to tidy up. I worked with an agent going around, cleaning offices. However, on the basis of my knowledge as an engineer, I got employment at the university. I was an engineering technician in their civil engineering department. Even though as an engineering graduate, I really should not be a technician. Remember I told you I have an analytic gift and I had been interested in computing and programming even from Nigeria. While I was working as a technician, they noticed that I was programming their equipment for controlling tests. I was assisting the research students with the analysis of their projects and was assisting the undergraduate students. So, apart from working in the mechanics’ laboratory, I was also working in the computing lab. So, I gained a lot of skills. I learnt all sorts of programming languages and then I did courses as well. Eventually, I became a programmer and started programming in the city of London with an insurance company.

When did your breakthrough come?

After I joined the City of London, I was still working as a junior programmer. My breakthrough came with something they called Millenium Bug, which happened in the year 2000. And what happened was that all the banks and other financial institutions were afraid that we were about to turn from 1999 to 2000. It seemed like a small thing to you but it was a big thing in the tech space mainly because of the calendar system, equipment, and databasing. All these things were based on a 2-digit year system. Before you used to say something like 2-2-99 or 1-2-98. That is how we used to do the date, isn’t it? So, what is now going to happen when it turns the year 2000? It would turn 00 and many types of equipment had been programmed like that. So, people thought there would be a meltdown when it turns 2000. All the banks were crazy about recruiting computer programmers. That was the making of many programmers in those days. So, suddenly I got from earning a particular salary to like trebling my salary because of the millennium bug. So, I quit the place I was working and got a contract working with a bigger bank because they wanted a programmer. So, that was how I got into banks. So, that was a big break.

Did you meet your wife amidst this breakthrough?

No, I met my wife back in Nigeria and that was in 1986. We have a very close family friend whom I called Uncle, he used to be a Professor at the University of Ibadan and later on became a Minister in Nigeria and went on to Germany. I am talking about Tunde Adeniran. I met my wife in his house because I used to go to his house a lot. My wife was living with that family at that time and that was how I met her. By 1987, we were fairly serious. In 1989 when I was coming to the UK, I had to go and tell her dad “I am your daughter’s boyfriend and I will be travelling to the UK. My plan is that eventually I will be marrying your daughter and she will join me there”.

And his response?

The ideal response would be ‘who the hell are you? Get out of my house. But you know the thing is we are from the same village. He knew my dad and was very pleased. So, he said, “of course, by all means”.

What was the attraction?

She is a very fair person and therefore dislikes injustice. She is a bit outspoken in that regard which is a very refreshing quality. So, we sort of clicked. Her big quality is she is very hardworking. She is very decent and does not like things not proper. I was even shy about asking her out.

How did you eventually get it done?

It was hard. I honestly stuttered the words. The thing is shy or not, I knew it was a thing that had to be done. I had to sit her down to say “you know the thing is, I am sure many people had been saying this kind of thing to you and all that but I am saying it because this is what I feel. And so, I would like us to be friends and I mean it in all honesty”. So, I managed to stutter those words. I don’t know how it came out and she probably said ‘I will think about it’. I have come to understand that that is what women typically say. So, I took that to be a yes and from there I never confirmed. We are 30 years in marriage now.