Joop Berkhout: The white Nigerian who lived for books, writers

ON Monday, February 10, 2025, Chief Joop Berkhout (OON), breathed his last, thus joining the list of foreigners who embraced Nigeria and served the country till their last.  He was to be 95 years on March 31.

Prior to his transition, Chief Berkhout loomed large like a colossus in Nigeria’s publishing industry. The truth is that the story of the publishing industry in the country cannot be told without the mention of Chief Berkhout.

He was also the Pro-Chancellor of Michael and Cecilia Ibru University in Delta State.

He had arrived in Nigeria in 1966 to become the founding managing director of Evans Brothers in Ibadan, where he worked until he founded Spectrum Books, another publishing firm also in Ibadan.

After running Spectrum for some years, he sold it and started Safari Books in 2008. 

Before his sojourn to Nigeria, Berkhout had worked in Tanzania and Zambia, and the job offer in Nigeria by Evans Brothers was another opportunity for him to experience another African country, but he got hooked and stayed in the country until he breathed his last in his adopted city of Ibadan.

Berkhout, originally from The Netherlands, embraced everything Nigerian and contributed to the development of the country through the publishing industry, that the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade, honoured him with the chieftaincy title of Okunborode of Ife on April 13, 1991.

A year after his traditional recognition, he naturalised to become a Nigerian citizen on October 19, 1992. Several prominent personalities were at his naturalisation ceremony in Katsina State, including Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu. 

He was also awarded the national honour, Officer of the Order of Niger (OON) on December 13, 2002.

Berkhout was a family man to the core; he had a wife, Katherine Heim Berkhout,  and five children (four biological and one adopted). However, since his wife passed in 1999, he had remained unmarried.

That Chief Berkhout was an intellectual rubbed off on his children, with the first son being a professor at the King’s College, London. The family also has an architect, another lecturer, a digital content strategist and a marketing executive.

 

His final moment:

No other person could talk about Berkhout’s final moment than his personal assistant, James Akpele, who also doubles as the marketing manager of Safari Books.

Akpele, while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune during a visit to No. 20, Cambridge House, Chief Joop Berkhout Crescent, Onireke, Ibadan, said Baba was not sick, but after having his breakfast on Monday, requested for his friend, Archbishop Felix Alaba Job, the former Catholic Archbishop of Ibadan, to come and pray with him.

Akpele, who had been with Chief Berkhout since 2010 and initially started as his gateman and cook, said when they tried reaching Archbishop Job, he was unavailable, so they got another man of God, Dr Biodun Oladele, who came to pray for Chief Berkhout.

“After the prayer, Baba requested to be taken to his room and immediately he got on his bed, he died. However, a doctor was able to confirm his death at 11:45a.m.”

Akpele revealed that although Chief Berkhout was a disciplinarian, he was also someone who cared a lot about people.

On how he connected with Chief Berkhout, Akpele said he came to Ibadan in 2010 to see his elder sister, who was  a student at The Polytechnic then, “but I didn’t meet her, so someone said I should come to Chief Berkhout’s house to meet another known person who was Baba’s domestic staff.

“It was while I was here that I heard Baba was looking for a security person and I agreed to take up the job. So from that time, I was Baba’s gateman, washed his cars, cooked his food and did everything for him.

“Although it was not easy at the beginning, because Baba was a disciplinarian, I, however, kept giving my best to him.

“He encouraged me to go to school and I am now a degree holder and also the marketing manager of Safari Books.

“Baba was a very good man who cared about the development of those around him, and that is why I could rise from being his gateman to being the marketing manager of Safari Books.

“Even, when I was his driver, he never sat at the backseat; he always sat beside me and no matter who we had gone to meet, he would always introduce me as his colleague.

“Through Baba, I met a lot of very important personalities in the country; even, former President Olusegun Obasanjo still came to see Baba last month.

“He would sorely be missed,” Akpele said.

The Managing Director of Safari Books, Mr Odetola Olalekan, also described Chief Berkhout as someone who wanted people around him to grow.

Mr Olalekan said he joined Safari Books in 2013, after eight years in Macmillan Publishers, “and Chief Berkhout ensured that I got a grasp of every aspect of publishing.

“He wanted people around him to be best versions of themselves. He also never joked with the welfare of staff as he was always concerned about the economic situation of the country and kept increasing the salary of staff.”

To show the status of Chief Berkhout in the country, Presiident Bola Tinubu, in a statement by his Special Advise on Information and Strategy,  Bayo Onanuga, eulogised the publishing doyen for his love and contributions to Nigeria.

President Tinubu said: “Chief Berkhout lived a remarkable life in Nigeria. He was a doyen of publishing for over 50 years, shaping the industry and inspiring many Nigerian writers.

“He immersed himself in our culture and tradition; though he hailed from The Netherlands, his heart belonged wholly to Nigeria.”  

A former president of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Dr Wale Okediran, in his tribute, described Chief Berkhout as a publisher who was very passionate about books and writers.

“He was also a very committed naturalized Nigerian. May his soul rest in peace,” Okediran said.

Another member of ANA, public commentator and founder of Educare Trust, Dr Tony Marinho, described Berkhout as a publishing maestro.

Marinho said Berkhout was a keen educationist through his wide range of publications, including novels, textbooks and specialising in biographical and autobiographical works of many leading Nigerians.

Also, the Programme Director of Educare Trust, Mr Moshood Folorunsho, said Chief Berkhout was always admonishing youths to read books.

Folorunsho said: My first encounter with him was in the year 2000 when Educare Trust hosted the then British High Commissioner, Sir. Graham Burton and his wife, Julia, at Educare Trust Exhibition Centre (ETEC). That day, he looked at the library of ETEC, otherwise known as Kolapo Oyefeso Bookataria and found some gaps there. He pledged to fill the gaps with some Spectrum Publications, which he later did with cartons of books.

“I also remember vividly that same day, one of us (I was then a volunteer at ETEC now Educare Trust Youth Centre) who was a person with disability (PWD) did a solo performance of songs to the delight of everyone present including the then British High Commissioner and Chief Berkhout. After the event, Chief Berkhout gave Timothy Adebayo instant employment with an official car at the Spectrum Books for that wonderful solo performance.

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“I also remember the year we hosted the author, Sefi Atta and her celebrated novel, Everything Good Will Come. At the reading event, Chief Berkhout bought hundreds of copies of the book that were freely distributed to schools in Ibadan, Oyo State. He has gone beyond the reach of our arms now.“

Now that Chief Berkhout had lived the best part of his years in Nigeria, Akpele said he had also instructed that he be buried in his adopted city of Ibadan.

“He loved Nigeria so much; when he was still very strong, he used to travel to the United Kingdom and Spain, where his children are based, but he never stayed long outside Nigeria. He was so much in love with Nigeria.

“We are just awaiting the arrival of his children to begin the plan for his final journey home,” Akpele said.