The bond of love between me and Olofa is strong ―Baba Oba of Offa, Alhaji Abdulraheem Amoo Oladimeji

How did you feel when you were informed about the chieftaincy title by the Olofa?

Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alamin (praise be to God, Lord of the Universe). I have been conferred with many chieftaincy titles but the ‘Baba Oba’ title is very different because the bond of love between me and present Olofa, even his predecessor, is so strong. The Present Olofa loves me so much. When Kabiyesi informed me about the title, I was very happy. I asked my family and friends to go and show appreciation to the Olofa. Kabiyesi is so accommodating. He loves people, irrespective of their tribe, religion or ethnicity. We had been friends even before he became king. We love each other. I thank the Olofa, his council and all sons and daughters of Offa for finding me worthy of this honour. I also thank Almighty God for this. May Allah grant kabiyesi long life and good health. I am so happy for this title. By God’s grace, on the 11th day of December, 2021, I will be officially installed as the Baba Oba of Offaland. 

You were only recently installed as the Asiwaju of Igbominaland and you are about to be installed as the Baba Oba of Offaland. How are you going to juggle the responsibilities that come with these honours?

I have been conferred with many chieftaincy titles, more than 20, actually. One does not affect the other if someone is serious. The responsibilities are a minor thing. I was installed as the Arogundade of Lagos more than 30 years ago and up to today, there is nothing going on in Lagos that I don’t know about. That title was confered on me by the late Oba Oyekan. The present Oba of Lagos is almost 20 years on the throne and I have always given my support to Lagos City. Before I became the Asiwaju of Igbominaland, by God’s grace, I shouldered more than 70 percent of the town’s responsibilities. I have been confered with many titles in many places. In fact, I am a chieftaincy title holder in Lyon, France. By God’s grace, the responsibilities of the Baba Oba of Offaland and the Asiwaju of Igbominaland are not a problem at all.

What are the activities lined up for the installation day?

Nothing much. We will have a prayer session towards my success, the success of Kabiyesi.Alfas will pray for me, Kabiyesi Olofa, his council and all my well-wishers. Even if adherents of other religions are there, they will also pray because I am not a religious fanatic. After that, there will be a reception for everybody. Prayer is the key to everything. I believe in it so much.

As a successful businessman, you invested in education and this culminated in the birth of Al-Hikmah University. What is your projection for the university in the next 10 years?

Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alamin. Al-Hikmah is 18 years old this year and Almighty God has blessed me with children that take care of the university. What gave birth to Al-Hikmah was that in my family, we are successful business tycoons but in the area of education, we were lagging a bit behind and then I decided that if I ever had the means, I would invest in education and that is what led to the establishment of Al-Hikmah University. Before the establishment of the university, I already had a foundation, that is, Abdulraheem Oladimeji Islamic Foundation, which I used to bring relief to people. That foundation gave birth to Al-Hikmah University. To the glory of God, Al-Hikmah is a household name in Nigeria. We have Al-Hikmah International School and Al-Hikmah University. There is another one ongoing. I won’t mention it but it will be unveiled soon.

The way I met my family when I was born, I don’t want to leave it like that. I promised to improve it. Al-Hikmah has produced many graduates from different faculties and they are doing well in different fields . Before I got the licence for the university in 2005, students of Abdulraheem College of Advanced Studies got there certificates from Sudan because we operated the college under our foundation but glory be to Almighty God, we are now a full-fledged, standard university (Al-Hikmah University).

Our products are doing well. There are lecturers, lawyers and other professionals among them.

Our first set of graduates that collected their certificates from Sudan are almost 100 and I pay for all the expenses attached to that. I also took some to Medina, Saudi Arabia. They are about 120. They are all graduates and are gainfully employed. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alamin, as of today in Al-Hikmah University, we are licensed up to the doctoral degree level. You can do first degree, Master’s degree and PhD programmes at Al-Hikmah University. We have Law, Agriculture, Accounting, Economics and many more courses. Now my family, my community and Kwara State in general have improved drastically in education because there is hardly any local government in Kwara State that does not have students in Al-Hikmah University. My family and community now boast of doctors, lawyers, engineers and other professionals and I thank Almighty Allah for that.

How would you say the university is faring?

Al-Hikmah University workers are fantastic, trustworthy and God-fearing. But our government should allow private universities to also enjoy the benefits given to public universities because it is not an easy task running a private university in Nigeria. We appeal to the government to show mercy to private universities. To make a profit from private a university business is not immediate; you need to put in more resources because it is a capital-intensive project; you will need to pay so many bills —salary and other running expenses. I pay my workers’ salary between 24th and 26th of every month and I spend millions on that every month. It is just too expensive to run a private university. All over the world, the government usually assists private universities but I don’t know what is happening here. Private universities are really assisting Nigeria’s education sector.

What is your view of the younger generation of Nigerians?

We need to pray for them. Many young Nigerians have messed up things. Although they are smart, many of them are using their brilliance to do terrible things. How can sensible persons be engaged in fraudulent activities? I think we should be praying for them and parents, too, should be alive to their responsibilities.

As the Asiwaju of Igbominaland, what is your advice for all sons and daughters of Igbominaland?

They should love one another. God’s blessings abound where there is love. They should support the government and continue to contribute to the progress and development of Igbominaland. l call on them to see to the improvement of the economic activities in Igbomina by establishing industries. l wish them success in their endeavours.

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