Skip to main content

Chief Adeleke Amao Alata; Memorialization Of A Business Guru - Adewuyi Adegbite



 By Adewuyi Adegbite

It is exactly 24 years today since the demise of the deputy Chairman, Adebayo Alata Conglomerate, Nigeria limited, Chief Adeleke Alata. The Ogbomoso based Adebayo Alata conglomerates was into Brewery, sawmilling, furniture making, distribution, car dealership, manufacturing - candle, toilet roll, exercise books, farm, flour milling, transport, import and export of goods, super market, bakery, hotels sports etc. Though the conglomerates based in Ogbomoso, Oyo state, it had Depot throughout Nigeria and Ghana. Before the imposition of destructive Structural Adjustment Program on the nation by Gen I B Babangida regime in 1985/1986, Alata conglomerates was a household name in Nigeria in the field of industry. It provided employment for people all over south west and beyond. 

The company employed more than one thousand workers who were well taken care of. She was among the companies that rewarded their staff with cars in those days. 

But for SAP that made things difficult for manufacturers because of the devaluation of naira, scarcity of foreign currencies, importation of goods to the country without protecting the local industries, the conglomerates would have transformed Oyo state economy. In a nutshell, the conglomerates like it's likes without the support of ill gotten wealth of the military and their agents or foreign capital collapsed. 

But for the demise of Alata conglomerates, Ogbomoso would have been industrial hub in the south west and the coglomerates could have dusted today Giants like Dangote, Buha and other local capitalist industries. The relic of the once glorious industrial empire can be seen in Alata flour milling complex, along Ilorin road l, Alata Supermarket, Oja titun, Hotel International and Cool Room Oja Titun, Ogbomoso, the white house residence of the founder and Chairman at Apake and in the memory of those who are old enough to behold the beauty the group added to Ogbomoso, Oyo state and Nigeria in the good old days. The conglomerates that produced Elephant flour, Supa lager beer, Supa cola, Alata candle,Alata toilet paper, Alata matrass, Alata Babes football club that successfully brought national teams like golden eaglets and flying eagles to Ogbomoso, is remembered today as a mark of honour for the departed workaholic and a merchant of international repute, Chief Adeleke Amao Alata. May his noble soul continue to rest in the bossom of his creator. 

My prayer is that may God lift up other Ogbomoso indigenes who have the love of the town at heart and who will do the needfull to cub economic lull in the town , as against those charlatans who rode on the name of the town and ignorance of the citizens to wealth and turn their back to the town.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Akudaaya: Tinubu, Abacha and Shettima’s Theory of Ruthless Leadership | Festus Adedayo

  OPINION By Festus ADEDAYO In what seems to affirm that he wears controversies like apparel, vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Party (APC), Kashim Shettima, leapt into yet another at the twilight of last week. On Thursday at the 96th-anniversary celebration of the Yoruba Tennis Club in Ikoyi, Lagos state, Shettima was quoted to have said that Nigeria needed the “hospitality” of General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s despotic military ruler; Nigeria’s own contribution to the list of infamous rulers who ruled the world with infernal ruthlessness. As the controversy over what he actually said raged, Shettima came out with a clarification: He actually said that in 2023, Nigeria needed a president who possessed “a dose of ruthlessness and taciturnity”. Nigerians have since been engaged in dissecting what lay atop the mind of a man who could be the country’s vice president. “We need a leader with a dose of ruthlessness and taciturnity of General Sani Abacha… Nice men do not ma...
Post a Comment
Read more

Oyo Speaker Meets Senate Leadership, Deliberates State Assembly, LG Autonomy |OGBOMOSO INFO|

The Speaker of the 9th Oyo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin met the Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan to deliberate issues around financial autonomy for States Assembly and local governments. The brief meeting which was held yesterday after a national legislative assignment in Abuja, it’s considered necessary to improve cooperation between the National Assembly (Nigerian Senate and House of Representatives) and the State legislative arm. According to Ogundoyin, the wide gap between the National and the State assembly needs to be bridged to ensure that the common interest of the people are genuinely and adequately represented. He noted that the local government and State Assembly are closer to the people, saying the financial autonomy is essential towards meeting grassroot needs and making the State lawmakers run their legislative duties without hindrances. He said, “The distinguished Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan is a stakeholder in the nation...
Post a Comment
Read more

LAUTECH: Solving One Problem But Creating Another |Adewuyi Adegbite

    By Adewuyi Adegbite The sole ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso (LAUTECH) by Oyo State is a welcome development. Joint ownership of the institution by Oyo and Osun states has culminated into protracted crises in the institution, which has had telling effects on the students, the staff and its rating as the best state university in Nigeria as well as the relationship between the owner states. Thus, the taking over of the institution by the Oyo State Government is applauded by all and sundry as a pragmatic way of engendering peace. However, the report credited to the Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde that the institution would be run as a multi-campus is sad news for all Ogbomoso indigenes as well as lovers of justice. I wish to advise the Oyo State Government to reconsider the idea in the interest of peaceful coexistence among the various zones of the state, which is homogenous. Numerically and population-wise, Ogbomoso geo-political zo...
Post a Comment
Read more