Reminiscences with Surveyor Olukunle Akinola

Olukunle Akinola was the surveyor-general of Lagos State from 1975 to 1983. He retired as surveyor-general/coordinating director in 1987. He was educated in St Andrews Primary School, Ipaja; CMS Grammar School, Lagos; Federal Survey School, Oyo; Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Enugu; South-West Technology College, London; Geographical Survey Institute, Tokyo, Japan; among others. […]

Olukunle Akinola was the surveyor-general of Lagos State from 1975 to 1983. He retired as surveyor-general/coordinating director in 1987. He was educated in St Andrews Primary School, Ipaja; CMS Grammar School, Lagos; Federal Survey School, Oyo; Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Enugu; South-West Technology College, London; Geographical Survey Institute, Tokyo, Japan; among others. He held many positions in government before reaching the pinnacle of his career. He was also a supervisory councillor for works and housing in Ikeja Local Government. For six years he was the chairman of Ipaja Community Development Association and a director of Ipaja Community Bank Limited from 1994-2004. The octogenarian, who would clock 88 years in October 31 this year, shared his experiences with Daily Trust on Sunday, including how he supervised the mapping of Lagos State when it was created.

How would you describe your early years?

I was born on October 31, 1931, so at the end of October this year I will be 88. While I was growing up, Ipaja was a village and under colonial province. I used to say that I was born in the kitchen of my father’s house because there were no hospitals around. She managed to get me down there, and I thank God that I am still alive today.

I left primary school in 1945. The only secondary school, I applied for was CMS Grammar School in Lagos; and I thank God that I gained admission there. The school year was January to December, so I started in January 1946 to read classes one to six.

I passed out from CMS Grammar School with a Senior Cambridge School Certificate, Grade 3. In that school, if you failed in English you failed in all, and you would repeat. You took 9 subjects, and English was compulsory. I thank God that I passed English, so I passed all. In those days, it was not too difficult to get jobs. I applied to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and I was taken as a junior technical officer.

Do you have remarkable memories of your primary school days?

I remember that if you misbehaved, they would cane you. I remember that I failed in Primary Two, which they called Standard Two in those days, and I said I was not going back to school because they usually beat us. I think I was playful. Anyway, my father’s sister intervened and I repeated Standard Two. I finally passed out and obtained the primary school certificate.

In those days, May 24 was called Empire Day, and we celebrated it every year because we were still under the colonial masters. We trekked from Ipaja to Ikeja for the celebration, and we enjoyed it as young people.

I also remember that because there was no electricity, after school, we played when there was a moon. We enjoyed the moonlight. We played boju-boju (hide and seek) and ayo. I remember that in those days, the water we drank was from Abesan river. We went there to fetch water. Then, in the morning we used to do our prayer meetings. By 5am our parents would wake us up and we would do our meeting, after which we tidied up the house and the surroundings.

Unfortunately, the first wife of my father died. He had only one son, and after about 10 years, he got married again to my mum and she had three children – myself, my brother and sister. She has passed on. I am the first born. My father was a farmer, so when we were on holidays or on Saturdays we would follow him to the farm. We also followed him to church. My mother also used to go to church.

You said Ipaja was a bush, how was growing up in that kind of environment like?

The people were mostly farmers. They were also church people and Muslims there. Your parents would tell you what to do and what not to do. In Ipaja, mostly the area we are, people are mostly family members. Although they built their different houses, they know themselves. So we enjoyed staying together. For example, when my father came from the West, his brother was already there; he built a house. They settled there when they first came to the area.

Which part of the West?

We called it Ibooro in the Western Region. That was where they came from.

How did you find yourself in surveying?

The interest I have in surveying came from the fact that as a farmer I loved bush life. Surveyors of those times used to carry poles to the bush for survey. I used to follow my dad to the farm, so I got used to bush life. When I was in secondary school, I was a boy scout; in fact, I was a patrol leader. We used to go to camp, which were located in the bushes. That also boosted my interest in surveying.

When I finished secondary school I applied to the Survey Department of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and I was taken. I went to a survey school in Oyo. All those times we were still in the Western Region. When I finished from survey school between 1951 and 1952, I worked up to 1957 and was given scholarship to go to the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Enugu to do a survey course. We had three of such schools in Nigeria then, but it was the one in Enugu that offered survey. In 1961, I passed out of Enugu. We called it Higher Institution of Chartered Surveyors. After that, I attended a nine-month course at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Essex, London. I came back in 1962. When I passed out I became a full member of the Institute of Chartered Surveyors. That was how my survey life began.

How easy was it to get your first job?

I wrote an application to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing as a surveyor assistant,  junior technical officer.

How would you describe your days in higher institutions?

Four of us went from western Nigeria to the College of Arts, Science and Technology, but we were two that passed out from that course. It was the Western Region that took up the scholarship for the London college; and from there I became a surveyor.

At the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology we had the opportunity to do exercises. I played football, lawn tennis, table tennis and things like that. When I was in the survey school, I was also a sportsman. Even when I went to London, I was with my lawn tennis equipment. But age won’t allow me to do it again.

I remember I was a member of the Christian Youth something; I can’t remember whether we called it Association or Congress. During our meetings we always emphasized the importance of facing what you came to do. So I faced my studies so that I would pass well. As I said, only two out of the four of us that were sponsored by the Western Region came out successful.

When I came back from the Nigerian college, I was posted to the Western Region. They posted us to villages and towns for survey work. I remember I was at Ikirun, Ede, Ondo and Abeokuta, all under the Western Region. That experience helped us a lot because as a surveyor you must be used to bush life. That was what I enjoyed most.

Were you involved in mapping some of these places you mentioned?

I was not involved because we were not in a position to do that. I had senior people above me. What we did was to do survey work when you bought land and when it came to government acquisition. I actually started mapping when I got to Lagos State.

At the time Lagos was created, it was more like a virgin land. To what extent were you involved in mapping the state?

I was in Ikeja when Lagos State was created. They met me here and we were told to choose whether to go to Western Region or stay in your state of origin. I chose to be here. Before I settled, I was again sent to Japan in 1967. I was posted back here from Ibadan to Ikeja and I took up the headship of the survey division in Lagos State. I was then a junior officer, so it took time to get to the position of the head of surveyors in Lagos State.

When they advertised for the position of surveyor-general, they couldn’t get, so they took one Alhaji Smith on contract as a deputy surveyor-general to act as surveyor-general. In 1975, I took over from him as surveyor-general. Then, the government acquired lands here and there for development. I was in charge of those developments, so I had to organise surveyors to the field. I think we started mapping in 1975 and I was in charge. In fact, I was in charge of the first mapping that was done in Lagos State. Well, technology has taken over now and it is not as strenuous as we had it. We thank God that at least we had the first mapping.

The Federal Government had its own aspect of providing surveys for states. There are surveys that are permitted by law to be carried out by the Federal Government, so it was mapped for the whole country while the states must do their own. In 1975 we started our own mapping, which was what we used until 1980s when I retired.

What were the challenges you faced during the first mapping?

Once you put up a case to the government that you wanted to do mapping and they agreed, you had to do it on contract. The contractors would fly and get the photographs of the areas you wanted to map. We had large and small scale mapping. The Federal Government was engaged in small scale while we were in large scale. When we told our contractors that we wanted to engage in large scale, they knew they were going to do their mapping.

We chose to map Lagos and environs – Epe, Ikorodu, Badagry was done as large scale mappings.

Looking at Lagos now, would you say the state has sustained its master plan as contained in the mapping you supervised?

The structures and streets have not changed much. But these days, technology has permitted us to do more, and more quickly than we were doing. Again, surveyors carried poles around, but we don’t carry poles now. We don’t just walk around the streets as we did before. Technology has changed that. You can stay here and survey what you want to do and prepare the map. Whatever information you wanted, you would just go and establish on the ground, like street names, churches or whatever that is supposed to be on the map. Then you would go and do it. These days, technology has made it easy, such that you map area photographs and get whatever result you want. It is not as difficult as we had it.

I understand that some areas like Ajegunle and Apapa, for instance, were not included in the mapping, why were there excluded?

When there is no money you won’t be able to do much. When we made our suggestions to the government and they didn’t release money, we won’t be able to do anything. What we tried to do was to visit populated areas like Ikeja, Epe and Ikorodu. We tried to do Ikorodu and Badagry, which were zonal headquarters, so that people could use the map – town planners could use the map and anybody travelling would need a map for direction. Even though the money was not there, we actually chose to map populated areas so that it could be useful to the community.

Do you have any regret leaving government as a surveyor?

I remember that when I came in, the number of staff was below 15, but I left about 400 people there. I also trained people. We employed people and sent them to training institutions in Oyo State and overseas. We also employed graduates in particular departments in government offices so that they would take over from us. Before I left, for instance, I already had somebody who could take over as surveyor-general.

What I am saying, in essence, is that we were also conscious of the fact that we were going to leave and we must leave people who could take over from us. We were working together and we had no problem doing what the government was structured to do.

Did you go into private practice after retirement?

Apart from government surveyors, we have private ones who usually register with the government to practise. When I left the government I was licensed to do survey, so I started practising.

What was your experience with land owners?

When I was in Ibadan, I was posted to survey a government acquired land and the people came and seized our instruments.  We had to leave, but when we brought the police and told them it was a government acquired the land they left us.

We moved from place to place, so when we were to go on tour, I remember I was sleeping in my camp with a snake. It was when we were packing to leave that we got to know. Thankfully, these days there are no camps again, they have to get good tents or hotel.

When I was coming from Oshogbo to Ede on an assignment we had to carry our tents across the river by canoe. Although travelling through the river was a risk, those who sent us on camp didn’t know. They just told us to ‘go and survey.’ We were lucky we passed through. My wife joined me. We travelled by water, but I said I would go first so that if there was a hazard on the way we would not die at the same time. So I waited on the other side of the river for her to come, and we continued our journey. That’s the experience of life.

How was your love life as a youth; and how did you meet your wife?

As a young man, I was more interested in my school work than following girls. As a boy scout, I had one or two because we also had a girls’ scout. We used to meet as friends and that was all.

I met my wife in Ibadan when I was in the survey school. Some of our course-mates joined us from there. When we were on holidays we would go and meet them in their houses. That was when I met my wife. She was attending St. Theresa College. When we were free from school, we would go to Ibadan to enjoy ourselves and find girls there. I got my wife there and we got married in 1955.

Didn’t you have any girlfriend before you got married to her?

I didn’t have any serious relationship. In the boys’ and girls’ scout we had friends, but not serious ones, I immediately I left for Lagos, that was the end of it. There was no communication as there was no phone. I was also thinking of getting married. We have been together. We have six children – three boys and three girls.

Did any of your grandparents have an influence on you?

My father died in 1954. Apart from the fact that I did primary and secondary schools at Ipaja, there was no much influence, except that they said I must be a religious man.

But mostly, I stayed with my father and he taught me to be disciplined. You must wake up on time, tidy up the environment, go to school and church.

Nigeria experienced a lot of coups, which you witnessed; what was your experience?

When the coups came, there was nothing much you could do as a civil servant. We did whatever they put on the ground. So the coups didn’t change anything in the civil service; we continued to do our work. It was the politicians that were affected. I think during the first mapping we did, there was a military government in place. It didn’t affect us. We were doing what we were empowered by law to do. They called us for our meetings and we went.

What was the social life like in Lagos?

I was a sportsman. When we left school, I continued my sportsmanship. When I was in Oyo, I went to teach from 1964 to 1968. I joined a club there. I would go there, play my lawn tennis and come back home. When I came to Ikeja, Lagos, I joined Ikeja Club. I knew the Country Club was nearer to my office, but I decided to join the Ikeja Club because the Country Club was too expensive for me. I was one of those who developed the Ikeja Club, but it didn’t have a football field. In fact, I was a sports secretary at Ikeja Club.

What is the state of your profession now?

Even if surveyors have a lot in their heads to think about on how to improve the profession, if there is no finance there is not much you can do. At the early stages, they provided money for training so that they could groom those who would take over from us. I think they are doing better now as they buy the equipment necessary for the job. For example, as a state office you must provide necessary tools for practising surveyors to use. When the government provided money and equipment, they also provided for people in private practice to work with, and I think Lagos State is doing that.

What is your advice to the youth of today?

Things have changed and we have not really improved. Nigeria has not really developed. We used to be scared of gbomo-gbomo (child kidnappers). They only picked small children, but now, they kidnap both the young and the old. This is because our security is bad. Everybody should protect themselves.

In the past, if I wanted to travel to Ibadan or anywhere, I chose to go in the night, but these days I think it is not advisable. It means we are deteriorating, we are not improving. Our leaders think too much of themselves, not how to improve the country.