Pa Francis Oluwole, a retiree of the defunct Nigerian Airways, was born on July 9, 1933 to the family of late Mr and Mrs Olatubosun Oluwole.
Pa Oluwole, a printer, worked at different printing press organisations before joining the Nigerian Airways as a professional printer in 1975, during the military regime of late General Murtala Muhammed.
“I had worked previously with Captain Press in Ibadan, then Abiodun Printing Press. The printing sector was very much efficient back then, but during General Muhammed’s military regime, in an attempt to gag the press, the printing section, which was in charge of documentation of aviation services, was about to be closed down, but with divine intervention it was revived,” he said.
Pa Oluwole recalled that there were high numbers of personnel handling the printing of aviation documents of Nigerian Airways, which had it operations concentrated at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, such as flight documents, boarding pass, papers for engineers of the aircraft, among others, adding that the printing section was shabbily managed by the officials, who were quacks employed by the military regime then.
He disclosed that few years after he became the head of the printing section, the section was revived. “Before then, flight documents, accounts documents were always printed abroad, and I wondered why they were wasting money, when they could actually be printed in the country.
That was how I ensured that we started to print all aviation documents in Nigeria, including the Nigerian Airways almanacs, which were distributed yearly to all the members of staff and customers,” he told The Point.
Comparing public servants of today to those of his time, Pa Oluwole said that people working for the government nowadays are not selfless, adding that all they think of is how to take care of their pockets, which has made corruption to be the order of the day.
He added that corruption and mismanagement was present during his service years, especially by the military, which actually led to the collapse of the national carrier at the time.
He however bemoaned the fact that corruption had gone from bad to worse in this present time. He said, “People no longer have regard for the protection of their names and integrity. They no longer care even if their names are marred; all they want is the easy way out.”
He recalled the time he had challenges in his course of work at the agency, when some top officials were retired compulsorily, but with divine intervention and good recommendation from his superiors, he was able to retain his job.
“All I did then was to face my job squarely, because I knew it was the only way I could rise to the top,” he recollected He revealed that the national carrier used to ply international routes to London, Amsterdam, Johannesburg and could have gone places, but for its poor safety records and activities of some highly-placed government officials, who saw the airline as government’s property and misused the airline, forgetting its sole purpose of establishment.
“It got so bad that government officials fly their families without paying for the service rendered, believing that ‘after all, it was government property.’ “This kind of attitude was synonymous with Nigerian investments, which lacked professional management expertise. Where is the Nigerian Railway Corporation today, where are the likes of NITEL, NIPOST, among other government agencies?
They are no longer in existence due to the lack of good managerial competence of those who were saddled with the management of the entities.” The octogenarian stressed the need for commitment and dedication to work by Nigerians if the country is to move forward.
“If we had learnt how to manage our investments from foreigners, and applied it properly to manage our investments at home, we probably won’t be in our present precarious situation,” he noted.
He added that for any sector to grow, especially the aviation sector, government must be honest and sincere in its policies and must be committed to working with the stakeholders involved.
“It is one thing for the government to promise to deliver and not fulfill its promise, it’s another thing for people to be committed to service. When you fail to do your own part, don’t expect any miracle or improvement to happen,” he said.
Pa Oluwole said he began his elementary education at the United Primary School in Ago Iwoye at the age of 9, because at that time, the criteria for admission into primary school was for a child to stretch his hand across his head and be able to touch the ear on the other side.
He recalled that it was the insistence of his mother, who cherished education, that made him start even when he was not yet qualified to start. He then proceeded to Yaba Higher College, Lagos, from where he bagged a one-year scholarship from the Federal Government to study at the Nigerian Printing School, before proceeding overseas in 1966, to study at Watford College of Technology in the United Kingdom for three years.
Pa Oluwole was full of good words for his parents, who were peasant farmers, but made sure he was educated at all cost.
