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THE LIFE OF NAVY CAPTAIN E.O.A. MAKINDE
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Emmanuel Oladipo Adeshiyan Makinde, the second son of Mr. and Mrs. John Ojo Makinde, was born on the sixth of May 1932 in Lagos, the capital territory of the then British Colony of Nigeria. His father worked as a clerk for Elder Demspter Shipping Lines, while his mother the the biggest distributor of 'Panla' (Storkfish) in the family hometown, Oyo.
He started his primary education at Ade-Oshodi Memorial Baptist School, Lagos and concluded it at Baptist Day School Oke-Ishokun, Oyo. He returned to Lagos to complete his secondary education at Eko Boys High School. He was a school boy contemporary of Hogan 'Kid' Bassey, who won the West African Flyweight title while still attending the High School. My father, a keen sportsman, did not quite reach those heights (Bassey later became Nigeria's first world champion) but was crowned the amateur flyweight champion of Lagos state.
His role model was Horatio Agedah, a talented journalist, whose example influenced my fathers growing interest in commercial and secretarial activities. He trained as a Verbatim Reporter and in 1949, obtained his first appointment, that of a stenographer, in the Personnel Department of the Lagos City Council. In this role, he was entrusted with the responsibility for the transcription of many of the Mayor of Lagos's confidential letters.
My father always placed a high value on self improvement and in 1957, he travelled to England on study-leave. Once arrived in London, it took him less than forty-eight hours to secure a stenographers job at the office of a Director of the Ministry of Works. A punctilious and conscientious worker, he nevertheless found time to devote to his other passion: sports. He was eventually made Captain of the Ministry's Atheletics Club. At the end of his studies, he qualified, by examination, as a member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.
It was while in London that he met and married my mother, Grace McIntosh.
Returning to Lagos in 1961, he transferred from the City Council to the Audit Department of the Federal Ministry of Works, where he remained until 1964 when he joined the Nigerian Navy as a Sub-Lieutenant. The Navy provided him with a very fruitful career. He quickly became the Flag Lieutenant to the Chief of Naval Staff, Commordore J.E.A. Wey. At the end of 1970, he was appointed as the Naval Attache to the Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom. He returned to Nigeria in 1973 and the following year was promoted to the rank of Commander. In the subsequent years, he became the Director of Naval Supply and Secretariat, was in charge of Accounting and Budgeting and was also the Director of Naval Logistics.
He retired, voluntarily, in 1982, having attained the rank of a Captain. He moved to Oyo Town where he set up a Poultry Farm. He also involved himself in several community development programmes, but declined, for personal reasons, to take up the offer of a post as a special adviser to the governor of Oyo State. Nonetheless, he remained active, serving between 1984 and 1987 as the Chairman Of Associated Breweries Ltd and Chairman of Odu'a Textile Industries. he was also a founding member and director of Akesan Community Bank, Oyo.
At the time of his death in October 2000, he was still an active member of the Oyo Caucus for whom he was a long term Financial Secretary. He had also been recently appointed the Charman of the Penshioners Union Oyo.
He devoted a lot of his time to faith, for many years offering his home as a venue for Christain Fellowship meetings and was the willing benefactor to many philantrophic causes.
He will live on in the hearts and thoughts of his family,friends and community.
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My mother and father at a social gathering in London. (Circa 1972)
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My father, now a Lieutenant-Commander and Naval Attache with my mother and another couple at a diplomatic function in the early (1970's)
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Commander Makinde poses outside his Lagos home. (Circa 1974)
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CONTACT ME AT:
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