Otunba Lateef Owoyemi, 74, Chartered Accountant, Management Consultant and the Otunba Jadiara of Ijebuland is the Managing Director and Chief Consultant, LOP Consulting Limited. A Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International and former President, Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria (IMCON) and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), his consultancy for governments, parastatals, financial institutions, private businesses and individuals as well as his multifarious service to humanity make him a busy and much-sought personality. In a chat with OLAWUNMI OJO at his palatial abode in Idowa-Ijebu, he speaks on how he unwinds at the weekend.I QUALIFIED as a Chartered Accountant in 1964. I worked for almost 20 years in the civil service, before joining the firm of Akintola Williams from where I started my practice, LOP Consulting, some 33 years ago. Since then, I have done nothing other than management consultancy for a wide range of clients. I operate from Idowa-Ijebu Mondays through to Fridays because my head office is here. I also go to Lagos four to five times a week. In addition to my work schedules, I am neck-deep in various forms of humanitarian service.The implication of all these is that I am always extremely busy such that hardly would I take any engagement, official or otherwise, with less than two weeks notice. As a result also, I am usually very happy once it is Friday because I know that on Saturday and Sunday, I would not have to go to the office. Anyone who attempts to crowd me out at the weekend I try to avoid by telling them I am out of town. I am very jealous about my weekends.I wake around 5.30am everyday anyway; it is the same at the weekend. After that, I say my prayers, have a cup of coffee or so, then go back to sleep and wake up around 9.30am or 10.00am. I don't see any visitor before this time. It is just not possible. You want to see me for any matter; it must be after 11am.Once I am up, I hang around on my terrace to catch up on newspapers. When I read the papers during the week, I pull out some things I want to read further. Things that interest me ' articles about other people, about others' knowledge, how to do things better, what somebody is saying that is important ' I keep such pages of newspaper. Then at the weekend, I sit at the terrace where there is plenty of fresh air and read all of them in details. Sometimes, some Islamic groups send me articles in my email; I download them and keep. Then, at weekends, I sit quietly and read all of them, after which, I get them filed.I have two small children aged two and half, and five. I spend a lot of time with them at the weekend. I enjoy their company a lot. And I do not want people to come in and interrupt when I am with them. They ask me a lot of questions which I answer. They entertain me; I ask them to sing and dance. I ask them what they have done in school during the week. That keeps me very busy.My compound is large and very comfortable; not in terms of substantial investment but the environment. There is a lot of greenery. About a third of this expansive land is building; the remaining is made of grass, flowers, trees, coconut and things like that. It gives me pleasure. Here, I am at home with nature; so leaving here to go out is always a great sacrifice. In fact, you can hardly ever get me to spend a night in Lagos. For anyone to invite me for a dinner in Lagos, what am I going to eat to make me sleep over in one crowded hotel with the attendant traffic and smoke in Lagos traffic' No, never. I attend parties in Lagos but by 4pm or 5pm, I would be back in Idowa because I also want to see my babies before they go to bed. This is all about Saturdays.On Sundays, I wake up at about 5.30am to say my prayers. Then I go back to bed, wake up at about 10am' and the day continues like that.On weekends, my wife usually gives me a special dish of fish and either fried potato or mashed potato with vegetables, tomatoes and turkey, which I always enjoy. I do not have a favorite food, but I love pounded yam.I hardly eat fresh meat. But as an Otunba, occasionally, I get gifts of ram from people who want to become Otunba. In Ijebuland, every new Otunba must give a whole ram to every senior Otunba ahead of him or her. So, when I get those rams, I just ask my wife to roast them for me on charcoal. I enjoy it a lot.At times, in the afternoon on weekends, I pluck my coconut and use it to drink Garri. I enjoy my food every time I eat and I always thank God for that privilege.I am well over 70. People have commented severally that I don't look my age. This is probably because I never worry about anything in my life. If there is money, I thank God; if there is none, I still thank him because I know it would come. There is nothing I have ever wanted to do in my life that I have been unable to do. I also do a lot to help people and groups in my community.Do you work-out or gym as a form of relaxation'No, there is no gym here. In the past, I used to do some jogging around the premises. However, I do a lot of walking and do exercises in the room. I must tell you that I am very fit. And that comes to me naturally. I read a lot, write a lot, dance a lot; I work a lot.You dance a lot; that means you love music. What is your favourite'My best musicians are the traditional ones ' Haruna Ishola, Ayinla Omowura, Raji Owonikoko, Yusuf Olatunji and of course, Fela. I love Fela a lot; I have almost all his records. Fela made sense a lot. And whether we like it or not, in time he would be immortalized as one of the greatest Africans the world ever saw. He was a liberation musician.Do you get to watch the television'Oh yes. I watch Al Jazeera and Sky News a lot. For Nigerian news, sometimes I go to Channels to know what is happening around the country. I also watch football. My little children's favorite club is Manchester United. So I buy into that and watch their matches religiously with them. I don't watch Nigerian club sides play because of the battered image. All these quarrels and internal wrangling is not helping matters at all. You also cannot trust Nigerian teams to make progress and build on it. So why waste time on them.
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