By A.O Vincent, Lagos
Another maritime icon – an institution per excellence – is gone! We have again lost another doyen of the NIgerian Maritime Industry to the cold wicked hands of death!
ENGINEER Akinsoji was Nigeria’s Deputy Ambassador to the United Kingdom; former Rector, Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron; the brain behind the establishment of the NIgerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency. He also developed the principles of the NIgerian Cabotage Act. He retired as a Director of Shipping Services, Federal Ministry of Transport. He was an active and very important member of the Nigerian Ports Consultative Council.
On Wednesday 3rd January, 2024, the Acting Chairman, NIgerian Ports Consultative Council, Mr. Bolaji SUNMOLA and Mr. A.O. Vincent paid him a working visit in his home town Abeokuta. We had pleaded with him to present the lead paper at the Council’s Quarterly Meeting at Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Thursday February 25, 2024. But he drew our attention to his ailing health, especially the legs which were gradually going down. But he agreed to grant us an interview this week which would contain the way forward for the NIgerian Ports Consultative Council. Little did we know that thirteen days after the useful discussion he would join his ancestors.
Oh death! Where is thy sting? Oh grave! Where is thy victory?
One day, we shall leave this bounteous earth and travel to a world beyond our ken. All human problems shall then abate. They shall blend with six feet of the terrain.
“We were once like you. One day, you will be like us.” This message on the mortuary entrance and exit reminds us about the temporarity of human existence. Today we are alive. Tomorrow, we are dead!
Otunba Kunle Folarin, Chief Margaret Orakwusi, Dr. W.A. Kareem, Julie Ogbolu, Sunny Okpor, Alhaji Hameen, Captain Biu, and a host of others in the maritime industry who have bowed out of human existence did their best to promote the NIgerian Maritime Industry. Their labor shall never be in vain.
May the gentle soul of Engineer Olu. Akinsoji rest in perfect peace.
For us the living, the struggle continues.
Good night Engineer Olusoji Akinsoji!
