THE QUINTESSENTIAL GRACE OLAGUNJU

       

   By Ishola Gbenga

On Sunday, 25th June 2023, there was a rain of encomiums on Rotarian Grace Olagunju, the President Rotary Club of Ilorin GRA, who took up the mantle of leadership to serve the club a year ago. It was a day of fulfilment for her and a day of pride for all of us and indeed, the Rotary Club of Ilorin GRA that she represents as the Synergy President in the Imagine Rotary Year.

At the time the mantle of leadership of the club fell on her, I believe she is a right choice and the decision to serve as her Secretary, having been approached, actually accentuated my confidence in both the club and members at large. She has done so much for our club. She is a remarkable woman, a committed wife and mother. She is also a great Rotarian and a selfless professional.

Haven worked closely with her, specifically, as her Secretary for a year (2022-2023), and haven followed her activities since then, it is not difficult to testify positively of Rtn. Grace’s high performance and excellent leadership, which we all saw at the club level and beyond.

Looking back, Rtn. Grace Olagunju is a woman that I worked with and benefited immensely from her brilliance, passion, great work ethics and commitment, focus on selfless service to humanity. Olagunju served as trail-blazing achiever, who silenced Naysayers and Doubting Thomas, who often hold the antiquated notion that women are tossed around to play second fiddle. 

She is an exceptional manager, who mastered the art of insisting the right thing is done in the right way. She has the gift of identifying steps that need to be taken and challenges that need to be fixed, and would invariably get them fixed. Beyond her person, she is, without doubt, a shining example of amazing selflessness.

However, one remarkable attribute of Rotarian Grace Olagunju is her carriage. She has that confidence and charisma. She never looked herself as a woman, which makes it easy for everyone to see her as a true leader. She was also not just an effective manager of human resources. She was a worker herself. Little wonder she scored many firsts to her credit. First female president in the club, first to introduce online fellowship in the club where members in the diaspora attends fellowship every week, first to introduce Monthly Team Activities where members were grouped monthly and offered the sense of belonging. I can mention more. 

Chattered nine years ago, specifically, on 10th April 2014, Rotary Club of Ilorin GRA has since celebrated nine years of indelible impact to humanity, worthy accomplishments and uncommon sustainability towards stabilizing the club and its members despite all odds.

Here is a club that has produced a female District Governor in PDG Jumoke Bamigboye. Here, we are talking about a club with 8 Paul Harris Fellows (PHF). Looking back, it is therefore safe to say it is no doubt 9 years of friendship, service, opportunities and hope.

Funnily enough, some mischievous Rotarians had once referred to RC Ilorin GRA as a club of old folks. In retrospect, it turned out to be a title we all accepted not only in good fate, but with pride. This is a club where we dialogue and decide with maturity. This is more evident from the fact that hardly will a week pass without having a guest or Rotarians from other clubs come to fellowship with us. Attending fellowship in RC Ilorin GRA is like attending leadership workshop in 5 Star Hotel. Arguably, RC Ilorin GRA is today, the most coordinated club that Past Presidents of the club don’t miss attending fellowships.

However, with my little experience in the past, I had lost appetites for attending weekly fellowships in some Rotary clubs in Ilorin. Over the years, AG Ayo Olagunju would always encourage us to attend other sister’s club’s’ fellowships. The motive, I supposed was to create friendship and learn more about Rotary. 

The one I last attended was a nightmare. One could hardly differentiate whether you are in a fellowship or Wuse market. So rowdy, and uncoordinated. They used productive time to crack expensive jokes, take beer and peppersoup and then moved for adjournment. Nothing more. Till next week.

Now compare such scenario with a club where robust and objective conversations were triggered for constructive and meaningful engagements. Compare those clubs with a supposedly club of old folks where thought-provoking ideas on the future of Rotary were discussed. Here is a club that never failed in getting her Presidential Citation every Rotary year, and a club with members doing well in virtually all classifications of life.

For me, Rtn. Grace Olagunju is one of the key architects of modern RC Ilorin GRA, especially for her surpassing role in championing reforms whose impact changed the club for good. Those reforms impacted aspects of our lives as Rotarians. To her credit, Olagunju never destroyed the modest achievements of her predecessors. Instead, she built on them. She is our ‘Star Girl’.

This is a woman who worked every bit of her time to observe every activity as outlined in the Rotary International calendar for every month. As an extremely brilliant person, she always engaged we, her team, and fellow up always. These made her succeed ultimately.  

Other skills I admire would come in handy. She is an exceptional crisis manager at all levels. This was evident in her efforts to ensure that Kwara Rotarians have a stable and memorable Imagine Rotary Year, which rather unfortunately turned out to be what some of them chose to be. It is though important to acknowledge the resilience and determination of few other clubs who chose to remain synergized to the end. Even with that, it is safe to get the year described as ever divisive Rotary year in the history of Kwara Rotarians.

Though she never discussed any of these issues personally with me, but I, and many others knew she had waded into the toughest of situations and almost always came out with great result, through her persuasive engagements, but it never worked out as expected. It is however, painful and disheartening that the supposedly ‘Synergy Presidents’ ended up not synergizing to produce a President of Presidents (PoP) throughout a whole Rotary year due to partisan politics and greed that we can all see at many fronts among them.

Our Lieutenant Governor, Rtn. Alabi Amuda, a passionate Rotarian would always tell me about his admiration in seeing a day when there will be a conference where tentatively the topic will be ‘Rotary Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’. He is not only right, but must have seen a lot to have suggested such a brilliant topic to redefine the future of Rotary. Many things have gone wrong among Kwara Rotarians. This therefore, is for leaders and elders of Rotary in Kwara to stand up not only to the occasion, but to be counted. They should intervene on the part of justice before things go wrong totally. 

Of course, what we are experiencing today among Kwara Rotarians is what you get when you bring in all Dick and Harry into Rotary. As if that is not enough, they start addressing them as Rotarians without proper induction and before you say Jack Robinson, they're already made president of the club and by extension, constitute themselves to be another Paul Harris who knows Rotary more than the rest of us. 

Grace’s integrity is out of the ordinary. She is a woman of integrity in every standard. She would always ensured that her action is what she could defend anywhere. She also kept her words in whatever she committed herself to do. Many a time, she would told me ‘look Ishola I am a realist, I don’t build castle in the air’. To a large extent, I agree completely with her. 

Her beloved husband, Assistant Governor (AG) Ayodeji Adesina Olagunju must also be commended for providing the platform for his wife to thrive. Of course, one should not be surprise seeing that at play. Ayo Olagunju himself is an asset to Rotary. Their wonderful children, Damilola and Adebayo are also Rotaractors of note. The Olagunjus, forme, are a true example of what one can call The Family of Rotary.

As I use this opportunity to congratulate my dear President, Rtn. Christiana Abayomi Oluwole Phf, who looks prepared from all indications to take up the mantle, and wish her Godspeed in this new challenge, I equally hope that she will raise the bar of leadership of RC Ilorin GRA far and above where it is presently by joining the leagues of those who will Create Hope in the club and the World at large.

For Grace Olagunju, this is my way of saying congratulations.

Rtn. Ishola Gbenga is a journalist and the Secretary 2022-2023 Rotary Year.