He started life in the hustling chaos of Lagos Island, had his secondary school education in Ogun State before moving to King’s College, Lagos for his advanced level programme. From there, he went on to the University of London and graduated with a First Class degree in Mechanical Engineering.
That, in a nutshell, is the academic journey of Afolabi Adeniyi, a distinguished reservoir engineer who spent 28 years with Shell Petroleum before moving on to other projects and eventually founding his own firm.
His life is an unusual story of excellence. While in school, he was known more for his exploits in Mathematics. But he believes it would be unfair to God if his life was limited to that. He has an uncanny ability to recall. He’ll tell you the exact scores he and his classmates got back in 1975, recite the names of his teachers, and recount with ease, with graphic details, how life unfolded in his growing-up years and many of the events back in his school days.
He is simply a man in his own world, an iconoclast of sorts. His parents had to ensure he had his secondary school outside Lagos at Ijebu Ife Community Grammar School in Ogun State after attending St. Paul’s Primary School, Breadfruit, Lagos Island, to escape the influence of street urchins around where he was born.
Ironically, his father, who died in 2012 at the age of 95, did not believe in Western Education. “My father believed Western education is a fraud. So he was more concerned about our welfare and upkeep rather than our education. He never once asked for my results when I was in school. If he gives you money, he would prefer you use it to eat and live well than spend it on education,” says Adeniyi
His father, who hailed from Osun State, often wondered why someone would spend 16 years in school and come out to still be applying for a job. Adeniyi states, “He only had a standard school education before he went into business. He was far better than many of his friends who travelled out of the country for their degrees only to come back looking for a job. That is why he believed education is a fraud.”
But his mum, an indigene of Ode Remo, Ogun State, provided the balance. She was the one who ensured all her children were educated. She passed on in 2022 at the age of 81.
Life at Ijebu-ife
While at Ijebu Ife, Adeniyi saw life in its pristine and defining form. He was one of the first set of students in the school, which opened officially on September 5, 1975
He recalled there were just two buildings in the first two years of the school. Students only had the grace of two hours of electricity per day, which was supplied from a power-generating plant.
While the environment was not particularly enchanting, he cherishes his first two years in the school. His first mathematics teacher, Mr Jaganathan, an Indian and the duo of Mr Deinde, the principal and Mr Kujore, the Vice Principal, were the people who stirred his love for books.
That early start was to later culminate in a lifetime of exploits. While in class four, Adeniyi represented the school in the national mathematics competition and ranked among the first 10 in Nigeria, a feat that earned him a commendation letter from the then Ogun state government.
Exploits at KC
But that was just the beginning of his ever-winning strides. By the time he got to King’s College, where he did his advanced level programme, Adeniyi was set to pull an academic stunt on the school, rousing his colleagues from their reverie. Ironically, the students he met in KC never gave him a chance from the start.
‘The idea that he was schooled at Ijebu-Ife was a put off for those I met in King’s College. There was this ritual that new students for the Advanced Level programme were subjected to. They were expected to entertain others as part of their orientation programme. If you are from the big schools like the federal government colleges, you would be given a rousing welcome even before you talk. But those of us from not-too-popular schools were treated with disdain. The punishment for not meeting up to their expectation was to be forced to take salt water, which often led to constant stooling.”
As soon as he came on stage to introduce himself and mentioned Ijebu-Ife, the whole house erupted in mocking laughter. “It was really embarrassing. They did not allow me to talk further. I was sentenced to the salt water concoction, which made me stool repeatedly.’
Adeniyi says the practice of forcing students who fell short of expectations by the old students to drink salt water had been on before he joined the school. The authorities never stopped it. Perhaps it did not occur to them that new students were unduly bullied.
The insult hurled at him during the orientation programme was, however, to later pave the way for an outstanding applause when, in his first year, he came top of the class in the exams. That put an end to the insult. All those who had derided him changed their minds and began to pay homage to him. He became the beautiful bride on campus as those who had issues in their chosen subjects for the A/L programme, especially maths, began to consult him.
By the end of the first year, known then as Lower Six, it was clear to his classmates that he was the man to beat. “Where I came from no longer mattered. They began to respect me after I led the class. That taught me a big lesson. I tell people that insult is only for a while. What people’s insults should do to you is provoke you to excellence. That was what happened in my case.” Adeniyi said.
Best in A/Level Maths
He was to later show his real capacity when he sat for the Advanced Level WAEC. He set another record of excellence for the school, scoring an A in Advanced Level Maths. That was the first time in eight years that a student would score an A in Advanced level Maths at King’s College. He also turned out to have earned the best result in A/level mathematics for WAEC of that year, which earned him a Shell scholarship to study Mechanical engineering at the University of London. He was one of the three who qualified for the scholarship in the whole of Nigeria in that year
Another giant stride in UK Varsity
At the University of London, Adeniyi had to put in more work to maintain his excellent grade, studying for six hours at a stretch rather than the two hours he was used to in Nigeria.
He said the UK university taught him to think independently. “Things were so structured at the University of London that what is expected of you is to think outside the box. That has greatly helped me over the years.”
Afolabi confessed that making a first class at the University of London did not come easy. “It’s difficult to make a first class at the University of London because they have a quota each year of the number of first-class holders the school should produce. Even if you score a grade that should earn you a First Class, they will apply it to their quota. The implication is that if they have a quota for just five people, that should make a First Class; they would streamline successful candidates to that number.”
At the end of the day, he was among the 16 students who made a First class out of about 400 students in the whole of the Engineering faculty of the school in the year he graduated.
Life in Shell
That exceptional performance was later to be tested in Shell Nigeria Limited, where he did his NYSC in 1985 and worked for 28 years before he took early retirement in 2014.
While in Shell, he worked in about three different continents, helping the organisation to attain incredible heights.
He recalled that one of his high moments in the organisation was when he became its first gas reservoir engineer in 1993. That was when the company began gas exploration. He has since been involved in several projects, developing strategic technical blueprints for the company to help in its operations, including the horizontal study of the Isoko Oil Well and the Hydrocarbon planning tool for the company.
He became the reservoir engineer for its Western Swamp Asset in 2001. In 2003, he was appointed head of the hydrocarbon system of the organisation and subsequently coordinated the production of 1 million barrels per day for the whole of 2004. He coordinated gas production across the various value chain of the company till his voluntary retirement in 2014.
While in Shell, he was involved in many other assignments outside the organisation. He served as Secretary, Inter-Ministerial Committee on Petroleum and Power (2012–2013) and many other strategic engagements.
His time in Shell was quite eventful. He recalled that in Shell, which is in 171 countries, the work of five years is planned within a period of five months. “The organisation afforded me an opportunity of being exposed to different parts of the world,” he stated.
Adeniyi noted that Shell has had to evolve, creating a template of a mix of work ethics and drive for profit.
Low moments in Shell
Despite his giant strides in Shell, Adeniyi says he had a lot of low moments, which came largely because of his principles about life. “One of the things I will never do is to compromise standards. Taking such a stance put me at loggerheads with some of the people I worked with.” He said.
He recalled how he was given a letter of warning while in Shell, which he turned down because he believed he did not deserve it. “What happened was that I refused to put my signature on a project I felt was not properly done. And this was coming at a critical time in the history of the organisation. It affected their output, but I was not ready to compromise quality. They gave me a letter of warning, which I refused to collect. I wrote back to the organisation stating my case. And they had to withdraw the letter.”
Eventually, he had to step in to help out with the project using his own time. He said there was another occasion he disagreed with another boss on a technical issue, which led to being given a letter of suspension. In that case, he refused to collect the suspension letter and subsequently wrote a strongly worded letter to the Shell management, which made them withdraw the letter
Adeniyi says he has, over the years, learnt never to accept what is wrong, while adding that what kept him in Shell was his technical ability and the fact that God had a purpose for him in the organisation.
Retirement
By 2014, when he opted out of the organisation, it was clear he was taking the right decision. Age was still on his side to explore the oil industry. Since he retired, he has done a number of consultancy works for several companies between 2014 and 2022, when he started his own firm, Evernaj Global Nigeria Limited, where he operates as the chairman.
He counsels that anybody working in a corporate environment must be ready to obey the norms of that environment while also developing a niche for themselves. “You must have your own selling point so that you can be competitive in the market space. Those who always want to play it safe will never amount to anything,” he said.
Once an atheist
Surprisingly, Adeniyi was once an atheist. Though he was born to a Christian home, he said he got to a point in his life when he lost faith in God. “I think I was in class four when I began to question the existence of God. I began to have this belief that those who serve God had lost faith in themselves, and that they were people who could no longer think. I held to that philosophy for 32 years. I never went to church again, and I did not believe there is God.”
But that mindset gave way when he began to have encounters that completely changed his orientation and put him on the path of the divine. “I only got back to God about 13 years ago. I discovered that you will always have an event in life that will make you understand and appreciate life better. I got to that point in my life that I began to realise that God is real. I have seen certain revelations that make me know that God is alpha and omega.”
Adeniyi, who presently worships in the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, says he has had some personal convictions that give him insight into the spiritual nature of man. He believes just as we have the flesh, so we have the spirit. He reasons that it is the ability to discern the things of the spirit that makes you appreciate the place of God in your life.
While agreeing that he could be highly opinionated, he says, “My life disposition has made it look as if I’m in my own world. People around me think I am too serious. I have always lived like that. There are things I knew that it would take my colleagues another six months to contend with. It is simply the special grace God has endowed me with. And I am grateful to God for that.”
Since Adeniyi embraced God, he has been actively involved in church assignments. He was chairman of the reunification committee of the Cherubim and Seraphim and also the chairman of the planning committee of the 100th anniversary of the church, planned for September 2025.
He says, in the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, you’re exposed to the reality and practicability of the Bible.
Now 61, Adeniyi’s definition of the Garden of Eden is a state of being at peace with God, doing the right thing. “Anytime you step out of the will of God, you have stepped out of the garden of Eden”, he averred.
Adeniyi is currently the president of the Old Students Association of Ijebu-ife Community Grammar School. He has over the years committed time and resources to the development of the school which clocks 50 years on September 5, 2025.