Abdulwarees Solanke, Deputy Director Strategic Planning and Corporate Development Department Voice of Nigeria pays tribute to his late colleague.
I call her Dr. Shade.
My last encounter with FolaShade Olatunbosun, a petite, charming and cheerful lady who is Deputy Director of Training at Voice of Nigeria was before Sallah. Before being transferred to the Training Department, she was an excellent producer in the English Service of the Programme Directorate.
Each morning when I breeze into the massive VON building in Abuja, my first port of call is her office, announcing my presence with a loud shout of “Dr. Shade” and her jovial response with bright smiles is “Se e wa” (Trust you are okay” before I launch into more jokes with the rest of her staff I am very familiar with.
The Training Department is my second office in VON as Shade, very open and convivial, provided the listening ear for my thoughts and ideas. I adopted her as a friend because of my antecedent as a former head, VON Training Centre and my belief that many of the ideas for change and improvement in the organisation can only be actualized if they have the buy-in of the training Department which is supposed to train staff on CHANGE.
So, I readily adopt the leadership of the TRAINING DEPARTMENT, because whatever SPCD plans or proposes can only become a corporate culture when the HR Development wing understands it from the beginning and programs it into its schedule.
In this frame of thought, I struck a perfect chord with Dr. Shade in Abuja, a chord with Ugonma Cokey and Sunday Oyeleke in Lagos and with Funke Atohengbe before her promotion to head the Training Development.
I am in pain because of the professional bond I share with Shade. Our bond is even strengthened because because we share Ogun State indigene status. She is an Ijebu girl like my wife just as her husband is of Egba stock like where I hail from. I had always looked forward to dragging her and her family into OSIFA, OGUN STATE INDIGENES FORUM ABUJA to give her joy and pride in her identity as a brilliant Ijebu girl and brilliant daughter of Ogun State.
In Ogun State, our motto is ISE YA, technically meaning, it’s time to get down to business. Shade epitomizes the Ogun Spirit of Diligence and pride in honest work. She is not one to be found wasting her time in frivolity. She’s not one to be found as a gossip champion. Her passion is her work and her love is her church in VON.
She was a studious staff willing to learn and share insights. We always delve into our career future. She shared the desire to pursue graduate studies and I chipped in my words of encouragement for her.
In the passage of Shade, unannounced, I have lost a friend. One of those beautiful souls I met in VON Abuja who strengthened my belief in Nigeria. We may be of the same ethnic stock, but we differ or we are polar in creed.
But I acknowledge we share in common the same passion for work and a similar philosophy on friendship. Shade can exert herself to the farthest limit to ensure any project she is involved in succeeds. At her cost and sacrifice, she tries to sustain the relevance and impact of the Training Department in the CORPORATE.
In FolaShade Olatunbosun, an asset is lost in VON. I will miss her cheerfulness and conviviality. She is star dimmed at noon.
