Henry Fajemirokun

Henry Oloyede Fajemirokun, CON (July 26, 1926 - February 15, 1978) was a trade unionist who later became a prominent Nigerian Industrialist and businessman and one of the country's dynamic indigenous entrepreneurs who was a strong believer in and promoted^[1][2] West Africa's economic integration alongside Adebayo Adedeji which subsequently led to the formation of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). He was a former President of Nigeria Chambers of Commerce, The 6th^[3] President of the Lagos Chambers of Commerceand of the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce (1972–1978) as well a co-founder and founding President of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) alongside Sir Adam Thomson^[4][5] (Chairman of British Caledonian Airways^[6] now part of British Airways). He was a member of the Board of Governors of and former President of Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC). He was also the Vice-President, Federation of Commonwealth Chambers of Commerce.

Early life and Career

Henry was born in Ile Oluji, Ondo State of Daniel Famakinwa Fajemirokun (fondly called 'Dani Ado') and Felicia Adebumi Fajemirokun (nee Akinsuroju) (b.1891), daughter of High Chief Odofin Oganbule Akinsuroju and Madam Adesemi Akinsuroju and granddaughter of Princess Adebamigbei (whose father was the Jegun of Ile Oluji). He was educated at St Peter's School, Ile-Oluji and then St Luke's School, Oke-igbo (1937–1940), CMS Grammar School, Lagos (1941–1942) and the Ondo Boys High School (1942–1944). After Ondo Boys school, he joined the Royal West African Frontier Force at the age of 18 and served in India during World War II. After the war, he joined the Post and Telegraph Department as a clerk and studied privately for his Cambridge School Certificate.^[7][8]

He was a member of the workers' union in the department and rose to become President of the department's Ex-Servicemen's Union in 1948. In 1952, he became President of the Post and Telegraph's Clerical and Workers Allied Union.^[8] He started private business in 1955 from a loan he received from a relative. He entered the agricultural export sector, exporting cattle bones as his first product, then hides and skin, rubber, coffee and shea nuts and later cocoa and imported primarily cement. He earned the trust of buyers who extended letters of credit to finance his business. He added other ventures into his business activities, in 1962, he started a maritime services firm. By 1960 he had become one of the largest importers of cement from Egypt and Poland. He received funding for this particular venture from a credit facility that had been provided to him by a British bank in London. In 1968, Fajemirokun was awarded the Chieftaincy title of Yegbata of Ile-Oluji by his traditional sovereign, the Jegun, thus making him a tribal aristocrat of the Yoruba people and the Asiwaju of Oke-Igbo (1971), Lijoka of Ondos (1973), High Chief Orunta of Ifewara (1974) and the Obaloro of Ado Ekiti (1977). In 1972, The University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife) also conferred on him the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science in Business Administration. He led the negotiations to establish a merchant bank bringing in First Bank of Boston (later Bank of Boston) alongside other indigenous investors which led to the establishment of Nigerian-American Merchant Bank Limited (NAMBL)^[9] after his death with the technical assistance and shareholding of Bank of Boston and Boston Overseas Financial Corporation (subsequently merged with Bank of America).

He also ventured into commodity brokerage and in 1969 he bought and held a seat on the London Stock Exchange. His company Henry Stephens was a pioneer in Nigerian Oil industry as the first indigenous private oil company to get an offshore exploration license in the country's first ever offshore licensing round of oil prospecting licenses (OPL) in 1970. Bidding was opened between 26 February and 18 March on about 7000 square miles of the continental shelf. Twenty seven blocks were offered composed of areas relinquished according to leasing regulations 30 November 1968 plus additional deeper water acreage up to the 200 fathom line on the outer shelf. A total of 106 bids from over 30 oil companies or groups were made for these continental shelf OPLs. In July, Newcomers to Nigeria were offered blocks. Only 15 blocks were offered covering only half of the open area. The remaining blocks said to be the most prospective, were reserved for the proposed national oil company Nigerian National Oil Corporation (NNOC) which was established officially in 1972 .Other winners of the licensing round were Deminex a German Consortium, Occidental Petroleum, Japan Petroleum Company and Monsanto^[10].^[11]

On the 15th of February 1978, whilst leading a trade mission he died in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire. In 1983, that is, five years after his death, the Federal Government honoured him with a posthumous national award of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). 

Henry Stephens

Later in the decade, as the founder, Chairman and largest shareholder of the Henry Stephens Group of companies, under his direction the company grew rapidly and diversified into several spheres such as engineering, banking, insurance, shipping and oil. He became a major shareholder in some leading companies in Nigeria. Following a decision to in 1972, an indigenization decree was promulgated by the Federal government. Fajemirokun’s hard work and masterful timing served him well and enabled him to expand further into other industries. For more than a decade the Henry Stephens Group had managed to successfully build up a solid network trading with firms in foreign countries such as the United Kingdom, United States of America, Poland, Japan, Belgium , Egypt, Germany and Brazil; and had began building up partnerships, representing or acquiring stakes in foreign owned firms in Nigeria.

This made the Group well positioned to make further acquisitions and represent more foreign operations in the country which the firm had done successfully prior to the euphoria of the contemporary nationalism at the time in form of the indigenization decrees.

Groups such as his served to counter the competition from the Federal Military Government in acquiring stakes in foreign firms. The crowding out of the organized private sector by the FMG was vocally criticized because the belief was that the organized private sector was better suited to both manage the relationships with the foreign firms ensuring a longer term commitment to the country rather than triggering an exodus and to negotiate a fair price for the value of the equity being sold down rather than capitulating to the demands of the FMG the time.

The Group successfully became the sole distributor for Xerox, forming a joint venture with the Anglo-American company Rank Xerox (itself a joint venture between Rank Organisation of the United Kingdom and the Xerox Corporation of the United States of America). He was denied the right to acquire the Daily Times of Nigeria from the British International Publishing Corporation, (IPC) known as the "Daily Mirror Group" who owned the title by the Obasanjo junta. Henry Stephens also was a core investor in Johnson Wax and acquired stakes Fan Milk and two notable construction companies. In the preceding decade, he had established Henry Stephens Shipping company with three lines: Ile-Oluji Line, Ifewara Line and D.F Fajemirokun Line, the company was a pioneer in the Nigerian maritime industry and was one of the first indigenous companies to own an interest in a shipping line, the Nigerian Far East Line and the Nigerian South American Line. He was also a director of First Bank Nigeria Limited , director Nigeria Krafts Bags Limited, non-executive director Nigerian Diversified Investments, director Nigeria Sewing Machine Manufacturing Company Limited.

References

• Tom Forrest, The Advance of African Capital: The Growth of Nigerian Private Enterprise, University of Virginia Press (August 1994). ISBN 0-8139-1562-7