The Chief G.Y. Aduku I Know

Arc G.Y. Aduku

I consider it a great privilege and an honour to be asked to write a brief on a person I consider as my mentor and a leading light in the Construction Industry under whom I cut my teeth professionally in 1979 as a young graduate of Building.  As is the case even today, so it was then that when the news broke that I had obtained a First Class Honours Degree in Building from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University a lot of interest about me was generated in Igala-land. 

 It was under this circumstance that late Chief A. J. Ali who was the Chief Administrative Officer of the Anyigba Agricultural Project where I wanted to settle down and work advised me to meet Chief G. Y. Aduku for advise on my career and possible employment opportunities. I undertook the Trip to Kaduna in August 1979 and never returned to take up the offers of employment in the Benue State Government and the Anyigba Agricultural Project. 

It is pertinent to say that his influence on me which started at first sight was such that when in October of the same year, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) offered me the position of a pupil Engineer, I declined the offer and remained with Chief G. Y. Aduku in Archcon Nigeria Ltd, Kaduna.  In Archcon Nigeria Ltd, we were one family of professionals of various disciplines managing both small and large projects all over the country. 

I had the particular privilege in Archcon to be the Site officer of the second tallest building project in Northern Nigeria then – the Eight Storey Northern Nigeria Investment Ltd office complex only a few weeks after joining the firm. That experience was like throwing an infant into a stream but with its mother close-by. The implication is that the baby will either drown or immediately, as a survival measure, acquire swimming skills at an extra-ordinary pace. That was my experience in Archcon. Due to the opportunity Chief Aduku offered me, I became an accomplished professional successfully managing multiple projects nationwide within a few years of graduation. 

Such was the experience I garnered within a short time that when I decided to do post graduate work at the University of Leeds, England, I went through it with ease and returned to Archcon and was promoted to the position of Post-Contract Manager. I eventually moved on after ten years in Archcon to become the pioneer Civil Works Manager in the Benue cement Company Plc from where I joined the Federal Public Service in 1999 as a Director in the Presidency.  Such is the platform the Chief Aduku provided not only for me but also for several others who today are in various commanding heights of the national economy due to our encounter and tutelage under this worthy son of Igala, Northern Nigeria and Nigeria as whole.  

Chief Aduku rose fast in the corporate world and by the time I knew him, Archcon was the largest multidisciplinary Consultancy firm in Northern Nigeria and he was already an active player in the Commercial nerve centre of this country and on the board of several blue chip companies.  His ascendency was crowned by the recognition of his worth by the Ata’ Igala with the title of Amana Ogohi 1 of Anyigba. On the political scene, his foray into politics resulted into his appointment as a Minister of the Federal republic.  

I wish him and his lovely family well and will forever be grateful to God and to him for using him to give me the platform of Archcon Nigeria Limited from where I leap frogged to my present accomplishments. 

Engr. Samson Ameh Opaluwah (PhD, FNSE, FNIOB, FNICE, FSCIArb) 

Director Procurement 

Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Abuja. 

Chairman, Governing Board, ECWA Theological Seminary, Igbaja.