This beautiful lady recently made First Class honours from the
University of Lagos. She opened up on the pains of losing her father
unexpectedly.
Fate appeared to have played a fast one on Bayinah and her father,
Dr. Bashir Tijani-Alawe. While Tijani-Alawe laboured for 20 years to
earn his Ph.D, his daughter graduated at 20 years of age with a First
Class honours.
He had planned for his daughter’s convocation but destiny decided otherwise.
The
convocation of the University of Lagos on Wednesday, January 25, was a
day that will remain in the memory of Bayinah Tijani-Alawe. She was one
of those who received their certificates on that day. Not only that
Bayinah is beautiful, she is equally brainy.
She shone like a million stars in the department of Business Administration where she graduated with First Class honours.
That
was what she promised her father, Dr. Bashir Tijani-Alawe. And she did
it in style; at 20 years of age. Tijani-Alawe also graduated from the
same department years back with a Second Class Upper honours; one of the
best in his class that year.
When Bayinah got admitted into the
same department and university, her father challenged her to better his
result with a First Class. Bayinah promised and went on to deliver on
the promise.
“That challenge made me to work very hard because I
didn’t want to disappoint a man that gave me everything I needed to
grow up as a child.
I was happy when he came home on that fateful
day to break the news that I made him proud. “A friend from the
university had called to congratulate him over my result.
He was so happy and rushed home to announce to the whole family that I made First Class. But, that was how far the joy could go.
He left us unceremoniously, unannounced,” Bayinah sniveled as she narrated the pathetic story to this reporter.
Perhaps, this may be the reason Bayinah was sad on her momentous occasion. She said: “My dad had planned big for the event.
Though,
he was not the flamboyant type, but he wanted to bend his rigid rules
on ceremonials just to show how happy and proud he was as a father whose
daughter graduated at not only 20 but with a First Class honours.
He even promised to put on his Ph.D gown to take a memorable photograph with me. He was such a lovely and admirable father.
He
was, indeed, a dad in a million. He was my role model. I’ll forever
miss him.” The death of Tijani-Alawe, according to his daughter, was so
sudden.
“No one saw it coming. He was not sick. He just
collapsed and died while eating.” Tijani-Alawe was born on March 12,
1959, in Ejigbo, Osun State.
He ventured into academics
immediately after his masters’ degree. His brilliance got him a job at
The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Eruwa campus, as a lecturer.
He left Eruwa for the Federal Polytechnic Ilaro. He was also at City University before joining Caleb University, Imota, Lagos.
Some
of his former students and others who knew him described Tijani-Alawe
as an epitome of humility both in his thoughts and appearances.
He
never, his schoolboys said, indulged in the notorious but booming sale
of “hand-outs” because “he saw it as a way to further impoverish the
already famished students.”
Tijani-Alawe was also said to be a religious person. He knew the holy Quran inside out as much as he knew the Bible.
“He
was a prayer warrior as he did not play with his solat (five times
daily prayer) and Tadjud (midnight) prayers. He believed that all powers
belong to Almighty Allah.
He did not discriminate based on
tribe, religion or under whatever disguise,” said Abiola Ayankunbi, who
is one of those Tijani-Alawe mentored.
Tijani-Alawe was a
thoroughbred academic. He was planning to join his alma mata, the
University of Lagos, when he answered the last call.
He enrolled
for his Ph.D at the University of Lagos more than two decades ago. He
was nearly frustrated out of the programme but remained committed to the
cause he believed in.
Tijani-Alawe eventually graduated and had his convocation in June, 2016, but died on Friday, December 2, of the same year.
That
was barely six months after bagging the Ph.D he laboured so hard to
earn and a week after his daughter, Bayinah, graduated with a First
Class honours in same department and university. It looked as though
fate planned the academic journey for father and daughter.
Some
have termed it an irony of sort. Tijani-Alawe spent 20 years to obtain
his Ph.D and his daughter, Bayinah, graduated with First Class honours
at the age of 20 years.
He led seminar sessions, facilitated
management lectures to different categories of managers, and consulted
for many companies in Nigeria. He was the author of three books and a
research fellow of the Industrial Science Centre (FIS).
Tijani-Alawe
was also a member of Nigerian Institute of Management (MNIM), as well
as an associate member of Certified Institute of Marketing (ACIM), now
National Institute of Nigeria and a graduate member of the Institute of
Personnel Management (GIPM) of Nigeria.
He had 25 learned
journal articles, four research monographs and over 40 conference papers
to his credit. He also served on the Research Board of Advisors of the
America Biographical Institute, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
Tijani-Alawe main research interest was in the area of African Business Philosophy, Strategy and Entrepreneurship.