Omoh, an emerging character in a changing world

The author- Dr Omoh Odunbaku poses for a group picture with Students of Igbobi High Junior school and speakers: Mr Joba Oloba, Mr Temitope Ekundayo, Mrs Bridget Soremekun and Oiza (the anchor) on the day one of her just concluded book tour and career talk. PHOTO: Olaolu Ajala

Omoh is a 331-page biographical piece written by Omoayena Odunbaku. It is not just an inspiring piece of work but also very fascinating read. The book, very carefully divided into 5 parts, representing the life journey of Omoayena, so far, explains the growing up epistle of a typical Lagos girl and how she stealthily metamorphosed into a lady, and then to a wife and a mother.

The representation of Omoayena’s birth, even with pictures at her naming event, is a great plus for the book. Omoayena’s relation with her extended family is an apt representation of the African family structure. How the Yadua family welcomes extended family members, kinsmen from Agenebode community in Lagos and other members of their immediate community.

This chapter also narrates how Omoayena suddenly became mother pro tem for her siblings due to the separation of her parents while she was not even a teenager yet. All these summed up Aristotle’s submission, as presented in Omoh (pg. 20) that “Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them, for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.”

This saying is parallel to a Yoruba axiom that says, Òǹbíni kò tó òǹwoni (Those who train the child are to be more revered than those who give birth to a child). As a girl child, Omoayena had a typical indigenous communal upbringing, albeit in a contemporary society on the mainland of Lagos.

Omoh’s relatedness with people is what could be described as a full package. She mingled quite well with her peers, in school, in her environment and in the extended family circle. Her relationship with uncles and aunties, those with blood ties and situational ties contributed to requirements for the training package she got from Gabby and Rose, her parents.

The description of Omoh’s childhood could be summarized in various testimonies exhibited in 16 whole pages of the first chapter of the book. This growing up experience is what is lacking in the training structure of the African children now.

Civilisation has indeed eroded the indigenous system of communal upbringing and this has fairly dented the Yoruba saying that: Ojú méjì ló ń bímọ́, igba ojú ló ń wò ó, meaning, it takes two people to give birth to a child, but it takes lots of people to train the child.

Omoh’s adolescent years commenced with a change of clime, different from her regular Lagos experience, at the Federal Government College, Ilorin. Omoh would have no issues with the changing reality, she knew what she was facing and she faced them determinedly.

Apt to conclude that her childhood experience streamed into her adolescent years, especially because Gabby, Abiodun and Idenaa, and also Rosa and the likes of Uncle Audu were not there with her at Ilorin. Omoayena had to depend on her intuitive in making some instant and necessary decisions.

At the FGC Ilorin, she was quite sociable and at the same time, a sport enthusiast. Her favourite sport was basketball, which she played so passionately. Omoh was lucky to have found herself among the right clique, comprising of students that enjoyed all aspects of schooling and made sure to get the best grades.

Omoayena’s real exposure to life started at FGC Ilorin, she had her first experience of the Pentecostalism act of speaking in tongues, although very strange to her. One of the fascinating parts of Omoayena’s experience at the FGC is how she could perfectly recall names of her mates and service providers at FGC, Ilorin.

This is a rare feat that shows how intelligent the author is. Not just this, she was able to pen her appreciation to them succinctly. Omoh is a book that these people need to have and read. The second chapter of the book literarily summarises her activities at FGC, Ilorin.

Another, but higher level of experience gathering was when Omoayena gained admission into the University of Lagos. Undoubtedly, University of Lagos is in a world of her own, a microsome of a larger society. Indeed, the institution is in a world of her own, a cosmopolitan institution in a cosmopolitan society.

Gaining admission to UNILAG is not for the faint-hearted. The high cut-off requirement, the coping strategy in a heavily diverse academic environment, and mostly, the possible distractions that could easily veer students off their lane. Students that maintain their moral standards after their academic sojourn in UNILAG are either a product of a good moral background, or those that are very focused and determined to pursue their goals.

Omoayena is a combination of the two. Faculty of Environmental Sciences houses the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. And that is the department where Omoayena would spend her time at UNILAG. At Urban and Regional Planning department, Omoayena went, saw and conquered, as they say. She adjusted appropriately when her CGPA needed adjustment. She really gained all the experience needed for her life after school.

This situation has changed now, as students have been so preoccupied with extra-academic activities in order to meet up with their extravagant but unnecessary personal needs. Omoh carefully narrated a typical and expected episode of her life at the University of Lagos. I believe that new and current students of not only the University of Lagos, but also other higher institutions of learning should avail themselves of this biographical report.

Omoayena did not act like a weaned bird while in school. She did not forget her base at Shomolu/Fola-Agoro axis on Lagos Mainland. She never forgot her friends and peers at home, while she was in school. It is one of these that eventually resulted into her marital structure as she got married to her long-time friend, Yinka Odunbaku.

Indeed, because Omoayena did not severe her relationship with her friends, the process of getting a responsible partner was made easy for her. These two were not just friends at their immediate environment, they are still good friends that have decided to build a family, with three kids at the moment.

Omoh conscientiously presents a sequence of activities of a goal-getter, right from her childhood up until the time where those goals are being realized. It is a memoir that could be used for historical exercise, moral teaching and general life experience, especially in a multi-cultural society. The numerous pictures enveloped in the book also spiced up the renaissance dynamics. The publisher of the book, WIMO Publishers did a fantastic job with careful alignment of the text and precise layout of the pictures.