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Rotarian IBUKUN EFUNTAYO, 40th Pres. ROTARY Club Of IKOYI
Rotarian Ibukun Efuntayo, the 40th President of the Rotary Club of Ikoyi, is one gentleman anyone would be delighed to spend a few minutes with, to have a quality conversation. This is because he has such a pleasant personality and when you add that to the fact that he is also extremely intelligent, then, you’ll understand why it can be so much fun being in the company of this very modest but hugely accomplished man. He clearly cuts the picture of a man who mixes easily and would also have a lot of people going out of their way to be his friend on account of his very likeable personality. This probably explains how the expansive hall of the Air Force Officers’ Mess on Kofo Abayomi, Victoria Island, Lagos, was filled to overflowing on the 20th of July, 2024, when Rotarian Ibukun Efuntayo was installed as the 40th president of the Rotary club of Ikoyi. Without a doubt, the man has a lot of goodwill going for him and you could see it in the caliber of people that attended the event.
Let us tell you a bit more about this complete gentleman. Rotarian Efuntayo is a highly regarded Estate Surveyor and Valuer with a wealth of experience in the industry. And he has made quite a success of his profession. He is the Principal Partner and CEO of Ibukun Efuntayo and Company. He specialises in property management, facility management, property taxation and valuation services. Mr. Efuntayo is recognised for his expertise and professionalism holding the esteemed title of Fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV). Having worked with reputable organisations such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, and Eko International Bank (now Polaris Bank), Mr, Efuntayo brings a comprehensive background to the field.
City People’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) got the newly installed president to speak with us. He shared a bit of his humble background, his rise through the ranks in the Rotary club and his aspirations as the 40th President of the prestigious Rotary Club of Ikoyi.
Share with us, your feelings about how things have panned out today at your investiture as the 40th President of the Rotary club of Ikoyi?
Well, very, very impressive. I was afraid before that we were going to have to have an empty hall, but the reverse is the case. I ts been very impressive, well attended, very colourful, so, I’m happy. We thank God how it all turned out. Its actually a double celebration because I also happen to be 40th President of the Rotary club of Ikoyi. In October, we are holding the grand finale of the 40th anniversary when the Rotary club of Ikoyi was established by a group of gentlemen led by Chief Bajomo. The whole idea of the installation is to raise funds for our projects because we have so many projects covering seven areas of focus like our maternal and child health, we have support for the environment, we have disease prevention, we have peace and conflict resolution, we have basic literacy and education, we have community and economic development, so we need funds to execute these projects. Some people already contributed money for these projects even before the installation.
You also enjoyed the Goodwill of a lot of people even outside the Rotary family at your investiture, how do you feel about this, sir?
I am truly grateful to God for this. God was the one that lifted all the hearts of men to participate in this project, so I thank God it was a big success. I was a bit apprehensive before, but God took care of that and now we are relishing the success.
Clearly, judging by the funds that have already come in, it can be said that you have already hit the ground running. How easy or challenging would you say that has been considering the prevailing economic situation?
Yes, that’s right, things are difficult, but I’m surprised at the way people have responded. What I did was to fall back on my Goodwill by writing a letter and stating the various projects we are ready to do and asking them to adopt one of the projects, contribute to the project and a number of people responded. And there are also friends that I reached via Whatsapp and sent a list of the things we are doing to them. And they have responded very well. We asked them to send their pictures so we could put them in the programme booklet and we got the desired response. Somebody gave us N5m, he adopted Infant mortality, and this is somebody I have never met before, someone just introduced me to him and asked that I write him a letter. Its surprising to know we still have many Nigerians who still have the milk of human kindness. We have other projects too such as book donation, we want to donate books to some schools, we also have prostrate cancer screening. Prostrate cancer is common among men now. The idea is to help achieve early detection because it can be prevented. We also have the issue of blindness prevention, Cataract, Glaucoma. We screen them and send them to eye hospital. Rotary has a Eye hospital in Ota where they do eye operations for free, Diabetes screening, you want to educate people, a lot of people are suffering from Diabetes, they say it’s a rich man’s sickness.
We have the issue of Empowerment of widows. We did that on July 8th, we gave some widows a cash sum of about N50,000 and the foundation itself gave about N600,000 or thereabout and that’s just the first in the series. We are also planning to provide a solar panel to a motherless home in Lekki, that will cost us about N25m. We have drug abuse prevention seminars and campaigns. The issue of drug abuse is now becoming alarming, so we want to bring somebody who was a victim of drug abuse. He was rehabilitated and now he’s a Pastor in Redeem Christian church to come and talk to them. You have the issue of basic llfe support training, that is, when there is an emergency, you must be able to know how to resuscitate someone that is affected, puberty education workshop, usually it’s the girl child everybody talks about, nobody talks about the boy child, but this will focus on the boy child. There’s also planting and beach cleaning, so there are lots of things, these are just areas of focus.
There are other things that we can still do. We are also looking at having a project to mark our 40th anniversary in October, so we need as much funds as we can get from people. We are counting on those with the heart of giving to help. Like I said in my speech, I said I’m passionate about this because I was also a victim before. I was once underprivileged, such that even to pay school fees for me was a big problem. I remember the Bursar, one day when he sent me home, he called me a millionaire. He was equating what I owed to a millionaire in debt but I thank God today, it’s a self fulfilling prophecy. I have now resolved that until the last person is taken out of poverty, I cannot rest. As we are doing it here, we are also doing it in church. I’m a member of the Redeem Christian church, once we are done with service every Sunday, you need to see the number of people coming to meet us and say they want counseling, but its not counseling they want, they need money. They want to pay rent, school fees, so we spend so much from our pocket every Sunday. But God is able, he’s been helping us. It’s not that we are better than them, it’s just divine positioning. God has positioned us where we are, so the best is to go back and give back to society. The government cannot do everything and that’s why the Rotary Club is an international organisation that collaborates with government. We have a seat in the United Nations. We are the only NGO that has a seat in the United Nations. Any government you can think of has respect for the Rotary. The issue of Polio eradication is at the front burner of Rotary. Nigeria was certified Polio free but we have started seeing some traces of Polio, so, we are still fighting Polio now, and we won’t rest until the battle is won.
What propels you and many other Rotarians to come together to use your resources for the benefit of mankind?
I would say it’s a push factor not a Pull factor. Push factor, its something within you, just driving you, pushing you to do something. It’s innate. Like I said, I was also a victim. I was under privileged, I lost my Dad not so long after I was born and I was the last of the children. It was my mum that brought us up. So, I saw what poverty was. My mum would sell her things to send us to school and by His grace, God has helped all of us today. So, I was also a victim of poverty, and its one of the things that’s driving me and that’s why I say it’s a push factor. Something within me just pushes me to give back to the less privileged. At Rotary Club, its not that we have money to throw around, but we are people of action. We are compassionate people. My people gladly give out. In Rotary, we give out our time, talent and treasure. Its not only about money. You may not have money, but you’re a doctor and you’re willing to offer your services to the Rotary, that is very valuable. That’s why the issue of classification matters to us in Rotary. Classification is about different professions in the community, we want to bring as many representatives of these different professions into our club. We have doctors in there, we have nurses, we have mechanics, we have tailors, it doesn’t have to be a highly educated person because when Paul Harris started, it wasn’t about education, it was about skills and talents within the society and how we can harness them together. That’s why membership is very dear to Rotary, so its basically a push factor not a pull factor.
Take us through your journey in the Rotary club.
Well, I was in the Rotary before I traveled out of the country in the early 80s. I was a member of The Rotary Club of Ketu before I left the country. When I travalled abroad, I forgot about Rotary. I came back in 2008 and met a senior colleague who’s a Rotarian, he invited me to one of their meetings and I joined them. And from one thing to the other, I became Treasurer, after Treasurer, I became Chairman, Environment group, then, I became Chairman, Public Image, then I was Director for Finance Service, after that I became Vice President 2, from there to Vice President 1, then I became President-Elect, and from there, I am now the 40th President of the club. And by the time I leave at the end of the year, I am still going to be the immediate past president nurturing who’s going to take over because Rotary is not like Nigeria. At Rotary club, we have a huge succession plan, in fact, by the time you become Vice President 2, you know its just a matter of time that you become the president under five years. I have a President-Elect now, a lady by the name Claire Omatseye, so she will be learning, she won’t just be sitting down, she will be watching the way we are doing things. So, with the succession plan, for five years you know who’s going to come in. Same thing with the District Governor, its about five years and you serve only one year tenure, no second term. We will like to recommend that kind of succession plan in Nigeria. All these four years per term wahala in government, I’m sure there could be other ways of practicing our Democracy.
How fulfilling would you say the journey has been for you so far, especially now that you’re about to undertake perhaps your most challenging responsibility so far as a Rotarian?
Very fulfilling. Apart from even helping humanity, we are also helping ourselves through the fellowship we enjoy together. The opportunity to meet with people from different backgrounds and professions, Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Engineers, Lawyers, doctors, etc, coming together to become people of action, making impact in the society. So, the fellowship is actually fulfilling, and that’s why in my year, I want to make fellowship to be vibrant, all inclusive. Fellowship is important. Most of the people I know today, I probably would not have met them if I wasn’t in the Rotary Club. People join Rotary for different reasons, some join because of connection, yes, the connections will come later. That’s what we call the Rotary moments. But when you go in there with the heart of service and you begin to know one another, one day, someone will just call you and get you connected to something big, something worth your while. So, its fulfilling with the type of people I meet, who I interact with, the type of knowledge you gain from occupying different positions. Sometimes we have some topical issues and invite some lecturers to come and talk to us about things such as Prostrate Cancer, emergencies, accidents, etc.
So, you learn in Rotary. Rotary gives opportunities for leadership training. We have a training institute called the Rotary Leadership Institute. Every member of the club must be involved in one thing or the other. Opportunity for leadership development is also there. Then, we also have a song that says, if you want to be a good speaker join Rotary, because they will just call you to come and present this one or present that one. Its fulfilling seeing myself as part of a group of action people helping other people. When I went to Iru, I was happy. By the time we got there, mothers, everybody was sitting down waiting for us. The Permanent Secretary, federal ministry of health was there, the Chairman of the local government, the Head of medical Unit, Head of HR, they were all waiting for us, like they were waiting for a governor. When we got in there, were happy to be part of the people helping the government in helping to take people out of poverty, sickness and others. Especially when it comes to mothers and children, I’m passionate about it. Mothers are really trying, they’re going through a lot, that’s why we had to do something to alleviate their sufferings by donating some things to them free. We gave them treated nets, wipes and several other things we donated to them, so, it’s fulfilling.
