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Chief (Dr) John Agboola Odeyemi, the Obasewa of Ile Ife and Fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, will be 83 tomorrow.
He was born in Ile-Ife on 4th April, 1939, finished Elementary Education at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School, Ile-Ife in 1954 and later trained as Higher Elementary Teacher at St. Leo’s College, Abeokuta between 1956 and December 1959.
In 1965 and 1966, as a student on Sandwich course in Accounting at The College of Commerce & Technology, Eynesbury, Staffordshire England, he won the Rubbery Owen Prize, for the “Most Distinguished Student of the Year”; and “Outstanding Performance of the Year” respectively.
He is the Chairman and Chief Executive of JKN Limited and JAO Investment Company Limited. He also serves currently on the board of Emzor Pharmaceutical Ltd, Kinley Securities Ltd and Cutler Hammer Nigeria Limited.
He served on the board of a number of other companies and he was the Chairman of Ecobank Nigeria Ltd from September 2006 to March 2010; Chairman Refuge Insurance Company Limited and Obafemi Awolowo University Investment Company Limited from January 2007 to December 2012. He was also a Director of Oasis Insurance Plc, Multimalt Limited, Sowsco Well Services Limited and Kajola Integrated Investment Company Ltd.
Odeyemi was the Past President of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Past President of NACCIMA and was Chairman Nigerian Accounting Standards Board from 1990 to 1995.
A past President, Ife Development Board 1995 – 2004, he was also a member of the National Political Reform Conference February to July 2005; Member of the National Privatization Council (Bureau of Public Enterprise), October 2004 to October 2006; Member of the Committee on The Assessment and Monitoring of the Millennium Development Goals, June 2005 to October 2006; and was founding Member of the Governing Board of UNESCO Institute of Science, Technology and Innovation Centre in KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia.
He was honoured by the Federal Government of Nigeria as Member Of The Order Of The Federal Republic (MFR) 2005; by Osun State Government with the State Distinguished Merit Award For Philanthropy and Community Development in 2007; and by the Ile Ife Community with Distinguished Merit Award in 2008.
He was given a Merit Award by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria in 2005; awarded Doctor of Science in Business Administration (Honoris Causa) by Obafemi Awolowo University Ife in December, 2007; and also given a special award by the Federation of Construction Industry for his contributions to the infrastructural development in Nigeria in June 2009.
In September 2009, Odeyemi was appointed Member of the Council of Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu, Osun State; and was conferred Patron of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Osun State Council in August, 2010. He was also appointed Patron, Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers Foundation in October, 2011.
A devout Christian and regular contributor to the promotion of evangelism, he worships at Archbishop Vining Memorial Cathedral Church (AVMCC) in Ikeja. He remains active at his original family church, St Paul Anglican Church, Ayegbaju in Ile-Ife where he was installed as the Ekerin Ijo in 2004 and was installed the Balogun of the Church on 23rd February, 2014.
He constructed and donated Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, the Vicarage and Children Amenity Hall to the Diocese of Ife and has also contributed to major activities and developmental events in the Ife Diocese, Anglican and other Christian churches countrywide. He is a member of Christian Friends Society and Touch Bearers Society of AVMCC, Young Men Christian Fellowship, St. Paul Anglican Church, Ayegbaju, Ife and he is a patron of the following societies: Band of Mercy, Archbishop Vining Memorial Cathedral Church, Lagos, Christian Morning Star Society, Anglican Church of the Pentecost, FESTAC Town, Young men and Women Christian Association, Anglican Church, Oshodi, Prison Fellowship Nigeria, Lagos Chapter.
He is a member of The Metropolitan Club, Lagos, Beachland
