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By Vera Wisdom-Bassey
As a professor of Public Health Nutrition at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, and wife of the Anglican Archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of Lagos, Most Rev Humphrey Olumakaiye, Motunrayo Funke Olumakaiye is a woman of many parts. Though 50, she looks younger than her age, something she likes to attribute to the “grace of God,” while others are likely to link it with the fact that she is a trained nutritionist who knows what it takes to take good care of her body. “If you work for God, He will work for you,” she said. The only girl in a family of five children, she spoke to Saturday Sun recently about her family, career, and other matters.
How has life been with you?
I want to thank God for the gift of life. He has been so awesome, faithful and wonderful, and He has been there for us since my marriage to the love of my life. I thank God I did not make the mistake of getting married to another person. He has been there for us. He has been supporting us, encouraging us, answering our prayers. So clocking 50 is something so great, so exciting. I thank God for the grace, and for the opportunity He has given me.
What is the particular thing you are grateful to God for?
I am grateful to God for being so good, for whom He is, not for who we are. He said He will show mercy to whom He will show mercy. I am grateful for counting me worthy to be among the people He has shown mercy to and for keeping me on the path of righteousness. I have been doing His work all these years. No man can receive anything except it is given to him. So I am grateful to God for keeping and backing me in all I do. Since I gave myself to Him since I was 16, He has been faithful. It is just too wonderful to trust the Lord.
You look young as if you are 30 years old. Is it because you are a professor of nutrition?
That is a mystery that one cannot unravel. I don’t know how God is doing it, but when you work for God, He will work for you. So I thank Him for the grace He has given to me, people always say I look like 25years. But then it is important we do this birthday because always people ask how old are you? Not how young you are so that people will see that really we are getting old. I am.
As a consultant-nutritionist and a mother, are you worried about the way schools feeding programmes are being carried out today?
What is most needed to mitigate the challenge is to set up a strong monitoring and evaluation group that will do the real job of monitoring not just on paper. When I consulted for Osun State, we went around some schools to assess the programme implementation; some of the things we observed are unprintable. The school-feeding programme is a good initiative to address malnutrition among primary school pupils and to improve school enrolment and completion. If this can be done genuinely, the country will be better off in later years. If the right peg is put in the right hole, things will work. My advice is that the programme should not be politicised and should not be seen as a conduit pipe for siphoning funds from government coffers. We need a re-orientation and an upgraded mindset in this country.
You have an interest in the nutrition and health of vulnerable groups. What worries you about the fate of these groups amid food scarcity and insecurity in the country?
Food insecurity is a concern in developing countries, Nigeria inclusive. The groups that are worse hit are the children, adolescent girls and women of reproductive age. They are the vulnerable groups. These three categories are important in that they determine the health status of the future generation, which could impact the quality of the workforce, health sector by clogging the hospital services and the national economy.
As a woman of many parts, how were you able to marry your duties together?
It is a mystery. I have a philosophy of life: where is a will, there will always be a way. You put God first. And, if you have the heart to do, He will give you the power, enablement to do them. Women are of multiple tasks, that is why we are able to do many things at the same time. So, put them in prayers and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you, and have the heart to do.
Since you have only boys, what is your advice for those of them who intend to become clergymen?
It sounds so good to serve the Lord, and if they want, I will direct them. I will be happy. God has a way of handling His people. But then you must be called. I will not force them to come into the ministry but have a genuine calling. But when you are called, it is better so that when you have challenges you will go back and call on the One who called you into the ministry. It shouldn’t be because there is no job out there that people should go into the ministry; it is not good to force people into it.
You yourself who feel called, are you doing well in the ministry?
God has just started with us. The best is yet to come. We just give our totality to the work of God. We just obey Him. If He says come over, we go; we will
What was your relationship with your parents like as an only girl when you were growing up?
It was very interesting. I was closer to my dad than my mum. Even my dad’s friend used to call me daddy’s girlfriend. My dad really cared for all of us. We never lacked anything. He made everything available for all of us. If I asked my dad for N100, he would give me N300 believing that for me to have asked, I really needed it and he would not want me to do anything shady to get extra money. So, I had enough growing up and graduating from the university to the extent that I was able to give to people who were not as privileged as I was. My mum was the same. But the mother-and-daughter relationship, at times, is a bit difficult. She was more strict compared to my dad and it caused a little strain in our relationship, even though she was trying to inculcate some things into me. But they did not go down well with me then. I later realised the benefits of what she was trying to instil in me.
What were those things she inculcated in you that made you who are you today?
She taught me how to cook. And you know as a tomboy, I would not want to cook. We never had any house girl while growing up. So, I was made to do all the house chores, doing the cooking for the family. But she was magnanimous enough to make my brothers help in cooking. So it wasn’t that the whole burden was on me. There were areas of expertise at home. When it comes to the making of amala, one of my brothers was an expert in that. Mine was to boil the water and I would call on him to make the amala. When it comes to pounded yam, another brother of mine was an expert in that. Mine was to cook the yam and call on him to pound it. So, we were brought up that way.
Being the wife of a cleric, how do you balance your work, family and religious lives?
Let me tell you, the grace of God is sufficient. That is still a mystery I cannot fathom or unravel. How God does it for me is beyond human comprehension. I work circumspectly. When I am at home, I focus on ministerial work. When I am at work, I focus on my secular work. I see my spiritual life as the most important and I don’t handle spiritual matters with kid’s gloves. Once I settle with God, He settles other things. I have carved a niche for myself from Philippians 4:13, which says: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I don’t gallivant. I keep very few value-adding friends, no distractions, no procrastination. I draw a to-do list daily and complete the tasks even late into the night. I work best at night when there is no distraction. I give my best in whatever I do to avoid repeating the same task over and over again. Once a task is done, it is dusted. I listen to inspiring music while working. Most importantly, I pray daily for speed, precision and accuracy. I draw strength from God, the Holy Spirit, being my closest companion, guardian and guide. I am an indoor person. I enjoy unflinching support from my family, most importantly my husband, the Most Rev. Humphrey Olumakaiye, who is my confidant, adviser and prayer partner. He gives me my space and platform to leverage on, to bring the best out of me. He stretches me beyond the limits and I have come to realise my ability, resilience and tenacity. I multi-task and I am grateful for that.
