Being an Olori is no more business as usual
By Vivian Onyebukwa
Olori Ameenah Adeleye Matemilola is a graduate of Law (LLB ). She’s a professional public relations specialist and a chartered mediator from the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators. She also holds certification in Mediations from the Centre of Dispute Resolution CEDR, UK and Nigerian Conflict Management Group.
Olori Matemilola is a writer of children’s books, and has published seven books so far. She’s the wife of Oba (Prof)) Saka Adelola Matemilola Oluyalo Otileta V11, the Olowu of Owu Kingdom, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
In this interview with VIVIAN ONYEBUKWA, she spoke about growing up, her published works, NGO, life as an Olori, and much more.
You’ve written a number of children’s books. What inspires your writings?
Most of my books are centred around the tortoise. In Africa here, we like to tell stories using animals. Children listen more when it has that comical thing with animals being the characters. They understand more. In Nigeria, tortoise is seen as very cunning. He is often no good as we say. So I actually use those stories to teach children. I have published seven books. I have four more books in the pipeline. Four of my books are in Lagos State curriculum. Rivers State has picked up my book. I did a lot of book reading in Oyo State. Most of the books are in braille for the visually impaired. I have several well meaning organisations that partner with me to produce my books in braille, so I was able to do reading in braille with them. My published literature books for children include, Tamuno and His Tall Tale – 2011, •Tonye’s Magical Christmas- 2013, •The Charming Gardeners – 2019, and •Serendipity – 2024. Others are, •The Goldfield – 2014, •Bullying and Cheating- Not so cool :2014, and others still coming.
You also have a foundation. What programmes do you do with the foundation?
I have held literacy development programmes in various schools in some states. I have held character building programmes in schools, in collaboration with Lagos State. I have also held campaigns against bullying and cheating. The programmes also include solace substance abuse and advocacy group. •We run skills acquisition programmes for women and children in bead making, cake baking, alaga Iduro/alaga Ijoko professional training, how to manage a business, gele tying training, soap making and other related cleaning agents. We also do cancer awareness programmes, •awareness and support programmes for people living with disabilities, •fish farming training and ªtraining in managing damaged skin back to good health.
My foundation is not just focused on girls, but also women and children generally. We do a couple of things for girls in science, such as the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) programme. The reason we had this science programme for girls is that science is a male-dominated area. So, to find girls there it would be good for one to encourage them that they are there. Let them know that we appreciate and love them for it, and that some of us who are not science-inclined can actually appreciate them. We are hoping that more girls will come into that area because some of the girls have the flair for science, but the fear of competing with their male counterparts would make them want to back out. So we are there to encourage them so that more of the girls would join.
How long have you done this?
I have had about three meetings with girls in STEM in SS1, 2 and 3. They were not more than 15 in that our area that I could gather. Our next meeting will be when they are off school, because I try to make sure that we don’t interfere. Maybe during the long vacation.
Are there challenges in terms of achieving your dream for the foundation?
Our major challenge is in two sides. One side is in funding, and the other side is getting people to be interested in something. You would struggle to get funding to put a programme together, and you are looking for people to come and be trained. It is a problem. Sometimes you get the people, funding, and then there is no enthusiasm after the training for these people to want to apply themselves into what they have been trained. I can’t blame them. There is a lot going on in the country today. But, I would think that if somebody goes this far to help, provide a skill, the person should be able to put her own little effort to make it work. The kind of trainings that we put people through are trainings that even with N1,000 one can start. With that one can buy beads and make a bangle and you can sell it for N1,500. We also had a tie and dye training. If you can’t afford to do it on your own, you can network with others, raise money and start a tie and dye business.
What can you say about the youths and the rising ills in the society?
Yes, it is rising. It didn’t start today. It is something that built up over time. It’s always been there, and I think we only have it a bit more exposed now because of the players. They are different. The youths of yesterday are not youths today anymore; they are older. So there is a new batch and more will come. But the truth is that we don’t have to be bad. We can see things differently. There’re so many people going through all kinds of things, but mental health issue is one big issue, and that can make anybody do anything. The situation sometimes is what drives people. The environment can shape a person to a great extent, but it takes the child to say that, I grew up in this kind of environment but I am not going to let that environment influence me. Not too many people can do this. At the same time, I don’t want to blame the environment because it is the in same environment that I grew up, and I am not bad. There are so many of us like that.
Some people have blamed it on the economy…
Yes, the state of economy is something that is really taking a toll on some of what we are seeing today; the way some of the youths are behaving. There are experts that have been setting things in motion for this, and I believe that they are working hard. There is no government that is in government for the sake of just being there. I believe that everybody has their strategy and trying to see how it will work, but the problem is that we are in Africa, Nigeria. Let’s solve our problems and design programmes that will fit us. We can’t use the way other countries did. We can gain experience from there, but when applying it, we must take into consideration our own uniqueness and localise it so that it will fit, than trying to grab a square object and force it into a round hole. It won’t work.
The recent UTME recorded mass failure, which was attributed to the fact that children no longer read. As a writer, what is your reaction to it?
Everybody is doing the very best they can. I was also a teacher during my early years in life, and I did my best. Now, I am a writer and I am still doing the very best that I can. I do a lot of literacy development projects. In literacy development you are not just thinking about reading and writing. It is understanding cognitive development and all of that. Honestly, I can’t apportion any blame to anybody, whether you say it is the fault of the school, students or society. We can’t just blame anybody and I don’t want to discuss it in terms of what exactly the problem is. I would rather want to discuss it from the point of view of what can be done. So I would say we have to put in more effort. Go back to the drawing board. See if it has to do with curriculum, teachers, students or the school. Take for instance, I may not understand, in a class where the structure is bad. I may not concentrate, in a class with a teacher who is already battered emotionally. For whatever many reasons the teachers may be going through, I may not assimilate. Or, if I am the one who is coming from an abusive home; it could be anything that is going on. So we need to fix our system. There’re people who are willing and ready to do this job. Let’s allow them. I am not an educationist, so educationists should be at the forefront of this. We should get people who are specialists in this field; who have demonstrated excellence and passion in whatever they are doing, to stay on and do what they need to do.
Recently, there was a suggestion in the National Assembly that a child must be 18 before getting admission to the university. This has drawn controversy especially among parents. How can you react to this?
It is a big societal issue. It is more like a family decision, but it is more like a governmental instruction now that says, until they are 18 years before they get to the university. That’s fine. I am not going to say that a child who is smart should remain in a class. It will even bring that child down because once a child already knows all, there is no point in repeating a class. There are children that are very smart and we can’t take that away from them. So if the child is really smart and is getting on in class like that, suddenly finishes at the age of 15, there is nothing else. You are not going to ask that child to keep repeating the class until the child gets to 18. So I think there’re entrepreneurship programmes that schools can, not look at what the government has decided as a stumbling block to their children. No. All the government is doing is that they want that child to be matured enough. Maturity is very important, so that the child would have by then developed a mind of his or her own to be able to see good from bad. So, if the child finished secondary school at the age of 15, those three years before the child gets to 18 would be used to do entrepreneurship trainings in something the child is interested in. There is coding, or any of these short online courses. Even if it is courses around etiquette; things to just shape the child. Expose the child to as many things as possible in that period. In fact, that would help the child to go into informal trainings like leadership. So by the time they get to the university, they are better for it; they are formed. Their assimilation would even be better.
What was your growing up like?
I grew up in a very humble home. My parents were very liberal people. I grew up with liberal people. Like I said, I had a mix of family members such as Nupe, Niger State. Some were Yoruba’s, Owu in Abeokuta. Some were Lagosians as well. Kalabari uncles and aunts, Opobo uncles and aunts too. Everybody lived in one house. Some were Christians, Muslims, while some were traditional people.
Are you from a polygamous home?
No. Funny enough, it was just my mum and dad, but we had such a big family. While we were all young, you couldn’t even tell which children were the children of who, even though people knew. It shaped my life. My father was also a media man, so I was a media child. It was fun growing up with a media man. My father was Emmanuel Adagogo Jaja. He used to be the MD of Daily Times of Nigeria. So it was fun being around the media all the time. That also influenced me a lot, being able to write, because my father used to make us write. Sometimes he would say, if you want to tell me anything, write it, because he was a very busy man. He left everything for my mum to do when it came to the home front issues. He would tell us to put what we wanted from him in writing. That way he was developing us. So I picked up writing from there.
What does it look like being an Olori, the Queen of Owu Kingdom?
It’s nice to be married to a king. It is a wonderful thing especially when I never in my life thought I would be married to a king. It is something I am coming to terms with, because it is not business as usual any more. This is because, suddenly you have become a public figure. You could be an influencer of some sort. And you have to know what kind of influence you really want to give off to others around you. You would be surprised that not only younger people, but some people older would be looking up to you and wanting to see what you are made of. It’s not been easy, but we are living everyday as it comes, and thanking God for it.
What is it like marrying from a different tribe? Any challenges?
No. Not at all. When you say you are married to a person, you are married to the person’s family first and foremost. I really thank God that from day one that I met my husband’s siblings, there has not been any cause for concern. We have had it smoothly, and we will continue to live like that. My mother- in-law is a wonderful woman. She is still alive. God will keep her long for us all. It’s been all right. I am not tribalistic because of my background. It is difficult for me to be like that. Even though we have some people who may be tribalistic, that is the way they grew up, so you can’t change that. So, respect everybody’s point of view. For me, I have no issues at all. I speak Egbani which is Opobo and Bonny. They speak a common language, but they speak a lot of Igbo. I guess it is because of trade and origins. I speak Yoruba too. I can pick Kalabari a bit. I schooled in the North, so I picked a lot of Northern words while I was there. I did my secondary school in Abuja, part of my University in Jos. So I picked some things around. So I have never had any issues when it comes to religion, ethnicity, because I believe that we are one Nigeria. That is, there is unity in diversity and I lived it growing up. So I have no concern.
How did you meet your husband?
It was one very lonely day. We met at a conference.
Was he a king when you met him?
No, he was not. It was way back in 2016 when I met him.
What’s your view on women in politics?
They are getting stronger. We need to support them. There have been a few women who have made mistakes. What we are saying is that, don’t join them so that you don’t get in the bad book. You have to be strong to be in politics. I really praise them, all those women who are there, speaking and putting their feet down, ensuring that things are done the way they ought to be done. I give it to them, and I thank them for representing us. But we need more women in politics. Those who are interested, let’s give them a chance. Women should stop this pull down syndrome. The male folks encourage each other, so we need to encourage each other. Even when we see that the woman is going wrong, we can call her to order very quickly and talk to her and hold her accountable. Everybody can make a mistake at any time. So when we find that someone has a mistake, it is not for us to castigate the person. Even though they say that there is no ignorance in law, there are people who have made mistakes in life who have apologised for these mistakes. Except it is a mistake that we know that it is a no-go zone, it is not for us to castigate them. There are some things that have happened that would be decided to push aside and move on. We should be able to reach that point where we would actually demonstrate that so that we will continue to give more people chance to perform, because we all make mistakes, even in our homes. But, it does not mean that they throw us out immediately. Again, it has to do with ignorance, and we are millions of people. So to put it aside like in your homes and move forward, it is difficult. But there must be a way that we can work things out, otherwise you find that some women may be too scared to join politics. And even some men still who would have been there to do wonderful work, you find out that they would be afraid.