In this interview, FirstNigeriaTV’s Ojomo, Olusegun Adebambo speaks with President, Unilorin Elders, U.S. based Healthcare Provider, Prince Tunde Badmus who sheds light on the genesis of Unilorin Elders, its present achievements and what its future holds.
Excerpts:
Question: Briefly explain the origin of Unilorin Elders and what it stands for, naming its constituents?
Answer: Yes, thank you. I’m sure you know as the name simply implies, Unilorin Elders is a group of some alumni of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria.
Essentially, we were a number of new entrants into Unilorin between 1982 and 1984 and the major outstanding feature of us all was that we were all who had spent about four or five years outside (post-secondary) before securing admission, a phenomenon in which we referred to ourselves as ‘pentagon’, as opposed to a vast majority of other new students on campus.
Right from inception, I was named as President of the club probably because I was the eldest in the group and in fact, at our 2026 AGM at Ibadan, I was named Life President.
Other members of the group included Bunmi Omomo, Charles Ibukunola Jegede, Supo Olorunniwo, Segun Ojomo, Sesan Omoloja, Sola Fowowe, Bolaji Ogunniyi(deceased), Olumide Shodeko(deceased), Demola……. (deceased), …….. Ayeni(deceased).
Another major feature we had right from the beginning was socialising deeply and sharing between one another and we all also lived very close to one another in the school hostels.
We occasionally had social parties in our rooms where a number of our female friends also graced such occasions.
We also cultured the habit of helping one another, right from the beginning, up till now when any of our members have a problem, we all rally round to find lasting and sustainable solution to such problem.
Our members are scattered over the globe engaging themselves in luxuriant endeavours.
Bunmi Omomo is a Nigeria based business mogul; Professor Charles Jegede is a U.S based psychiatrist; Supo Olorunniwo is a U. K. based education consultant; Segun Ojomo is a Nigeria based communications’ specialist; Sesan Omoloja is a thriving mechanical engineer in Nigeria while Sola Fowowe is a mechanised farmer also in Nigeria.
So, you can see there is no lagger among us..
Question: What plans or projects do you presently have on table as a group?
Answer: Thank you for this important question which is the centre, u suppose, of this interview. Apart from internally generated assistance to our members, where needed, we are putting up a legacy for the future which holds that our children and generations yet unborn carry on with this association as a rallying point. We shall also soon be kick-starting programmes towards ensuring we periodically give back to our alma mater.
Question: And how do you hope to achieve the intention of passing the association through your generations?
Answer: We are already culturing the idea of bringing our wives and children together for get-together, at least once yearly, for familiarisation sake. This is apart from the annual AGM which we rotationally hold at homes of members.