Rasheed Gbadamosi (1943-2016)

Last Wednesday, November 15,2016, Nigeria lost a foremost author, industrialist and former chairman of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi to the cold hands of death. According to the family, Gbadamosi died from a stroke he suffered in April this year. An economist, Rasheed shot to limelight, when, at 29, the then military governor of Lagos State, Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson appointed him Commissioner for Economic Planning.
He later served in various regimes as Minister of National Planning and until recently, Chairman, PPPRA. Those who knew the late Gbadamosi attest that even though a politician, he was never partisan. Story had it that in 1990, when the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was at crossroads over the choice of Femi Agbalajobi and Dapo Sarumi as to whom between them would be the party’s gubernatorial candidate for Lagos State. Rather than lose the election, many SDP chieftains rooted for a neutral person in Gbadamosi to be the party’s flag bearer.  To everyone’s surprise, he declined the offer.
During his lifetime, many regarded late Gbadamosi as too close to the establishment and more so a successful industrialist to whom partisan politics was an anathema.
No one would deny that Gbadamosi was one of Nigeria’s best public servants who served the country in various capacities. For example, he was one of the 49 ‘Wise-men’ who drafted the country’s 1979 Constitution.
Very few Nigerians have traversed as much area and made as significant an impact on national life as Gbadamosi. His life, taken along with that of his father, read like the industrial history of Nigeria.  Late Rasheed Gbadamosi who returned to the country after his graduate and post-graduate studies in Britain and United States, began his business career in his father’s company.  Following his father’s example, it was therefore not a surprise that he became a successful businessman with interests in construction and engineering, metal works, textile, insurance, pension and computers. He was a pioneer manufacturer of bottled water with his Ragolis brand; the name derived from his initials, R.A.G.
There is no denying that his story is that of a man who served his country with demonstrable distinction in the public and private sectors. In recognition of his distinguished service, he was conferred with the national honour of Officer of the Federal Republic, (OFR).
His legacy cannot be complete without mention of his roles at top policy positions that spanned areas of Economic and Industrial Development, National Planning, Constitution Drafting, Electricity, Railways, Tertiary Education and External Debt Rescheduling.
On the international scene, the late Gbadamosi led the Nigerian delegation to the Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) 1998/99 meeting and was instrumental in the relocation of sixteen United Nations agencies from Lagos to Abuja.
As author, he with Funsho Kupolokun and Oluwole Oluleye, co-authored ‘The Story of the Deregulation of the Nigerian Downstream Oil Sector’, a 323-page compendium, which still serves as a veritable resource material on the sector.
As arts and music lover, Gbadamosi  had six plays and thirty short stories to his credit, even as  he  worked and interacted with masters in these fields ranging from Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, through Femi Osofisan and Bruce Onabrakpeya to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and Ola Rotimi. In  1970, they co-founded the Nigerian Association of Patriotic Writers and Artists (NAPWA).
Even as he has since been buried according to Muslim rites, Nigerians will always remember the late Gbadamosi as one of the three major art collectors in Nigeria, and financier of various art genres including film, and emergent talent.