Day family, friends, associates celebrated Adesina at book launch

There are days that remain etched in the memory of individuals. Apart from birthdays, many other people have some special days they love to remember all their lives.

So it was for Bashiru Alani Adesina, pioneer chief accountant of Comet Shipping Group. It was on the occasion of the public presentation of his biography at the Eagle Club, Surulere, Lagos, September 25, 2024.

The hall was packed full with an array of who-is-who in Lagos. A number of the dignitaries also flew in from various parts of the country to honour Adesina.

The book, ‘B.A. ADESINA, GRACIOUS LIVING AND SERVICE,’ chronicles the early and professional life of the erudite chartered accountant, maritime finance expert and Comet Shipping Group’s long-standing Chief Accountant.

The book, named after its central character, is the biography of Pastor Bashiru Alani Adesina, the immediate past Group Chief Accountant of NALComet Shipping Group.

Written with clarity in a flawless English prose by Olufemi Omotayo (the author), B.A. ADESINA is a biography that is not only didactic but spiritually elevating. This made it a lighter burden for the Reviewer and Presenter, Professor Olukayode Oyediran of the University of Lagos who did justice to his analysis with a touch of humour through graphic elucidation of the contents and themes of the biography that mesmerised the guests. He conducted the enraptured guests through the earliest beginnings of Pastor Adesina, through his school years, his professional life, till date.

The biography, B.A. ADESINA, is a compelling read. It is a story of grass to grace, a story of rugged determination to triumph over vicissitudes, a tale of little beginnings, steadfastness, unwavering focus, determination and eventual surmount of all obstacles to reach the summit of success and triumph.

Pastor Bashiru Adesina achieved these goals, his mission with a recurring benchmark: hard work, humility, empathy and dedication to the service of God.

In the rustic village of Abule-Panu, an outpost of Abeokuta, Bashiru’s talent for monetary details was spotted early by his trader mother when he painstakingly took stock of her transactions.

His destiny began to unveil when his visiting aunt, Florence, took little six-year-old Bashiru away to Abeokuta from where he apparently had an embrace with Christianity and a focused mission with western education when he enrolled at Christ African Church Primary School in lgbore, Abeokuta in 1960.

Consistently, Adesina had in focus his mission to become an accountant as he pursued his academics at lbadan Polytechnic, bagging a Diploma in Accounting and eventually passing his ICAN examinations to become a chartered accountant. His career stints include Accounts Clerk at College of Education, University of Lagos and Air Call.

As a Chartered Accountant, the coast became clearer for Adesina to access better job opportunities and he eventually found a placement at a newly floated shipping company, Nigeria America Line, as the first Chief Accountant in 1984.

Adesina worked at NALComet for forty-one years during which period the company grew phenomenally and transmuted to a trading Group with tentacles in many facets of the maritime trade including Comet Shipping Agencies, Five Star Logistics, RoRoTerminal, Tarabaroz.

Adesina was a gifted and respected governmental engagement specialist who was adept in dealing with reputable agencies like Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA); Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FlRS), Lagos Board of lnternal Revenue and world-renowned shipping and maritime companies.

The highpoint of his career was his appointment as the Executive Administrator of Nigeria/Brazil Shipping Conference during which time, as pioneering indigenous shipping lines operators, NALCOMET was beckoned upon to contribute to fashioning a Nigerian national shipping policy. Adesina represented NALCOMET in this august body made up of top NPA and civil service technocrats.

lt was a rare privilege, and the end-product was the emergence of the then National Maritime Authority (NMA), now rechristened as NIMASA.

“If l achieved something worthy in my career, l will give credit to some outstanding individuals like General Theophilus Danjuma, the founder of NALComet companies, Chief Musa Danjuma, my chairman; Mr. P.L. Carrodano, our indefatigable Group Managing Director; Mr. Roderick Roy Nazzari; Ms Gloria Danjuma, our chairman; and Mr. Joachim Theaukuf. They are great personalities whom God had privileged me to interface with. They are selfless people who worked tirelessly to develop Comet Shipping Agencies to such a huge success it has become today, but also helped to wean and grow the Nigerian maritime industry into world renown,” he noted.

Adesina further said: “I will also be thankful for inspirations from my childhood friend and now Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola and my brother, Mr. Bade Adesina.”

Over time, Bashiru transformed progressively, positively, to a super technocrat, a consummate administrator with professional honours and awards decorating his resume. Overall, Bashiru became a man of God, indeed a Pastor in the Deeper Christian Life Ministry.

At the well-attended book launch, Adesina, paid a glowing tribute to his wife, Victoria, saying that all his attainments and achievements were made possible by her unflinching support.

According to him, Victoria has been there for him for decades.

From their lowly one-room habitation at Mafoluku area of Lagos, Mrs Adesina had always been a friend, a soul mate, a prayer warrior and a pillar of support and strength to Dr. Bashiru Adesina.

Eminent personalities who graced the occasion include, Oluwatosin Adebayo, Chief Financial Officer, Comet Shipping Group; A.B. Parthiban, Finance Controller, Five Star Logistics; S. P. Gupta, Billing and Costing Manager, Comet Shipping Group; Isaac Salami, Insurance Manager Comet Shipping Group, and John Ntekim, the Church Secretary, Deeper Christian Life Ministry.

Others are Jerry Asemota, former Church Secretary, Deeper Christian Life Ministry; Philip O. Oluwi, former Lagos moderator, DCLM; Olukayode Sunday Oyediran, a professor, the book’s Foreword writer and Reviewer; Eric Ajari, Lagos moderator, DCLM; Olanrewaju Ishola, Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, represented by his wife, and John Akinwande, former Lagos moderator.

Also at the event were Oluropo Dada, president, Institute of Chartered Stockbrokers; Titus Soetan, past president, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria; Jumoke Simplice, past president, Chartered Institute of Taxation Nigeria; Senior partners of Deloitte & Touché, Hungary Folorunsho, Tony Olukoju, Taiwo Okunade, Kunle Ogunbomowo, lbukum Beecroft. Olubamiji Esho & Co, A.A. Dina & Co.

Dare Kumuyi, chairman, Vetting Committee, DCLM; Emeka Izeze, former managing director, The Guardian Newspaper, and wife; Nicholas Erigo, Old District representative for Surulere, and many other dignitaries too many to list.