Getting Professor Aderemi Oki (popularly referred to as Remi Oki) to agree to an interview was no easy task. At my first attempt, the past President of EKO Club (2011 – 2015) and Head of the Chemistry Department, Prairie View A&M University simply smiled at me, shook his head and said “I don’t have the time.” Hmmm..that did not go down well with me. After running into him a couple of times at social events he eventually gave in.
A graduate of the famous St. Gregory’s College Lagos, University of Ibadan and the University of Wyoming turned out to not only be a brain box, but very humorous and adventurous. As a 19 year old he began his love for traveling by visiting every state in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Today he boasts of haven visited 49 states in the USA.
Prof. Remi Oki is well known in the African Community in Texas giving his full support whenever called upon. The most spectacular thing about him is his ability to win the confidence of people around him and supersede their expectation. Everyone I spoke to attested to the fact that “if Prof. Remi Oki is on your side, you can never loose” forcing me to give him the title “Bashorun of Houston”. Bashorun is a Yoruba title bistoled on a high chief or Prime Minister who alone has the audacity to instruct the Oba (King) to vacate the throne and his decision trusted by the populace. When the Bashorun is on the side of the Oba, the Oba becomes untouchable. Every time you hear Prof. Remi Oki’s phone ring, it’s someone on the other end seeking his opinion/support before making a decision. He is undoubtedly a king maker. Prof. Remi Oki attained this status in the community by being fair, sincere, disciplined and a distinguished gentleman.
As a chemist, he is particularly interested in the Synthesis of Inorganic materials for bone repair and the Novel heterogeneous catalyst system based on open framework cobalt phosphate, metal oxides and cobalt complexes immobilized on silica support. He is currently researching the fundamental science and technology questions on creation and behavior of materials at the nanometer scale. While as an academician, he has molded the academic and career path of numerous students. Emphasizing the importance of the right academic background in preparation for a targeted job market and not just attaining a college degree for the sake of it.
On the home front, Prof Remi Oki is saddened at the way Nigerians abroad live and carry out their daily business in a fractioned manner:
According to their tribe of origin. He believes and can not stop emphasizing the importance of Nigerians functioning as one group and not as a Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa people in a foreign country. The average American does not identify Nigerians by their tribe, but rather as Nigerians. So why don’t Nigerians come together as one and use their majority in numbers to better their status in this beautiful land they now call home? True, Nigerians abroad stick together to uphold their individual tribal cultures and pass it on to the next generation, but Nigerian business owners will do tremendously well if Nigerians will patronize Nigerian owned businesses improving their economic power as opposed to the struggles they endure today. The Nigerian community can not grow economically if it spends all its money outside the community. Using the Asians as an example, who have their own malls and banks today, patronizing themselves and setting up businesses and financial co-corporations that fund their ventures. “There is nothing they are doing that is beyond the capability of the average Nigerian.”
“Nigerians have the tremendous ability to succeed as individuals, but that success is limited when compared to what can be achieved as a community we will one day leave behind to the next generation, whom most likely would never move back to Nigeria.”
Besides the economic strength, coming together will give the next generation an identity. Our children are not just Yoruba’s, Igbo’s or Hausa’s, they are Nigerians. They need the Nigerian Identity or they will be lost to the society they live in.
In pursuance of this, as President of the EKO Club, Prof Remi Oki pushed for the creation of the EKO Global Corporation, an establishment he envisaged will be made up of all Nigerians irrespective of tribe with the goal of not just being an economic force but a political force that will stand and speak for Nigerians in America. Nigerians are tax payers whom changes in the laws affect their daily lives; for good or bad. We need a voice to address these issues when they hurt and to advocate for changes that will benefit and open the best of doors for Nigerians as a people.
I was blown away by the passion in which Prof Remi Oki spoke and expressed about the Nigerian community in Texas and the USA. This distinguished gentleman can’t be an excellent academician, gentle natured, polite, avid squash player, loving husband, father and a “Bashorun” without a flaw. I asked, and he confessed to have been the most lousy swimmer in the University of Ibadan swimming team… He also left me with a “police station” story which he would have to tell you himself. My lips are sealed.