The BOT Chairman

Alhaji (Chief) (Dr) AbdulRaheem Amoo Oladimeji, OFR, FNAEAP, was born on June 8, 1938 to Malam Yusuf Oladimeji and Madam Awawu Oladimeji, both of Ile-loke Compound, Baale Quarters in Igbaja, Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.  His father was a successful farmer, hunter, herbalist and trader.  His mother, an offspring of the first Iyalode of Igbaja, was a reputable poultry farmer.

EARLY LIFE:

Alhaji Chief AbdulRaheem Oladimeji, OFR, FNAEAP, lost his parents when he was still an infant. He has no formal education, but he can speak, read and write Yoruba, Arabic and English, all these through self-education and determination. He had a very challenging beginning.  Without formal education he had to fend for himself, therefore, at a tender age of ten, he started his life as a houseboy to an Egba woman known as Iya Sikira at Isale-Gangan, Lagos, in 1948.  He was then ten years old.  His monthly salary then was seven shillings.  In 1950, he became a trading apprentice and later transferred his service to Pa Gabriel of Iludun-Oro on a salary of eight shillings per month.  It was through Pa Gabriel that he learnt the art of trading, plying the riverine areas of Ojoo, Ejinrin and Badagry in the former Western Region of Nigeria.  Later, with the assistance of his eldest brother, Alhaji Atiku Atunde, he became apprenticed to Alhaji Usman Alabi, a friend of his brother’s.  After spending about eleven years with Alhaji Usman Alabi, popularly known as Summonu Wonsole, in the trading area of Dosumu street, Alhaji AbudlRaheem was given a take-off grant of one hundred and eighty pounds, the equivalent of today’s three hundred and sixty Naira, to start his life as a trader.