Despite being a graduate, I did menial jobs to survive in UK —Aina & More News Here

Olusola Aina is a banker and prime pc programmer in the United Kingdom. He spoke with SEGUN KASALI on his struggles for survival there after relocating from Nigeria.

 

Your father died if you have been simply eight years previous.

Yes, and consequently, rising up was very difficult. It was going to be rosy till he died in a motor accident. But it was not difficult, as a result of my prolonged household could be very distinctive.  They imagine in serving to one another. So, when my dad died, his three brothers have been chargeable for taking good care of all the pieces about him, together with the youngsters. So, we didn’t undergo in phrases of training. And these uncles have very modest means. Even although that they had their very own youngsters, it meant that they had to share.

 

What are your fond recollections of him?

I was little however I keep in mind him. He was a Methodist Reverend and you’ll recognize that there’s not a lot you possibly can keep in mind between age eight and the age I am now. But I have visions of him in his white gown. He was a very beneficiant man. He was a folks’s man and so the home was all the time full and we nonetheless have the affect of that up until now as he would by no means be forgotten. People are nonetheless speaking about him. The factor I keep in mind most about him was the day he was mendacity on his mattress and I was there with him when he was studying a very unusual ebook with the title ‘The end of something nice’. I assume, very lengthy after he died, I noticed the ebook as soon as. I additionally do not forget that he used to inform us tales and he used to sing. He appreciated pounded yam as properly.

I picked up on his generosity. I like to assume that I am beneficiant like him. He had love for folks.

 

How did you come about your nickname ‘Eba’?

I acquired that from secondary college. I attended Christ School, Ado-Ekiti, which was a very well-known college that nice folks attended. Typically, anyone who is named Aina inherits the identify Eba as a result of somebody who had graduated from that faculty had that identify. And the issue in the college was that the extra you don’t like a nickname, the extra it will stick. If you protest that you simply don’t prefer it, then you’re roughly promoting.

 

How was life with the household you by no means knew you’ll be with?

I like the way in which you phrased that. I by no means knew I could be with them however I knew them. I lived largely, initially, after my dad died, with my uncle who was referred to as Dr John Olusola Aina. We bear the identical identify whereas I am Samuel Olusola Aina. He was a lecturer of Biology on the University of Lagos. There is not any method I might say he and my aunt did not deal with me as their little one. They handled anybody who stayed with them like their very own little one. So, I can’t grumble.

 

And your mum?

My mum was a very highly effective lady as a result of when my dad died, she grew to become the widow of a reverend and what that entails. And she was very keen about all the pieces. Even at this time, she continues to be what everybody referred to as her then “Mama Yard”. So, we have been all dispersed into varied households. She was and continues to be a strict disciplinarian. Despite that, she was very industrious. She was a instructor, tailor and craftsperson.

 

You by no means went astray amidst all these?

It was totally unattainable for me to go astray as a result of regardless that Dr Aina whom I was staying with was a college lecturer, he was additionally like a minister. And it was like everyone was looking for you. While I was with my uncle, a lot of folks have been all the time coming to check out me. So, there was no method I might have gone astray.

All I can keep in mind is that I had a shielded life and many issues occurred as a little one that I did not find out about. And my household was very spiritual. It was a Christian household. Although there was an affect of my dad’s loss of life on me, which I in all probability did not recognise as a little one however later did in life.

 

What do you imply, sir?

What that does to you, just isn’t to make you’re feeling a sense of entitlement. It makes you’re feeling everyone seems to be doing you a favour regardless of their finest efforts. You would really feel you aren’t entitled to what you’re getting. So, that would simply have an effect on your confidence. That apart, I had presents rising up. I was very clever and sensible. Everybody knew that I would change into an engineer.

This was as a result of I was good at making issues as a little one. I constructed battery-operated automobiles, and flashing lights and I did experiments as properly.

I was not born in Nigeria however in the United Kingdom and I left for Nigeria at age 4. Apart from that, I frequently visited my uncle on the college and noticed him as a scientist- That was Dr John Aina on the University of Lagos. Around age 7, we used to go to him and I used to see all his books. There, I could be completely different footage of inventors.

 

Is that why you studied engineering?

Yes, and everybody knew that, although there was one barrier. The barrier was that at age 9 after my dad’s loss of life, I was not performing in college any longer. I was all the time on the backside of the category. I used to share the underside of the category with my buddy who died a very long time in the past. A maa n du ni (we used to drag the place). So, everybody questioned what was going to occur to me. But then, issues modified as I transited to secondary college after which moved from one uncle to my different uncle. It was at the moment I out of the blue switched and have become essentially the most good in the college.

 

Describe this transition

It may need been a fixed statement of the folks round me who have been saying ‘what is going to happen to this boy perhaps he should become a mechanic’. There is nothing mistaken with being a mechanic however they solely felt I was good with all this stuff besides teachers. They have been very fearful and I was not wayward. So, I began studying voraciously in secondary college, studying three books at a time. There was one event we had a prize-giving day and it was in class 2. Surprisingly, each single reward for every topic was taken by me. The identify of the college was referred to as Bashita in Kwara State. But then, it was the will of my uncle for me to go to the identical college he attended which was Christ School, Ado-Ekiti. So, I was transferred to Christ School, the place I accomplished my secondary training.  Perhaps it was a matter of curiosity, I had a completely different thought of what the college needs to be. I have all the time had the mindset that a college is a place of innovation. We had folks like Dr Awojobi, who was an inspiration.

 

How was life after college?

By the time I graduated, there was a downside with employment in Nigeria already. So, I was a kind of individuals who discovered it onerous to get a job at the same time as a college graduate. I served in Keffi, Plateau state. Remember I stated I was not born right here. So, I had to go to the British Embassy to prepare for my passport as a result of anyone born in the UK could be an automated UK citizen at the moment. So, that was how I acquired out of the joblessness. I did probably not succeed in Nigeria as an engineer. So, I took my passport and headed straight to the UK.

In UK, ready for me, was one other uncle, Emmanuel and this was in 1989. So, I moved in together with his household and I was with him till I was ready to cool down. But, in these occasions and even now, the certification from Nigeria was not value something in the UK though you will have the benefit that you’ve got the training. So, it was very onerous to get an engineering job. I labored in some leisure space the place I was cleansing. I labored in a restaurant the place I was serving to to tidy up. I labored with an agent going round, cleansing places of work. However, on the premise of my data as an engineer, I acquired employment on the college. I was an engineering technician in their civil engineering division. Even although as an engineering graduate, I actually shouldn’t be a technician. Remember I instructed you I have an analytic reward and I had been in computing and programming even from Nigeria. While I was working as a technician, they seen that I was programming their tools for controlling exams. I was aiding the analysis college students with the evaluation of their tasks and was aiding the undergraduate college students. So, other than working in the mechanics’ laboratory, I was additionally working in the computing lab. So, I gained a lot of abilities. I learnt all kinds of programming languages after which I did programs as properly. Eventually, I grew to become a programmer and began programming in town of London with an insurance coverage firm.

 

When did your breakthrough come?

After I joined the City of London, I was nonetheless working as a junior programmer. My breakthrough got here with one thing they referred to as Millenium Bug, which occurred in the 12 months 2000. And what occurred was that each one the banks and different monetary establishments have been afraid that we have been about to flip from 1999 to 2000. It appeared like a small factor to you but it surely was a massive factor in the tech area primarily due to the calendar system, tools, and databasing. All this stuff have been primarily based on a 2-digit 12 months system. Before you used to say one thing like 2-2-99 or 1-2-98. That is how we used to do the date, isn’t it? So, what’s now going to occur when it turns the 12 months 2000? It would flip 00 and lots of sorts of tools had been programmed like that. So, folks thought there could be a meltdown when it turns 2000. All the banks have been loopy about recruiting pc programmers. That was the making of many programmers in these days. So, out of the blue I acquired from incomes a explicit wage to like trebling my wage due to the millennium bug. So, I give up the place I was working and acquired a contract working with a larger financial institution as a result of they needed a programmer. So, that was how I acquired into banks. So, that was a massive break.

 

Did you meet your spouse amidst this breakthrough?

No, I met my spouse again in Nigeria and that was in 1986. We have a very shut household buddy whom I referred to as Uncle, he used to be a Professor on the University of Ibadan and afterward grew to become a Minister in Nigeria and went on to Germany. I am speaking about Tunde Adeniran. I met my spouse in his home as a result of I used to go to his home a lot. My spouse was dwelling with that household at the moment and that was how I met her. By 1987, we have been pretty critical. In 1989 when I was coming to the UK, I had to go and inform her dad “I am your daughter’s boyfriend and I will be travelling to the UK. My plan is that eventually I will be marrying your daughter and she will join me there”.

 

And his response?

The excellent response could be ‘who the hell are you? Get out of my home. But the factor is we’re from the identical village. He knew my dad and was more than happy. So, he stated, “of course, by all means”.

 

What was the attraction?

She is a very reasonable individual and subsequently dislikes injustice. She is a bit outspoken in that regard which is a very refreshing high quality. So, we type of clicked. Her massive high quality is she could be very hardworking. She could be very first rate and doesn’t like issues not correct. I was even shy about asking her out.

 

How did you ultimately get it finished?

It was onerous. I actually stuttered the phrases. The factor is shy or not, I knew it was a factor that had to be finished. I had to sit her down to say “you know the thing is, I am sure many people had been saying this kind of thing to you and all that but I am saying it because this is what I feel. And so, I would like us to be friends and I mean it in all honesty”. So, I managed to stutter these phrases. I don’t know the way it got here out and he or she in all probability stated ‘I will think about it’. I have come to perceive that that’s what girls usually say. So, I took that to be a sure and from there I by no means confirmed. We are 30 years in marriage now.

 

 

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