THE STORY OF OTUNBA GADDAFI

ISAAC DUROJAIYE (OTUNBA GADDAFI)

Otunba Gaddafi at work

This is the heroic story of Otunba Gaddafi as told in my book: GROWING YOUR BUSINESS (BIG your small business). Enjoy.

The name Isaac Durojaiye sure doesn’t ring a bell in the ear of so many people, but not so his statements. Clichés such as “shit money no dey smell,” “shit business is good business,” “you call it shit, we call it money” are more popular than the personality behind them.

Otunba Gaddafi, as he was popularly called, worked in the securities department of the American Express when he was in the states. And that exposed him to many things in the course of his duty and sojourn in that land. He came back to Nigeria, and became the bodyguard to late Chief M.K.O. Abiola.

At the time Chief’s son was to get married, Otunba was asked to take care of the security for the event. He was discharging his duty when he noticed that, there were only about two toilets at the planned programme venue. For the type of person Chief was, the caliber of persons who were expected at the events, and the number of persons expected, two toilets were definitely inadequate. He thought of the period when he was in the states, and remembered how mobile toilets were being used conveniently by people, and they just paid a token for the use. With this knowledge in hand, Otunba returned to chief and tendered his complains. Chief, it was gathered, asked him for the way out. He came back to the drawing board, and planned how mobile toilets could be imported and deployed for the programme. Chief gave him some money to procure those toilets, and he got some units which were used for the event, and that was the genesis of DMT.  

That singular act was the beginning of Otunba’s DMT – Mobile Toilet Business. Other prominent personalities who saw that innovation at the event asked how it was done, and all enquiries were directed to Otunba who began to supply mobile toilets for celebrities’ events, and expanded further to supplying to governments, etc. With Chief’s incarceration following the 1993 presidential elections, Otunba had all his life to develop his business. He brought in more and more units of the mobile toilet from the US for as many people and organizations that needed them, and created hundreds of jobs by employing hitherto jobless youths to man the toilets and collect usage rates from people who used them.

At a time when Otunba discovered that those toilets could be produced locally, he stopped importing them, and rather imported the technology that could produce the toilets in Nigeria. He placed these toilets in public places – road sides, schools, open arena, etc, and employed people to man them. People use the toilets and pay a token for it, while those who man the toilets use the token to keep the toilets clean and to maintain it, and of course make returns.

Organizations as well as governments signed on to use Otunba’s toilet model  in various places. Otunba grew “shit” business from its local status to internationally acceptable standards. Otunba has since sat on tables with kings, presidents, governors, and various international figures in different parts of the world to teach their people about his “shit business” which he calls “good business”.

Sadly, Otunba died sometimes in 2011, but before his death, he had plans to commence the conversion of the human waste to various other uses, but that he couldn’t achieve. For all he has taught us so far, we owe him thanks.