“Mr Lekan Baderin, CTO of RonArch Consult, had helped to UCH to save a lot of money when his company recently repaired the five elevators in the teaching hospital at no cost. He also offered to give the maintenance staff of the hospital a free one month training on the maintenance of the lifts.”
“The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labour. Interpretation: Those who are constantly at work will always be focused on building and improving the world around them, naturally leading them to higher places that they can create impact from.”
“Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”
The two scriptural nuggets above, from Proverbs 12: 24 and 22: 29, respectively, aptly described Mr Lekan Baderin, the unassuming Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of RonArch Consult, an Abuja-based lift and elevator installation and maintenance company), who got a special recognition, honour and an award for doing what he thought was his own little contribution to help the course of humanity.
The dateline was Monday, 20 November, 2023. The venue was the Professor Theophilus Ogunlesi Hall, opposite the University College Hospital, Ibadan (UCH). Gathered in the expansive hall were the high and mighty, the lowly and the humble. The event was the Dinner and Award Night organised to mark the 66th Anniversary of UCH, the pioneer teaching hospital in Nigeria.
It was a night meant to recognise and celebrate individuals and corporate entities that had, in one way or the other, contributed immensely and remarkably contributed to the success story of the teaching hospital during the tenure of the eight Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, the amiable and friendly Professor Jesse Abiodun Otegbayo.
The guests were treated to old music and varieties of sumptuous food, including pounded yam, white rice, local rice and porridge. They also had free access to varieties of soft drinks. Of course, conspicuously missing from the arrays of assorted drinks were the “green” bottles and related drink items.
Mr Lekan Baderin, CTO of RonArch Consult, had helped to UCH to save a lot of money when his company recently repaired the five elevators in the teaching hospital at no cost. He also offered to give the maintenance staff of the hospital a free one month training on the maintenance of the lifts.
Subsequent upon an invitation by the UCH CMD, through the Director of Administration, Mr Baderin had inspected the hitherto non-functional five lifts in the teaching hospital on 2 November, 2023. He discovered that all of them were newly-installed.
While he was at his work, contributing to saving lives, little did the CTO of RonArch Consult knew that what he was doing would make the respected and respectable Professor Otegbayo to draw out the creme de la creme to such gathering in his honour.
The CMD had, two weeks ago, written a letter to Baderin, inviting him as the Guest of Honour at the Dinner and Award Night. The CMD stated in the letter, dated 9 November, 2023, that the award was in recognition of his contributions and supports for humanity.
“On behalf of the Management, members of staff and students of this great health institution, I want to use this opportunity to commend you for your responsiveness and contributions in a modest capacities to health care service delivery in the hospital.
“The Hospital will be celebrating its 66 year anniversary on 20 November, 2023. The annual event is meant for all the hospital’s stakeholders, dignitaries, friends of the hospital and individual philanthropist to grace the occasion by celebrating the past, while creating the future together to create better services to humanity,” the UCH CMD wrote in the letter.
Apart from Baderin, other honourees were the chairman and members of the Board of the University College Hospital as well as Honourable Olaide Akinremi Jagaban (a member House of Representatives, representing Ibadan North Federal Constituency) and two corporate entities -Fidson Healthcare Plc and Newborn Essential Solutions and Technologies (Nest 360).
All the honourees took turns to receive their awards. Like the big masquerade that dances last, the CTO of RonArch Consult was the last to be called upon to receive his award. And it was with a very loud ovation that he was ushered to the red carpet where he was decorated by the CMD.
Professor Otegbayo justified why the special recognition as he described what the awardee did for UCH as a miracle. He told the gathering: “There were some projects executed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the UCH. Among them were five lifts installed. They started working but not so long after, all the five lifts stopped working.
“We invited the company that installed them. They were going to charge us exorbitantly. We wanted to effect a maintenance agreement with them. They gave us exorbitant price and we were trying to negotiate. They abandoned us and the lifts were just there not functioning.
“We were wondering where to go and look for one technical partner that would help us. How can we install five lifts and none of them would be working and the people who installed them refused to come and repair them for us? They were giving us quotations that were so monumental.
“Along the line, I don’t know how my people got to know him [Mr Baderin]. They told me that there is one man that said he would repair them and that he had actually inspected them; that he said all the faults were minor. They told me that he said would even repair the lifts at no cost to us. That is a miracle.
“It didn’t end there. He also told us that he would train five of our staff on how to repair and maintain the lifts, at no cost to UCH. Which miracle can be more than that? That is an instant miracle,” he said.
Turning to Mr Baderin to present him with his award, the UCH CMD said: “Sir, I really appreciate you. It is only God that can reward you because not many people are like you. You came instantly and did the repair wholeheartedly. Now the lifts are working.
“I don’t know if the training of our staff have started but I know and I am sure that it will soon start also. That is why the Management and Staff and students of UCH consider you deserving of this award.”
The CTO, RonArch Consult spoke with newsmen shortly after receiving his award. He said he has never had anything to do with UCH prior to when he came to inspect the then non-functioning lifts and carry out the repair.
“When I came here, I saw patients being carried up and down. After I was done with what I came for, I decided to go and check the elevators. My staff told me there was practically nothing wrong with the elevators. If there is anything wrong, all they needed to do the work does not worth $500 and the elevators will work.
“If we say we are presenting a proposal for $500 plus our time, it will take time before it is approved because it has to pass from one table to another. It will take days and some people will still be suffering going upstairs and coming down. What is that money compare to lives? We just decided to instantly resolved the problem. So there was no paper work and since that day, the elevators are working
“They are all brand new elevators but the people in charge didn’t really know what to do when the elevators developed some small issues because they were not trained. Those who installed the elevators didn’t give them any form of training. So they left them as they were scared, not knowing where to touch so that the lifts would not be damaged further.
“That is why we have decided to train them at the UCH Maintenance Department for them to be able to handle some small issues. If they have any major problems, they can call us. We want to ensure that people who are sick re being moved up to down without any stress,” he said.
Speaking on how he felt about the recognition and honour, Mr Baderin said: “It was sudden. I was not even expecting it because we are just doing our job; our job is placed on integrity to individual, even to institution. If your elevator does not have a fault, I would not tell you it has a fault. Maybe because they felt doing something like that is in Nigeria, that is why the honour me. I appreciate the gesture, all the same.”
The CTO of RonArch Consult also disclosed that his company has been involved in several bigger projects, adding that he was particularly appreciative of the UCH Management and Staff for the honour accorded him.
“I have done a lot. It is just that, in most cases, you would not be recognised. In Abuja where you take train to Kaduna, I went there and said ‘you people should have an escalator here’. They told me that they have invited some big companies. They said that to install escalators they have to destroy the staircase. But those staircase were huge and there is no way they will be tampered with without affecting the entire structures.
“I looked at the whole scenario and I said I would install an escalator for them without destroying anything nor affecting a single structure. I wrote my report, my mechanical drawing, structural drawing, calculation,m and seni to the Ministry of Transport and I was following it up.
“The ministry called the consultant team. The consultant told them it is feasible. The only thing was that we don’t have anything on that station to carry any huge load. I told them not to worry, that I will perfect everything and today the escalator there is working. But do I get any recognition for that? No. So, I appreciate the Management and Staff of UCH for the recognition and honour accorded me,” the CTO of RonArch Consult said.
