Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

Adekunle Ojora (born 1932) is a Nigerian business executive who was chairman of the board of AGIP Nigeria Limited from 1971 until it was acquired by

Unipetrol Orlen Unipetrol is a Czech joint stock company owned by a Polish oil company PKN Orlen. The company is engaged in crude oil processing and the production, distribution and sales of fuels and petrochemical products – mainly plastics and fertilis ...

in 2002. He began a career as a journalist with BBC in the early 1950s, in 1962 he became an executive of UAC and in the 1970s, he began to invest in a number of foreign firms in Nigeria.

Life

Ojora is a member of the Ojora and Adele royal families of

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

and is himself the holder of the

chieftaincy A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized as ...

of the Otunba of Lagos. He studied journalism at Regent Street Polytechnic, with the intention of developing a career in journalism. He started work as a staff of BBC where he rose to become an assistant editor. In 1955, he switched his services to the Nigerian government as a reporter with the

Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation The Voice of Nigeria or VON is the official international broadcasting station of Nigeria. History Founded in 1961, the Voice of Nigeria began life as the External Service of the then Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (now Federal Radio Corpora ...

. He was soon transferred to Ibadan as an information officer in the office of the regional premier. Ojora's stint with NBC lasted until 1961 when he took up appointment as the public relations manager at

United African Company The Royal Niger Company was a mercantile company chartered by the British government in the nineteenth century. It was formed in 1879 as the ''United African Company '' and renamed to ''National African Company'' in 1881 and to ''Royal Niger Co ...

. Ojora soon developed interest in the commercial units of enterprises, he became an executive director of UAC in 1962. After a military coup truncated the first republic, Ojora was nominated as a member of Lagos City Council in 1966. A year later, he was given political appointments in two government agencies, in 1967, he was managing director of WEMABOD, a regional property and investment company and also in 1967, he succeeded Kola Balogun as chairman of

Nigerian National Shipping Line The Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) was established by the Nigerian government in 1959. Despite heavy investment and subsidies, the state-owned company was unable to compete with European lines. Much of the investment went to enriching the ...

. After leaving WEMABOD, he became an investor in various firms including AGIP petroleum marketing and NCR Nigeria. He also founded the private firms Nigerlink Industries, Unital Builders and a holding company Lagos Investments. After the Nigerian Enterprise Promotion Act, he took equity interest in some foreign companies operating in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

such as investments in the Nigerian operations of Bowring Group, Inchape, Schlumberger, Phoenix Assurance, UTC Nigeria, Evans Brothers and Seven-Up. He is married to Erelu Ojuolape and their daughter is

Toyin Saraki Toyin Ojora-Saraki LLB, LLM, BL, (born 6 September 1964) is a global health advocate, healthcare philanthropist and the Founder-President of Wellbeing Foundation Africa. Early life and education Toyin Saraki was born into the Ojora and Adele roy ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ojora, Adekunle 20th-century Nigerian businesspeople 1932 births Alumni of the Regent Street Polytechnic BBC people Businesspeople from Lagos Living people Nigerian journalists Ojora family Yoruba businesspeople Yoruba journalists Nigerian chairpersons of corporations