Chief Christopher Oladipo Ogunbajo (born 14 December 1923) is a Nigerian corporate lawyer and philanthropist from Ogun State. He was an early advocate of domiciliary accounts in Nigeria which later came to existence through the promulgation of the Foreign Currency
Decree
A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used ...
18 of 1985.
[Seye Kehinde. (1989). 'I Know the Secret of Life'. ThisWeek, P. 34.] In the late 1960s, he was among the group of businessmen who supported local equity participation in foreign firms operating in Nigeria.
Life
Ogunbajo was born in December 1923 to the family of Daniel Ajayi Ogunbanjo, a catechist from Erunwon, Ijebu, Ogun State.
He was educated at St Phillips Primary School, Aiyetoro,
Ile-Ife before proceeding to Oduduwa College, Ife for his secondary education in 1936. Two years later, he transferred to
Igbobi College
Igbobi College is a college established by the Methodist and Anglican Churches in 1932, in the Yaba suburb of Lagos, Lagos State, South-western Nigeria. It is still on its original site and most of the original buildings are intact. It is one ...
in Lagos. He began work in 1942 as a junior clerk in the Judicial Dept in
Enugu and was subsequently transferred to
Port Harcourt. He left the civil service in 1946 to study law at the University of London, Ogunbanjo obtained a law degree in 1949 and was called to the bar in 1950. On his return from London, he worked briefly for the law firm of
H.O. Davies before establishing his own private practice; his firm added two more partners,
Samuel Ladoke Akintola
Chief Samuel Ládòkè Akíntọ́lá, otherwise known as ''S.L.A.'' (6 July 1910 – 15 January 1966), was a Yoruba politician, aristocrat , orator, and a Yoruba Lawyer. He was one of the founding fathers of modern Nigeria, he served as ...
and Michael Odesanya in 1952 to become Samuel, Chris and Michael Solicitors. The partnership was dissolved in 1960 and his practice became Chris Ogunbanjo & Co. The new practice specialized in corporate law.
Ogunbanjo's familiarity with corporate law led him to be a significant shareholder in various Nigerian companies like: West African Batteries, Metal Box Toyo, Union Securities, 3M Nigeria, ABB Nigeria, Roche Nigeria and Chemical and Allied Products Ltd.
Ogunbanjo married Hilda Ladipo in 1953. His wife was editor of AMBER, a women's lifestyle magazine established in the 1960s but later acquired by
Daily Times.
References
External links
Ogunbanjo Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogunbanjo, Chris
1923 births
Living people
20th-century Nigerian businesspeople
20th-century Nigerian lawyers
Alumni of the University of London
Igbobi College alumni
Yoruba businesspeople
Yoruba legal professionals