Alaba Lawson Quotes

My mother trained us the children in the act of buying and selling. She started with clothes. She exposed us to the nitty-gritty of trade. She told me the importance of being a trader as early as when I was nine. My brother-in-law, brought me into commerce by getting me the distributorship of so many breweries and cement companies.

Yes, I travelled to England. I attended the St. Nicholas Teacher Training College, to train and at the end of the third year, I graduated with a First class diploma. I really loved the training I got.

I don’t entertain any fear, because I live every day as being tailored by Jehovah God. All I needed, Many people know i am an educationist but not many know that I am a big time trader who began at the age of nine.

I was not troublesome but I stood for my right and asked for it. No other student could cheat me and I never gave anyone the chance to cheat. No one could take me for granted.

None at all. We were close to 30 Nigerians who went for that training. Blacks and the whites co-existed in a convivial environment. We were treated like human beings.

It is a divine call. I could still remember that very day at the Green Park in London. I sat there and was enjoying the scenery – the lake, the ducks and the serene atmosphere. Suddenly, I saw some children walked into the park and they were chatting. Something struck a cord in me that I wanted to start something where I could mould the lives of youths. That was when I decided to attend the teacher training college. I went there and graduated with first class.

She never used the cane, but she had another way of doing this. Her countenance when anyone misbehaved was more potent than the cane. Once her countenance changed, one got the message.

Many people know you to be an educationist but not many know that you were a big time trader who began at the age of nine.

Teaching is like a calling, you must be trained for it and you must have passion for it.

I don’t believe that. No one can even pay enough for what we do as teachers. No amount of money can pay for our sacrifice. Teaching is like a calling, you must be trained for it and you must have passion for it.

I think those South Africans doing that are crazy. They have forgotten so soon what Nigeria did to help them fight the apartheid regime to a standstill. Nigeria spearheaded the boycott of the 1983 Commonwealth Games because of apartheid. The United Kingdom which was then hosting incurred losses due to the boycott, because so many other countries joined Nigeria in boycotting the games.

I attended St. James’s African Church School, Idi Ape, Abeokuta between 1957 and 1962. Before that time, my father enrolled his children in a kindergarten school founded by a Sierra Leonean woman who we called Mama Saro. All she taught us were bible verses and we crammed them.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Pray and get along with your life.

I was not born with any silver spoon. My father, late Pa Emmanuel Abiona Jiboku alias Jiboku Tannatanna was an electrical technician with the old Electric Company of Nigeria for 42 years. And my mother, late Ruth Olabisi Aina Jiboku(nee Aderupoko- Coker) of the famous Itesi area of Abeokuta was a trader.

I don’t have anything called sad day and I don’t pray for anyone to have a sad day. But there was a day I felt the grace and faithfulness of Jehovah God in my school, when a three-year-old girl swallowed a 5 kobo coin many years ago.