By Sunny Ikhioya

ENSCONCED with a team of newsmen on this warm March mid-morning, inside the private office of his Banana Island residence, Chief Leemon Agbonjagwe Ikpea, JP, told his story. He had already got the nomination of the Vanguard media group as Business Person of the Year 2019, but, they needed him for a close up, first hand account of his journey to success.

It has taken us four months to set up this interview because of his very tight work schedule – he is a very difficult man to pin down – but when he finally found time to speak to us, the waiting was all worth it. Alone, with three media men barraging him with questions, he opened up, on his humble background and how he got his business, virtually from nothing, to a place in the front line of Nigeria’s indigenous technology.

He did not only tell us the story of his beginning and upbringing, more profoundly, he made us to understand the role his late father played in his career choice, a lesson those upcoming must take careful note of.

There is one secret that has so far been unknown to the public all through the years, that is: the prayers and blessings of his father. He took heed of his father’s instructions and got the father’s blessings as a reward and ever since, the road to his success was paved for him. The blessings of the father have very strong historical and religious significance.

For those familiar with the story of Esau and Jacob, the importance of parental blessing cannot be overemphasised. Jacob had to be exiled to another land, for fear of being killed by his brother Esau, after stealing his birthright.

The prayer of the father is so potent, to the extent that what he pronounces comes to pass. That is why, until today, in our traditional culture children must seek parental consent before embarking on major projects, especially in matters concerning marriage. Failure to fulfill this obligation always brings untoward consequences to the relationship.

That was the background under which young Leemon grew up, where the father’s words were sacrosanct and must be obeyed. Despite his very rough and challenging situation, he was ready to listen to his father. His situation was such that, when he was in college at Baptist High School, Orerokpe, Delta State,  he was often called out for inability to meet up with school fees requirements and even once trekked from school to Warri city – a distance of almost 30kilometres – for inability to pay the fare back home, yet he listened to his father.

He had hawked kerosene, ice water and sold newspapers to generate income for survival and was barely 15years when he lost his mother. But, when the time for employment came, he was rewarded with a double at the same time. During the seventies and eighties, in Warri,  the choice place to be was the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA.

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Every young man’s desire was to work in NPA and Leemon got instructions to resume work at the NPA Warri. At the same time, the offer from a relatively unknown company named Wesso Darlington came to him. Wesso then was a British firm, working for the refinery’s main contractor, Snamprogetti.  He was confused on what choice to make, so he took both offers to his father for advice.

The father directed him to accept the offer of Wesso. So, on the day young Leemon was to resume duties at the much coveted NPA, Warri,  following his father’s advice, he shunned NPA and started work at Wesso as time keeper. He put all his best to work at Wesso and everytime he received salary, he took all of it to his father, without holding back on anything. The Wesso job in Warri lasted for one year, after which they were moved to Forcados, where he was involved in a combination of assignments: administration, accounts, time keeper and other duties as assigned by his expatriate bosses.

Huge cash was placed under his care and his boss would ask him to take from and help himself with the cash in his possession but he resolved not to fall for such temptations. In three years Wesso rounded up their contract, the expatriate boss, Mr. Peter Warner was so pleased with his performance, that he recommended him to Mr. Sam Paolo, the overall boss at Snamprogetti.

He started immediately as a wages supervisor on May 5, 1980 and was promoted to the position of Personnel Manager, five years after in 1985. Coincidentally, this day that was supposed to bring him much joy also brought its own sadness. That was the day he lost his father.

As personnel manager, he did not even have money for the burial ceremony of his father and was in such contemplative mood in the office when his boss, Mr. Bozoki, walked in to discover his plight and immediately gave instructions for him to be given twenty thousand naira. In 1988, the job of Snamprogetti wound up and Chief was given thirty five thousand naira plus a Volkswagen Beetle car as pay off.

Again, Leemon was recommended by his bosses to Abb Soimi, where he resumed with a better salary. He was so dedicated to his job, that throughout his paid employment period, he never applied for job any day, he was always recommended and passed for higher responsibilities, from one boss to the other.

He was at Abb Soimi from 1988 to 1990, he gave them notice to leave in July 1989 and a very befitting send forth party was held for him. The organisation did not want to lose Leemon totally, so they reached an arrangement with him, to be taking care of their labour matters on contractual basis. As a personnel manager, Leemon was not a sit in the office person, he would be interacting, supervising and checking on staff in the factory.

By so doing, he became knowledgeable with the engineering and construction  business and that was what informed his setting up of Lee Engineering and construction company.

His greatest strength lies in his humility to his parents, bosses, clients and with this humility, he has built Lee Engineering to a group, with allied companies, spanning fields in engineering, manufacturing, aviation, oil and gas, travels and tours and more. His mantra is “never go into competition with anybody,” if people are doing the right thing, he will also do the same but, no competition.

He started small, from a container caravan, from there to an office, where he moved to four bungalows and today, he has offices in different parts of the world. Because of his ability to deliver on his projects, he earned the respect of clients and little by little, the big companies like Shell, NNPC and others became his clients. If you ask him, he will tell you that, the background determines the future.

Ikhioya wrote via:www.southsouthecho.com 

Vanguard News Nigeria