Rockdom Engineering has introduced a tradition of quiet, quality achievement into the construction industry in Nigeria. Already a go-to company for timely and high quality construction projects in Lagos State, with many such completed and on-going in the state, the eyes of the rest of the nation is already opening to the professionalism and reliability of Rockdom. The company has thus extended its tentacles of quality road engineering and re-engineering services to other parts of the country both at the national and state levels. The Lagosian Magazine was particularly impressed by the timely delivery of some road projects handled by Rockdom across Lagos State and the unique qualities of the handling of such projects. Our Editor in Chief, Sola Ojewusi recently met PRINCE ENGR. ṢỌLà AJỌÌSẸ̀, the brain behind this foreward-looking indigenous construction company to interview him on the secrets of the company’s successes and the reasons for its investment in quality road engineering. Dapper, amiable, down-to-earth and straightforward, Engr. Àjá»á¹£e is a journalist’s dream interviewee. Enjoy this excerpt from the interview.
THE LAGOSIAN: Let’s share your professional journey.
ENGR. AJOSE: I trained as a Civil Engineer, I have handled a lot of construction works especially in Lagos. Even around the rest of Nigeria. Take the Third Mainland Bridge for example. I was part and parcel of the Engineers that supervised the Third Mainland Bridge because the construction company that handled the Third Mainland Bridge is called PGH. It is not Julius Berger. The PGH simply means Prono Girola and Hiconi. They are Italians. And the mother company of that construction company is called Borini Prono and Co. The founder, father to Poletti Brothers, also owned Impressit Bacoroli. All of them are on the same street on Burma Road, Apapa. And based on that, when they formed PGH, I was federal representative on that project.
THE LAGOSIAN: You were working with the Federal Ministry of works?
ENGR. AJOSE: No, I was working with the then NSO (Nigerian Security Organization).
THE LAGOSIAN: So, you have a kind of military intelligence background?
ENGR. AJOSE: Yes, I do. Still talking of the Third Mainland Bridge, there is no other construction company that could have handle it more perfectly than PGH. Why? Because they are the ones that have the drawings. They know what they have done there. They are the only one that can maintain it effectively. Other companies don’t know the modes of the construction. Like the proper curing carried out on that project, a lot of construction companies can’t understand it. Most of them are just doing pre-cast but Third Mainland Bridge was done in-situ. PGH didn’t cast during the day for proper curing and for proper settling, for hardening and for good project standard. In fact, the mix ratio was very good.
THE LAGOSIAN: Some believe it was constructed by Julius Berger. How did Julius Berger come into the picture?
ENGR. AJOSE: Julius Berger did not come into the picture of Third Mainland Bridge. The only company that actually came in is CHEVISHANI.
THE LAGOSIAN: But the general mentality is that Berger did…
ENGR. AJOSE: It is because they don’t know; they are not conversant with what really transpired then but people like us were there. The company that did the piling of Third Mainland Bridge is an Italian outfit called CHEVISHANI. The only area whereby Julius Berger partially came in was they provided the services of the divers to rescue anybody that fell into the river, not that they were part and parcel of the construction. They were not part of it at all. Mainly PGH and CHEVISHANI. Even the Project Manager/Contract Manager is called Camozo. He is an Italian man. He was very brilliant on the job.
THE LAGOSIAN: So, in essence, you have been used to such very highly technical engineering projects for a long time?
ENGR. AJOSE: Yeah for a long time. Even the P&T building at Obalende, I was part and parcel of it. Because it was constructed by LODIGIANI.
THE LAGOSIAN: So which one was your first major construction project? In Lagos or elsewhere?
ENGR. AJOSE: My first experience was in Lagos with P&T. You know my father is also a civil engineer and he worked with Boletti Brothers. So while I was in school, he always invited me to come along with him to site on Saturdays.
THE LAGOSIAN: So, it’s hereditary?
ENGR. AJOSE: My father would tell me, come and see what we are doing. We want you to learn. That was how I learnt the practical aspect.
THE LAGOSIAN: Where did you study?
ENGR. AJOSE: I went to Yabatech. Going to Yabatech, you know, it is the first institute to offer quality engineering education.
THE LAGOSIAN: And your discipline at Yabatech for the records?
ENGR. AJOSE: Civil Engineering. From then, I began to learn everything… structural and every other aspect of building, even form work to the extent that, every Saturday, I must join my father at the LODIGIANI workshop to see what they were doing. Whenever he was going to site and I had free period, I could easily go to site to the extent that some of my course mates then, when they saw the way I was operating, just joined. “Let’s go with you to learn practical!” the pleaded and I concurred. And by so doing, before we rounded off our course, we were able to lay foundation.
THE LAGOSIAN: What was the first major project that you did? What is it road or building?
ENGR. AJOSE: My first project, personally, was road.
THE LAGOSIAN: Your first love, can we say, is road construction?
ENGR. AJOSE: Yes, it is road construction. I decided to choose road because building can be abandoned. But road projects cannot be abandoned. By so doing, we concentrated more on road. You will see that all of our road construction are standard such that there is no foreign company that can challenge the standard of our road construction.
THE LAGOSIAN: You know one of the bane of construction in Nigeria is the tendency to cut corners. Somehow, we were able to look round, especially the drainage, the sewage system that you were doing on the current road projects at Ijesha, also the ones at Ita-peju. We saw the very thick texture of the slabs and we took direct pictures – very thick. The standard, by our assessment was quite impressive. Were you not thinking of profit the way others do? What was the real reason behind being a stickler for quality?
ENGR. AJOSE: There is nobody working that does not think of profit. But what we believe is this: whatever we do on site must be able to stand the test of time. Also, as an indigene, a native of Lagos State, if I am doing a project for my own state, I don’t think I should manipulate or do something else that will not give us kudos or give us a good mark. Even if you check the ones we have done, seven or eight years back in Aralile in Surulere, it is still solid
THE LAGOSIAN: Still intact?
ENGR. AJOSE: Yes, for the past 8 or 10 years. The recent ones we constructed, during the 181 projects: Buhari Street, Anipele Street, Adebule and Taiwo lane, four roads under Mushin Local Government constructed by us for the state are very solid and durable.
THE LAGOSIAN: We can see that the authorities must have had a lot of confidence in you because you are doing three or more Local governments simultaneously…
ENGR. AJOSE: Even now, we have worked in Isolo LCDA, Mushin Local Government, Surulere Local Government, Apapa Local Government. We have worked in Itire-Ikate Local Government, Ejigbo LCDA. Effective work done in 4 local governments and 2 LCDAs.
In Apapa Local Government, beside the Lagoon, we have constructed two rigid pavement roads. Even Mushin-Itapeju road that is ongoing has rigid pavement. At least we have constructed about 3 in Ijora area. In Adebola Odunsi, Taiye Gate, Adeyemi. we have rigid pavement road constructions to prevent flooding in Ijora.
THE LAGOSIAN: Because of the terrain ……
ENGR. AJOSE: Yes. Very solid job. These multiple construction works going on indicate that there is huge confidence reposed in us by the authorities. And it has been for a very long time.
THE LAGOSIAN: Talking about reaching out to other states, why do you think other governors and executives should be interested in Rockdom Engineering?
ENGR. AJOSE: They can see what we have done in the past. And they can see the standard of what we always do on site. And basically we don’t compromise on excellent materials. We go on standard. Our mix ratio is standard. It can be tested anywhere. Before we make use of any materials like our Iron rod, we take it for testing. Even our asphalt, it all depends on what is on the bill of quantity – the thickness. Like Dauda Ilo, we got to a level, I had to advise the Chairman (Monsuru Obe of Ejigbo LCDA) that if we want the road to remain the way and manner you want it to be, we need to do a rigid pavement here. We established it, immediately, himself confirmed that immediately there was downpour, I had to come down and see.
THE LAGOSIAN: Coming to talk about the Ejigbo project, we saw that it was done in record time. People had been expecting that road to be done for a long time. But this man came in, he promised and it was delivered. What did you see interacting with such man? How do you see such a man at work?
ENGR. AJOSE: The Honorable Chairman of Ejigbo LCDA is a man of his words. He is a kind of person that wants the best for his people. You know one thing is this – interest matters a lot. Some people love to profit from a project but in his own case, all he wanted his people to enjoy is good environment whereby he doesn’t want anybody or any motorist to experience any hardship from traffic hold-up. That’s why when you look at it, he is looking for all the link roads that would be accessible. There was a day he said that the reason he is doing the roads is because he was somewhere within Ejigbo, and there was serious hold-up. And on the only link road that people supposed to pass through, there was an ambulance on emergency and the driver was trying all possible means to have access, but the ambulance could not move until the patient inside the ambulance died. He said that it was terrible, that he was in his car and he was weeping for the family and for the person’s children. That day he made up his mind that whenever he became Chairman, he would repair the roads. He said anytime he became Chairman of the Local Government, he would make sure he opened the roads up.
THE LAGOSIAN: Now, you have done Ejigbo, you have done Itire-Ikate, Apapa. Lagos State Government has been trying to develop tourism. But without good roads, you cannot achieve much because tourists want to move around the city, see tourists ‘attractions, see historical sites. As a partner in the process of making Lagos a good tourist attraction, what do you think government should do more?
ENGR. AJOSE: You see, in development, we should be focused, focused in the sense that any road constructed either by local, state or federal government, we should have the ability of urgent maintenance. For all residents, it must be a responsibility to clean and clear drainage systems. Some people are so stupid in this country whereby they turn drainage to their dustbins and they don’t care. And purposely because of our present law enforcement agents, if you give me even 10 naira, they will sell their conscience. And they are not ready to enforce or enact law. And a lot of people are fond of ‘’oh, we voted for you, and now you are harassing usâ€. What they are doing is wrong. What they are doing is bad.
And I believe there must be check over all these things. That is why most of the drainages we constructed especially the covered drainages, nobody will have the capacity even to lift up the manhole. It was constructed in such a way that it would be difficult for anybody to say let us lift up this one……
THE LAGOSIAN: Yes, we realized that they were all covered.
ENGR. AJOSE: Yes, and the thickness is almost 100 or 150, whereby nobody ever tries it. Even Mushin – Buhari, Anipele that is volatile, where we have a lot of thugs and touts, they don’t ever attempt to do that.
THE LAGOSIAN: Coming to that…what did you do to get the communities to co-operate on those projects? Because doing it smoothly also demands having some kind of good rapport.
ENGR. AJOSE: Actually there is no way you won’t have bad eggs or good eggs. In every community, we have bad eggs, good eggs. And the bad eggs – the area boys are minimal, they are not much. We have more good eggs. But the good eggs always entertain fear, for fear of being attacked by the bad eggs. They did it to us but we reported them to law enforcement agents to the extent that we were able to dock some of them in the cell. And by so doing, there was serious warning. We engaged Mobile policemen that they should be on standby. It happened in Mushin too, at Buhari and Anipele. There is no site where you won’t find such. When we were constructing Omoniyi too, in Mushin, they came over but we were able to overcome them. When we were constructing Apapa too, they came and we overcame them.
THE LAGOSIAN: We see that you have been up and doing. You have created a sort of confidence in those with executive powers to award contracts. But there is always an ongoing controversy, especially the ones been championed by the Nigerian Society of Engineers, that there should be more interests in indigenous contractors. What is your take on the tendency to want to invite foreigners to come and do construction works in the country?
ENGR. AJOSE: At this level, I will just advise that the banks are not helping matters in terms of funding, equipment. Most of the indigenous companies struggle to have equipment. And you will see that most of the so-called foreigners, whenever they win any contract in Nigeria, it is that award contract letter that they take to their country to source for both finance and equipment from their home countries. They would be funded over there. But banks in Nigeria will ask you to go and bring your head, go and bring your nose, bring your leg, even bring your intestine, bring your kidney as collateral. Even when you agree with them that look let us do domiciliation – whatever is coming, take your money, and give us our money. But they are not ready.
THE LAGOSIAN: Despite seeing what you have done already……
ENGR. AJOSE: For example, there was a project of about 350 million naira to construct the Mushin-Ita Peju road. A bank was the receiving bank that Lagos state is paying through. And we needed assistance. We told them we were having mobilization fee of 100 million plus, that the project was ongoing, that as the paying bank they should give us 50 million naira to support this project for us to move fast, for rain not to obstruct the construction work. Do you believe that the bank couldn’t give 5 million naira? That is just it!
THE LAGOSIAN: Despite a third of the money being available….
ENGR. AJOSE: Paid by the Lagos State and in their coffers……They were not ready.
THE LAGOSIAN: What was their arguments?
ENGR. AJOSE: They don’t have an argument. Even for the Bank, when you ask them for performance bond of 1% or 2%, the Bank will ask you: “Ok, you are asking for performance bond for 350 million or any amount. You must have 50% of such an amount in your bank before they can write you that letter. Despite that they are your banker, you have been banking with them, they have been seeing money coming in and out. You see most of the indigenous companies, they would go the extra mile in order to obtain loan, whereby when you take 10 million naira, you will be paying an interest of 2 million or 4 million additional for 1 month. and it will turn to compound interest. You see most of the bankers in Nigeria will tell you that ‘’you see this one cannot fly, let us introduce you to one finance house “whereby they would cut your neck.
THE LAGOSIAN: On that note, what should government do because eventually therẹ is a long term effect on our nation, our integrity, even the development of the country – repatriation of funds; because when you give contracts to international companies, they have to repatriate the funds. The funds that should stay in Nigeria.
ENGR. AJOSE: Yes, they are taking the profit to their country….
THE LAGOSIAN: With that kind of problem with the banking industry, what should the government do to help indigenous contractors?
ENGR. AJOSE: I just believe that CBN should see to that. There should be force. And there should be a mutual understanding. Thank God for BVN now. If you get any money from any bank and lodge in any bank, it can be traced. Based on that, you can easily say that this contract we are in charge, we can meet the client. You can meet the contractor and say look, any money that is coming in, we are part of this business. Once the cheque is being paid, you will be monitoring it, the way and manner you would do your deduction. It would be convenient for the contractor; it would be convenient for the banker. At the end of the project, you will have your money and the contractor too will have rest of mind. And they would be able to patronize you.
THE LAGOSIAN: But Sir, do you think the body representing Engineers (NSE), is doing enough in pushing… like they pushed for local content in the oil sector. Before you award contracts, you have to consider local content. Is your body pushing for local content in this regard?
ENGR. AJOSE: Yeah. They are trying their best in ensuring that the government of Nigeria patronize local indigenous industries. Why because the money will remain in Nigeria and will be able to employ our people, our best. Even the upcoming engineers will be able to learn under the old ones. Because you will see that some of the present-day engineers are not sound enough practically. You have to sit them down to make sure that they learn a lot. Like most of the people working for me: I have some architects, I have some civil engineers, I have some structural engineers. I have a lot of them.
We employ somebody from the University of Ibadan, even we ask him to peg, the pegging was a problem. He was sweating. I told him you are a civil engineer and you are putting on tie. You are supposed to be on T-shirt.
THE LAGOSIAN: How would you encourage up and coming engineers to take this thing so seriously. Because someone who is a graduate getting this kind of pass on site. What do you think young graduates should do?
ENGR. AJOSE: They should be more focused. They should be more focused that very soon, they will become big boys in the industry. And they need to learn. It is what you have, that you would give. What you don’t have, you cannot give. Basically on that, they should learn, they should be ready to learn. They should prepare their mins to grow on their career paths as engineers. They should have in mind that this is my profession, this is what I would do for a living. Not yahoo. You know you would see some of the graduates of civil engineering and structural engineering, architectural engineering, instead of them to concentrate, to be focused on development: how can I do this? They would be using their laptop on how to get money. I just believe it is because of the economy. And most of the people at the top should realise that this is not the way and manner they were brought up. Nobody of my age can authoritatively say, my parents pampered me. They would tell you that ‘’If you are not ready to go to school, go and learn carpentry job or mechanic job or mechanical or I have a friend who is a goldsmith, go and learn under himâ€. Or, you go to farm and do something. But people of our age now, we are pampering our children. We don’t want them to experience the hardship that we experienced. And they fail to realise that if you jump into a position without going through a position before you get to the top, if you jump, you are still going to jump back to come and learn what you fail to learn.
THE LAGOSIAN: You have done successful works in Lagos, some completed, some ongoing. And it shows some level of confidence, why do you think governor from south-east, north and other regions of Nigeria. Why should they be confident about Rub Dub Engineering?
ENGR. AJOSE: If they give us soft land to perform, you know, most of these things – winning projects in Nigeria is ‘man know manâ€. It is not basically on merit or bidding unless you are …… most kingmakers do not look like kings. It is somebody that will take you to somebody and somebody. And that has been the practice.
THE LAGOSIAN: But if given a chance, you believe Rockdom is equal to the task?
ENGR. AJOSE: Yes. We are up to the task.
THE LAGOSIAN: Encourage other indigenous construction company, speak with a few words on what they should do to be able to reach their dreams.
ENGR. AJOSE: All I can advise is that they should just do the needful. They should do normal job. They should not do a shoddy job whereby they just believe, let us just do it in order to have this profit. If you have little and you win another contract, and you are able to pay something and place food on your workers table, and they can feed their family and they can do normal thing, I believe the sky is the limit for everybody.
THE LAGOSIAN: On a personal note, how do you relax? You are looking trim despite the age. What is the secret?
ENGR. AJOSE: The secret is this; I don’t allow anything to bother my mind. I always relax my mind over issues, even when I am passing turbulent times, I will just accommodate it within myself. I express my feelings. Then I pray. Prayer is my hubby. And again, I play table tennis just to ease off tension. I don’t drink beer and I don’t eat much……
THE LAGOSIAN: Are you of the Christian or Moslem faith?
ENGR. AJOSE: I am a Christian. Even at times, I do minister.
THE LAGOSIAN: Which church?
ENGR. AJOSE: Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries
THE LAGOSIAN: Wow…that is great. I know the power of prayer from that angle.
ENGR. AJOSE: By nature, I don’t usually tell people that I am a Pastor or a Regional Overseer in Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries because I just believe by your character, by your attitude, people will see. My family – Ajose family, is one of mixed religions. Mixed religion in the sense that we have Christians, we have Muslims, we have traditionalists in the family. And we never fought one another. Whenever we are together, we are one family. We are one fold. We discuss the progress of the family together and we move ahead.
