Chris Ogunbanjo

Chief Christopher Oladipo Ogunbajo (born 14 December 1923)[1] is a pioneer Nigerian corporate commercial lawyer, industrialist and philanthropist from Ogun State.

Prominently, he is often described as a “Captain of Industry”, “Baron of Commerce” and “Patriarch of Corporate Commercial Law in Nigeria” within the Organised Private sector, as a testimony to his invaluable contribution to the development and growth of commerce and industry and corporate commercial practice of law in Nigeria and for his visionary contribution to the economic philosophy of the private sector as the preferred engine of growth in a developing economy, as against the “commanding height” doctrine.He was an early advocate of domiciliary accounts in Nigeria which later came to existence through the promulgation of the Foreign Currency Decree 18 of 1985.[2] In the late 1960s, he was among the group of businessmen who supported local equity participation in foreign firms operating in Nigeria.[3]

Life

Ogunbajo was born in December 1923 to the family of Daniel Ajayi Ogunbanjo, a catechist from Erunwon, Ijebu, Ogun State.[4] 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 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 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, a pioneer firm in core commercial practice of law in Nigeria at the time. The new practice specialized only in corporate law and became the top firm of reference for commercial considerations which is today known as Chris Ogunbanjo LP.

Ogunbanjo's familiarity with corporate law led him to be a significant shareholder as well as attain board directorship/chairmanship roles 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.[2]

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
  1. IJEBU High Chief, CHRIS OGUNBANJO, Waxing Strong @ 98
  2. Seye Kehinde. (1989). 'I Know the Secret of Life'. ThisWeek, P. 34.
  3. Biersteker, T. J. (2014). Multinationals, the State and Control of the Nigerian Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 66-67
  4. Olumuyiwa Runsewe (December 12, 2009). "Celebrating Chris Ogunbanjo At 86". The Guardian.
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