Vincent Alaba Akinsete - Site Memorial Online

A tribute to my God Father

I met Uncle Alaba and Aunty Ronke Akinsete the first time in the summer of 1974, when my dad, Professor Ayo Ogunye and I were visiting with them at their place on Unilag Campus. As a little kid then, I was in awe of the beautifully and exquisitely furnished home with split A/C units. Uncle Alaba had this big - hearted smile and laugh with an accompanying hug. That began a very long and enduring and endearing relationship between the Akinsete and Ogunye families. Uncle Alaba and my dad were very committed to each other as they progressed to full professors in the Mechanical and Chemical Engineering departments, respectively, supporting, encouraging and fighting for each other. Sometime in 1978, I was confirmed in the Anglican Church and Uncle Alaba became my God Father. I treasure his love and kindness to me. When I got admitted to FGC Maiduguri, Uncle Alaba requested I come visit with him the night before I went back to school. And he always gave me a gift of N40 in those days (when the Naira was about twice the US dollar), When I got older and self-aware, I chose not to go visit Uncle the night before I left. Unfortunately, my plans failed because Uncle would catch me at home before my dad took me to the airport to board the flight to Maiduguri.

I fondly remember Uncle Alaba and my dad dressing in Safari suits in the 70s and 80s. I recall in 1982 when he moved into Montagu Mansions and my dad and I had gone to visit him. He showed us around the apartment. What struck me then, was that although at that time, Uncle Alaba had become very well to do, it did not show up in the relationship with my dad. They had a strong and caring relationship. Over the years, the bond between our families has been very strong and enduring. Over the last year when Uncle was ill, in addition to all the loved ones, I called occasionally to pray with Biola and Aunty Ronke in Germany. I recall the morning when my dad called to tell me that my god father had departed, I was teary eyed and heavy hearted for the next few days. The memories of Uncle Alaba are very precious in the mind of the Ogunye family. I pray the Lord comfort and keep the Akinsete family in Jesus name.

Pastor (Dr.) Ayowale Ogunye, FNSChE.
Sugar Land, TX

My deepest condolences.  May these few words from the Holy Scriptures bring you comfort in your time of grief...

John 11:32-45

32 And so Mary, when she arrived where Jesus was and caught sight of him, fell at his feet, saying to him: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 Jesus, therefore, when he saw her weeping and the Jews that came with her weeping, groaned in the spirit and became troubled; 34 and he said: “Where have YOU laid him?” They said to him: “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus gave way to tears. 36 Therefore the Jews began to say: “See, what affection he used to have for him!” 37 But some of them said: “Was not this [man] that opened the eyes of the blind man able to prevent this one from dying?”

38 Hence Jesus, after groaning again within himself, came to the memorial tomb. It was, in fact, a cave, and a stone was lying against it.39 Jesus said: “TAKE the stone away.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him: “Lord, by now he must smell, for it is four days.”40 Jesus said to her: “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Therefore they took the stone away. Now Jesus raised his eyes heavenward and said: “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 True, I knew that you always hear me; but on account of the crowd standing around I spoke, in order that they might believe that you sent me forth.” 43 And when he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice: “Laz´a·rus, come on out!” 44The [man] that had been dead came out with his feet and hands bound with wrappings, and his countenance was bound about with a cloth. Jesus said to them: “Loose him and let him go.”

45 Therefore many of the Jews that had come to Mary and that beheld what he did put faith in him;

Please go to the following link for more information regarding the Hope expressed in this passage

http://www.jw.org/finder?locale=en&docid=1102013500&prefer=lang

TRIBUTE TO MY FRIEND AND PARTNER ENGR. PROF. VINCENT ALABA AKINSETE F.A. ENG.

Alaba, where do I start, as our lives were destined to cross and they did in a loving manner. Our paths first crossed on the 28^th of September 1968; just short of 50 years by 41 days, in the office of the Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, when four of us lecturers (Dr. L. A. Balogun, Dr. G. B. Onipinla, Dr. V. A. Akinsete and Dr. O. Ajayi) of the Faculty of Engineering signed the resumption register. During our lecturing days, all four of us kept our friendship until a few years ago when one of us, Prof. L. A. Balogun, passed away.

In 1960, my elder brother, Engr. Dr. Olugbenro Ajayi, met Engr. Olusegun Adeyinka and Engr. Prof. Vincent Alaba Akinsete at the University of London Imperial College. They were postgraduate students pursuing the D.I.C. programme of the college. Alaba loved to tell me the story of how my brother announced to his Nigerian friends that his “little brother” was coming to the University of London King’s College to study Electrical Engineering. He reminded me that since I did not call my brother by his first name “Gbenro”, then I should cease to call him Alaba but should call him “brother Alaba”. My humble answer was that the age gap between my brother and I is more than three years and by Ijebu tradition, he belongs to an older age group. Alaba however was two years and five months older than myself and therefore we are by Ijebu classification in the same age bracket. We had great fun laughing it all off.

In 1969, you invited me to accompany you to inspect a boiler in Apapa. You, as the mechanical engineer, looked at the mechanical side and I, as the electrical engineer, looked at the electrical side. We cherished the moment, we resolved the issue and the boiler worked. Little did I know that it was the beginning of a whole life time of professional engineering career with you. We had great fun and fulfillment, solving engineering problems together.

In the Engineering profession, you drew me to the Council of the Nigerian Society of Engineers in 1977 by nominating me as the Assistant Technical Secretary, whilst you were the Technical Secretary. On the social/philanthropic angle, you drew me in 1984 to join Rotary when you, along with three other Rotarians formed the Rotary Club of Akoka. You were the Charter President and I was the Charter Secretary. Needless to say, you also brought me to be a partner in Finco Engineers which brought us together even closer. Sorry I did not call you “brother Alaba” in your lifetime, but I confess now that you were my big brother.

We thank the Almighty God that ALL the Partners, Engr. Prof. V. A. Akinsete, Engr. O. Adeyinka, Engr. M. F. Ogedengbe and Engr. Dr. O. Ajayi, in the engineering consulting firm of Finco Engineers were friends. 14, Ikorodu Road, Yaba served as our main office for about 40 years. It also served as our second home as the partners spent most of their waking hours there, working together on several projects. Finco Engineers was the envy of other engineering consulting outfits. They kept asking for the secret of our staying together for almost 50 years. Our reply was “It is the Lord’s doing”. But the Lord called Engr. M. F. Ogedengbe home in 2010.

In 2016 when the landlords informed us that the property, 14, Ikorodu Road, Yaba was to be redeveloped and that we had to relocate, the surviving partners had to wind down active operations of Finco Engineers. It was a painful decision and Prof. Akinsete resisted it but we had to vacate the office on the long run in April 2017.

Alaba, we are celebrating your life now because you lived a fulfilled life, helping every one that crossed your path. You were greatly loved by all members of the Akinsete family. Your generosity towards my family knew no bounds as you were very happy being very close to all my children. We thank God that your children and all the “Finco children” are friends and we pray that they will continue to show one another the love that bound us, their parents, together.

Let me end this tribute to my friend, partner and  mentor by narrating the story that plays out whenever we had our evening outings in Europe. Prof. Akinsete had this natural air of nobility and affluence around him. All the waiters at the end of our outing, without prompting, gave the bills to Alaba. He settled the bills cheerfully and we all had great laughs. We love you Alaba but God knows best. We commiserate with the Akinsete family for the loss of this great man, a strong family man. We pray that God in His infinite mercies will protect and guide his wife, Prof. Mrs. Ibironke Akinsete, the children and grand children for the rest of their lives. Amen.

Alaba, good night, rest in perfect peace in the bosom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Engr. Dr. Olusegun Ajayi

A QUINTESSENTIAL ENGINEER AND GENTLEMAN PASSES ON.

Professor Vincent Alaba Akinsete was a man of many parts. A Mechanical and Social Engineer, a grand master of our profession, he was at home in the classroom as he was in the field.

I thank God for his life of service to humanity; he will be greatly missed.

I pray Almighty God to console his charming consort, his children, grandchildren and other members of his family and the Engineering and Rotary communities he served so well. Adieu good friend.

 Sir Edet Amana FAEng, OON

Tribute to our teacher; Professor Vincent Alaba Akinsete.
On behalf of the set of 1977, I want to say our goodbye to our Professor. I can still remember him in his grey French suit the first time he walked to our class in 1974 to give our first lecture in Fluid Mechanics. That day, s workman was making some disturbing noise affecting the lecture. The lecturer, Dr Akinsete, who, unlike the custom, refused to tell us the title of his lecture, went to warn the noisemaker to stop and let the lecture go undisturbed.

Our hero in those undergraduate days was Professor AO Awojobi who, as far as we students were concerned, could do no wrong. But who was this man? He told us NOTHING about himself – When we pressed him, all we got was a statement like “you will find out.”. We later found out his name.

We did not meet Dr Akinsete again until 1976, our final year. Then he taught us Advanced Thermodynamics. Most of that class did not like him so well. In fact, I remember one of us, Iredu, who after one class, Dr Akinsete, left and was climbing the stairs, went to the front: “I can teach this better than this man!” he shouted.

Unfortunately for him, the shape of the classroom was such that Dr Akinsete heard what he said and returned to the classroom to ask what was said. At this time, Iredu had vanished from the class and no one dared repeat what he said.

Change in our perception began with the final-year project students. The practical engineering exposure and experience gained by those that took the undergraduate projects under him showed us a completely new person! Then we saw that teaching the theory and guiding in the practicals were not always the same. That same year, Bello-Ochende and Coleman – both PhD students of his were made to audit our final-year Heat Transfer course taught by Dr Okurounmu. Professor Ochende and I were together later as Office mates in Unilag and colleagues at Ilorin and my picture and understanding of Professor Akinsete changed completely!

Life, as they say, is lived forwards but understood backwards. Many years later as a lecturer back in the faculty, I had the opportunity to have better appreciation for the challenges faced by lecturers when they teach and supervise students. I now understand their times and struggles much more.

Professor Akinsete was an excellent project instructor, excellent post graduate supervisor and great counselor and friend to his students. I know this from late Professor Bello-Ochende; And when I became Dean of Engineering at the University of Lagos, after Professor Akinsete had been in retirement for several years, he came to greet me and volunteered to help with the teaching of our Mechanical Engineering final year students. He went through our Supersonic wind tunnel that he installed when he was still in the employment of the University of Lagos and which had hardly been used since he left. He offered his assistance to rehabilitate and revive its use. He was also happy with our progress with the LG air-conditioning laboratory and visited Dr Kamiyo, the foundation coordinator of the project.

We are here to say our farewell to our Professor and teacher. An engineer of the highest class and a great motivator. Adieu. Fare Thee well; God Be with Thee. Amen.

 Engr. Professor OA Fakinlede

(On behalf of Mechanical Engineering Set of 1977)

TRIBUTE TO LATE PROFESSOR VINCENT ALABA AKINSETE

 Professor Alaba Akinsete was the Head of Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Lagos from 1980 to 1983.

 He contributed greatly to the development of the Department especially through postgraduate research.  Notable among his PhD graduates were Professor Coleman  and late Professor Bello-Ochende .  His ground-breaking work with Coleman is still being cited till date.

 The commitment of Late Professor Akinsete to standard of training of Engineering students in the Department was unparalleled.  Despite being forced to retire from the Department, he volunteered to continue to take his regular course: Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning for final year students free of charge for a number of years.  One of his students then is currently coordinating the course in the Department at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.  That is a legacy worthy of emulating.

 The Department greatly appreciates his contributions and sees his demise as a great loss that would be almost impossible to regain. May the Almighty God give the family the fortitude to also bear this loss.

 Adieu. our former Head of Department

 Professor J. S. Ajiboye
Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Lagos,
(for and on behalf of the entire staff)