“THE acts of great men often remind all to live a life sublime. And it is for nothing else, than in the realms of individualistic grandeur and sublimity, that the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, had shifted its gaze nigh on Chief (Dr.) Abu Inu-Umoru, as an exemplar mascot of a Honorary Fellowship of the institution, being conferred on him on November 16, 2024. The educational institution, which was state-owned, was first founded in the 70s as Midwest Polytechnic and later renamed Auchi Polytechnic, and now managed by the Federal Government of Nigeria, with Dr. Salisu Shehu Umar, as its rector.
Chief (Dr.) Abu Inu-Umoru, the Kauthar (abundance) of the Auchi Sacred Kingdom, a didactic title that rhymes with his vast material wealth and other innate gifts, given by His Royal Majesty, Aliru Momoh, the Ikelebe II, the Otaru of the Auchi kingdom, in Etsko West local government area (LGA) of Edo State, is, indeed a man of numerous gifts. And from numerous respondents, a definite quorum is reached whence he is aptly and variously described as a humble, unassuming, diligent and a selfless personality of no pretences.
With him as Chairman/CEO of Setraco Nigeria Limited (CNL), the Nigerian construction giant, that he rose to manage after the passing of his multi-billionaire father, Alhaji Inu Umoru, alongside others and the Hartland Construction Company and other successful firms he had established for himself, it couldn’t be gainsaying that Abu, the quiet-going business mogul, has the Midas Touch, an expression akin to a famous king of the Greek mythology, whose every ventures is turned to enormous wealth. And like his late father, it is widely acclaimed that Abu Inu-Umoru is a practicable philanthropist whose caregiving nature is legendary.
Remarkably, the Auchi Polytechnic, a pioneered school of its kind in Edo, and one of the first in the country, that had meticulously nurtured great men and women, who now contribute immensely to national development, with others still in the making, sees the great contributions of Dr. Inu-Umoru worth recognising and even celebrated, Also,for his great contributions to education and other spheres of development, he was similarly honoured with a honourary doctoral degree by the Edo State University, Iyamho, located in the Auchi suburb.
Born on 9th May, 1963 to a noble family, to the famed Alhaji Inu Umoru, a notable multi-billionaire, community leader and politician, from Warrake in Owan East LGA of the state, a young Abu had left Nigeria in 1984, for the United States of America, after elementary schools, with a determination to seek for knowledge and exposures. After an Associate degree from the College of Alameda, California, in 1986, he got a Bachelor’s degree (B.Sc) in Business administration from the Central Connecticut State University in 1989. He capped it in 2013 with a Management Course at the Harvard Business School, a department of the prestigious Harvard University in Massachusetts, USA.
Now equipped, Abu Inu-Umoru, who had also gone through more trainings was back home to join the Setraco Nigeria Limited (SNL), a household name known for the construction of roads, bridges and other works.
But, in an appalling Nigerian situation, given that children and wards are hardly well-groomed to take over businesses from parents and mentors, with the blight of non-generational knowledge and business transfers, it could be envisaged how Setraco would have gone under and stop giving its best services to Nigerians, if Abu Inu-Umoru was not properly groomed in business and given the Spartan-like training by his late father. Abu’s intervention and deft management of Setraco, as well as other of his father’s companies, like Petra Quarries Ltd, Aerotek Agro-Allied Company Ltd, Beer Barn Ltd, Presto Hotels Ltd and some others, would have gone under.
For instance, sometimes ago, Setraco was at the doldrums and a near insolvency from a whooping N17 billion debt. But it bounced back to a clean and gainful balance sheets. No thanks to the in-house and external financial scams in the company, which Dr. Inu-Umoru, its succeeding Chairman/CEO, had obliterated.
His industry, discipline and prudence, had also prevailed in his successful run of the Hatland Nigeria Limited, a construction firm owned by himself, which had constructed many roads, bridges, erosion/flood control and rehabilitation projects all over Edo, its head office, and in several states of the country, like the niche Setraco had carved for itself.
A father-dove can’t have feathers and his offspring the scales. There is said to be a very strong parental resemblances, a filial compatibility, between Abu and his late father, his look-alike, as it is with Abu’s other siblings, who are said to be in one accord.
Respectfully called “The Sea Never Dries”, as corrupted from his usual expression that the God, who supplies for the needy would always see to it that his (Pa Inu Umoru) sources to fend for the poor would never dry, the late sage, had had a second good nature he bequeathed to Abu and his other children, which endear them to all and sundry.
Particularly, Abu is also a cheerful and unconditional giver, who shies away from talking about past philanthropic deeds.
For all one could say, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, the immediate-past minister of state for Budget and National Planning, is one of the closest friends to Abu Inu-Umoru. Both men are often seen together and doing things in common. Says Prince Agba, as he and Abu are prone to re-iterate their closeness, which an Edo lingo would call “the same ten and ten pence”.
“Abu is disciplined, kind-hearted and is a very selfless man I have known since childhood. He is a great friend and brother, whom I got to know as a child and a playmate in our Auchi neighbourhood. He is more than a biological brother to me as there are times when friends stick to themselves than biological brothers could be. Indeed, Abu is a brother from another mother”
Momoh Yaya Garuba, an Auchi-based business man, who owns Parks and Thrills Resort, a hotel and recreational centre in the town, corroborated the descriptions of Prince Agba, that Abu Inu-Umoru deserves the Auchi Poly’s honour and that he is humble, unassuming and a humanist. Hear him;
“I was a mere child in the Idonije/Egbedokhai/Inu Umoru street of Auchi. Prince Agba and Abu Inu-Umoru were my big brothers, who taught me and other children to play the football and we played together. My father and the late Alhaji Inu-Umoru, Abu’s father, were business associates, who did government contracts and owned a joint transport company with vehicles in-scripted with ‘Garuba/Umoru Motors’.
Abdul Oroh, a former House of Reps member, who represented the Owan East/Owan West federal constituency in the green chamber, similarly hailed Abu Inu-Umoru. He uttered that the award recipient, is an acute business man, and one with many other talents, who had the capability to take over his father’s businesses to greater successes, apart from establishing his own businesses, hinting further that it is very common that most children of well-to-do parent’s can’t effectively manage their parent’s businesses.
“Abu Inu-Umoru is supportive, calm and an unassuming personality, who hardly gets offended by others. Once upon a time, I and Prof Julius Ihonvbere had slept over in his residence at Warrake, after a night event. We were surprised that from the USA, where he was, he ordered a red carpet treatment to us”. Said Oroh
Obviously, discipline, humility, diligence and work-ethics must have been inculcated by Dr. Inu-Umoru, the Setraco boss, to the company’s staff, from the lowest to the top rungs.
Sometimes, this writer had visited its national head office located on the ever-busy Wuse-Gwarinpa expressway of the Kado vicinity, in the Abuja’s district of Garki. From the entrance and exit of the imposing 3-story building, tucked in a sprawling and well-tendered lawns and other facilities, which serves for recreation to Abuja folks, the company’s staffs are urbane and friendly.
Tony Erha, a journalist, writes from Abuja, FCT
