When on this day, February 5, in 1957, the year Gold-Coast became an Independent Ghana and free from colonial domination, an immigrant Nigerian family in the town of Kade, welcomed a baby boy into their homestead and their community, little could the Alao family have predicted that their infant son would grow to be a polymath who would influence the course of technological and economic history of his country, Nigeria, and his continent, Africa.
The first time I would encounter the name Hassan Alao was amidst conversations on the lips of my parents who mentioned the name in acknowledgement of a significant personality. I would later have him as a guest of my parents at a family event in the September of 2013. Not until three years later at the Alausa secretariat Mosque of Lagos State , did I interact with this prophet progress physically, for the first time. He was sitting right there, to my left. My brother who sat between us nudged me with a facial expression to take a look at the great man with whom we shared the row. I stole a glance and my brother hushed his name. I spontaneously greeted him before I could think of the timing and the venue. Here was that gaze I often held while turning the pages of my album. I introduced my self and he blessed Kamal and I with a warm smile and pleasantries which were mostly communicated with physical gestures.
Much later down the years, I learnt that engineer Alao and my uncle of immortal memory , Ahmad Rufai Oladosu, were bossom friends. My uncle was a key member in the leadership of the defunct Lion of Africa Insurance company ‘pride’, during his lifetime . Large hearted and far sighted, It is not difficult to discern the traits that created the fraternity between the two gentlemen. They were both captains of industry in their respective fields, both were born in Ghana, and both had emerged leaders in the private sector from a relatively young age.
Educated at Ansarudeen Primary School, Erin-Osun, Governmenr Technical College, Osogbo, and at different institutions across the western world, Alao set forth on the path of building a career quite early. From the year he clocked 20, he began to garner hands-onexperiences by taking up a string of appointments at the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State(BCOS), Haven Nigeria Computer Company Limited, Data Sciences Nigeria Limited and Leventis group during which he announced his commanding presence as one of the shinning stars in the galaxy of computer Engineering in Nigeria, by consistently being a team player and integral member in numerous landmark projects in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sub-sector of the Nigerian economy. His contributions were crucial in the implementation of the first clustering and networking systems for the defunct National Electric Power Authority ( NEPA), the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria and the Integrated Data Services Limited of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
Over the years, Alao has also demonstrated that the essence of education is not just to know, but to apply. Not just to understand, but to create, and not just to compete but to cooperate.
Beginning from 1993, Hassan Alao has spent the later part of his career cooperating with like minds to found, nurture and manage Sidmatech Technologies, headquartered in Lagos, where he is currently the Chairman Board of Directors and the Executive Director in charge of Software Solutions.
A man of creative opulence and class, Alao has also defined distinction by not just making contributions to nation building through traditional entrepreneurship but by also founding at least three educational institutions in his home town of Erin-Osun in irepodun Local Government Area of Osun State. There, his Diploma awarding and fully accredited Elerinmosa Institute ofTechnology was established in 2017. As the founder, Alao gave the institution a matching order of empowering young Nigerisns with practical know-how in all branches of technology.
Not done, he also Incorporated the Elerinmosa Resource Hub Ltd in 2018 where he has been transforming lives and redesigning and rebuilding the future of many Nigerians who would otherwise be idle , unemployed or engaged in unsavoury activities. The resource hub has been training students, employing Nigerians and collaborating with Africans and other members of the human race to design and create technological solutions for current and future challegenges.
The humanution, young as it may be considered, has since been providing digital services to partners/clients including the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Teachers’ Registrations Council of Nigeria (TRCN) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), among others.
Well resourced with world-class facilities, the hub services several neighbouring states as an examination and test center in addition to being a trainng facility. It also positions Nigeria as an international ICT hub. Given these efforts by the visionary founder, Nigeria is on the path of being a signigicant player in the fields of cloud computing, Internet of things, Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning , Fuzzy Logic, neural networks and robotics, among other branches of Artificial Intelligence. Keen on complementing the development of the cognitive domain with the affective domain, Hassan Alao also established an Islamic training centre to create generations of leaders who will continue to re-emphasise the importance of spiritual and immaterial values, engender a healthy society, while redirecting the focus of the teeming young population away from crass capitalism towards prioritising collective wellbeing. One of the composite results of the many innovations by the celebrant is the re-engineering of both the landscape and the skyline of his native Erin-Osun and cities where he planted architectural landmarks.
A winner of many traditional, Educational and professional awards such as IT personality of the year which was awarded by the Nigeria Computer Society and Doctor of Science (D. Sc. Hons) in Digital Technology and Modern Business Facilitation by the European American University in Ghana,
Hassan Alao has been a worthy role model in every sphere of human life and his uncommon patriotism is worthy of being studied by the younger generation in formal and informal settings, to underscore the importance of selflessness, creativity and hardwork for personal and societal development. While I pray for multiplication of such worthy senior citizens in Nigeria , I pray to Allah to grant the great architect of minds and monuments a long healthy life in the service of his creator and humanity.
Mubarak Oladosu is a Principal Information Officer at the Directorate of Corporate Affairs, University of Ilorin.
