Danjuma at 84: Strong as Wind, Soft as Shadow

Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji eulogises former Minister of Defence, Lieutenant General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd), who turned 84 last week, highlighting why he has remained primus inter pares in his various undertakings

More than four decades after retiring from active military service, Lieutenant General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd), GCON has remained one of the most valorous forces upholding the ideals of unity and honour in Nigeria, pulling weights in the business environment and investing heavily in humanitarian causes across the country.
Being born as a peasant farmer’s son, General Danjuma’s humane disposition to life makes sense in the context of the man who has received mercy, dispensing mercy unto others.

Even his military background did not alter his soft interior, rather it added discipline to his roll of virtues. Extremely unassuming and prim and proper, to call him a perfect gentleman hardly does justice to the description of his mien.

General Danjuma’s sterling military career featured brave adventures. As one of Nigeria’s finest soldiers, he eventually retired in 1979 as Chief of Army Staff, shortly before Nigeria returned to civilian rule.
That marked the beginning of his expression of enterprise, and responsiveness to the plight of the less privileged citizens of the country and beyond.

In 1984, General Danjuma established Comet Shipping Agencies Nigeria Limited as an agent for Nigeria American Line (NAL). By the late nineties, the company had grown to become one of the largest independent agents operating in Nigeria handling many types of vessels and cargo. In 2005, General Danjuma also founded the South Atlantic Petroleum Limited (SAPETRO), an indigenous exploration and production role player in the oil sector, which in December 2009, donated a new state-of-the-art medical Centre to the Nasarawa State University, to serve the university, the local and neighbouring communities.

Meeting him is to meet a father, mentor, coach and godfather. Knowing him is to know an enigmatic, conscientious and compassionate leader. To interact with him is to discover a humble, reticent and diligent man whose top notch work ethic as an octogenarian is unbelievable and astounding. It is to know an 84-year-old astute administrator whose attention to detail is unusual, whose decisions are always meticulous and informed, whose knack for entrepreneurship and business is remarkably inspiring. To know him is to know a man who embodies valuable lessons on how people can judiciously utilize their resources in ways that deliver impact that’s tremendously useful and beneficial to communities.

To work with him is to serve under a leader who listens and believes profoundly in the innate abilities of members of his team to deliver on whatever task they are saddled with. He is a leader genuinely given to consensus building, one who sincerely wants the good of everyone.

Oblivious of the popular opinion that attributes fierceness to the character of military Generals, Sir, Theophilus Danjuma has proven to be that kind of military General that runs a flat table, no high table. He is immensely respectful, warm, considerate, soft as the shadow but strong as the wind. A man of commendable standards, not many leaders have the credentials of placing public good above even the most reasonable of arguments like General Danjuma.

His unapologetic passion and dedication for uplifting the down-trodden has made a man his age an enduring indispensable force in matters of nation building. When in 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan set up a Presidential Committee on Victims (of terrorism) Support Fund and appointed General Danjuma as Chairman, before other private sector leaders who convened to make donations towards the project moved muscle, General Danjuma exemplified the notion of leadership by example by making a pledge of $10,000,000 dollars to the cause. It wasn’t an audio pledge as the millennials love to call it; General Danjuma was the first donor to redeem his pledge, doing so just a few days after making it. Till date, he remains the highest individual donor to the victims of terror and insurgency in Nigeria.

Making a commitment that huge to a cause would have been an eternal bragging right for some leaders; but for General Danjuma, his devotion to helping the underprivileged burns hot with the intensity of a furnace. He has built hospitals and kept them running at little or no cost to patients.

The best modern and specialized mother and child facility in the entirety of Northern Nigeria, the Rufkatu Danjuma Hospital in Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State, was built by General Danjuma as his contribution to the reduction of infant and maternal mortality in the country. As recent as December 1, 2021, General Danjuma inaugurated a paediatric hospital in Takum, Taraba State, which he named Kuru Danjuma Hospital for Children (KDHC). This state-of-the-art specialized facility was put in place to provide services aimed at enhancing the health and wellbeing of children through the provision of world class paediatric healthcare services.

The Rufkatu Danjuma Hospital and the Kuru Danjuma Hospital for Children (KDHC) both speak of General Danjuma’s steadfastness to ensuring healthy mothers and children across the country. That is not to obliterate his other interventions in the health sector that impact different demographic cohorts. His contribution to the fight against Onchocerciasis (River blindness), in Nigeria and in Africa for instance, has been bold and consistent. A donation of $1,000,000 to the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) by General Danjuma, is reputed the first African philanthropic contribution to a major African health programme. This contribution leveraged an additional subsequent grant from the Nigerian Government to the APOC Trust Fund to the tune of $5,000,000. He has remained one of the key champions of the global fight against Onchocerciasis till date.

Beyond his commitment to wrestling Onchocerciasis to a halt in Africa and in the world, General Danjuma through his TY Danjuma Foundation has continued to invest in ensuring access to quality eye care services through its signature program – “Vision for a Brighter Future”.

His love for education is palpable, and General Danjuma continues to match his interest in the sector with a heavy investment in the younger generation of leaders and social innovators, drawn not just from Nigeria, but from different parts of the African Continent. Since 2011, the TY Danjuma MBA Scholarship has impacted over 50 students – from Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, Ghana, Morocco, Togo and Côte d’Ivoire – with financial support to undertake their MBA programmes at the top 10 leading business schools in the world only, as ranked by the Financial Times.

My 2016 testimony still strikes like a fairy-tale, when I got accepted into the Master in Public Administration Program at the Harvard University John F Kennedy School of Government. I had gone to inform him that I was going to school and would appreciate whatever support he could provide for me for my advanced academic studies.

General dazed me with his reaction. He congratulated me and asked me to return to his Office to see him the next day. Upon my arrival, he asked his Secretary to accompany me to his Boardroom and gave me a pen and paper requesting I write a letter to him asking for a scholarship. General Danjuma did not just give me a Financial Contribution, he committed to paying my complete Tuition and living allowances to cover my rent, buy books and travel on field trips to different countries to understudy their Public Policy Frameworks.

I owe General a debt of gratitude for the rest of my Life for giving me the best education on offer in the academic institution ranked as No.1 of the Best Global Universities in the World.

His punctilious choices in determining the scope of his philanthropy is genuine and pure joy to behold.
Through his TY Danjuma Foundation set up in December 2008, General Danjuma has successfully implemented about 336 major projects across 34 states and the FCT, with over 10 million people directly reached. Every year since its inception, the TY Danjuma Foundation calls for concept notes and applications for funds from organisations with projects focused on health and education. His discretionary grants, administered all year-round, have also provided succour to Nigerians affected by humanitarian emergencies in no small measure.

Aside expending over N3bn on various intervention projects since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic across 29 states of the federation and the FCT, through the Victim Support Fund Task Force on COVID-19, General Danjuma’s hyper-optimal generosity was evident especially across IDP Camps in managing the vulnerabilities of IDPs which had tendencies of plunging them further into extreme hunger and malnutrition. His dedication to promoting Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) through the provision of portable water especially in rural communities also birthed the donation of solar-powered boreholes in not less than 18 states of the country as at the first half of 2021. Plans are already underway for providing Food, PPE, Medical Materials and Solar Powered Boreholes with handwashing facilities in the remaining 7 states of the Country yet to be covered under the Program.

One cannot help but admire the purity of intentions with which he delivers on the mandates he sets for himself in terms of social impact as General Danjuma isn’t likely to assault your views with his face as the man behind the largesse, yet his works are splattered across the country and beyond.

My close observation of General’s family values and his heartfelt respect for his wife who herself is a bright and positive example to women and girls as a wife, mother, super administrator, efficient Business Chief, Women and Child rights advocate and excellent Public Servant is a beautiful sight.

His devotion to his children and the discipline he has instilled in many of them who are very successful in their chosen fields of endeavor yet remain measured and reserved is telling of General as a balanced father at home as much as the public see and experience him across localities around the world. Northern by birth yet detribalised and inclusive. A devout Christian of the Anglican stock yet accommodating and magnanimous to both Christians and Muslims alike.

As General Danjuma turns 84 this year, his life and contributions ring aloud his desires to see a Nigeria where poverty is absent, where all classes of citizens are treated equally, where access to quality healthcare is a standard norm and no one is left behind; a Nigeria where people that have wealth and power use their privilege to improve the lives and the livelihoods of their fellow citizens at the bottom of the pyramid. These, General TY Danjuma (rtd) GCON, has continued to prove, are possible and attainable and he remains