He is an influential and respected politician in Ondo State. He is also a respected voice in southwest politics. Senator Ajayi Robert Boroffice, CON is the Senator representing Ondo North Senatorial District. He is also a Professor of Human Genetics.
He began politics in 2010 and came to limelight in 2011, having served as the founding Director-General of National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) for 10 years. He was a lecturer at the University of Ibadan in 1975, and Professor of Zoology at the Lagos State University in 1986. He is the incumbent Senator representing Ondo North Senatorial district, having won his third term to the National Assembly, Abuja.
He is currently the only APC senator in Ondo state who retained his seat in the last general elections held on 23rd February, 2019. And the first Senator in Ondo North to emerge for the 3rd term to the Senate as he broke the two- term record in Ondo North. Today, he is the second longest- serving senator in the history of Ondo state, after a former Senator Gbenge Ogunniya, who served between 1999 to 2011.
He is the Asiwaju of Akokoland. He was the Chairman, Senate Committee on Science & Technology for 8 years and member Constitutional Review. On the 2nd of July, 2019 he was appointed the Deputy Majority leader of the Senate, but before then he eyed the position of the Senate President before he stepped down for Senator Ahmed Lawan the Senate President.
Let us tell you more about him. He is 70 years old having been born on April 23, 1949, at Iboje Quarters, Oka-Akoka in Ondo State to the Late Pa Zachaeus Omololu Boroffice and the late Mrs. Comfort Aina Boroffice.
Last week, Friday City people’s princess ADEOLA SHITTU was at his office at the National Assembly where she spoke with the longest-serving senator from Ondo North, Sen. Ajayi Boroffice, as he opened up on how his people stood by him and his plans for the next 4 years.
He had his elementary Education at Christ School Oka-Akoko and later proceeded to African Church Grammar School, Oka-Akoko for his Secondary School Education and finished with a first division in West African School Certificate Examination.
He also attended Victory College Ikare-Akoko for his Higher School Certificate. In 1968, after teaching briefly in his Alma matter, African Church Grammar School, he proceeded to University of Ibadan for a degree in Geology but later changed his course to Zoology.
In 1975, he bagged his Ph.D in Genetics. In 1978, he proceeded to the University of Newcastle for a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Human Genetics. It is worthy to note that throughout his Educational career, he was sponsored by scholarships he earned owing to his academic brilliance and intelligence. He became a lecturer at the University of Ibadan in 1975, and Professor of Zoology at the Lagos State University in 1986.
He also held administrative positions at the Lagos State University including Head of Department, Dean of Faculty, and Chairman of the Committee of Deans. He was appointed Coordinating Director for Science in the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) in 1992.
He played a central role in establishing the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA).
In 1999, he became the founding Director General of NASRDA, a post he held for 10 years. Under his leadership, NASRDA launched 2 satellites; a low orbit earth observations microsatellite (NigeriaSat-1) in 2003 and a communication satellite (NigcomSat-1) in 2007.
He also laid the groundwork for the building of NigeriaSat-2 and Nigeria Sat-X, which were launched in August 2011, from Russia. it is worthy to note that In 2004, Robert Ajayi Boroffice was conferred the title of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) by President Olusegun Obasanjo. In March 2011, Boroffice was given the 2011 Golden Merit Award in Space Science by the World Federation of Science Journalists.
Not until 2010, much was not known about his political background but the fact remains that this professor of Zoology was the founding Director General of NASRDA, the position he held for good 10 years and within this period he was able to assist his Akoko communities.
He started his political journey in 2011 when he contested and won the Ondo North senate seat under the platform of Labour party. He was elected the senator representing Ondo North Senatorial District in the 2011 elections, same year he officially decamped to the Action Congress of Nigeria to pursue his ambition of becoming the governor of Ondo state in 2012 and 2016 irrespectively.
He was however re-elected as a Senator under the platform of the All Progressive Congress in the 2015 elections when he contested against former senator Bode Olajumoke the PDP candidate for the second term and he still defeated him. He was the Chairman Senate Committee on Science & Technology for 8 years and he is today the Deputy Majority leader of the Senate.
Congratulation on your appointment as the Deputy Senate leader. As a professor of Zoology, what inspired you into politics?
Thanks so much, these two courses have a lot in common. As a zoologist and a university professor, our focus is on service to humanity. We want to train the young ones to be professionally qualified and occupy various positions in the society and at the same time for them to promote peace and development in their community or society, that is our focus as a zoologist.
And if you take a look at what politics stands for, it also focuses on humanitarian service. Most of us who are in politics today want to serve our people. We want to bring development to our community and we want peace to reign, so like I said both zoologist and politician have lots in common, so it is easy to move from being a Zoologist to becoming a politician.
For instance, if you want to build a house, you need the services of the electricians, plumber, carpenter and a host of others to come together to achieve what we call house and some of them can transit from one job to another.
You can have a carpenter who late becomes an iron bender, so what am saying in actual fact is that where ever you find yourself, I believe the focus should be on service to humanity. For me to have been a university professor and find myself in politics, which I believe is the continuity of service to humanity because of the focus both have.
So, I will say my coming into politics was inspired by my passion to serve my people at the federal level, having worked in the education sector for decades.
Going by your years in politics and your impact as a politician, will you say you are fulfilled being a politician?
Well, you can say you are fulfilled if you know what God has in stock for you, but because we don’t see tomorrow and we can only see today we move with what God unveils on each day.
So, coming to your question, I will say I’m happy being a politician. And I will say being fulfilled depends on how you define it and the aspect you are referring to as fulfilled. If being fulfilled means you providing the type of service you are expecting for humanity, then you can say you are fulfilled.
In my case, I will say I’m happy and fulfilled because I have been able to meet the demands of my people, I have been able to render the necessary service to those who voted me in as a senator and as a matter of fact I think that is the most important thing to me.
You are the first senator in Ondo north senatorial district who has been elected thrice in the history of Ondo north politics, what do you think really worked for you in the last election?
I believe the electorate are in the best position to answer that question, why they cast their vote for this man call Boroffice for the third term. Like I said earlier, people venture into politics for various reasons, if your reason is to deliver services to your people, surely your people would appreciate you and they would want you to keep on representing them in order for them to keep enjoying the dividends of democracy.
I’m a very straight forward person and my people in my senatorial district can testify to that. Each time I’m campaigning I tell my people that whatever I say here today is a covenant between myself, them and God this is what I openly tell them.
So to me, I see my campaign promises as a covenant and that is one of the reasons I make sure I do the project even if I have to use my personal money to do it outside the budget, all because I want to make my people happy and also to keep my covenant.
So when you have demonstrated this to your people that you are working for them and you are responsive to their needs and you are honest with them, they will stand by you. Which is part of my policy, you can ask anybody in Ondo state, they would tell you Senator Boroffice Ajayi is a man of his words and a honest man, who speaks his mind and tells you his position. He will not lie to you.
So, in a nutshell, I will say in all my years in politics, I have been able to win the confidence of my people and I have been able to provide the necessary service to them. So, I was not surprised when my people stood by me and voted me in again for the third term.
It will interest you to know that by the time the result of my election was announced in the last general elections, people were already saying they were forming committee for my re-election in 2023 for the fourth time in the Senate, so, I can continue with my senate business. So I will use this medium to appreciate my people in Ondo North senatorial district for their constant support for me and I’m always ready to serve them.
What lesson did you learn from the outcome of the last elections?
Hmmmm! The last election that brought me in for the third term was the toughest of all my election since 2011, but I thank God for that grace that He showered on me.
I was able to win my last election because God proved Himself to me and He made me to realise that with Him all things are possible. Few weeks to the election, all the political analysis asserted that I couldn’t win the election against the government candidate in Action Alliances (AA).
Having run against AA candidate, who had the full support and was being sponsored by the government, it was an enormous challenge and if not for God and my people who stood by me, maybe I won’t be here today. The major lesson I learnt from the last election is that if God is on your side, you are assured of victory. It’s a big lesson for me and I’m in debt to Him alone.
How will you describe your experience at the Senate in the last 8 years and some months?
My experience has been very interesting. The fact that you have an insight of what is happening in the country is a privilege on its own and not to talk of being part of the law making body.
As a legislator you know more than others compared with some people who just sit in the comfort of their houses I start criticising government without knowing or having insight into what governance means or what you need to run the government. I will say now I know better.
Second, is that I have been able to interact with people from different parts of the country. And my view as a nationalist is expanding. Today I will say I can relate with people across the country because I have friends, colleagues, across the country and it has made me a better Nigerian than staying in a particular place in Ondo, South- west believing that Nigeria starts here. So, my experience at the Senate has been wonderful and it has given me the opportunity to serve and represent my people at the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
What has been your impact in the development of your senatorial district?
Again, I believe the question would be better answered by the electorate. But one thing that I know is that they are happy with me because I have been able to bring development and dividends of democracy to my senatorial district and the state as a whole. Hardly will you visit any communities in my senatorial district without seeing our impact.
I facilitated the construction of the three state- of-art skill acquisition centers in my senatorial district for the youth. I have given well over 25 transformers to communities in my senatorial district and as we speak I have lost count on the numbers of street solar-powered electricity lights I did in my senatorial districts.
Again one of the major issues in my senatorial district is water and to that effect we have been able to construct solar-powered boreholes in many communities in Ondo north senatorial district. Also, we have been able to build and renovate schools across my senatorial district.
Aside all these, employment opportunities have also been given to my people, as no fewer than 100 persons are gainfully employed. I built and commissioned Obstetric hospital in Iboje Oka which will cater for the medical needs of my people in my senatorial districts.
Again in the history of Ondo North, I have been able to attract federal government presence to my senatorial districts in an unprecedented way. Before now, there was no single federal project present in my senatorial district but today we have the National Science Laboratory in Akungba Akoko, we have Bio-resources Development Centre in Akure, we have Technology Incubation center.
We also have the Regional Center for leather Research, I have also attracted National Aerospace Laboratory and Regional Center for Chemical Technology.
These are federal government institutes I have attracted to my senatorial districts in the last 8 years. In order to promote self-employment, I have conceived and built three Agricultural plants that are today in my senatorial district. We have Cashew processing plant in Ikakuma Akoko. We have Biofuel producing plant in Ajowa and 5 garri- processing plants in Ipele, Ifira, Iboropa, Ago Oka and Ebo all in Ondo north.
Aside all these I have been able to represent my people at the National Assembly. So with all these, I can beat my chest that I have done well by giving my people a qualitative service in the last 8 years and more to come in the next 4 years.
As the Asiwaju of Akoko- land, will you say this position has helped you in terms of politics?
I will commend the people for making me the Asiwaju of Akoko land and I want to believe there are things they saw in me before making me the Asiwaju of Akoko land, and what the people saw in me which made them to vote for me.
So, I think both are going hand in hand. Yes when you have goodwill of the traditional rulers in your place, backing you, they are great factors because most of them are very influential over their people and they sometimes influence their decision , that thiss is who we want to represent us and they give you their support because of their monarchs.
So, I think to a great extent and I am happy I have that opportunity to be the Asiwaju of Akokoland though it has its disadvantage. But like I said my position as the Asiwaju of the 4 Akokoland is a great privilege for me.
How do you cope with the challenges of politics and at the same time you want to satisfy your people?
Life itself is challenging, but the opportunity to manage it makes you a better person. So, to me, I will say the passion I have doesn’t make me to see challenges as challenging rather I see it as opportunity. So nothing distracts me and I believe that for every problems, there is a solution. Challenges provides you an opportunity to improve do better and once you have this mindset, you are good to go.
You are, indeed, man of the people, how do you feel being the first Ondo senator to occupy a principal office at the Senate?
Thanks so much, but let me correct this, I’m not the first Ondo senator to be given principal position in the Senate, a late senator from Owo in my senatorial district was then the deputy chief whip at the Senate, a principal position so am not the first.
So, how do you feel?
I feel happy and also grateful to God that I have such opportunity to serve in the leadership position of the Senate because we carry a lot of responsibilities as leaders of the Senate. So, when you have such opportunities you need to be grateful to God, but you have to be careful so as not to misuse it and maintain a balanced position.
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