Some say publicity is Otunba Olusegun Runsewe’s main tool. This could be true or otherwise, but one thing is clear – anything Runsewe does, he applies himself 100 percent to it.
And again, this man that can never be halted by doubt holds loftily to a belief that leaders must move with utmost caution since success is more difficult to maintain than to achieve. To him, those who put you on a pedestal cannot wait for you to fail.
Only God knows why Runsewe’s face is never wrinkled because he never stops smiling. Yet he is always alert, a sharp thinker. He loves splendour and magnificence and he holds the belief that development and evolution can only come from demanding the impossible. And yes, Otunba Runsewe holds the Nigerian nation dear to his heart.
In his days as the image maker of the National Theatre in Lagos, Runsewe was seriously into tennis. Even when he joined the IBB Golf Club, he was still into tennis. Even though golf wasn’t strange to him at the time, he was not just interested. He would play tennis and come around the clubhouse to socialise with the golf crowd. That was all he needed.
All of a sudden, he learnt two things. One was that the annual gross earnings of both Manchester United and Arsenal put together were not up to what the golf phenomenon, Tiger Woods, was earning in a year. Then he learnt that over 90 percent of what South Africa was making from tourism was coming from tourists who played golf.
Since he was running the nation’s tourism at the point as the director-general of the Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation, he needed no more promptings. He joined golf immediately and in no time, and became addicted to the game, to that point there was nothing he couldn’t do for the sake of the game. He transversed several nations where golf was aiding national wealth so he could impact the same experience to grow the nation’s tourism.
As director-general of Nigeria Council of Arts and Culture (NCAC), Runsewe brought in cultural wear to the game of golf when he noticed over three million Nigerians now play it. You can even imagine that for doing this at all, he was decorated as the Cultural Golf Ambassador by the revered Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II.
Till this day, Runsewe still asks himself if he would ever have been into golf if not for the genuine interest he had in building the nation’s tourism through the game.
“Now everything about golf rings in my head”, Runsewe said. “This is the reason I am presently developing a dream golf place Nigerians will cherish for years to come.”
Just recently, Runsewe took over the mantle of leadership of the Nigeria Golf Federation from Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and he did hit the ground running. In the first instance, Runsewe, as president, called a grand meeting of all Captains of Golf Clubs and offered bold pronouncements. He said he would ensure clubs maintain a decent handicapping system, and yes, that he would bring back the prestigious Nigeria Open which was last played in 1999.
Well, the die is cast and many are waiting on Runsewe’s mandate.
