Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo

Chief Abdulwahab Iyanda "Wahab" Folawiyo, CON (16 June 1928 – 6 June 2008) was a Nigerian businessman and philanthropist. In 1957, he founded Yinka Folawiyo & Sons, which has become the parent company of the Yinka Folawiyo Group of Companies. He was born in Lagos to Pa Tijani, a wealthy local merchant, during the British colonial era. He attended the University of North London in 1951, where he read Management, specialising in Ship Brokerage. He returned to start Yinka Folawiyo & Sons, an import and export business. Folawiyo was also the first African-descended Principal Member of the Baltic Exchange in London.

Yinka Folawiyo & Sons Folawiyo established Yinka Folawiyo and Sons in 1957, a business that later grew to have interest in various sectors of the Nigerian economy. Initially, Folawiyo and Sons developed relationships with building and construction material firms in various Eastern European countries. The group imported cement and sugar from the former Soviet Union, then later introduced building materials from Romania and Bulgaria into the Nigerian market. In 1967, the firm was incorporated as a limited liability company. When Folawiyo and Sons' revenues increased, the firm began chartering vessels to bring in commodities including cement, building materials, frozen fish and fertilizer.

Philanthropy As a philanthropist, he was active in several social and religious (particularly Muslim) endeavors. He funded the establishment and construction of mosques throughout the country, including both the Lagos Central and Surulere Central mosques in Lagos and the Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna. He also funded the Bab Es Salam Home for orphans in Lagos.

Death He died in the early hours of 6 June 2008, at his residence in Queens Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos, at the age of 79 surrounded by his family. He was buried, by Muslim dictates, on the same day in the Central Mosque's burial ground meant for imams of the mosque; only two other people besides Folawiyo, Imam Ibrahim Otun and Imam Murah, are buried in the cemetery.

Awards Doctor of Law by the University of Cross River State, Uyo, 1991, Doctor of Letters by Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, 1992 Doctor of Science by the Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, 1998 key to Dade County, Florida, in the U.S. Millennium Award of Doctor of Science, University of Lagos

Titles Baba Adini of Nigeria, a chieftaincy title Grand Patron of Nigerian Muslim Council Chairman, Executive Council of the Lagos Central Mosque Honorary Fellow, Chartered Institute of Transport Fellow of the Commonwealth Journalists Association Chairman, Maize Association of Nigeria and Patron Institute of Freight Forwarders of Nigeria Patron of the Nigerian British Chamber of Commerce. Chancellor, Lagos State University on 17 April 1999. Honours

He was conferred the Order of the Federal Republic, OFR, in 1982 and Commander of the Order of the Niger, CON, on 16 November 2000. Warehouse road in Apapa and the Unity road in Ilorin were renamed after Folawiyo.