Engr. Pastor Tokunbo Oshokoya, a University of Ife-trained Electrical Engineer and Managing Director of Oshea Projects, has shared his own experience of the days of ignorance of overzealous preachers and believers who are heavenly focused, but earthly irrelevant to their own detriment. He shared with Christian Benefits’ Wole Olarinde in Apostle in the Market Place how he needlessly struggled in life until the scale of ignorance was removed from his eyes courtesy of the influence of his Senior Pastor; Pastor Afolabi Oladele, Dr. Christopher Kolade and Pastor Tunde Bakare which then transformed Oshea Projects to a successful electrical & engineering outfit.
Oshea Projects Limited is a reputable electrical & engineering outfit offering a wide range of services. Incorporate in the year 1993, the company today boasts of a formidable team of competent and experienced engineers and technicians whose experience span more than a decade in the engineering industry both in Nigeria and South Africa where it has a branch. The corporate vision of Oshea Projects Limited is to provide unparalleled quality services to the satisfaction of her clients.
The magnitude of the high profile clienteles of Oshea Projects Limited speaks high volume of the company’s quality and excellent services in both electrical and mechanical engineering vis-à-vis rural and urban electrification, electrical reticulations in building & industries, substation planning, erection & maintenance, telecommunication & radio links, lightning protection & earthling systems( buildings and oil installation), firearm & security systems(plan & install) and computer site preparation and installation; and, also in mechanical engineering like plumbing installations (buildings & factories), air conditioning services(buildings & industries), and plants and equipment specification and evaluatio.
Oshea Projects’ clientele list cuts across the banking and finance sector, oil & gas sector, industrial sector, health sector, construction & building sector, private residential buildings, estates, churches etc. Some of the clients of the company are John Holts Investment Ltd, Union Trust Building society, Pharna-Deko Plc, Timberwood limited, Miracle Life Center (Ibadan), Elohim Furniture, NINCON Project, FGN Prototype Houses, Alsteg and Midlands/FAAN and Channel View Estate. Others include Globestar Engineering Services, Olashore int’l School, and Oba Olashore villa, Iloko- Ijesha, Osun State, Intercontinental Bank (Now Access Bank), the defunct Commerce Bank & Lead Merchant bank, Bank of industry, Grace Court Estate, Dove Court, Abuja, FAJ Estate, The Redeemed Christian Church Gbagada, Lagos, Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Lagos, OLAM Nigeria Limited and several other firms including in South Africa
Sitting atop this highly successful electrical & engineering outfit, as Managing Director, is Engr. Olatokunbo Ebenezer Oshokoya (MNSE), yet a Pastor at The Christian Brethren Church (TCBC) Ejigbo, Lagos. Oshea Projects Limited was established by a clear -cut business ostensibly as a corporate End-time project for the propagation of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
“I incorporated Oshea Projects as a business to be putting some proceeds from the business into running the church (The Christian Brethren Church) so that the church should continue her missionary works to Togo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin Republic, Gambia, South Africa, and everywhere across the globe to minister the End-time message. All our concern then was that Jesus is coming soon. We were fired up for Jesus’ return, nothing else.” Engr. Oshokoya told Christian Benefits.
Being very mindful of this clear vision, Pastor Toks, as he is fondly called, carefully built Oshea Projects Limited on the foundation of honesty, integrity, sincerity and righteousness. Before Oshea, he worked with a particular company from which he discontinued collecting salary he never worked for when the call to become a pastor came. Prior to his call into ministry, Oshokoya never dreamed of becoming a pastor. In fact his youthful years as a disc jockey on the campus of the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, O.A.U,) and even outside the campus assured him that he was never made for the cassock, but for the discotheque until he experienced a great change that transformed him.
He recalls: “When it was getting difficult for me to part with my past I experienced a great change. Suddenly, I lost my job. I was at home for 13 months. Imagine a young married man with children during this period. I couldn’t meet up with my responsibilities at home and frustration was setting in. At that point I became more interested in the things of God and began a separation from the world.”
Engr. Oshokoya eventually accepted Jesus Christ with great enthusiasm for the second coming of Jesus Christ. He totally separated himself from the world and its pleasure and devoted his time, energy and resources to preaching the message of the soon coming king. It was at this period he resigned from his former company and established Oshea Projects Limited in 1994 to support the End-time course.
“After a while Jesus didn’t come. And God saw that I have outgrown the days of ignorance when we had a great boom in business around 1998-1999. But, suddenly it dropped when I went to Gambia and all the demons came with me. I then had my second wilderness experience for about 26 months from 1999-2001. The company was crumbling. But it was at this time that I had the greatest work of the ministry, and also went into television ministry on my own. At this period, the Senior Pastor, Pastor Afolabi Oladele introduced me to the monthly business management meeting organized by Dr. Christopher Kolade at the Ikoyi Hotel. It was at this meeting that I began to learn about Christian business ideals and structure.”
The business re-orientation that Pastor Toks Oshokoya received at this monthly Christian business meeting brought about a great transformation in his business. At the meeting he learned the Ideal Christian business structure that was hitherto lacking in his business other than a sole focus on the second coming of Christ. Along the line he also came under the influence of Pastor Tunde Bakare when he joined Dominion Partners of the Latter Rain Assembly of Pastor Bakare’s ministry.
“I learned Christian business management ethics from Dr. Christopher Kolade and integrity in business from Pastor Tunde Bakare. So, the idea of making a total shift from running my business anyhow was entrenched in me by these three people; my Senior Pastor, Pastor Afolabi Oladele, Dr. Christopher Kolade and Pastor Tunde Bakare. My senior Pastor saw the vision of God running in me as a pastor and business man and he introduced me to Dr. Kolade’s business management series.
“Pastor Tunde Bakare is a non-compromising person I became endeared to. If you are endeared to the trio of Pastor Oladele, Dr. Kolade and Pastor Bakare, or you are hemmed in their circle you have no room to maneuver as a business man. With most of the things I learned from them, I came out of my business wilderness experience with my business reborn, I have now learned business principles. While my colleagues that we left school together and my professional colleagues were advancing academically, pursuing their masters, PhDs and other higher academic qualifications, I was busy pursuing the End-time,” the amiable cleric remarked.
However, with the successful reborn of his distressed business out of the wilderness of ignorance, Pastor Toks still retains his focus on the End time albeit with maturity, wisdom and balance now. For him the approach has changed, but the message remains the same. He continues preaching the End-time message all over Nigeria, and in South Africa, Zambia, Gambia, Cameroun, Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana etc, and also in several countries in Europe and America till date.
The managing Director of Oshea Projects Limited regularly preaches on the Voice of Restoration Radio and Television programme of The Christian Brethren Church (TCBC) on several local stations in many states in Nigeria. Until recently, he was in charge of the multimedia department of the church for several years, expounding the End time message to the numerous listeners and viewers of the programme across the globe. When it comes to eschatology, Pastor Toks is an erudite scholar and teacher. He is called by God into teaching ministry. Pastor Engr. Olatokunbo Ebenezer (MNSE)’s business ethos is. “Get the job, deliver the job well and at the right time, and get paid,” which he remarks “is the secret of the success of Oshea Projects Limited,” a member of Nigeria-South Africa Chambers of Commerce.