Rattler Wale Adelakun Contributes to Stability in Africa Through Construction Projects

RATTLER CONTRIBUTES TO STABILITY IN AFRICA THROUGH CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS BY [ Christopher GARDNER ]

Wale Adelakun, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers special projects engineer, stands in front of a recently delivered A-29 Super Tucano aircraft in Nigeria where he lives while working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Europe District. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is managing the construction of infrastructure to support the new aircraft and Adelakun supports the work as a “forward-deployed” member of the A-29 project delivery team. Adelakun, who graduated from Florida A&M University in 2009, has been working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Europe District since soon after graduation and has supported countless construction projects on the African continent over the years, in addition to throughout Europe.

Wale Adelakun, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers special projects engineer

When Wale Adelakun graduated from Florida A&M University in 2009 with a mechanical engineering degree, he didn’t quite know what he wanted to do with his life, but he knew he wanted to do it somewhere interesting.

Fellow Rattler, Daniel Francois, had graduated just a bit before Adelakun and told him about an opening with him working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Germany, he jumped at the opportunity.

“When I graduated I always wanted to work overseas, but it was a very open and nebulous concept that I want to work overseas,” Adelakun said. “Daniel graduated a year ahead of me and he reached back to me once he was in the position and said, ‘Hey, they’re looking for more people, you should consider applying.’ I thought well, Germany, absolutely let’s do it. The alumni network is strong and vast and there are FAMU graduates absolutely everywhere in the world.”

Fast forward to present day and Adelakun is still working for the Europe District, but is now a part of that global alumni network from his office in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. After roughly a decade of supporting U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects throughout Europe and Africa as part of the Europe District based in Wiesbaden, Germany, Adelakun moved into a new role as the first enduring on-the-ground presence for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the continent of Africa at the end of 2020.

“I always advocated opening up a slot that put a project engineer on the African continent since it’s so hard to get eyes on projects,” Adelakun said. “To be there on the continent is a huge step forward in order to deliver high quality construction to our stakeholders.”

In addition to managing a large construction mission building facilities for U.S. forces and partner nations throughout Europe, the Europe District also has projects in several countries throughout Africa in support of the U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM. These range from humanitarian assistance projects like classrooms and clinics to projects geared toward building partner capacity like training ranges for the military in Senegal (which is a top provider of peacekeeping forces to UN missions in Africa) to delivering infrastructure for A-29 aircraft for the Nigerian Air Force to aid in their battle against violent extremist organizations that plague West Africa.

Now stationed in Nigeria, Adelakun directly supports the largest of those programs - the A-29 Super Tucano project, delivering a light attack, combat and reconnaissance aircraft storage facility for the Nigerian Air Force at Kainji Airbase. The project consists of a $36.1 million contract for facilities to support a dozen A-29 aircraft. The work involves the construction of a new airfield hot cargo pad, perimeter and security fencing, munitions assembly and storage, small arms storage, earth-covered magazines, aircraft sunshades, a flight annex wing building for simulator training, airfield lights, and various airfield apron, parking, hangar and entry control point enhancements.

While Europe District has supported AFRICOM missions on the continent for years, this move to establish an enduring presence was an important step in support of AFRICOM’s work to promote regional security, stability and prosperity.

“We recognize the growing significance our work in Africa has on achieving our national security goals,” said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers North Atlantic Division Commander Brig. Gen. Thomas Tickner. “Having an enduring presence on the continent allows us to better leverage our capabilities to support AFRICOM’s and the State Department’s desired objectives by building partner capacity and sustaining host nation relationships.”

The A-29 project is one of several Europe District has in Africa. While Adelakun is a “forward-deployed” member of the A-29 project delivery team, he is part of a larger Europe District team that oversees construction in Africa in support of various other strategic initiatives, including Humanitarian Assistance, Foreign Military Sales, Counter Narcotics and Trafficking, Building Partnership Capacity, Global Peacekeeping Operations Initiative and more. Current projects under construction within these programs include new primary and secondary schools in Niger, Senegal Benin, Togo and Gabon that will provide a safe educational environment for thousands of children living in extremely remote areas. Also included is a key boat ramp in Benin that will aid Beninese authorities in the fight against illicit trafficking of narcotics, and multiple vehicle maintenance facilities in Senegal and Chad.

Adelakun gave credit to the larger team it takes to deliver these unique projects, and said he takes pride in being able to see the projects come to fruition in his construction oversight role.

“In construction I know I’m the executing agent and people have come before me to do the planning, and to do the design and to do the contracting through the actual contract award but it feels really good to see concrete placed, to see a project come out of the ground and to see the direct impacts and interact with the community where that project is happening,” he said.

Supporting this wide range of projects in Africa over the years, Adelakun said what strikes him is the impact that the smaller dollar value projects have on their communities, including both the obvious direct impacts and the maybe not as obvious secondary impacts.

“It’s very rewarding to be able to travel to these remote regions and see the direct impacts of these projects, like traveling to northern Togo and building a school in a neighborhood where the kids were schooling in mud brick walls and thatched huts and being able to build a much more lasting structure so that people could actually have a better chance at education in the

Wale Adelakun, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers special projects engineer, meets with local Togolese officials in 2014 to discuss progress on one of many humanitarian assistance projects that was under construction as part of AFRICOM efforts in the region.

area,” Adelakun said. “Projects also often include things of a more modern standard that maybe make life a little bit easier, such as solar power so people are able to charge phones or have lighting and including water wells where possible depending on the soil. Just having water available in really remote regions can change the attendance rates. Something as simple as drilling a well and suddenly girls are going to school because their families don’t have to send them far away to get water. It’s really rewarding to see the impacts like that.”

Another example would be recently completed clinics in remote villages in Benin. In addition to making care more accessible, particularly for pregnant women and new mothers in the case of these clinics, they facilitate the formal documentation of births. This plays an important role in combatting human trafficking and making it easier for children to enroll in schools as they get older.

Projects like these also often come with latrines specially designed for areas where there is no dependable supply of piped water that can reduce disease by reducing the population of disease carrying insects.

Adelakun’s himself is a first-generation American, with both of his parents having moved to America from Nigeria to work and study. As a child he would visit his cousins in the Nigerian city of Lagos and even grew up hearing one of the primary tribal languages in Nigeria in his home – Yoruba. While the official language of business in Nigeria is English, he noted it’s that kind of experience that can also be beneficial in his unique new position.

Though he grew up with familiarity with Nigeria, delivering projects in remote areas of many different countries often with foreign contractors and different construction rules and standards comes with a host of unique challenges. Adelakun said his time at FAMU played a big role in preparing him for the unique professional challenges he faces.

“It’s very far from anything I’ve learned in a mechanical engineering textbook, but I think that some of the thought processes and being able to endure and figure out innovative solutions to complex problems at FAMU definitely prepared me for this position,” Adelakun said. “It took me quite a while to understand that the goal was not necessarily to be able to solve very complex equations by hand or to deliver on very large design projects in undergrad, the goal was to be able to collaborate with your classmates, understand when you need help and be able to ask for help, figure out the system in which you’re operating and be able to deliver in that system. All of those skills are things that absolutely transfer over.”

Having traveled a somewhat non-traditional path himself, Adelakun said he would encourage other Rattlers to not limit themselves based on expectations tied to their degrees or background and to make their own path. His mechanical engineering background makes him somewhat unusual within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which tends to have more civil engineers and other disciplines in greater numbers. However, he credits his experience at FAMU with opening his eyes to wider possibilities out there.

“I was also involved with the National Society of Black Engineers and it was interesting to see the people that graduated, where they ended up, how they were doing and it gave me an idea of what was possible with a mechanical engineering degree and how the degree doesn’t necessarily shuttle you into one career but it’s something that gives you the critical thinking, the technical aptitude and the awareness to do with it as you please for several careers,” Adelakun said.