Just last week, Sammie Peters, the wife of Afro juju maestro, Sir Shina Peters, turned 60 and she celebrated it in the midst of her husband, family members, movie stars, politicians and people from all works of life. At Christmas, a few weeks before her 60th birthday, a family member blessed her with a brand new Avenza car, which we found in the compound at the Peters’ large home in Iju on the outskirt of Lagos. A school proprietress, Sammie Peters is not new to Nigeria’s society scene and to fashion trends. For the first time ever, she opens up in this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, on her love life with Shina Peters and tells us secrets she has kept over the years.

 

SOME people address you as a chief, do you have any chieftaincy title?

I am a chief but I don’t like to be called that. I am just okay being called ‘Sammie Peters.’

It was your 60th birthday party a week ago, how do you feel being 60?

I feel great, even though I don’t feel 60. I feel like a 16-year-old lady (laughs)! It’s good to be 60; I thank God. I give Him all the praise considering all that I have been through in life. For me to be 60, I thank God for the feat.

You were 40, then 50 not too long ago; now 60.  So, what were the things that you were doing at 30, 40, 50 that you are no more doing at 60?

I am closer to my God now. I am calmer, more relaxed. I have always been patient where my home is concerned. I have been a born again Christian all that while, but I appreciate God more now.

And I realise that we are all going to die someday. So, I try not to hurt people, I think more of people than myself. I am more selfless and love to give now more than before.

What are the things that you used to do back then when you were 30, 40, 50 and you are still doing now?

(Laughs) Well, at 30, 40 and 50, nobody can really change a person totally; so I have always been me. I am a straight forward person. When it is black, I say it is black; when it is red, it is red. I don’t mince my word. I am a strong person.

I forgive easily. This is me.  Even in my family, when there is a complex issue of discussion, they wait for me to arrive because to them, they know that when I get there, I will say it the way it is.

And the matter will be settled. They all know me for that. I’ve always acted like an old woman with my wisdom. God really endowed me with wisdom. I know how to settle matters; I know how to calm people’s frayed nerves.

 

‘Rules that guide my marriage’

 

Do you still dance?

Yes, I still dance. I love reading. I love to listen to good music, gospel music; I love to listen to my husband’s music.

Which of your husband’s music is your favourite?

All of his songs are my favorite.

When you are down, what cheers you up?

I am rarely down. But when I am really down, I go to God. I go on my knees to talk to God. And my prayers are always that, God should not let things get to me.

I don’t expect much from people. I don’t put too much trust in people. I put trust in God. So, when I don’t expect something from you and you do something bad to me, it is expected for you to do it because I wasn’t expecting any better from you (laughs)! That is why some women run into psychological problems because they expect much from people.

So, when they get disappointed, it affects them mentally. They put so much trust in people. I don’t. And there is really nothing that is permanent in this world.

At 60, do you have any regret?

Haaa (paused for a while), I have no regret, no regret at all!

Tell us a little about your background, which among your parents influenced you, most?

My mom influenced me more. I come from a polygamous background, though I grew up with my dad and mom together without his other women. My father had children from other women.

But my mom was always okay with his other children. She took them into her home and cared for them. I could remember a time when I went home crying and highlighting the difference between me and my other siblings and my mom was angry with me, shocked about what I was saying.

She told me not to say such things but that I accept the things that come my ways and that I should treat everybody as one. My mother was a very calm woman who was very patient as well.

So you took after her?

Yes, that’s right. And growing up was nice for me. We lived in Lagos at Oshodi. I went to Holy Trinity Nursery and Primary School at Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, where we enjoyed things like being picked up to and fro school with school bus.

Later, my mom said she wanted me to go to a boarding school. So she changed my school to Holy Trinity Nursery and Primary School in Idi Aba in Abeokuta.

From there, I went to Premier Grammar School.Then after in form form, she brought me back to Lagos to Victory High School at Onigbongbo, Ikeja, where I finished my secondary school.

I later went for the diploma course in Montessori education because I wanted a school for that. I later on established Intellect Nursery and Primary School.

How did you meet your husband Sir Shina Peters?

We were family friends. His mom and mine used to call themselves aunties. So because of that family closeness, they didn’t want us to get married.

They even told us that we were brothers and sisters, that we were too close regarding being family (laughs). I think our parents were afraid that our getting married might hurt the friendship that they had with each other and they even told us that.

My mom was older than his mom and his mom used to call my mom ‘Aunty mi,’ meaning my aunty, which literally meant respect, being that my mom was the senior.

They were both in the same club, and used to attend parties together, almost doing everything together. So, we met through them and it was love at first sight.

Even though with every marriage, there are always ups and downs but to the glory of God, we are still together.

How long was that?

I met my husband at the age of 21. It was in 1981 and now I am 60, which is 39 years ago.

Wha t attracted you to him and tell us about your love life?

When we met, I loved everything about him, his smiles, which are his signature, then his attitude towards me. He is a kind and a generous man to me. Even if he behaves somehow outside the home, when he gets home, he drops all his worries and anxieties at the gate before coming into our home.

If he offends you, he doesn’t hesitate to say sorry. He does not hesitate to prostrate if it is necessary for him to do that. He does anything to make me happy.

He does not let me lack. So when he doesn’t have money, I know because he is a giver. If he has money he gives, if he doesn’t have, I understand.

At such times, he will tell you he doesn’t have. If you pester him too much, he will tell you that he cannot carry gun! So since I know him too well, when he says he doesn’t have, I do not trouble him.

I try to do the things that I need to do in whichever other way I can without bothering him. And over the years, we have grown to understand each other.

What has been that thing that has kept the bonding growing in your marriage? Or did you both do blood oath like touch each other’s blood and swear to live forever with each other?

No, we didn’t (laughs); even if a couple do blood oath to live together forever, if they don’t treat each other well, they will end up going their separate ways.

I believe that the bonding has been growing through patience and unconditional love and forgiving each other. I forgive my husband easily. It comes easily with me.

I don’t know how to keep malice no matter what my husband does to me. I don’t even think much about my husband’s errors. I might be upset because I am human but I will forgive him easily and let go.

For him to have married you this long, that means he too forgives you?

 

Yes, that is true. But I don’t go out of my way to hurt him. You can see my environment; I ensure that my home is very clean and neat; his bedroom, his bathroom, his beddings, his clothings are all in my care. I ensure they are all taken care of and in place.

Then, I also take care of myself. When people see me, they say that I look very young. That does not just come to be or just happens; it is because I take care of myself. I don’t need too much money to do that.

A wife needs to take care of herself and then make sure that the home environment is neat and conducive. My husband’s food is important. You know things like that need to be attended to. There are rules that guide a successful marriage. I don’t offend my husband.

Over the years, haven’t you been bothered about women who may snatch him from you in the course of his being in show business?

It does not bother me but at times, I get upset if the woman in question is trying to disrespect me. You know, some women tend to do to other women what they can’t take in their own relationship. They dish other others what they can’t accept themselves.

Some could just put out a photo to the public where my husband is kissing them or holding them suggestively. Imagine a woman putting that out as her Facebook photo when you know that he is married.

That is a sign of disrespect to the wife and those are the kind of things that I cannot stand: If my husband happens to be making love to a lady in some place I can see, I might look away.

Though it has never happened before, but considering my nature, I might look away. But I don’t like to be disrespected. What you don’t take, don’t dish it out. The kind of food you cannot eat, don’t give me to eat.

If your husband is dating another woman and the woman is doing that to you, will you like it? Some women are really wicked; some don’t even think about their fellow women or what you could be going through because of their affairs.

A man can say anything but I wish women could have each other’s back. Even if you are dating a married man, date him respectfully. Do not go out and hurt your fellow woman.

If you unseat the wife, can you take care of the man? If I leave my husband for them, they can’t even last with him; they will leave because he’s not theirs.

They will leave; they can’t manage him. So if you see the other woman in the house, don’t think that the man does not love her, he does.

And that she stays at home as if she too can’t jump about is because she loves her husband. I always say this; I can share my husband rather than lose him.

If my husband is having extra-marital affairs outside, maybe that is what is making him happy or keeping him going. But I can tell you that such women always come and go, Sammie stays.

When you are happy, how do you express it? Do you go to a party?

I am always happy. I don’t hold on to grudges; so that is the number one source of happiness. So, I don’t trouble myself. God who asked us to forgive each other knows what He meant, it is because of our own wellbeing.

I don’t hold on to grudges. If I have a problem with someone, I can confront the person but immediately after that scene, I’m done with it. I don’t take it to the next day.

You are the proprietress of a school?

Yes, I am, it is because of my love for children that made me establish it. The school keeps me going. I overcame the challenges and the most troubling was the transportation of the school pupil to and fro school.

And it was not allowing me to have peace of mind. So I had to ease that out of our operations. So if you want your child to attend our school, you cater for your child’s transportation by yourself.

Read Also: Jaiye Kuti clears air on relationship with Pasuma

 

The anxieties were heavy on us. You know, even aircraft develop problems and we have to wait at airports during such delays but some parents sometimes refuse to understand.

As I am getting older, I stay away from anything that could bring about stress.

When are you planning to retire from the job at the school?

(Laughs) How do I retire from the school business? No retirement for me until perhaps when I can no longer move my legs.

Yes, I will retire when I am too old to be put in a car to go to the school. I can’t retire from taking care of those children. They are my children too.

How about your son Clinton?

He is in America, in New York precisely. He used to come at Christmas. He was around this last Christmas and stayed till after my 60th birthday party.

So Christmas was special for me. I got my birthday gift, an Avenza car on Christmas Day. Of course I do miss my son not being around.

Your husband too is always travelling, how do you cope?

It is not the way you say it, true he is always travelling; he actually travels a lot but he doesn’t stay out long. Sometimes it’s just for a night, sometimes two nights and then he is home.

The longest could be a week or two but then after he stays at home till the next time, he travels. Then my son schooled here. He had his nursery and primary education in my school before going to attend Mind Builders School.

And then from there he left for America for further studies. I do visit him there to spend time and come back. I go there two times a year and he comes here afterwards.

Seems you love America

Oh yes, I do. I love America, it’s more or less my second home. I have friends there, I party there, I can live there comfortably even though my son doesn’t want that because he keeps saying I should go back home and take care of his daddy.

So, what next? What do you think you have missed out in life that you still want?

I am contented. I wanted a school. Now I have it. It is successful. The next thing for me is to have an NGO where I can continue to give back.

I want to have a talk show where I can discuss and educate women on how to manage and take care of their homes. I really want to do that and to create awareness for cancer, especially breast cancer, which is what I went through and survived.

For those who don’t know about your struggle with breast cancer and how you survived it, give us a short re-cap of that

I was 54 years old when I discovered I had breast cancer. I was exactly having pain in that particular breast but sometimes I felt minor pain.

I could play and jog but I was feeling uncomfortable every now and then in that particular breast. I went for a mammogram at a lab where I was told that something had been spotted, that I should go and do a biopsy. Awareness on these things was scarce then.

And instead of doing the biopsy, I went to see a doctor to remove the lumps which shouldn’t have happened in the first place. I ought to have gone for the biopsy, which would have confirmed if the affected lump was benign or malignant. I didn’t know, I went to remove it and the doctor took it to the lab.

We did it and he confirmed that it was cancerous. For me, it was a wake-up call. More so when prior to my experience, I had never heard of anyone who survived cancer.  I was looking at my children like, oh my God, I could be leaving.

You know, I have shade and Olumide. These two are already working and could fend for themselves. My first born was already married. I was more worried of the last one. I was scared because Clinton was still in secondary school.

But on getting to America, I was told that we detected it early that it was on stage two. I was told that people don’t die like that; I was also encouraged as I was told that people have been surviving it.

That early detection is the key that it has not gotten out of hand  that I will have to come for check ups every year that if any trace is seen, it will be treated and it will disappear.

I was elated but shocked at the ease it was handled because I was not even bed-ridden. I have pictures where I was taking chemo, my husband was with me, by the bedside when I went for chemo.

When one takes chemo, one could feel sick for about two days but not bed-ridden. In America, if you go for surgery, you can even be discharged that same day.

You may be allowed to stay for some hours after the surgery to be monitored but you will be discharged once it is confirmed that there were no complications.

The only time I stayed long in the hospital was one week. I went through surgery four times for different things. I know so many people in America that survived cancer but in Nigeria, people don’t talk, they hide their illness so it’s difficult to know who survived.

Cancer is not leprosy; it is not contagious so people should come out and share their experiences.

What is your advice to people with cancer?

You don’t even know you have it except perhaps for stomach upsets or so. Please, go and do check up. Go for mammogram and biopsy; even blood sugar checkups because these are silent killers.

Early detection is key. And we have to plead with the government to please establish cancer centres where people can go for checkups and so on. It should also be free for poor people.

So what’s your fashion and style at 60?

The older I get, the better my fashion and style become. I don’t need much money to make myself look good. I don’t spend too much money on my cream.

Over-doing of creams can spoil the skin. I don’t buy cream according to how expensive it is. I buy looking good because it is good for my body.

Now you are here, I am wearing Ankara. If my husband was here at home with me, I would be wearing my short things. I can’t wear such short things outside my home here in Nigeria but I can wear them in America where the culture allows it.

I also don’t follow fashion trends because it is fashion. I do my fashion. While I don’t expose my body, I don’t conceal everything too. I don’t like loud fashion accessories like loud earrings and so on.

Your husband is comfortable. So are you. But your classy home is out of place in your environment

My husband likes it like that. He says that if he leaves this place, who is going to be there for these people? He is a man of the people.

We have a place in Lekki; I have been begging him that we should hurriedly complete the house there so we could move there. He said even if he finishes it, he will not move.

We have plots of land in different areas but he is not interested in moving away. Even this year, it is part of my project to complete our other home.

You need to be here when ‘live football matches’ are on television, my husband, our neighbours enjoy a good camaraderie with us at such times by the swimming pool. It’s always a beautiful sight to see.

Sometimes when my husband is around, he kills goat and barbecue and drinks are freely served. So my husband is enjoying his stay in this environment.

People bring their problems and when he is capable, he solves them: So he keeps telling me that when we move to where the rich people live, who will be there for this people?

Bassey ANTHONY, Uyo

 

Planted on the face and hands of 29-year-old Mrs. Inemesit Udoekpo are scars that act as sad reminders of her days as a house girl in Kaduna about 15 years ago. The injuries were inflicted on her by the woman she served as a house help for years in the northern city.

On her own part, 21-year-old Miss Mkpouto Usoh has no scars on her body, but she is yet to recover from the psychological and emotional trauma she went through in her years of servitude or regain her sense of self-worth and dignity.

The two are not alone in their sordid journey into slavery under the guise of house help which the average Akwa Ibom youth was subjected to some years back. In many Nigerian homes were Akwa Ibom boys or girls who ran errands, cooked, carried out domestic chores and served as gate men. In the course of their duties, they were kicked, maltreated and denigrated.

Their plight is aptly captured in Nollywood movies where the role of an errand boy or girl is almost always performed by an Ekaette, an Akpan or an Udoh.

 

‘Why we gave our sons, daughters out as house helps’

Expressing regrets over her decision to give her daughter out to serve as a house help with a couple in Benue State, Mrs.  Mercy Ekpo said the move her daughter was impelled by her poor financial condition.

She said: “My daughter became academically backward. She was not able to go to school because of the family she stayed with as a house help. She was subjected to long hours of domestic chores. She was even reportedly raped while hawking items for her.”

She advised parents to raise their children with the little resources they have rather than send them out to go and risk their lives and endanger their future.

Miss Blessing Akpan, who once served as a housemaid, said that after she lost her father, she was compelled by her mother to go to Lagos to serve one Madam Temitope.

She said: “My mum actually compelled me to follow Madam Temitope to Lagos to serve as her house girl, following my father’s death, because she was not able to fund my education. The burden of also caring for my younger ones was so heavy on her, hence the decision to send me out.”

But Blessing is happy that times are changing with the Akwa Ibom State government providing  free and compulsory education for the youth.

“Today, I am a graduate and currently doing my business on which the government supported me with interest-free loan,” she said.

Forty-three-year old Rose Ekanem from Mbikpong Atai in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, recalled that she has spent most of her years on earth as a housemaid, having been given out by her auntie to a married couple at the age of 12.

Recalling her ordeal with tears streaming down her cheeks, Rose said she lost her mother at a very tender age and could not even remember what her mother looked like.  Her father immediately took another wife and that began her journey into sufferings.

She said: “Being a house girl is not an easy experience. I grew up to see myself as a housemaid. My father married another wife after my mother died. I was subjected to all forms of maltreatment by my stepmother and my father couldn’t stop her from carrying out her evil deeds.

“My mum’s younger sister picked me up but she had no means of catering for me. She had to give me out to a couple in Port Harcourt.  I think I was just 12 years old then.

“I worked and slaved for most part of the day, doing domestic chores, running errands and getting abused.  I was denied access to education, raped several times by my boss’ children, accused of stealing, beaten, starved of food for days and laughed at because I am a ‘Calabar girl.’ ”

Rose said the story of her life changed when she took the bold step of returning to the village in 2004 to engage in petty trading and farming.

According to her, the Akwa Ibom State Government gives her interest-free loans with which she buys crayfish and fish in large quantities, supplying them to people and making her money.

Another Akwa Ibom indigene, Akanimo Akanimo, said he served as a house boy in Enugu because the man he thought was his father disowned him.  Life, he said, became unbearable and he had to drop out of school in SS2.

He got a contact in Enugu to work as a gateman/domestic servant. Pronto, he left for Enugu only to discover that he was taking a trip into slavery and frustration.

He said: “My master promised to pay me N15,000 as salary. That was big money as at 2001. Bu I can swear that I only collected salary three times in the four years I served my master. He was hardly in town as his family stayed in Ghana.

“Thank God for Effiong who took me back to Akwa Ibom and enrolled me in a driving school.  Today, I am a driver with a construction company in Uyo. I am married with a girl child and life is much better now.”

Mrs Usoro Umoh said she owes her daughter, Grace, a truck load of apologies for exposing her to the vagaries of life by giving her out to one of her friends in Warri to work as a maid. She said her daughter almost lost her life working late into the night at a bakery owned by her former master.

Mrs Umoh revealed that scars of the injuries her daughter sustained on her face may prevent any man from asking for her hand in marriage.

 

Poverty, broken marriages responsible for ugly trend —Sociologist

Dr.  Eminue Brown, a sociologist, says poverty, broken marriages, inferiority complex, ignorance, lack of sense of direction or misplaced priorities are responsible for parents and guardians giving out their children and wards as house helps.

Dr.  Brown recalled in an interview with The Nation that Akwa Ibom was in a cesspool of poverty before it assumed the status of a core oil producing state.

During those years, he said, the income level of an average Akwa Ibom person was nothing to write home about. The state had a civil service economy with no meaningful economic development and poverty became a common feature in most homes.

Owing to the inability of parents to meet up with the challenges of providing the basic needs of daily living, they resorted to giving out their children and wards to serve as house helps even in far-flung places, not minding the consequences for them and their offspring.

He said, however, that flickers of hope began to emerge following the oil-producing status conferred on the state in the aftermath of the onshore/offshore oil dichotomy controversy and its acquisition of oil wells from both Cross River and Rivers states.

Akwa Ibom became a wealthy state, which attracted much oil revenue from the Federation Account, and gradually things started looking up. Incomes rose, economic activities received a quantum leap, more jobs and business opportunities were created.

Infrastructure improved.  People began to have more money to spend. The dark era of poverty and squalor began to fade away.

The emergence of Senator Godswill Akpabio as governor in 2007 also changed not just the sad narrative but the mentality of the people.

Read Also: Woman allegedly inserts pepper in housemaid’s private part

 

The Akpabio administration launched aggressive campaigns of social and mental reorientation and adjustments aimed at confidence building and shedding of the toga of servitude.

At every forum, Akpabio preached against the practice of parents giving out their children and wards to serve as house helps. He pleaded that those already working as house boys and girls should return home.

A popular slogan,  ‘Akwa Ibom Ado Ok (Akwa Ibom is now okay)’ was adopted as one of the means of luring back home sons and daughters of the state to come and engage in meaningful and dignifying ventures.  More jobs were created in the civil service.

Other forms of empowerment were also provided while many skills acquisition centres and programmes were introduced to equip the youths.

Perhaps, the magic wand that changed the status quo was the introduction and enforcement of the free and compulsory education programme by the Akpabio administration.

Government made it a punishable offence for any parent or guardian not to send their children school.  Street hawking during school hours and all forms of child labour were condemned and stiff penalties meted out to any parent or guardian whose child/ward was found roaming the streets during school hours.

The Child Rights Bill was passed into law by the State House of Assembly.  The law stipulates that children should not be deprived of their basic rights, including the right to quality education and decent living.

With these in place, school enrolment rose and the temptation to seek employment as a house boy or house girl evaporated.  The state witnessed a mass return of Akwa Ibom citizens from all parts of the country.

Thus between 2007 and 2015, the house boy/girl syndrome died a natural death in Akwa Ibom State, giving way to a new Akwa Ibom built on the dignity of the human person and sense of purpose.

Governor Udom Emmanuel took off from where Akpabio left off. The battle against slavery and all forms of child labour and abuse continues. He has sustained the free and compulsory education programme and also pays WAEC fees for candidates.

Governor Emmanuel has also upped the campaign against servitude by introducing the ‘Dakkada’ philosophy. Dakkada in Ibibio means stand up or arise.

Behind the Dakkada philosophy is a clarion call to all Akwa Ibom natives to seek greatness. It is also a challenge to them to shed every form of laziness, inferiority complex and base sentiments so that they could work and contribute to the economic prosperity of the state.

Besides, the current administration is pursuing an aggressive industrialisation programme, which has paved the way for the establishment of 13 functional industries gainfully engaging sons and daughters of the state.

The Emmanuel administration has recorded remarkable achievements in the area of youth empowerment, capacity building and sports developments.

 

Why Akwa Ibom youths now snub house help jobs —Commissioner

Information Commissioner, Charles Udoh, told our correspondent that the Emmanuel administration has provided mouth-watering packages for youths of the state such that no Akwa Ibom boy or girl would love to serve as a housemaid any longer.

“The Governor Udom Emmanuel administration has provided training in various skills for over 20,000 youths. He has also given out N2 billion interest free loan to small and medium scale entrepreneurs and traders.

“In addition, the government is constructing 10 modern sports centres. It is investing heavily in sports that the youths can groom their talents and become international sports icons.

“In terms of agriculture, the government has 49,318 registered rice farmers, trained 450 youths on cocoa maintenance, subsidized fertilizers, oil palm & cocoa seedlings and has the Akwa Prime Hatchery which produces 17,000 day old chicks weekly.

“The government has procured free improved corn seedlings, built vegetable green houses,  Oil Palm Processing Plant, Cassava Processing Mills, Maize Shelling/Drying Mill, Rice Processing Mill and  4,000 hectares of  cassava plantation in 15 LGAs  (FADAMA).

“Further, over 1,200 hectares of rice have been cultivated and a grant of N300,000 given each to 500 youths for agricultural projects under GUY Scheme among others.

“So you can see that with all of these, no Akwa Ibom child will like to leave this land flowing with milk and honey for anywhere outside to go and suffer in the name of being a house help.”

Medical-doctor-turned businessman, Dr. Chuma Markolex Igbokwe, has had a mixed experience with life since he returned to his home-country Nigeria, after  sojourning abroad.  Now based in Abuja, he is a consultant with the National Assembly, where he is contributing his quota to the development of the country while also continuing with his businesses that stretch into other choice sectors of the economy. In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, he takes us into his life journey, his sojourn abroad and the life lessons he has learnt.

 

LET’S go a little down memory lane. What was life like for you, growing up in the Eastern part of Nigeria?

While growing up, did you consider yourself a privileged child?

My earliest memory of childhood was growing up in the streets of Lagos. We lived in Mushin, which was relatively crowded given that my dad was a worker of the Nigerian railways at the Mushin station at the time.

Like most kids around, we found various ways to entertain ourselves and spend time at each other’s houses. It was very much like a form of communal living. I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. We just had the basic things at home.

Tell us a few things you remember about your childhood and a few about your parents.

My both parents are now deceased. My dad was a railways worker and an avid supporter of Enugu Rangers Football Club. At an early age, I was exposed to travelling on the trains.

I also remember the communal viewing and analysis of all the Nigerian El-Classico of the time viz a viz Rangers vs IICC. I also remember being taken to watch football matches played by teams like Stores, ACB,  Bendel Insurance, Raca Rovers and Sharks.

I also recall all the Saturday morning shopping trips with my mum to Kajola market, meeting her customers and being proudly introduced to them. I looked forward to the perks that came with such visits. Mum was also strict on the need to supervise my school home work.

In those days, polygamy was popular. Was that the situation in your house?

I am the third child in a typical Igbo family of six children. My uncle, Mr. Eke, lived with us and was not only a committed Christian but an ardent church goer.

I soon began to accompany him to attend ECWA Church at the age of five. Here I can say that my spiritual life was moulded and the values that inform who I am today were inculcated. I had great teachers at Sunday school.

I sang in the choir, learnt the rudiments of leadership through youth groups and remained committed to key Christian values.

It was also during this stage of my life that I made many childhood friends of different faiths. We just grew up together and played together oblivious of our ethnic, cultural or religious differences.

What decided education for you and tell us about your educational background?

Educationally, I prayed earnestly to be the best that I could be and for wisdom. I had my primary education at the Lagos City Council School, Fadeyi, Lagos, left with a distinction at the school leaving certificate exams.

Secondary education was at one of the best secondary schools in Lagos then, Baptist Academy, Shepherd Hill, Obanikoro.

It was at ‘Baptacads’ as we called the school that further core values were embedded in my peers and me. It was an all boys’ school with a huge number of privileged kids and outstanding academic records.

It provided for stiff academic competition and robust build up in areas of debating, music, social skills training, Christian values and sports.

I had outstanding WAEC results having achieved Grade 1 distinction and had an amazing JAMB result with an offer to study medicine at Ife.

I was to later travel abroad for training as a commercial pilot coupled with specialist training in medicine and international work as a diplomat.

You had an offer to study medicine in Ife. Did you take up the offer?

I had the highest score on JAMB admission.I decided to take the offer.

You later travelled abroad for training as a commercial pilot and a specialist in medicine and international work as a diplomat, how did you combine all these?

I had to take up flying as a leisure job while I completed my specialist training. I subsequently went into business, which included healthcare management, mining and maritime security. The UK company, of which I was CEO, held uranium and gold license rights in Niger Republic.

The huge investment made by my company into mining in Niger naturally brought us to the attention of the then President Tandja.  It also coincided with Niger exploring the possibility of opening her British mission.

My business interest in the UK also spanned British politics being a citizen of Great Britain myself. Based on this, I was appointed as the first consul of Niger to the UK.

You seem to love pets, which ones do you keep?

Yes, mostly dogs but I love animals in general.

Why did you go abroad? And what kind of life did you meet with abroad as compared to Nigeria?

I went to further my education in search of the Golden Fleece. I also went to gain some useful work and management experience. The UK is a much more disciplined society where much is expected of individuals and you are handsomely rewarded for achieving set goals.

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It’s a well run country by individuals with the interest of the greater majority at heart. Nigeria is a highly indisciplined society unfortunately lacking in robust institutions compared to the west and we are yet to evolve those critical institutions needed to move forward.

In my opinion, although we possess a lot of academic graduates, we are lacking in quality human resources needed to develop and man these institutions.

What motivated you to return to Nigeria?

In 2011, my father passed on, which informed my final decision to relocate back. It also coincided with series of business investments, which my partners and I were making in Nigeria.

You most often dress like a musician, have you ever tried your hands on music and what can you say about your kind of fashion and style?

I pretty much dress smart and I love keeping it casual and simple. I am not one for blings or crazy hairdos.

 

At what point did family and marriage knock on your door?

Sadly, I have not been successful with marriage. Marriage and companionship is good but should not be to the detriment of one’s mental health and state of mind. The man who finds a good wife has found a good thing.

So, are you in search of your kind of woman now?

I’m actually already in love with a beautiful, caring, well-educated young woman who is intellectually engaging, warm-hearted, domesticated, ambitious and God-fearing.

Being a consultant to the National Assembly, what does it entail?

Consultancy here is in the area of research and advisory. I undertake research activities on behalf of law makers and provide concise briefings in areas requested.

In your estimation, don’t you think the National Assembly in the last three dispensations has been in the news for the wrong reasons too often?

To an extent, NASS may have been in the news for the wrong reasons, particularly in the last three dispensations, but on the whole, they could only give what they were only capable of delivering. The quality of work often correlates with the quality and support structures available to law makers at any one time. The 9th Assembly, in my opinion, has been well prepared for the job through detailed induction courses and other areas; and the current leadership appears more focused on solution finding than at picking up fights with other arms.

The salary of lawmakers continues to be a matter for discussion in public spaces and many consider it high, what is your opinion and what do you consider best?

The law makers, in my opinion, are reasonably paid but the bone of contention is in the area of allowances which are much higher compared to comparable democracies and similar economies.

Not too soon after the last elections, death has been snatching one law maker after another. Was it that the election process was too stressful for them because of their health? Why is Nigerian politics played on the lines of at all cost?

The general state of our healthcare infrastructure coupled with our lifestyle choices appear to be the main reasons for untimely deaths here in Nigeria. This is not negating the role that stressful political campaigns play in the lives of politicians and the fact that most members of NASS are over 50 years old often with underlying healthcare challenges and there is hardly time to address these.

Given opportunity, will you go into politics?

You create your own opportunity, I believe. My desire is to continue to contribute to the development of my country in whatever capacity I find myself and support the leadership. Personally, I have tremendous respect for Dr. Uche Ogah, current Minister of State for Mines and Steel and he enjoys my patronage. What do you value most and why?

I value my personal relationship with God most as it’s the only guarantee of eternal life.

Presently, is this the Nigeria of your dreams?

The current Nigeria is far from the Nigeria of my dreams. I enjoyed tuition free education throughout my educational life at the expense of the Nigerian nation. There’s a need to give back at all cost.

What sports did you grow up with? Have you developed interest in newer sports?

I grew up with football and table tennis, which remain my first and main love but while in the UK, I further developed interests in cricket, rugby and golf. These are all great sports.

How do you spend your holidays? Do you have memories of a particular holiday you enjoyed most?

My holidays are mainly spent travelling to places of interest in Nigeria. Many beautiful and historical sites in Nigeria.

What inspires you?

I am greatly inspired by the challenges and the opportunities that Nigeria presents. It is a sufficient inspiration.

What are you passionate about?

I’m truly passionate about helping in building the Nigeria of our unborn children.

At 82, Chief Newton Jibunoh is itching to go to the desert again. If he does, it will be his fifth expedition to the desert and to Europe.  However, concerned individuals and institutions are worried and have actually raised the red flag high against his going again! But the ‘Prince of the Desert’ says he is optimistic and only one thing can stop him. In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, Chief Jibunoh discloses to us his preparations and the only thing that may stop him from going to the desert again, among other things. Excerpts:

 

WHEN exactly did you retire?

(Laughs) It depends on what I retired from. I retired from active practice as a builder under a multi-national organisation, which I headed for 16 years, but the total period for which I worked for that organization was 36 years. And that retirement happened about 16 years ago, on my 66th birthday.

But afterwards, I went into environmental sustainability advocacy, which so many people have commented on. That kept me even busier than I was when I was heading that organisation.

And it was something that came out of a passion for the environment: passion for greenery, passion for life because the environment is our life: So that is something that I think I will have difficulty in retiring from because it is something that I want to do for the rest of my life as long as I can stand on my two feet and my hand is strong enough to hold a pen; and the ink continues to flow.

It is something that I enjoy doing so well.

At 82, you still wake up in the morning and come out here to an office to work? Yes, I do. I was telling a colleague of mine, who is about my age but not too strong, that there is nothing like waking up in the morning and having a full day.

I love to do it, though some people say it is not too good for my age. But I love to do it and there is hardly a day that I don’t do that. First thing in the morning, I review my diary for the day. I wake early between the hours of 5:00 and 6:00am.

 

‘I enjoyed so much peace in the desert and people there celebrated me’

 

Most mornings, I write because I go to bed early. I bathe myself and at times iron my clothes myself. This morning, I made breakfast myself here in the office.  I have a very active day and even at weekends, there’s usually something I have to do, appointments, appearances, lectures to deliver and that has taught me how to keep going.

And you are also blessed with a wife that is still around Yes, particularly as she has agreed to allow me to do some of these things. She allows me to wake up at 3:00 or 4:00 am to write and also allows me to travel, especially on issues relating to climate change, global warming and environmental sustainability.

I am lucky in that sense to have children and grandchildren who, though also always want a piece of me all the time, but I am not able to do that. But they have come to realise the need for me to be spared from some family ties, especially when they see my published writings and other works that I do around.

But is she busy in her own way too?

Yes, she is.

You write every week, what do you write about?

A good part of my writings has been on environmental sustainability and sometimes on political stuff though not partisan politics. There’s a lot of politics in environmental issues. It took almost 25 years to come to the Paris climate change agreement but it took a President Donald Trump to kind of pull out of it.

That’s why when people ask me if I am in politics, I find it difficult to say no but I do not see politics as belonging to a political party and playing partisan. My kind of politics is that which I see in the work I do, in the environmental issues.

There are still a few countries and a few scientists who do not believe in climate change. So that’s what I write about. I also write about the leadership crisis that we have in the country, about the fact that we are not leaving behind a good legacy for the generation that is coming after us.

I write about the fact that there is a lot of rascality in our political structure. I write about elections that are not acceptable, which also has to do the constitution we have which is not acceptable to majority of the people. I write about re-structuring which became a topic before the elections.

I write about religion and the role it plays in our lives, all those things that concern us all. I am a thinker and I love to think and in the process I come up with what I know the general public will enjoy reading.

I have received hundreds of thousands of comments about my writings and no negative report. That enhances and inspires my thinking because even those that sound like criticism are not but help me to think better.

What is the relationship between your kind of activism and arts?

Actually, my daughter called my attention to that word some years ago. She said, ‘Dad, I think you are becoming an activist.’ Before then, I didn’t see myself as an activist.

After a few weeks, I called her back and told her that I think I am an activist because if you look at the environmental issues that I have dabbled into going back almost 40 years ago, then maybe I am. I sounded the alarm bell before the climate change became a big issue.

I crossed the Sahara desert, travelled the whole world, looking at what other countries have done to stem desertification crisis. I travelled around Nigeria for the same. When Lake Chad started to dry up, I travelled over there all on my own expenses, risking my life without knowing it.

I came to realise that I must be an activist. One thing is that I practise what I preach, proferring solutions and initiating some pilot projects to counter what I am talking about.

Can you mention one of two pilot projects that you have worked on?

The first one was in Kano State where I started building a wall of trees in Danbatta in conjunction with the state government and we achieved a wonderful result.

People who had migrated with their animals for years came back because the land became green again and they were able to find a water body where to feed their animals. For me, that was a landmark achievement. I also started talking about the forestry that went from almost 40 percent to about seven percent in the last few years.

I started advocating that we should guide the forest for tomorrow thereby encouraging homes and individuals to start a little garden wherever they are so we can restore our forest. I even celebrated my 75th birthday with the planting of 75 trees in conjunction with the then Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State.

So, there is a garden today in Ikoyi, Lagos, which is known as a Garden of 75 trees in Ikoyi, Osborne. That is part of the legacies to show that I practise what I preach.

At what stage is the issue of climate change now?      

In the meantime, America has pulled out. And America was also to fund the mitigation. A good part of the mitigation. Their pulling out has put a set back to the whole issue. The countries that were to be compensated may not be able to do so.

The confluence of parties are looking at seeing what they can still do because though America has pulled out of it, there are still some countries within America that are still interested to go with it.

So, if majority of the states of America are able to come back to the confluence of parties and participate and contribute, they may be able to overcome the setback, otherwise it is really going to pull back the work that has taken about 25 years to put together.

As regards longevity, do you eat anything special, are you on a diet, could it be why you are aging gracefully?

It’s a question that I have been asked. I am not on any special diet. I eat what everyone eats. My favorite food is pounded yam with either Ogbono soup or Okro soup, or what we call Ofe Osalla, the white soup.

However, I watch what I eat so that I don’t develop this or that. Thanks for saying I’m aging gracefully. Yes, I am still standing on my feet and able to do many things by myself.

I don’t know if it is in my gene or if it is my lifestyle. I actually have a friend, General Ike Nwachukwu, who says it is the desert that is responsible for my aging gracefully (laughs).

Do you still have friends your age, who you meet with regularly?

Yes, it’s just that some are very jealous (laughs)!  They keep attacking me,especially General Nwachukwu, who doesn’t see any reason why I should be looking the way I look (laughs more), when he is looking older.

So I have them, friends, and when we meet, it’s fun; we joke a lot. Just last night, General Nwachukwu and I were together.

One can say that you have had a good life but is there anything that you feel that you have missed out on?

No, not at all. I have even surpassed my expectation in terms of good health and achievement. So I like to give back; that is what is left for me to do because there is nothing left to give to myself. Even when I don’t owe anybody, I feel compelled to give back.

This last Christmas, I went into partnership with a medical outreach which came to my home town with four doctors and seven nurses, who attended medically to hundreds of people because my people were just dying and dying.

People were dying from high blood pressure, malaria, typhoid because they were not assessing good medical treatment. And the programme was successful. The doctors and nurses told me that the blessings that they got from the people will last them for the rest of their lives.

Do you still engage in any form of sports?

I walk more these days. I used to swim but when my shoulder pain increased, my doctor told me to relax. So, I stopped swimming but walk inside the pool. Lagos is not a very good place to walk around but when I am in my home town, I walk a lot.

Do you miss the desert?

Yes, I do. I have done it four times. If not that I have been warned of the security implications, I would have been going on the expedition to the desert every year.

But I have been warned even by our Foreign Affairs Ministry not to try it again. However, I get so much peace in the desert; so much that one can do there. The people of the desert are a lot happier when they see me because of what I have helped to create there.

So, I enjoy going back to the desert because they celebrate me. For them, I am always like a Prince come to town. And you know, it is always nice to be where you are celebrated, loved and cared for. So yes, I miss the desert and I hope I will have one more opportunity to go.

When you went the last time, you said it will be your last and that you were going to tell them goodbye

Yes, I said so, but I have come to realise that you can never say never! The hunger to go back to the desert is very much in me. The desert is calling me and I want to go back there.

Will your wife and family in general allow you to go again?

Gone are the days that my wife used to be scared, fight and get worried because having done it four times, they feel that I have mastered the art. If nothing happened in the first time and second to the fourth, then there is nothing evil likely going to happen on the 5th.

So, not that they are not worried but that they go into denial, not knowing what to say. I know it because I see it in them. But the moment they object to my  going, I will stop going.

The Registrar, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, in this interview with FRANK IKPEFAN, explains why Nigeria must remove unqualified teachers from the classrooms.

 

THE December 31 deadline given by the National Council on Education for all teachers to register with TRCN has passed. What is the next step sir?

I am happy you actually stated clearly that the directive was by the National Council on Education, which is the highest decision-making body on education in Nigeria and TRCN has been charged with the responsibility of ensuring and enforcing compliance.

You will recollect that even in December, we had our last Professional Diet (Professional Qualifying Examination) .and the result of that examination was released two weeks after the examination was held and we still have a large number of teachers going around now trying to register but we can conveniently say that at least 73 per cent of the teachers who took that exam actually passed.

That is to show us that the number of those who are eligible to register has actually increased and we hope that by the end of this January, we would have gotten close to 2.3 teachers that would have registered by the end of this month. Because after they pass the examination, the next stage is actually to go to TRCN’s state offices to go and register.

Now, TRCN is poised to monitor for compliance, the deadline having come and gone. It is the responsibility of TRCN to go out to monitor for compliance. We have set up a technical team for monitoring. That team is being led by a professor.

We have gotten some professors from our tertiary institutions, from our universities across the country. From the University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo Useniversity, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Abuja.

We have gathered a team together and also, the Secretary-General of the Nigeria Union of Teachers is also a member of that technical committee to help us look at the modalities for enforcement.

We have developed the guidelines, the instrument and we have also benefitted from the data collected by the Universal Basic Education Commission on the National Personnel Audit of teachers in schools.

We have that data with us and we are trying to print out the data on state by state basis and that will serve as a guide. In that data, we have registered and unregistered teachers. It is a baseline data that is going to be used by TRCN for monitoring compliance.

At the level of TRCN, we had initially collected our data from six states, one from each geo-political zone but the UBEC data covers the whole country and we are going to do the monitoring simultaneously in the 36 states and across the Federal Capital Territory.

Each state team will be led by a professor or somebody of that caliber or another stakeholder of that caliber in that particular state and with that enforcement, we will be able to collate the data of unqualified teachers; those who are not qualified at all and those who are not registered and we will be able to present the facts and the data to confront our states.

First of all, we will publish the data in the dailies. We are going to publish the data to show the performance of each state and the states that are yet to comply fully so that states will know their status.

We are going to publish in dailies (newspapers) to show the percentage of compliance in each state of the federation and the FCT. But this enforcement and monitoring will start towards the end of January. We know that schools are just resuming now.

The monitoring will be carried out in both public and private schools. That is where we are now. The technical committee will be meeting next week. We already have the template that we are going to use. The template for monitoring has been developed and we already have that.

We are going to meet with the TRCN state coordinators after we have finished printing the UBEC data for personnel audit carried out. We are going to call our state coordinators to Abuja and we will discuss with them the modalities for monitoring.

Some teachers took the last exam but failed. What is going to be their fate?

We have the evidence that they have taken the exam once and they are going to have another opportunity to retake it. For such teachers, the sanctions will not apply.

If there is evidence that you have taken the exam and it is only that you did not pass, you still have the opportunity of retaking the exam.

Does that mean there is another window of opportunity for teachers to enroll for the exam?

Yes. What has passed is the deadline to register with TRCN but the professional exam will continue. The door to register with TRCN is still open for those who have not done so. It is not that we have stopped the professional examination. It will continue.

In fact, we are even thinking that we should increase it to either three or four times in a year. We are thinking of increasing the diet maybe on quarterly basis to three, four times in a year.

Read Also: TRCN says 53,674 teachers qualify for licenses

 

So professional examination will continue the same way the professional qualifying examination integrated with induction will continue in all our institutions. What we have done is that the general deadline given by the NCE has passed but that is not the end of the PQE. The PQE will continue.

Is there any hope that this deadline can be shifted so that we can have more teachers register with TRCN?

Let us enforce this first. We have some states where some teachers have been sent to schools because they were aware of the deadline and they have contacted TRCN, but that will not stop us from carrying out our functions.

When we get to the bridge, we will know how to cross it. That deadline, we are going to enforce it. If you know you are already a teacher and you are not qualified but already in school, if you can produce evidence, then there may be a consideration but what we are saying is that, that deadline must be enforced and TRCN is going to go out as from the end of this month to make sure that we enforce the deadline.

What are the sanctions for unqualified teachers caught teaching in schools?

Well, if you are not qualified to stand in front of the children, you know what it means. That means you are not qualified to be a teacher. It is like you are not qualified to be a medical doctor.

What are the sanctions? You will be removed. The implication is very simple but we are not talking of sacking of teachers. Some people will misconstrue us. TRCN is not advocating for sacking of teachers.

What we are saying is that we want to know those who are teaching our children. We want to know them and we want them to be those that are qualified, registered and licensed to practise. If we are able to sanitise the teaching profession, it will help our country greatly.

Because the teacher owes the key to the development of any country. Teachers account for about 70 per cent of what the children learn, especially in primary and secondary schools.

That is why the quality of the teacher is very critical and to ensure that our teachers are of good quality, this is why these measures have been put in place. As a country, to get it right in terms of education, we need to get the issue of the teacher right. Is there a specific date when the monitoring will begin this month?

Before the end of January, we are going to start. We have the data from UBEC and all our staff have been deployed to reducing that data to printable material.

All the staff of TRCN in the headquarters have been deployed to do that so that within the shortest possible time and two weeks, they will be able to complete that exercise and then we will have the package and we will be able to go out for monitoring.

The good thing is that the data by UBEC captures both the public and private schools. That is the good thing about it.

Is the minister aware of your plans to begin monitoring and enforcement?

The position of the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, is that these quacks should be removed immediately from the classrooms. If there is any profession that should be regulated, it is teaching.

Teaching should be highly regulated. When a doctor makes a mistake, maybe he will make it with one life. When an engineer makes a mistake, maybe a few people will die but when a teacher makes a mistake, we are talking of generations and so the teaching profession should be highly regulated.

Given the position of the minister, quackery should be totally eliminated from our school system. His own position is very clear.

There is no ambiguity about it. He has asked TRCN to go out and enforce the position of the NCE. Even at the last NCE meeting in Port Harcourt, he reiterated it that TRCN should go out and enforce the position of the NCE.

Those who have registered with the agency, have they got their certificates?

A large number of teachers who have registered with the TRCN have got their certificates and licences in the past. The recent ones are those who just passed the exam, maybe last year.

The reason why there was a bit of a delay in the issuance of our certificate is because we try to rebrand our certificates. We suspected certain malpractices and our certificates have been rebranded with new security features to checkmate forgery and that has helped us greatly.

When you hold TRCN certificate, there is a way we can check whether it is authentic or not. There are certain features that are not open to the naked eyes that we can use to check.