Category: Saturday Interview

Dr (Mrs) Abiola Bashorun is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ZL Global Alliance Nigeria Limited. In this interview with KUNLE AKINRINADE, she spoke about her plan to take the waste management system to the next level through huge investment, job creation and the full waste management concession given to her company by the Ondo State Government, among others. Excerpts:

Tell us more about ZL Global Alliance?

Global Alliance Nigeria Ltd is private company which primarily deals with waste management and recycling business. We have presence in five locations in Nigeria. Our biggest transaction is in Ondo State with Ondo State government; our second biggest business is with the Kaduna state government. We are also in Abia, Edo, Rivers states, and we have a major regional office in Abuja.

The Ondo State government has just given your company full concession of the state waste management system, what are your plans?

We will play a private sector role and our job mainly is to ensure effective waste management system in Ondo State.  Our role is to ensure equipment management and introduction of effective equipment into the system. We are to put in place world class waste management in the state. Part of our job is to inject and invest capital in the state waste management system, and also we are to train and employ people for effective waste management in the state.

What will the state government benefit from the new arrangement?

The state will benefit a lot. Let us start from the most important; there will be effective waste management from our home. The people of Ondo State will enjoy clean, saver and hygienic environment which will lead to healthy living. You can see the outbreak of Lassa fever, Ebola, cholera, malaria; all these are as a result of junks accumulated from a dirty environment. Waste management is divided into desilting of gutters and drainages, registration and better control. Better control, we must visit our markets and rid all our markets of all forms of dirt, that is just our primary job. Our secondary job is to create wealth out of our waste and we have a slogan in our company- No waste is to be wasted; waste is raw materials. So, under our waste-to-wealth, we package within the waste to our material refurbished. We are having one in Akure now and we are building another one in Owo and Ondo town. What we will be doing there is to separate plastic from the waste, soft and hard. The hard plastic will be crunched, palletize and moulded into being plastic bucket Cameron. The bucket plastic which is plastic from sachet water and nylon, which is the most difficult and the most dangerous because of the weight they, we will crunch and palletize and then make smaller nylon. We usually do that for poverty alleviation where we work with widows and women in the villages. Also, domestic waste which is eba, rice, garri and others, we will be introducing our biogas from dustbin that we will change to electric fertilizer, and that fertilizer will be sold to us again while the gas from that composition will create bio fertilizer. We have demonstration in our office abroad.

What is your projected capital injection into the system?

We are injecting a sum of N7 billion. Our financial partners are Access Bank and others in Nigeria. Internationally, we are partnering with Ashtrom Telaviv Isiat, an Israeli partner, and we have served as subsidiary in Nigeria for the past 26 years. They have provision for all our constructions with allied local contents. So, 60 per cent of our construction will be given to Ashtrom Telaviv while 40 per cent will be given to our local architects in Ondo State.

 How many jobs do you intend to create?

Yes, youths carry 60 percent of the Nigerian population. Our activities are youth based and any company that does not look after the youths is not looking after the future. We don’t employ people older than 37 years old and mostly we will employ graduates up to Masters degree level who are jobless. We will start with 3,500 employment and in the next two years we are looking at nothing less than 5, 000 jobs, and these will get down to secondary school leavers and even JSS 3 certificate holders in the state. The overall employment in this contract is twenty thousand youths.

How many years contract do you have with the state government?

Twenty years. During the period and duration, the Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has directed us to inject capital into the system for effective waste management and salary. We must also provide technical knowhow. An average person in Ondo State must understand the basic principle of waste management, gathering waste and the consequences of this. Also, through our financial partners and subsidiaries, we will collect waste revenue for the government, so no more cash because cash can get missing, electronically we will do that for government. The money will go to the government and government will pay us. So our partnership with government is to create an enabling environment to thrive. Government will be giving us a very good support in the area of enforcement, sanction, monitoring to create an effective business environment for us to thrive. The Waste Management Authority will be supervising and monitoring us to make sure we perform and also ensure people pay their dues, because they have legal right to sanction.

How soon will this agreement take effect?

It is with immediate effect. We have started our work. We signed the contract in 2015 under the government of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko but it was a period of election, so we could not really take off. But now that we have a calm government and political environment, we perfected everything. And I want to thank Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, for giving us the opportunity to flourish.

As the new person in charge of waste management in the state, what should the people of Ondo State expect from you?

They should expect a hundred per cent loyalty, to care for them and to keep my promises as par terms of contract and everything we signed, to make Ondo State saver, healthier, greener and the cleanest in Nigeria. I also want to solicit their support and cooperation so that we can collectively achieve the set goals for the betterment of all.

Founder of First City Monument (FCMB) Group, Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, is a courageous man and business magnate whose influence in banking sector has been unprecedented. The banking icon, who clocked 84 yesterday, has severally been described as a most distinguished and leading baron of the Nigerian Capital market, writes COLLINS NWEZE

Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, who clocked 84 yesterday, is a personality of many parts and accomplishments beyond the ordinary meaning of the word “Icon”.

Indeed, whenever and wherever his name is mentioned, what readily comes to mind are unparalleled greatness, commitment, resilience, excellence and success. He demonstrated his penchant to dare from childhood, the same character trait that has seen him succeed in everything he sets out to do – including where others failed.

It is, perhaps, the reason stakeholders in the financial sector, where Otunba Balogun has left his footprints in the sands of time, came up with the sobriquet, “Grand Master”, to describe him following his dexterity in conceiving, establishing, nurturing and building one of Nigeria’s biggest financial institutions, First City Monument Bank among other leading organisations. And he has steered these institutions to towering heights thereby further proving his rare entrepreneurial and managerial acumen.

Though in retirement, OtunbaBalogunremains unarguably a legend and deservedly so, the most celebrated banker. Considering he undertook a personal journey to run on a path which even “angels” could not tread by single-handedly establishing a bank independent of foreign partnership or government support. It is a true testimony and characteristic of his penchant for taking risks to which others would not even give a second thought. Indeed, that is what makes OtunbaBalogun unique.

One would require more than one volume to fully chronicle the life and times of the iconic Banking Mogul who no doubt, has contributed so much, amidst personal sacrifices and challenges to the financial and socio-economic development of Nigeria. Not even his memoirs, The Cross, The Triumph and The Crown, has done enough justice to an entrepreneur whose kind is so rare to find. However, a peep into the life of one of Africa’s frontliners reveals a man who had a clear vision of where he wanted to go and what he wanted from childhood. It is apt, therefore, to say that nothing has come to him as happenstance.

Born on March 9, 1934 to the Fasengbuwa Ruling House of Ijebu-Ode, in today’s Ogun State, Otunba (Dr.) Subomi Balogun had his secondary education at Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos, from where he passed out with Cambridge School Certificate Grade One in 1952.

He had a one-year stint as a secondary school teacher before proceeding to the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE) to study Law in 1956.Armed with a GCE Advanced Level Certificate from the College of Arts, Science and Technology, Ibadan, where he was a pioneer student. He graduated in flying colours from the LSE with a Second Class Honours degree in June, 1959, and was called to the English Bar in December, 1959.

Otunba Balogun’s ‘first’ in the line of many ‘firsts’ that would decorate his path was when he became the first Nigerian to receive special training in Legal Drafting at Whitehall and the City of London, with particular specialisation in financial legislation, instruments and agreements, on the sponsorship of the then Western Regional Government. Upon return to Nigeria, Otunba Balogun served as Crown Counsel in the Ministry of Justice of Western Nigeria and, later, as Assistant Parliamentary Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice. He cut his teeth in the world of banking at the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) where he was the first Principal Counsel and Company Secretary for nine years, from 1966 to 1975.

The extensive training he received at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), also known as The World Bank, and its private sector affiliate, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), both in Washington DC, United States, equipped him for the intricate world of banking. And with the trainings he received from leading stockbrokers, as well as investment and merchant banks in London and New York, he became a unique revelation and pace-setter in the financial services sector.

Otunba Balogun’s interest in the stock market was ignited in 1973 when he was appointed the director in-charge of operations of Icon Securities, a major subsidiary of NIDB. He teamed up with other colleagues during his tenure, under the direction of the then Managing Director of NIDB, to convert Icon Securities into a merchant bank, and also played a pivotal role in the establishment of Icon Stockbrokers Limited, a leading stock broking firm that he headed.

A major character trait of Otunba Balogun is the tendency to refuse to see any position he finds himself as the ultimate, no matter how comfortable or seemingly satisfying. He has always had his eyes fixed on the bigger picture. The establishment of Icon Limited (Merchant Bankers) and his secondment to the bank as an Executive Director could have been enough satisfaction for many a man, but not Otunba Balogun, who saw in the appointment an opportunity to know the nitty-gritty of merchant banking – for future use. Did he see a life in merchant banking outside the employ of Icon Limited? Later events would prove so.

Otunba Subomi Balogun began a solo journey in December, 1977, when he resigned from Icon Limited to set up his own company, City Securities Limited, again, scoring another first with an institution that combined issuing house and stock broking businesses under one roof. The success of City Securities did nothing to satisfy Otunba Balogun’s burning desire to explore more opportunities in the financial sector, where he carved a niche for himself in the stock market sub-sector under a decade.

Within just two years of establishing City Securities, Otunba Balogun was able to manifest the experiences he garnered in his sojourn in some of the world’s leading stock broking firms, such that he bestrode the Nigerian capital market like a Colossus, prompting a leading and reputable financial journal to describe him as “a most distinguished and leading baron of the Nigerian Capital market”.

In 1979, Otunba Balogun scored his biggest ‘first’ when he took the unprecedented gamble of single-handedly setting up First City Merchant Bank (FCMB), Nigeria’s first privately owned merchant bank, independent of foreign partnership or government participation. That bold step opened the floodgate of merchant banks that dotted the country’s financial landscape in the 1980s.

For two decades, FCMB, under him as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, flourished, with a steady and uninterrupted growth that earned the bank national and international recognition as market leaders in investment banking and capital market services. He became Group Chairman, First City Group Limited in October, 2002 with the financial behemoth comprising First City Monument Bank Limited, FCMB Capital Markets Limited, First City Assets Management Limited, CSL Stockbrokers Limited and City Securities (Registrars) Limited.

Otunba Balogun’s Midas touch on the affairs of FCMB (which had transited from a merchant bank to a full-fledged commercial and retail bank under the name of First City Monument Bank) manifested in 2004, during the consolidation exercise in the banking industry, after he had retired from the bank. He came out of retirement to personally lead the campaign to raise capital to meet the recapitalization requirement of N25 billion. It was the period he was given the sobriquet of Grandmaster.

He caused the name to be written on T-shirts that were worn by everybody involved in the campaign – staff, friends, relatives, canvassers, etc. That did the magic. The bank did not only have its shares oversubscribed, it acquired six other banks, including a bank that was an amalgamation of four others.

The string of professional awards, honours and recognitions that have come the way of Otunba Balogun attest to his contributions to the growth and development of Nigeria’s financial sector in particular and the economy in general. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management; Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers; Council Member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Life Vice President of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce. He is a recipient of the American Biographical Institute Inc’s Distinguished Leadership Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Development of Investment Banking.

Educational institutions have not been left out in the effort to honour a man who has contributed immensely to scholarship. He holds the University of Ibadan Doctor of Law degree (HonorisCausa) and the Olabisi Onabanjo University Doctor of Science Degree in Management Sciences. He has endowed a Professorial chair at the University of Ibadan for Capital Market Studies; a research fellowship in the Legal Department of the University of Lagos, as well as various commitments in other institutions such as Yaba College of Technology, African Leadership Forum, among others.

Otunba Balogun holds the National Honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). And from outside the shores of Nigeria, he is a holder of the title of Cavalieredell’Ordine Al meritodella Repubblica Italiana (Knight of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy), conferred on him by the Italian President in January, 1994. There could not be a better moment to capture the life of an African front liner, entrepreneurial model and astute banker than the occasion of his 84th birthday.

Only those who have been up there really know what it takes to be there. That is the story of Olayinka Badejo, the wife of the former General Overseer of Foursquare Church, Nigeria. She got into university exhibiting all the exuberances of youth but the campus fellowship gave her a new conviction in Christ. Despite the availability of many suitors, she later married Badejo, one of the campus fellowship youth leaders then. And they grew together until he became the General Overseer of the large Christian congregation that Foursquare is. In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO and BIODUN ADEYEWA, Olayinka, who is now 69, shares with us the battles she has fought on her way to the top, her lifestyle as a psychadelic grandma and memories of her uncle, Late Chief Bola Ige.

How did your background influence the person that you are today?

I come from a monogamous family. My parents were educated, especially my dad Mr. George Adeleke Ige OFR. He retired as a super permanent secretary in the then Ministry of Works in 1977. So I was brought up in a home full of love. We were six in number, five girls and a boy. My mom trained us in such a way that each one of us could stand on his or her own. Concerning the household chores, she didn’t spare us, especially since almost all of us were girls. To us then, it was a hard training but it has paid off. It has helped me to face life. My father was an organist. My mother was a catering officer and she retired at the University of Lagos in 1983. I come from a background where both parents spoke in one voice. Whatever you heard from daddy was what mommy too will say. Throughout my 26 years with them, I never saw them quarrel once.

They shielded us from the world. They brought us up in the Anglican Christian Communion. Today five of us are in the ministry, two of us are ministers in Foursquare Gospel Church, one of us Dr. Mrs. Bankole lives in USA with her husband. They have a ministry. Another one is a pastor in Redeemed Christian Church of God and one has an independent ministry. The only brother who we have is a lawyer and he is involved with the Anglican Communion in Ibadan. Everybody is in church because daddy took us to church at a very early age. Right from the age of six, he exposed me to church music. He would be on the organ and he would tell me to join him singing. He introduced me to music notes too. Where did you live? I have lived most of my life in Lagos. But we were brought up in Ibadan. We hail from Esa Oke in Osun State. My primary, secondary and university education was in Ibadan. My post-secondary education was in Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo.

But as soon as I finished my university education, I moved to Lagos. What did you study in the university? I studied Information Science. But in those days, it was called Librarianship. While did you choose that? It was actually my senior sister who is a Professor who encouraged me to toe that line. And immediately I came out of the university, I was employed by the then Ministry of Establishment and I worked in the federal ministry for 19 years. I retired in 1991 in Lagos here. You were already married by then? Yes, I was. I didn’t go straight to Christian ministry after my retirement. I established a nursery-primary school which is still functioning. When my husband became the General Overseer of Foursquare Church, I knew it would be difficult for me to cope as the wife of the General Overseer of the church and also run the daily affairs of the school. So I sold the school to the then headmaster. He was a faithful man. He still runs the school though the location of the school has changed. At the time you finished your secondary school education, brain drain had started in the country.

Did it occur to you to join the bandwagon to leave the country to sojourn in foreign land? I never had such an inkling because I had a secure home. I had a comfortable background. So I didn’t even feel like leaving my home. I remember that when my senior sister Prof Mrs. Adun got married, the husband told her they were going to travel abroad. She refused, she told him she wasn’t going to travel abroad with him. When my mom heard about it, she immediately called her and cautioned her that now that she is married, she will have to go to wherever her husband is going. That was the kind of mindset that we had. You stayed in Ibadan and you also stayed in Lagos, what was life like in Ibadan and then Lagos at that time? I was born 69 years ago. At the time I was growing up in Ibadan, we lived a communal life.

Every child in the community was seen as everybody’s child. Even when your parents desired to travel, you didn’t have to nurse the fear of where to stay. That was unheard of! There was always somewhere to stay and people would willingly accept to have you stay with them. We enjoyed that communal life. Even when our parents decided to travel out in 1954, we were comfortable living with our grandmother. I was a teenager when my father was transfered to Lagos in 1965. So in between the school term and holiday, I was shuttling between Ibadan and Lagos. There was a great difference between Ibadan and Lagos. Then the municipal transport system was working 24 hours in Lagos. The buses, Oshinowo, Benson transport were on and there was no fear of kidnappers. Lagos then was a safe place to live.

But now, the population is overwhelming. Now that we have more people in Lagos, there are more doubtful characters and more vices now that were not here then. How did you meet your husband? We met at the university. He was a youth leader in the varsity christian union. Both of us were in the choir. He had a sonorous voice, while I was singing soprano. At that time, did you visualise him being a General Overseer in future? Not at all because my idea then was to marry a professional. But even then, at the time I got into the university, I wasn’t looking out for such because I was already engaged. Also, at that time though I had met Christ, my legs were still shaking.

I wasn’t really matured in Christ yet. It was when I joined the campus fellowship that I then began to mature in Christ. I then had to cut off my relationship with the other person immediately the Lord ministered to me. Ironically, the man himself is now a pastor. What was the attraction to your husband at the Ibadan varsity? The attraction I had then was based on the Christian role he was playing. He was committed and he was one of the leaders. Having been there before us, he was more matured than those of us that just joined. We learnt that your husband was an activist back then? Yes, he was before he met Christ. But he had to stop all that when he met Christ. Why? That’s because, the Christianity that we knew then, is quite different from the Christianity as it is now.

Being born again then was total, not the compromising Christianity that we have these days. The Christianity that we have today produces people who are not really groomed but already heading ministries. But at that time if you were a Christian, you were indeed a Christian. No half measure. However today, there are half measure Christians, even people I can refer to as one quarter christians. You mean Christianity of that period was different from what we have today? Yes, very different because then you could trust a christian. If someone came to you and said he or she is born again, you could take his or her word for it. But not now.

There has been a lot of watering down in the church from the leadership to the led. For you to know who is truly a christian now, you have to be close to the person and closely watch the person. The kind of Christianity we practised then was total commitment. People were more serious about Christianity and about being a Christian. Also the way we saw the gospel then, it was ‘violently.’ It was repent or perish! There was no half way, no half measure and we didn’t apply motivational speeches to Christianity as we have it now.

The messages then were strictly straight, no half measures. What did your husband say was his attraction to you? According to him, he said the Lord led him and he took some time to pray and fast before coming to me. He had a friend then, an Ibo man, who was my husband’s best man at our wedding. On his own, his friend, decided to pray and fast for 21 days to seek God’s face as regard my relationship with my husband who was courting me then. At that time, there were many ladies who were running after him. He was quite intelligent, handsome and committed. Some of the girls took time to write to him. He told me about the letters and I knew some of the girls. So he had to make serious effort to find out who the Lord wanted for him. Were you worried about losing him? I wasn’t.

I knew God will have His way. Then also I had many suitors if it really came to that. I had enough to pick from. But then I weighed him based on his commitment to Christianity. He knew God’s word and he knew where he was going. That pleased me. And on the day he was going to make his proposal, we had gone to attend a wedding. He told me he wanted to see me. Though I wasn’t thinking in that direction but I knew he had something up his sleeves with his constant visits and constant phone calls. So I agreed to see him. After the wedding event, I went to see him and he proposed, speaking for one full hour without missing his tenses and without repetition. When he finished talking, I told him that even if I wanted to refuse, ‘this your grammar for one hour is enough to woo me.’ But were you initially sure that you would be the one he would propose to? Well, when we were on campus, he used to invite me to go with him for evangelism. Yes, I used to wonder why he usually invited only me. So one particular day when he invited me, I waited for him.

That day, I applied make up, did my hair specially and was literally decked in gold earrings, bangles, all the works as regards ladies fashion. When he arrived and I appeared to him, he was dazed! So, I told him let us go. “Ha, Sister Yinka,” he said and looked at me, shaking his head. “Not today, it is not convenient.” Later he was to tell me that, ‘’you cannot dress like that, when you are not going for a party.’’ Then I used to love wearing gold. If there was no available space in my wrist and ear, I could put it on top of my head gear. But by the time he laid his card on the table, I had to agree with him that he had a point. Gradually I did away with gold and all those idols because they were really idols. Weren’t you scared that you may not be able to keep a thorough Christian home being married to such a committed Christian? No, I wasn’t scared.

I was very confident because of the relationship we had and the background that we already had in the Christian community. Then, there was nothing like divorce. It was not heard of. And nobody mentioned it. So I had no fears. How was the challenge when you became the wife of the General Overseer of Foursquare Gospel Church? I was already a matured Christian. I knew when to talk and when to keep quiet. God helped me much in that area. I can quickly say here that throughout our tenure, I didn’t quarrel with anybody because I know that those who live in glass houses, don’t throw stones. How about the women ministry that was in your care? I was very much involved. I know that the women make or mar a ministry. If you can get a good hold of the women, the ministry will have a good success.

So I was involved. I didn’t face much challenge because of the type of person I married. Once he gives you your limit, then better be there. So I knew where to stop and when to continue. The office was not just about interacting with your immediate christian community, you also had to interact with politicians and non-Christians. At that point how were you able to mix and blend? I was already a matured Christian at the time that we got into the office. I was already almost 30 years in the Lord. We had to interact with people in government but I knew my boundary. And then also, most of the people we interacted with were good. Our relationship with Her Excellency Chief Mrs. Remi Tinubu, and Her Excellency Dame Abimbola Fashola, was good and they assisted us. We didn’t have problem with them. For those who came into the ministry, once we knew they were not mature Christians, we know the measurement we use for them. We found a way of getting them to Christ, not them pulling us away from Christ. It is an office that you give a lot to and then enjoy also, that’s if you are willing to pay the price. But if you are not willing to pay the price, your tenure will just whittle away like a snake that passes on a mountain and leaves no trail.

But when you are there and you do all it takes to be in office, after you have gone, your testimonies will trail you because you have to put in a lot in terms of your comportment, in terms of your character, in terms of your relationship with the media and the general public. Also in terms of attending fellowship and in terms of ministry work itself. Whether you like it or not, there will be lots of invitation and for each invitation you are meant to give them something that they can hold unto. So if you are paper weight, it will show. If you are middle weight or heavy weight, it will also show. What advice will you give to those aspiring to be there? To start with, I will say, always have it at the back of your mind that any office is temporary. If you do not leave office, the office will leave you. Even if you are the founder, one day God will take you away. In any ministry, there can’t be two general overseers, it’s only one and then under him so many men and women of God. So once there, you have to make up your mind to achieve the best because you are surrounded by people who can help you achieve your goals if you have goals.

But some are just there, or aspire to get there just for the perk of office. It shouldn’t be. You must also remember that those you meet on your way up, you are likely to meet on your way down. So work on your relationship. Then you must know that you are the mother of all. The mother of witches, of wizards, the mother of strong Christians, the mother of weak Christians, the mother of dying Christians and the mother of dead Christians. You are in a position whereby you can easily decide their fate. So no matter how bad that member is, you still owe the person a responsibility. It’s difficult because even those you are loving, they turn their back against you when you are not there.

Nothing is new under the sun. This issue is strong, and you are in a good position to clarify on it. It is about fashion and the female Christian. Being a woman is about being beautiful. So what should fashion be or mean to an average female Christian? (Smiles) It depends on your perspective of fashion. If I qualify fashion to be dress sense, then there is a standard in the Bible and that standard is moderation. It’s only when a Christian wants to deceive herself that she will say I can dress anyhow I like. If it’s that way, then the Bible won’t talk about it. If you look at —- the passage says do not let your Christianity be an outward show, let it be inward.

So inward Christianity which reflects your inner mind, will show in your dressing. In those days you could tell who was a Christian, from the way they dressed, talked and behaved. Now you have a lot of worldliness creeping into Christianity. When you talk of fashion, you know that even morally, there are things that women should not wear. Culturally there are things we shouldn’t be seen in. Western influence has taken away the core value of our dress sense too. Imagine you are entering a church and the usher receiving you is half-dressed and all the things that are meant to be private are all outside. You know for the men it is what they see! Ti oju o ba ri iri kuri, ko ni si ise kuse. When you are coming to the church, you can be fashionable. But watch what you wear. Are you going there to put a brother in trouble? Or are you going there to open that young convert to temptation? When you are fashionable, orchestrate your fashion in a godly way. Areas that are meant to be private, let them be well covered. It doesn’t take anything away from your being fashionable. How about the use of jewelry? There’s nothing in the Bible against the use of jewelry. All what the Bible says is moderation in anything you are doing.

When I was in the world, I used so much jewelry that my neck used to suffer the weight. The jewelry on my ears will be dangling to meet those on my neck! All over my wrist would be bangles and when there was no more space, I fixed on my hat. There was no way you will pass by me and not turn to look because even my skirts were cut low! But if truly you are born again, the old nature will give room to a new nature. It will show. Even if you are fashionable, we will see God in you. For some female Christians they still have a long way to go. May the Lord help them. I have a brother who told me he left a particular church because he wants to protect his Christianity, that he wants to make heaven. What fond memories do you have of your marital life? Many, because my husband has had lots of accolades. One was at his investiture by the Nigerian Institute of Veterinary Surgeons in Abuja. I was there with him and that was a high moment for me.

The day he was named the General Overseer of Foursquare Church, I was happy but not excited because I could feel the responsibility that will come with the office. Already before that, we were hardly seeing him at home, so I found myself thinking what will it be like now that they have made him a G.O.? I remember what I told them at the headquarters then. I told them, ‘I’m telling you people in public now, I will put for sale sign on his bed!’ Naturally I wasn’t a person who wanted to go public. I just wanted to be in my own corner doing what the Lord has directed me to do. Another memorable moment was when he was made an ambassador for the environment by the Lagos State government. And other memorable moments were when we sneaked into Sheraton Hotel once in a while to enjoy ourselves because we hardly had moments for ourselves. How about colours? I love bright colours, yellow, red, bright green, blue. And when I wear dark colours, I combine with a bright color.

Your best meal? Amala with ewedu and gbegiri. Once you were brought up in Ibadan like I was, that will likely be your best meal. How about your children and what’s life like as a grandmother? My kind of grandmother is different from the usual. I don’t have any children I’m raising here presently. All of them are abroad with their children. So I go there to visit them. When they have babies I go there, not to nurse but to share their joy with them. I told my children from the onset, that they should not blame me because I don’t know how to nurse babies. I had a mother-in-law who spoilt me in that area. Anytime I had a baby, she would come to stay with me to nurse the baby till the next pregnancy. She would take care of me and take care of my baby. So I don’t know anything about nursing a baby. For those who had children among them while in Nigeria, I got nurses for them and paid.

I told them I’m not being wicked but I don’t know it. Were you close to the Late Chief Bola Ige? Haa, he was a family friend. When he was alive, he always looked for a way of bringing the whole clan together. Now we have a descendants union, he was the visioner. I lived with him as a teenager in the same house. We would see on Monday morning and then on Sunday because by the time I would come back, he was already gone and by the time he would come back, I was already in bed. But the little time we saw, we interacted well. I remember also much later, there was one of his friends who was making passes at me and when he noticed, he shouted: “Ha, ma je ki nri e nibe yen, that is a no-go area.” He said to his friend, “you cannot come under my roof to spoil this one.” I remember when he was governor and we were living at GRA. I was taking one of the children to a daycare center and he was on an entourage. He saw me walking down the road and he stopped the entourage to talk to me, his niece. He got down from the car, people were looking and probably asking themselves who I was to make the governor stop. But that showed how so much he cherished his family. He was intelligent, warm but a politician to the core.

• Visually impaired entrepreneurs relive ugly venture into business
• How they can be helped, by ex-Disabled Association president

Penultimate week, we ran a report of how the efforts of some visually impaired farmers who are striving to be independent are being frustrated by members of the society who exploit them and the failure of the government to provide the support they needed to thrive in their endeavours. In this concluding part of the report, INNOCENT DURU explores the exploits of this set of people easily dismissed by the society as a burden and the odds militating against them.

Evangelist Pricilla Oluyole by her physical condition falls among the class of people who deserve support and empowerment. Reason: She is handicapped, visually impaired to be precise. But rather than living in self-pity and waiting for help, Pricilla has tapped into the ability that is in her disability and consequently creating jobs even for the able-bodied.

But instead of her entrepreneurial drive being appreciated, Pricilla has at different times had her efforts truncated by members of the society.

“I started a school, Shinning Crown Nursery and Primary School, here in Ikorodu out of passion. We have some people here who couldn’t afford to pay the children’s schools fees. When I saw this, I said since I read education and had the resources, I put materials together to start the school. The school existed for seven solid years. I made it affordable for all as I was collecting a paltry sum of N8,000 per term and I employed quality teachers ranging from university to NCE holders.

“However, I shut the school down when some people started taking advantage of the situation. Some of them were not ready to pay and I had to pay teachers. I didn’t make a dime as profit all through the time the school existed. I was rather investing more money and selling things to meet up.  It was at that point that I decided to shut down the school before my name could be soiled. I was borrowing money from a micro-finance bank to run the school. I paid up the first loan, took the second and third and also paid up. It was after the third that I decided to quit. The bank was very considerate; they weren’t charging outrageous interest.”

But that wasn’t her only ugly experience in business.   She shares another thus: “Prior to this time, I had a foundation at Ebute Meta where I rehabilitated area boys and ex-prisoners, but when I moved to Ikorodu, I couldn’t keep it up. I then decided to set up a piggery at Agbowa area of Ikorodu. For no reason, some people just went there and destroyed everything. I actually sold most of my things to do all these things. I applied for the CBN loan but heard nothing from them thereafter.”

In spite of the unsavoury experiences, Pricilla said she still has the zeal to re-establish the school and the piggery business “since I have a landed property to do that. The Lord is still laying it in my heart to start the school again because there are so many children roaming about the street. We need encouragement from the government and the public. The fact that one is disabled in one area of the body does not mean the person is totally useless.  We need recognition and I thank God that I always get this anywhere I go. We have a lot of our colleagues who can also make meaningful contribution to the society but one way or the other, they were not privileged.”

With the benefit of hind sight, the soft spoken cleric recalled how her guardian’s alleged brutality made her blind. Her words: “As a child at about eight or nine years old, I lost my right eye when I was being beaten up by a guardian.  I happen to be a victim of a broken marriage.  Both my father and mother were struggling to take custody of me when they parted ways.

“A friend of my mother who happened to be between the two of them said her child was childless and that was how I went to stay with her. One day she beat me and I lost my right eye in the process. The eye was operated upon but that could not remedy the damage.  As a child, I was coping with only one eye until 2011 when I lost the second one.”

Taiwo Amao is another visually impaired person who has not allowed his condition to overwhelm him. Rather than being a burden on people around him, Taiwo took to agriculture in Ibeshe area of Ikorodu, where he resides, to eke out a living for himself and his family. The venture has turned out for the 47-year-old to be painful and laced with losses and unfulfilled promises.

“I do poultry and animal husbandry.  The challenges include how to get materials from the open market to the farm and also how to get my products out to where I can sell them. I also applied for the CBN loan. They visited my farm but we have heard nothing from them since then. I was having about 200 layers when they visited. I stopped poultry farming last December because I lost 92 birds to long-mouthed rats when they were two months old. I didn’t have birds to sell during the Yuletide season. I am now concentrating on rearing rams and sheep. I also have plantain plantation in my compound.”

Reliving how he lost his sight, Taiwo said: “I had glaucoma for a very long time but the challenge worsened in 2012. I am 47 years. It is sad losing my sight. I have cried and spent money  but I have taken solace in the fact that someone who lost his sight and another who is dead are worlds apart. I thank God that I am still alive. It is the eyes that are gone and not my life. I just have to move on.”

It was also not a palatable story for Ope Akinola, one of the most versatile and ambitious visually impaired persons in the country.

He told his pathetic life story thus: “I come from a very large family and lost my dad at the age of three. Shortly after my dad passed on, it was discovered that my sight was not very good. I am the fourth person with sight problem in my family. We are six children but four of us had sight problem getting coloured over.  We went for all manner of eye examinations but finally, we ended up at the Pacelli School for the Blind at Surulere. At Pacelli, I learnt braille and music, among other things.”

Filled with the zeal to excel in life, Ope said: “After graduating from Pacelli, I went to the Federal Government College, Ijanikin, Lagos.  There, it was another experience for me entirely being in a school with sighted children. Initially, I was quite aggressive and had to physically fight all of them but later, we understood one another. It was around this time that I lost my mum.

“The trauma of having lost both parents was enormous. We were being passed from one relation to another after my mum’s death. Today, you are with one relation and before you know it, he would find one reason or another why you have to leave.  We were always being deported and exported as the case may be.

“I later gained admission into UNILAG at the time we were being checked out of the house. When I asked the man what I did that made him to send me out of his house, he said I did nothing but that he just wanted me out. I went into the street without any money on me. A sister of mine came to my aid by giving me 70kobo which was big money then. With that money, I was able to go to UNILAG to stay with the blind students who assisted me with whatever they had.”

There at UNILAG, he said: “I was a member of a theatre group called Theatre 15. The likes of Bunmi Davies, Gbenga Adeyinka and Ese Agese were members of the group. In this group, I learnt to work with sighted people. I learnt that being blind is not an excuse not to succeed as I faced a lot of challenges. I faced a lot of discrimination because they didn’t know what to do with me but there was this Dr Obi now in Sweden who found that I have a very good memory.

“I was always behind the prompter and each time people forgot their lines, I was always reminding them. I also did a voice over. I also found out that I could play chess and scrabble. I started playing with people who I would not be able to talk to ordinarily. With this, it dawned on me that one can easily penetrate the society if he has skills.

“It was also at UNILAG that I learnt how to use computer.  A friend of mine in the UK brought a computer home for the blind and he left it with me for about two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, he discovered that I had known so much about using computer that he even had to learn some things from me.

When he went back to the UK, he started sending me materials to read on what was happening in the world of computer as far as it concerns the visually impaired. That was how I became knowledgeable in ICT.”

Ope further said: “After my degree, I did my youth service at Centre for The Blind, Ikeja, and also doing volunteer works at the Niger Wives Brail Production Centre in Victoria Island. There have been many well to do members; they just established the centre to help the blind.

“When computer technology became available for producing books in brail, they started it. I started using the computer whenever there was an opportunity. I set up a musical band called Pain and Pleasure. It comprised blind and few sighted people. I led the band for 14 years using my contacts to keep it going. I was organizing road shows and concerts at beaches. People bought equipment for us and one Prof Abiola Ojo, who is late now, bought the first bus for the band.

“It became a source of income for many blind people and some sighted people too.  I am also into live music production. I set up one of the rooms I rented as a musical studio. We help musicians in Ikorodu to put their live shows on CD and also do video conversion. That made us very important in the music industry in Ikorodu. I later shut the company down and started another called Heroes Media with the lady that I eventually married. The company is into ICT, which helps people with special needs to use mainstream technology. I still build computers when people order for them.”

Continuing, the multi-talented Ope said:  “I worked with Pacelli as a class teacher and band master for some time. Later, I learnt that Niger Wives had a vacancy for a computer instructor. I left my job at Pacelli and became the first person to teach blind people how to use computer in Nigeria. I actually designed the curriculum they use in most of the centres. During this period, I was also working in the brailing unit, more or less proof reading to see to the quality of brail because the technology wasn’t that perfect then and there were a lot of issues.

“Along the line, I noticed that we were always losing a lot of man hour at work because the computers were always breaking down. I made a sacrifice by paying a computer engineer to learn how to fix the computers.  I wasn’t sure it was going to be possible but the man said it was possible.  I had to put my savings together to buy a computer. I learnt how to fix computers and started fixing computers for them in the office but it took them time before they allowed me to be doing that. In 2004, I went to South Africa to represent the organization”.Speaking on how the government can assist disabled entrepreneurs, a financial expert, Oluwatomisin Omojuwa, said: “Government can decide to set up a specialised financial institution for the handicapped like we had National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC) in India, to focus specifically on the visually impaired and other disabled entrepreneurs by giving out very low interest loans. The NHFDC was established in January 1997, under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, by the government of India.

“Government can also come up with a policy through the Central Bank of Nigeria to mandate conventional banks to give a certain percentage of their loans portfolio to SMEs to the physically challenged. For instance, banks may be compelled to ensure that 5% of loans given to SMEs is channelled to the physically challenged entrepreneurs. Government can also launch a special grant scheme under the YOUWIN platform for the physically challenged, like it was done mainly for women entrepreneurs some years ago.

“Lastly, the National Assembly may have to come up with bills that will enforce all government-related financial institutions such as Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, to give special concessions in terms of interest rate, collaterals etc. to the physically challenged entrepreneurs. For instance, the interest rate on their loans may be set at 2% below other beneficiaries.”Lamenting the plight of disabled people in the country, former president of disabled people in the country, Barrister Danlami Bashiru, who is visually impaired, regretted: “The disability bill has not been passed into law since the year 2000 that the idea was mooted. If the bill has been passed into law, it would have guaranteed their rights economically, socially and educationally.

“Our members have been pursuing the CBN loan for the past two to three years. The loan has not come and they have made several promises to our people. We don’t understand why they often treat people with disability with contempt. We don’t understand why we are yet to get this loan that every other group in the society has got.

“Each time we air our complaints publicly, we used to think that the government has a listening ear but it appears they don’t. If they do, somebody would have stepped in to ask what is happening. We have the office of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development that is our own ministry not doing anything about our plight.

“The same thing applies to the Ministry of Finance. We are not interested in getting feeding money again; we are interested in participating in the economy of the country and should be given the chance to do so.”

Morenike Toyin Folayan, a reproductive health activist and Associate Professor, College of Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, trained as a dentist, but she is also into global and community advocacy as well as being a researcher and consultant with the United Nations. In this interview with GBENGA ADERANTI, she talks about her experience with people living with HIV, her career, marriage and relationship with her students, among other issues.

MANY people believe that continued funding of AIDS/HIV projects by the UN may no longer be necessary because the epidemic is no more rampant. What is your take on this?

That is a critical question. In answering it, I will use an example in Lagos. There has been a lot of progress in the field of HIV response. However, we do realise that it is transmittable in the way you don’t see it happening. Although we have globally controlled the epidemic, in sub-Sahara Africa, it is still a problem. In Nigeria, it is a real problem. So, you may have seen a fall in the rate of HIV/AIDS infection around the world, but in Nigeria, with its large population, it is still a problem. In fact, if what we are doing is not reinforced, it is going to start all over again. Before I came to Lagos, I had not been there for a long time. I have heard about malaria control in Lagos by 2 per cent, and everybody was celebrating. Generally in Nigeria, Lagos State has been the largest funder of malaria control programme.

That way, it has successfully moved Lagos State malaria prevalence rate to 2.2 per cent below the pre-elevation stage. Last year, they celebrated and government did not fund it. This year, there is a problem. I came in yesterday and I saw mosquitoes. I had not seen such before. The last time I saw that was in the North. Because of not putting funds into what you had gained, you suddenly have new epidemics, and that is what happening with HIV. Although, it is seemingly under control globally, in Nigeria, we are not in control, and without funding and sustaining what we have gained, we are going to have an epidemic. So, we still need funds.

Some traditional leaders have said there is no need for foreign drugs; that HIV/AIDS could be cured with traditional medicine. What is your take on this?

I think at this point in time, everybody is still looking for the cure. What I think the traditional medicine practitioners have done substantially is to use herbal remedy as immune boosters. What happens is that your CD4 count that was destroyed by virus, the immune boosters reduce the impact of the virus. It reduces the rates of one’s progression from HIV to AIDS. That is what I would say traditional healers have successfully done with the use of herbal medicine in many places. But to say that there is a cure, it is challenging. I personally would not believe that. I do not eliminate the possibility of a miracle cure.

Did you say miracle cure?

That sounds religious… You will appreciate my background. I am a Christian, and I do believe that personal miracle is a reality. Miracle is not an every day event, but I believe that miracle exists and it can do anything. I don’t think you conjure miracles. Miracle is a gift, and it is a reality. Some people have believed that there is a difference in the biological make-up of black and white people, hence foreign drugs cannot treat black people’s ailments. How true is this? I’m not an expert in that, but I do know that there are differences in our body systems, in our genetic makeup, which make black and white people to react in different ways or make a man and woman to react in different ways. That has to do with metabolisms of drugs. It has to do with the genetic modifications in the way drugs metabolise. I know it exists, but I can’t explain it because it is not my field. How much contact have you had with people living with HIV/AIDS? I managed HIV people in the days when hospitals would not even touch them. I have lost count of the number.

How did you feel the first time you met someone that was HIV-positive?

I knew about people living with HIV in my days as a student; that was between 1986 and 1987.I was lucky to have a professor of dentistry, Professor Odunsanya.

He gathered us as students, showed us the video and explained. I came into the world of HIV not by accident; I chose to do so and I chose to step into that space because there was a gap. I had to learn how to give alternative medical treatment to people who could not be admitted into hospitals. I was not taken aback. I had thought about it. I wasn’t shocked or aghast. I stepped into it knowingly when there was a gap. What were the reactions of your parents and family members when they discovered that you were dealing with HIV-positive people? I was married then to Mr. Ukpong, and he was extremely supportive. Looking back now, I remember that there were many times that persons living with HIV would come to our home and sleep in a separate room in my flat. We had two rooms, my children and I would sleep in one and they would sleep in the guest room. We used to invite them to church to talk about their lives and what it meant, and they were sleeping in our house. I don’t think I discussed it with my parents. My husband was very supportive and he did not discourage me. As at today, there is yet to be a verified drug to combat HIV. How effective are the anti-retroviral drugs and vaccines in curtailing the spread of HIV? We are working on the world of environmental early detection. What the concept means is that we increase the rate of available treatment so that everybody finds what is suitable for them. We do know that condom is not the answer. Vaccine is the potential answer, and we want to improve it.

What attracted you to teaching?

I would rather say that I got into teaching by accident. I never planned to be a lecturer. I trained as a dentist and I had a very experienced professor- Odunsanya. I would say that almost 90% of my generation came back into what we call the residency programme where we specialised. In our world then, because there were a lot of gaps in the academia and once you did your fellowship there was always a space for you to become a lecturer. It was not that I sat down and planned that I wanted to become a lecturer.

I think what I love most is my research work. I enjoy teaching because I mentor young people. As an advocate, you are trying to change the world. The students are the people you share your perspective with, and I enjoyed that. I really do not love clinical work. People who know me will tell you that I love teaching and research work. And you know that in the university, you teach, you research and do community work. Teaching gave me the opportunity to share that and mentor young people. As an advocate also, I could share my research findings to change the world, and students are the most available persons you can share that with. I enjoy that. I do not really enjoy clinical work.In the university, you must teach, research and do community works. For most medical doctors, their community work is what they do in the teaching hospitals. For me, my community work revolves a lot around advocacy.

What were your challenges?

I live a life of overcoming challenges such that it has become a part of me. I could very well say that working in the university has its own peculiar challenges. I wish I could complain, but I don’t. For me one of the things that was a challenge and extensively challenging was not having supporting seniors. I did not have supportive seniors, so I had to learn the ropes myself and I had to climb that rope myself. That is the only thing I can think of.

It was a tug of war. I had to fight my battles. I fought battles people had never fought. I probably survived because I had God and maybe one of these miracles. I can’t remember there was a challenge. I remembered because you asked.

Tell me how you felt the first time you taught in the university?

As a resident, you start teaching. It was not the day I got employment that I started teaching. As a resident doctor, you are teaching in the clinic and you are teaching students. I was not jittery. I was not a trained lecturer; I was a trained dentist. I remember I went to my professor and asked him, how do you mark? He gave me good advice. I purposely went back to do Masters in Educational Administration.

What are your teaching philosophies?

One thing for me, and I think I got that from my own teacher, is that when students fail, I failed. I remember the time that I was HOD, I was excited that I had 100 per cent pass rate.

The second year, it was not the exact rate. In recent times, the second philosophy I share with my students is that I am working with you to be everything you want to be in life, but you make the choice. When I am in class teaching them, I make them to understand that I’m working with them so that when they pick up their CV, there is something extra in that CV that gives them the likelihood to be taken up anywhere else despite the fact that they studied in Nigeria. Your colleagues are in suits and skirts, but here you are in ankara fabric. Is that your signature? I don’t wear suits. I’m sure you can’t see me in suits. What you can see me in is camisole, trouser and jacket. I’ve tried it and it didn’t work. All you find me in is ankara.

As a career woman, how do you manage the home front?

I think one of the things that probably made me call for a divorce was that I could not sacrifice my career for my home, and I am happy I did not. Because now that I’m divorced, I’m still going on. I don’t feel any loss and I don’t feel that I’ve wasted my life. In addition, I must acknowledge extensively that my husband stood at the home front for me, spent a lot of time with the kids. He did, and I would always acknowledge that.

However, I think I had trained my children to become very independent. That is one of the things that make me sad sometimes. My kids do not really need me around. At times, I just wonder if my kids really need me. Actually, the three of them are now in the UK, one of them is married and two are in school. I send them text messages through Whatsapp or Messenger, and two weeks after, they reply. I really brought up independent children. It has its disadvantages, but it allowed me a lot more in my career. It has its pluses and minuses.

What do you hope to achieve in your teaching profession?

I am looking forward to highly successful students. I usually tell my students that I want them to become the people that would fill those spaces up there. I want them to be those I would be watching on my TV tomorrow. I want them at the top.