The Nation Newspaper

Category: Interview

  • At 90, Mabel Segun won’t stop reading, writing

    At 90, Mabel Segun won’t stop reading, writing

    Mabel Dorothy Segun is 90. Born in 1930 in Ondo town,  Ondo state, she comes from a literary family of Sabongida Ora in Edo State. Her father, Reverend Isaiah Aigbovbioise Imoukhuede (Aig-Imoukhuede), wrote the first Ora Primer and more. Regarded as a doyen of Nigerian Literature, she is a versatile woman whose outstanding achievements in the fields of literature, broadcasting and sports have won her local and international recognition. In this chat with Evelyn Osagie, she recounts her voyage into the world of writing and more.

     

    I feel okay except that a few days ago I ate something that disagreed with me and I thought I was going to die before my birthday. But at  90, retirement to be precise is when you are free to write whatever you like.

    I decided that as soon as I retired from the Civil Service, that I would spend my time writing. Unless you overdo it, writing doesn’t kill you. You should not stress yourself in order to please people.

    So, that has been my attitude. And I have done a lot of writing after I retired. And I have enjoyed myself thoroughly writing what I like – not writing to please anybody but myself.

    When you are 90, the only thing needed is discipline. You must have discipline. Some feel they should answer every call: people would always ask you to do this and do that because you have done that in the past.

    But when you are growing old, you would have to say, ‘No’, to those things otherwise you would just drop dead.

     

    My writing in recent years 

     

    In recent times, I have dealt mostly with unfinished work or revision. I like to revise my work all the time so that it can be near perfect as possible. I don’t like things that are not well done.

    I am translating a story by Femi Jeboda, entitled: Olowo Laye Mo. I finished writing it, gave it to some people to read and they have pointed out one or two errors, but I am reading through the whole thing again.

    Sometimes, some books take a long time to produce, like my cultural cookery book that took me 18 years to produce.

    I have unfinished work and hope I can finish them before I go. I am working on finishing my book on rural and satire of Nigeria literature.

     

    The feeling of being writer at 90  

     

    Looking back, I feel fulfilled as a writer. I have written for children. And I have written poetry. Right now somebody is doing PhD on my early poetry.

    I wrote poetry, and later I got diverted to children’s books because I wanted to raise the genre. I felt that it was a neglected genre. It’s gone down again. People can’t write for children anymore.

    Children don’t even read anymore. Omowunmi is trying to take over to see what can be done about it. People don’t seem to know how important children’s books are except the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). ANA has been awake to the importance of children’s literature.

    In this country, people think they don’t have to bother with it. So those who are not qualified are writing for children, in that some of them don’t even have the experience of children or talk to children.

    The reason you’d find that Cyprian Ekwensi, for example, could write for children was that he could talk to children.

    I remember when we were at Nairobi airport, there was a child of three running around the place. And when he got near Cyprian, he called him and they started chatting with each other.

    And I thought no wonder he could write for children. But tell my honorable Wole Soyinka to try talking to a child… (Laughs.)

     

    Books closest to my heart

    Well, I have enjoyed writing everything.

     

    Challenges of writing children’s books/On writing for children

    Some think children’s literature is easy to write. They don’t know it’s more difficult than adult literature. This is because you have to go into their minds.

    Read Also: Abiodun: a push for effective civil service

    To write for children, you have to write for different ages and that’s why it’s difficult. You have to study their psychology. Some write as if children are measured with one flat stick.

    For example, I can’t write for teenagers because I don’t know them or what they think about. You have to study the different ages of children.

    You have to know the children, what they consider important and what’s on their minds. You also have to find out their attention span.

     

    Being a writer in my days 

     

    It was easy in those days to get your book published. Now, most people are self-publishing. I don’t think that’s good enough. It’s not encouraging at all.

    Why should you spend your money? In those days, African University Press (AUP) published my books, such as “My father’s daughter,” which became what most young people read.

    It was easy for us to write because the teachers we had were people who influenced us and our childhood. They had deep feeling about writing.

    For example, I became interested in poetry because there was one teacher we  had, Ms. Ore Cole, who made poetry come alive so much.

    She read a poem to us, “Sea Fever”, that talks about the sea and how it felt to be on a boat on the sea. It influenced me a lot that I wanted to become a sailor.

    We could see the lagoon and the ships on the sea. The poem really appealed to me. That is how a good teacher can influence you. I never forgot her all my life.

    That is why I have always advocated that the role of the teachers in education cannot be overemphasised. They are influencers.

     

    Conducive environment for writers – then versus now

     

    Creating a good environment for people who want to be creative, like writers, also has an impact on education. We are living a most unnatural condition.

    In the old days, we used lamps; but those were in the early years of the country. And nowadays there is no excuse at all. But we have gone back to it.

    In fact, I was telling my daughter that I wished we had not given away our oil lamps. We gave them away because they were taking up space.

    And now we need them. It is a pity but why should it be so? I am fed up with this country. I wonder when it would change. Why are we not progressing: why don’t we have constant electricity?

    They don’t know it also affects the attitude of young children towards reading. Nobody wants to be straining the eyes at a book before you can see what’s written there. You should be able to sit in comfort and take your book and read but that doesn’t happen.

     

    My father’s influence on my writing

     

    Although I was born in Ondo town, I come from a literary family, the Aig-Imoukhuede family of Sabongida Ora in Edo State.

    My father, Reverend Isaiah Aigbovbioise Imoukhuede, who adopted the surname Aig-Imoukhuede, was a writer. The man was worth more than just a Reverend.

    He wrote “Iwe Kiko”. He influenced me and my brothers – Frank, the journalist and Aigboje, the former Managing Director of Access Bank.

    He did lots of translations, wrote the first Ora primer, a short history of Ora and was translating the Yoruba hymn book into Ora when he died 39 years ago.

    We are writing his biography – my daughter and I are working on it. He did wonders, you know!

     

    On my son marrying Fela’s daughter

    People were blaming me, asking me why  I let my son marry Fela’s daughter. I told them I do not believe in arranging marriage for people.

    Yeni is a good person. She behaves very well. I was surprised when her daughter, my granddaughter came at Christmas.

     

  • Bolatito Ladoja-Idakula: why I’m lending voice on postpartum depression

    She is a victim of Postpartum Depression (PPD), but she was able to overcome it and is helping other women to create awareness about it. In this interview with Omolara Akintoye, Nigerian singer Bez’s wife, Bolatito Ladoja-Idakula, a graduate of International Relations from Warwick University, UK with Masters in Management from Imperial College, London, speaks on how she has joined women lending their voices on PPD and helping to educate other women, among other diverse issues.

    With degrees in International relations and management, how did broadcasting find you?

    I have always been a very curious person and I enjoy having conversations and learning about people. I won’t say my career is in broadcasting but more in sharing about God’s love through various media avenues. So I believe it is because of my genuine interest in people and also sharing honest conversations I started to find interest in media. After working shortly at WFM, I was able to hone down my focus to sharing God’s love which is why I produced my talk show. The goal is to create more positive and enlightening content as an alternative to a lot of negativity that we currently have in the world.

    You started out as a banker, why the change of career?

    My job as a banker came as a result of me wanting to have a well-paid after university. I wasn’t specifically interested in banking but I wanted a stable income that could support me. My change of career occurred when I discovered that God was calling me to something else and then after the loss of my daughter after delivery, it became clear that my pain had a purpose which was to encourage others struggling with various difficulties and media is a powerful tool to achieve that.

    How do you juggle your role as a mother, wife and a career woman?

    I have learnt to prioritise and I moved based on what is most important to me. In as much as my career is important, I believe my role as a mother and a wife comes first and for me to thrive in my career, I make sure everything is working at the home front. I am also blessed with an amazing husband who understands that we are in a partnership and so also does his part as a husband and partner. I have also understood that life happens in seasons, so not everything is going to happen at once and there are times when my home life comes first and other times when career comes first. I also have an amazing support network which makes it all happen. And once again, I realise that the more I prioritise my relationship with Christ, the more I have wisdom and grace to handle everything with relative ease.

    At what point did you decide to establish the foundation?

    We started to  support other families and women who had similar experiences with baby loss, miscarriage, etc from the moment I shared my story in 2015 but formed ‘The Healing Cradle Foundation’ and registered in 2019 in order to create more structure and more awareness. I realised many people were suffering in silence and needed support to overcome their pain, so I created the support group to address that. Our foundation deals with more than postpartum depression, although this can be one of the issues women who lose their babies or experience miscarriages also deal with. However, this can happen to any woman who even has a healthy baby. If you find that you are constantly having negative thoughts about yourself and your baby, then speak to a doctor. You might find yourself always crying to you feeling like crying or you are just really unhappy. If you don’t feel right after a few weeks, then speak to a professional.

    What is postpartum depression all about?

    Postpartum depression, which is a type of mood disorder associated with childbirth, is quickly becoming rampant among mothers. Postpartum depression is a type of mood disorder associated with childbirth. Symptoms may include extreme sadness, low energy, anxiety, crying episodes, irritability, and changes in sleeping or eating patterns. Sadly, a lot of women don’t know this exists and often times when they have these symptoms, they hate themselves thinking they aren’t mother enough.

    Are there cases that the NGO has handled?

    As I mentioned, we focus on supporting people who have experienced the loss of a child or had a still birth or miscarriage and need emotional support and have dealt with over 30 women, providing counselling for them and providing practical solutions to help them heal. We have also had over 50 women attend our support group meetings where we share and encourage each other in a safe, judgment-free environment.

    We recently were part of the global wave of light event as part of baby loss awareness week. We created an event to bring families together to speak about baby loss and pregnancy loss in a bid to educate the public that this happens and there is no reason to be shamed. Depression involves a lot of healing process.

    How do you source for fund?

    We often appeal to the public. Also beneficiaries of our work always donate in cash or in kind.

    Share with us your talk show, what’s it about?

    The show is called ‘My Jesus Experience’ and the aim is to show that Christ is very present in our daily lives beyond the church, pastors and pulpit.  In it, I discuss with people who still have faith despite experiencing really difficult times. We discuss topics that range from depression, to the having a blind child as well as waiting to have children.

  • Why I won’t keep my marriage off social media – Slim Brown

    Having gone on a short break from the music scene, South East topgun, Slim Brown, returned with a whole new vibe. The artiste, whose fan base is daily increasing, in Lagos, speaks on his return to the ever- evolving music industry, why he signed 60-year-old actor, Harry B Anyanwu to his Record Label, among other issues, in this interview with ADENIYI ADEWOYIN.

     

    HOW has it been since you returned to the music scene?

    My return to the music scene has been amazing. Obviously, if you take a short break and you come back, somebody is going to take your place, but I think they made an exception in my case. Since I came back after I got signed on Oojee Records, I have been doing better than I did before I left and I will say that I have amazing fans. Also God has been faithful. It is rare to be off the scene and come back and still be relevant. I just give it all to God and the fans for my kind of music. I think it is also because my music is unique. I never sounded like anyone when I was here and when I came back. My fans accepted me for my uniqueness.

    You did a song with veteran actor Harry B; tell us about it.

    I would say the music business is all about strategy. It is all about concept. And working with Harry B has really given a different perspective to my music and to the fan base I’ve acquired over the years because obviously I did something nobody in the world has done before.

    Getting someone at the age of 60 that never had a song before or ever rapped to get signed to a record label, people were asking like: What will this old man sing? Why are you signing an old man instead of a guy. It is a strategy and it worked well for me. My fan base expanded and I got more reviews. I will just say the music industry is all about your ideas and your strategy, and I think the angle of having Harry B on a song to rap is quite laudable and it sold out.

    How would you describe your relationship with Harry B?

    My relationship with Harry B started in 2018 when I was about to make the video of my song titled ‘Aku’ and I needed a Nollywood figure that was going to play the role of a chief and an Igwe. I reached out to him. He was so excited he said he had been a fan of mine ever since he came back from the States.

    We did some videos and I discovered that he is a vibrant man. He had this hip hop thing in him. He loves to freestyle and all that so I just fell for him. I just felt that I could do something out of this and I took him to the studio and he did a cover to my song, ‘Zamo’. I did a competition for my song, ‘Zamo’, and Harry B  entered for the competition he won eventually because his cover went viral. I got him signed on Oojee Records and that’s how it all started.

    You also recently released an Extended Play (EP) with Harry B…

    The new EP is titled ‘Father and Son’ and it is a collaborative EP with Harry B. I put that EP out actually to promote and at least get enough materials for Harry B because after the song, ‘Zamo’, came out, people wanted to hear more songs from Harry B. The idea is to bridge the generational gap. It is an awesome body of work available in all stores.

    You seem to have a bigger fanbase in South East; why?

    My music actually started from the South being an Igbo boy. My muisc was influenced by the likes of Puff Daddy when I started, but at some point, I decided to start doing something that sounded original. So I started infusing Igbo to my songs. Basically, I will say it’s because of where I started and how much influnece I’ve had on the South Easterners and how much of the fan base I have gathered over the years. So it seems like my music is dominating more in the South East, but I would actually tell you  now that I get a lot of love in Lagos than I used to even in the South East. But I still give it up to the South East.

    How would you describe your type of music?

    My music is a feel good music. I’m inspired to make people happy because we come from a country where the youths are not really excited about what they see. The economy is not favouring the youth and a lot of reasons for people to get depressed.

    You have not really been linked with any woman; are you that secretive?

    Earlier this year, a picture of myself and actress Rachel Okonkwo hit the internet and people started saying we got married secretly, but in about a week, the video came out and the air was cleared. I like women, but I like to keep my relationship private.

    Are you married?

    I am single but as much as I could keep a bare relationship out of social media, I don’t think I will be able to keep my marriage off social media because obviously you cannot hide your wife. I don’t think that’s appropriate.

    What kind of woman would you like to marry?

    If I can get a woman like mother, I will be glad. My kind of woman should be God-fearing, she should have a heart of love, she should love humanity and love God. I am attracted to women that have emphathy, one that is hard-working and got a functional brain.

    Can you marry a woman that is wealthier than you?

    I think that is a win-win thing. I can marry a woman that is wealthier than me. It doesn’t hurt because I am not the kind of man that feels intimidated. I believe I am hard-working. I believe that I am also going to be very successful so if she’s wealthier than me, does it mean I cannot have more money than her tomorrow. But whatever it is, it is not a competition. If she’s wealthy, I am wealthy. If she’s happy, I am happy and vice versa. It is only when you are intimidated by a woman’s success you have an issue with that.

    What are your plans for 2020?

    I am very hopeful about this year. I have a lot of stuffs lined up. I will be making some sounds that my fans are not very conversant with me making. I am going to be changing the sound a bit. I will rebrand and look different from Slim Brown they’ve always known. We are taking it global this year. I am looking at expanding Oojee Records and signing on young talents, especially from the South East. I need to get those kinds of artistes that can become Wizkid, Davido from the South East. I will also be working on a few international collaborations, the kind of collaboration that will foster African music.

    Have you had your most memorable day yet?

    There have been a handful of memorable days. It is just really about the days when the hard work I put in is being appreciated. A lot of times, the fans made me feel special; a lot of times, my songs played on the radio. One was when I met Psquare for the first time in their house and when they saw me they were like “no be this guy wey sing my account is born again”. They were referring to lyrics in the song I did with Wizboy.

    Most embarrassing day?

    It is still my work as an artiste. It is a worse day when you have an expectation for your creativity and it does not get to be that way, especially when you go for a show and you didn’t kill the show the way you should or you put out a song and you get criticism that kills your spirit. The one I could remember was when I was in school and I was in a group with my friends. We had performed at a big show and when I came down from the stage and I expected my friends to give me thumbs up, but they didn’t. I felt like the ground should open for me to just enter and disappear.

  • How past administrations ran education down in Kwara — NUT chair Salihu Idris

    Kwara State Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Salihu Toyin Idris, in an interview with ADEKUNLE JIMOH, expresses worries over the recent fines imposed on over 160 public and private secondary schools in the state by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) for alleged involvement in examination malpractices, among other issues. Excerpts:

     

    WHAT is your take on the appointment of a classroom teacher by the Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq as the commissioner for education and human capital development?

    It is a welcome development. It is the first of its kind in the state. But as good as it is, there are many challenges. It is good in the sense that a teacher knows the problems he or she is facing. So it is not new to her now being the commissioner. She knows the problems teachers are encountering in the state. To start with, our working environment is not conducive. You can imagine schools with a population of between 500 and 800 students without toilets and incinerators. This speaks volume about the health of the students, not to talk of the teachers that are teaching them.

    And most of our schools don’t have laboratories. The classrooms are dilapidated. All these things have been going on for many years. But with the commissioner who is a teacher and a product of this ill-arrangement, I think she will be able to reserve the ugly trend.

    Talking about teachers’ welfare, the state government is owing salary arrears, promotion and what have you. So the commissioner is very much aware of the problems teachers are facing in the state.

    The current administration has started renovating schools. I enjoin the administration to also consider the welfare of the teachers, in addition to putting the classrooms and other things in place.

    I can say it with emphasis that teachers in this state have been badly treated. Go to all the sectors, teachers are treated differently. At the Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), teachers were promoted last with financial backing in 2014. This is 2020. Those that were promoted and were given letters in 2015, 2016 and 2017 were without cash backing. So, it is regarded as no promotion.

    Teachers working with the state Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) were promoted last in 2016. When you see teachers in the state talking about their welfare, it is not as if they are demanding for something new. These are things people in other sectors are taking for granted. People don’t feel happy in a situation where you see your contemporaries in another ministry getting  his or her promotion seamlessly. By the time that person gets to the position of permanent secretary, you in the classroom will be on either level 15 or 16. We implore the new governor to address all these inadequacies in the promotion of teachers so that the infrastructural facilities and all other things being put in place will be judiciously utilised.

    What is your reaction to the recent fine the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) slammed on over 160 schools in the state for alleged examination malpractices?

    It is saddening. As teachers we are not happy. Principals are not happy because it has cast a dark spell on our profession. But when things happen; when problem arises, people don’t look into the remote and immediate causes of the problem. The penalty shows lack of insensitivity of the past administrations in the state as far as education sector is concerned.

    During WAEC examinations, a student sits for between eight and nine subjects maximum and such school is having only about six teachers, including the principal and vice principal. That means naturally, the system has designed that school to fail. And the community on its part wants the success of the students from that school. The parents also want their wards to succeed. But all the things put in are not good enough to achieve that success and everybody wants to pass at all cost. It is a serious burden on the teachers. It just like the security challenge where the police are armed with inferior guns but armed robbers are holding AK47 rifles. How can the police match the superior fire power of the armed robbers? At the end of the day, you will say the police are not performing. But the lapses are there.

    Cheating is also bound to take place in an environment where the classrooms are dilapidated, because the students would be crammed in a single classroom. This is the era of android phones and the like. The principals cannot see all. What we are saying in essence is that feeling hungry is not an excuse for you to steal food. I am not exonerating the principals, but it is a challenge to the principals to be extra-vigilant about the students. And the Ministry of Education too had to take note of the type of registration taking place. Why is it that a student who spends SSS 1 and SSS2 in a school now seeks for transfer to another school for his or her SSS three?

    There should be a law that a student must conclude his or her SSS3 where he or she starts his or her SSS1. For such a transfer to come up, the student must be moving from one town to the other. All these shortcuts need to be looked into. We appreciate the governor for looking at the education sector’s problems holistically. If he had not looked at them holistically, he would have punished the principals through dismissal.

    He looked at the problems that led to examination malpractices in the affected schools and decided to bail out the principals. He promised to put things in place in the schools, urging the personnel (principals and staff) to be extra-careful. And he paid the penalty from WAEC.

    We thank the governor for his fatherly role and we promise sincerely that Kwara State will bounce back as one of the first examinations friendly States in the country.

    What about the challenge of the earth of teachers?

    On the issue of inadequate teachers, even the Kwara State House of Assembly members have impressed it on the state government to employ and deploy more teachers to the rural areas. Government needs to take proactive measures. The villages are part of the whole state.

    A situation where teachers are lumped in the urban centres is not good enough. There should be even distribution of teachers for us to know where teachers are lacking. The state government needs to employ more teachers. And we are now lucky that we have professionals outside that are looking for teaching jobs. The era of making teaching an all comers’ job is over. I can say emphatically that the Kwara State teachers met the 2019 December deadline for teachers set by the Federal Government. We promise we are going to put in our best so that the result will be good very soon.

    Why do teachers refuse posting to rural areas?

    For teachers to run away from the rural areas claiming lack of facilities is not tenable. Students are in those areas. In those days, you cannot move away from your primary place of assignment until you have spent a minimum of five years. But now, everybody wants to be in town.

    In fact, in those days, the problem we used to have was even with the communities. The communities then would complain of teachers using their children for farming activities. But these days, some teachers don’t even want to be part of the communities. You must be part of the community before you can succeed as a teacher. But these days, everybody wants to be in the town. It is supposed to be a rotational thing. Other things that can improve the capacity and skills of teachers include training and retraining. This has long been abandoned in the state.

    What can the state government do to ensure teachers posted to rural areas stay?

    There should be a law making them stay. We need to stick to policies. We should shy away from just documenting reforms; what we are putting on paper must be executed. For instance, in Kwara, how many students do you want in a classroom? If it is 30, 40 or 50, there should be a law mandating all to follow it religiously. There should be a law that any teacher that is transferred to a particular place, except on emergency, the person should not leave that place in the next five years. There should be people, apart from the principals, who will be monitoring the teachers. We should have quality assurance people.

    Another thing is that government should not play politics with education. A situation where you transfer about 300 teachers and politicians are coming from different angles to influence their posting is not helping us.

    This should be avoided in the education sector. Government is the employer; it should stay by the rules spelt out for teachers.

    There was a time in the state that a commissioner made it mandatory that any principal that had spent over six years in a school should be transferred. There wasn’t anything we could do than to comply. Because if you are stagnant in a place, you think you have done well until another person comes and digs new grounds. Education had been in shambles in the state before the current administration. But in theory, they would say ‘it is good here.’ It is not good. It is extremely bad. To whom much is given much is expected from that person. But the least is given to the teachers in Kwara and much is expected from them.

  • I have forgiven my sister who eloped with my husband — Controversial gospel singer Gloria Doyle

    Controversial contemporary gospel music artist, Gloria Doyle, is back on her feet, after a long battle with an illness diagnosed as gallstones. Gloria now bubbles, ready to carry on with her music career. She is at present in the studio to record her next album. Abandoned during her travail by those she expected to have risen to her aid, Gloria says: “I’m a different person now. Life has taught me lessons.” In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, she opens up on her failed marriage, her battles to stay alive and the Good Samaritans that God sent her way. It’s vintage Gloria Doyle. Excerpts:

     

     

    NOT too long ago, you were said to be very ill. Can you relive your experience?

    I was actually down with a gall bladder stone. I had a terrible stomach condition, which the doctors were worried about as it was considered close to the cancer of the stomach. Surgery was considered as an immediate option. But along the line, I didn’t do the surgery. So, I was placed on medications to see if it could alter.

    I’m now relieved and back to work, back to music; though I’m still on regular checkups. The only worry now is my children who all stay in America. We insisted that I should wait till they return to take me so I can do the surgery in America. Either of them should be here to pick me. That apart, I’m up; my music looks good and the future has a good smile.

    How old are your children?

    My first son is 27; the second is 26 and my last born is 24. They said they want to come so they can give me good care.

    When did you have them?

    I finished having my children at the age of 21.

    Why so early?

    I got married very early in life.

    At what age?

    I was 16 going on 17!

    What moved you to get married at such a young age?

    I think I was just crazy then. And the other reason was that, when you come from a polygamous family, you want to believe that maybe, marriage could be a way out. But sometimes at the end of the day, it may not turn out well.

    Was your mom the second wife?

    No, my mom was actually the officially wedded wife, but not the first and not the second. She was the third wife of my father and the only officially wedded wife. So, you can imagine the pressure then, which was more on us her children. At that point, I wasn’t afraid of marriage. I think he was able to give me some of the things that I needed back then: the attention, the understanding and listening ears. So, I believed that was it. But at the end of the day, I found out that we were not compatible. His family was very tribalistic. I was into music already and they didn’t like it. He actually wanted me to be a full-time house wife, which was not my dream or ambition. I wanted to pursue my musical career and even do some other stuff too.

    At that time, did you feel that you had what it takes to go to the top and be a music star?

    Yes, I did know I could do that. As at then, I had started going to the studio. I had started singing right from when I was a child still in school;  I was singing in church and I always had this passion for writing songs.

    Did your husband know about that?

    He knew. I thought he was going to encourage me, give a boost to my musical career but at the end of the day,  that was not what he wanted. He wanted me to be a full housewife. But my musical career was important to me. So, that became one of the major reasons that made me not to accept to be a housewife. And it was a very abusive marriage.

    When you say ‘abusive,’ what do you mean?

    He used to beat me. He was about 13 years older than me. He was really beating me and at a point when the beating was getting out of hand and became life threatening, I decided to pack it up.

    How long did the marriage last?

    Oh, it lasted seven years.

    What was the attraction to marry him?

    He was a nice guy. And at that point, I wanted a friend and he was able to give me some of the things I needed back then.

    Why did you allow the children to go to America?

    Their father is an American citizen though he is a Nigerian by birth. He said he wanted the children to come over; I too thought it would be a better opportunity for them. So, I allowed them to go. It is not that I couldn’t have gone, but at that point, what happened was that he was actually having an affair with my younger sister, who is at present living in America through him. And when the children were going to America, the documents were altered. My name was removed, while my younger sister’s name replaced mine. So, when it was time for me to go to the US, I was denied visa. I have been denied visa three times now. It has got to a point where a DNA test is required to prove that I am the children’s mother and that is the point where it is. So, it’s only when my children come here that I can think of going to America. It has made my travelling out of the country very difficult. And that was the original plan, which was to frustrate me and make me unable to see my children again. But with God, things are looking good.

    But he couldn’t have married your sister?

    But they dated. It was just to have a baby for him that was left. They dated and she was able to use him to set a standard for herself. I understand. And it is okay. I have forgiven her. I don’t have any more grudges. My children are grown up, we relate and that’s all that’s important to me.

    If you were to meet someone else now that asks your hand in marriage, will you accept his proposal?

    Yes, marriage is sweet and okay if you meet a nice person, who is also a friend and ready to be supportive. Marriage is interesting and sweet.

    So you will gladly accept another proposal?

    Well, I still have this phobia for it, but if I meet a guy that can drive the fear away and give me the assurances, of course I will throw away my fears.

    You mean there’s no man in your life at present?

    I have a couple of friends that I relate with; we play together, but I cannot say that I have an intimately strong relationship right now. At present, everyone around me is a friend. When you are a single mother, it becomes an issue with some guys because of our cultural background. It’s not easy to take a lady that has three children to your mom and tell her, this is the person you want to get married to. Maybe if I were outside the country, that will be easy.

    But it happens in Nigeria

    Have I seen any? No. Though I see them date. And when they date to the point of marriage, it is either a family tie or something poses as a problem at that point. But if the man insists on marrying her, it’s either the woman is financially good enough or has some other things that the guy can benefit from.

    So, having your children outside Nigeria made you to concentrate on music?

    Yes, my children left for the US 10 years ago. Before they travelled, I had to survive and balance my career in music as a working mom. But after then just when I was up there, getting it all right, I started facing the gall bladder issue. I am actually coming back strong now. I am in the studio. I have an album that is almost ready and I am feeling real high up there. I have recorded three singles. And the album has taken shape. My producer is ready. I am shooting a video on Friday (yesterday). I feel great. But I need to continually be on my supplements. Right now, I want to do a single to push for promotions and then the album for a launch. I would also be going back to my acting career as a movie producer. For now, it is not like before (smiles); I have to do it one at a time. Health is wealth.

    Were you scared of death when you were ill?

    I was. And I told God that if I die, I will hold you responsible if I go to hell fire because you did not allow me to see my children and do some other things. And I begged God to forgive me because I didn’t want to go to hell fire. You know in Yoruba, some people would call it Ofa (evil arrow) but I couldn’t tell. I just knew that I was ill and somehow miraculously, I came back to life. For those who were able to see my pictures back then, it was pathetic.

    Coming back at this time with lots of new faces already on the block, isn’t it going to be tough?

    I know I need re-branding and a lot of work to do, but I believe that I have all it takes. Back then, I used to do contemporary gospel music and sometimes hip hop. Since I recovered from the illness, I have realised that this world is really about living one’s dreams. I see people, pastors trying to limit me by saying you are a gospel artiste; don’t sing hip hop; don’t sing this, don’t sing that. Now I am myself; If I feel like singing hip hop, I will sing it because that’s the new me.

    You sound as if you are disappointed with the church?

    You see, even when I was down and out, the so-called pastors were not there for me. They were not interested in me at that point. So I have realised about life that people are only interested in you because of what you can give to them. They were just interested in my tithes and the testimonies of people in church. Another thing I realised is that some of those testimonies were calculated and manipulative. I feel used and dumped by pastors.

    So, coming back, for me, is coming back to please God for myself. I don’t keep friends as I used to keep them before. Now, I wait for the leading of the Holy Spirit. I have made my children my friends. We talk, we plan together. The only people who stood by me then were my children who were calling regularly. I have a new song; it is called, ‘I heal’. When I thought about everything and how God raised fans like Niki Laoye, Nathaniel Bassey and Funke Akindele, for me, I thank God. Those were the major people who contributed financially to my rescue. These are people that are not pastors, but they were able to help. A pastor actually heard about by illness and called for my tithe records! Wow, if God does that to us, will we get anything from God? I am tempted to be a female version of Daddy Freeze. Another pastor said they couldn’t assist because they are building a mega auditorium. So, is a mega auditorium more urgent than a soul?

    Do you still attend church service?

    Yes, I still do when I’m invited. My mom is a pastor too. She has a church, Christ Aflame Ministries in Lagos here. Sometimes I attend her church and some other times, I go somewhere else. Sometimes I just sneak in and sit with no airs. Then sometimes I go to the Celestial Church of Christ.

    Is that where you were delivered?

    (Laughs) I think I still prefer their spirituality. If you know what I mean. They preserve some things in the Old Testament like women not going into the altar. I know even there, there are pollutions but then, Celestial Church is still closer to the message of the Bible.

    Are you ready for the big shows and concerts?

    Totally ready. But as usual, I don’t really like those a lot. I love to create my own events and shows. There are people in the industry that have already heard my new songs and they nod their heads and say ‘she’s back.’ People love the songs. What I have heard so far is very encouraging.

    You are actually bubbling and bouncing. Where are the bubbles coming from?

    When you have gone through life the way I have, you bubble. I know people who didn’t go through half of what I have been through and they gave up. I know someone who was just sick for two weeks while I was at the hospital and died. I know someone who was lying down next to me and the husband was telling the doctors, whatever you people want in cash I will give you. At that time, they had already spent about N3.7 million, but his wife died. But here I am alive; so I must bubble. That means God loves me. Money will come. There’s time and season. This sickness has made me to realise that my children really love me. They told me to fight back for me and to fight back for them. I keep remembering that. I am different now.

    Has your fashion sense changed?

    I am not explicit anymore; no more showing of body, but just looking good. I am mature now. I have left that for my daughter.

    If your children come to take you, does that mean you will relocate to America?

    No, I have a lot of things to do in Nigeria.

    Are you looking at collabos?

    (Laughs) There’s only one person on my mind I really wish to collabo with and that is Whizkid!

    Wow, Whizkid, how about Tiwa?

    No, I am not competing with her. There is this calmness and maturity that I see in Whizkid that makes me to respect him and his music. He is a cool guy. Most people who are close to me know that I am a Whizkid fan. A collabo will make great sense with Whizkid. And for gospel music, I would love a collabo with Sinach.

    Now that you are back, are you returning to the movies too?

    I will love to go back to the movies but through the right channels. I don’t want to face what I faced the other time. Then there were lots of sexual harassment except people

    are not coming out to say the truth. If you didn’t succumb, you don’t get a role. That was why I did more of music back then. At least with music, you know you are only paying your producer. Coming back into movies, for me, is being the producer of the movie. That will be a better platform for me.

    What accessories do you not do without?

    Not really an accessory like that. But I love wearing a face cap. It hides my face, gives me a good disguise. I wear lots of face caps. You know, it’s not easy when you have a famous face. Wherever you turn, it’s a greeting or people pointing at you, ‘Ah this person has a familiar face.’

    Has any fan ever embarrassed you?

    More than once; there was this particular day, I was just taking a walk and this lady just appeared from nowhere and started screaming my name repeatedly. That is Gloria Doyle! I was like ‘Oh My God!’ But then, it’s fun too when people recognise you.

    Do you still get ‘toasters’?

    Funny enough, it is the younger guys that get the confidence to toast me. I don’t know whether it is my star. The younger guys have more boldness. They walk up to me and tell me they like me. I tell them that I am a single mother. They say it is okay. But the real mature men just look. So, I don’t know.

    What does that mean to you?

    Of course, I don’t get carried away by such admirations. I have to make a good choice. Sometimes, I just need my peace of mind.

    Your beauty secrets?

    None, except that I use my body lotion, have a bath at least twice a day, stay out of stressful situations and that’s it.

  • KOLA AWE: Why I dumped Law for export

    Kola Awe is a lawyer, TV presenter, CEO XPT Logistics and chairman, NACCIMMA Export Group. In this interview with Yetunde Oladeinde, he opens up on his career, why he dumped law for wood export, working with women entrepreneurs and surviving against the odds.

     

     

    LET’S talk about life in the export sector; how did it begin?

    I have been in the business of export for twenty-two years now. I was a trained lawyer and I practiced for four years. I really wanted to study law and when I finished secondary school and when I checked the course that was readily available, it was law. And I always wanted to be a lawyer because I fancy the intrigue that comes with litigations and all that.

    I enjoyed the practice but the remuneration was not very attractive. I came from an above average family and the social strata was a little bit higher than what I was earning and that became an issue. That now made me to start thinking of something else to do, to be able to live up to the financial status. After practice, I went into the business of export and I met one Indian man, he was into wood export. I actually stumbled into the business and you had to learn all the way. There is no curriculum in export, there is no school that you go to that you are being trained on export. No degree on export; nothing like that. In those days, we just practically stumbled on export in the course of thinking about what do I do next.

    So, the man said he was into wood export and I stayed in Akure for two years, where we were sourcing the wood. We were the first set that were getting the yellow and red appa that was used for parquet, then we moved into wood export. When I found that a lot of people were going into that, I started experimenting on the agro sector and that got me into agro commodity. I got into cashew, ginger, Sesame seed and that was how I got in fully.

    Would you say the sector is lucrative?

    Yes, the sector is very creative but very demanding also. Then it wasn’t as lucrative as it is because the naira was very stable, unlike the devaluation that you have right now. But in terms of the return on investment, it was good. Also, the kind of pressure that we had then is not the kind of pressure that we have now. The number of people in the industry then was not the kind of people that we have now. There was little pressure then, unlike the huge pressure that we have now.

    We started the export of charcoal and if you give someone and ask him to go to Iseyin to get you charcoal, he would give you the best. But today, the man has probably taken money from 50 people and he is in a hurry to meet up with all the demands and in the process, the quality is being impeded. Those are the kinds of things that you get these days.

    What do you do to make sure that you get the best from your source?

    Over the years, I can tell you a good product just by looking at it. I can also tell you all the tricks that they want to play. If you have spent all your life in an industry, you can tell who is a criminal, who is a fair person and who is not a fair person. Even what you do not know or the moisture content that he is still struggling with, I can tell you about it.

    I have mastered the terrain, which is what we do now as the project coordinator and trainer. We are giving back those years of experience, so that they do not make the mistakes or losses that we made.

    What are some of the opportunities for young people in the sector?

    It is very huge. When you look at the economic environment, you see that the opportunities are enormous. Unfortunately, there is no foundational background that they can leverage on to take these opportunities from the environment. The fiscal policy, there is a technical devaluation of currency that we have now. And with any form of devaluation, export goes, we promote and push export. So, the current situation that we are in now points towards non oil sector. That is one opportunity, the other one is the African free trade zone. We are going to have just one common market in Africa. This means that the horizon of the African market is bigger; there is going to be a huge flow and opportunity for anyone to take advantage of. Let’s see the impact of this in other sectors and export logistics, which is another huge area that is opening up and in terms of intellectual properties. Magazines, writing about export, training, capacity building. Those are areas that people need to go into. Currently, there is no strong TV programme on export, and every other sector has a TV programme. This is because very few people are enlightened to talk about it. Not just in terms of academic but what is obtainable in the sector.

    What are the challenges for those who want to go into the sector?

    The challenges are as enormous as the opportunities. If you are approaching a domestic business, the trade is being regulated by Nigeria. So, any challenge that is going to come in terms of policy, regulation is still within. But the moment you say that you are going into the business of export, the regulations expand, the policy expands, the bills expand and the laws expand. You have the domestic laws and the laws of the country of import that you have to abide by and you also have the laws of the international trading community that you have to abide by. That alone is creating a huge challenge for exporters. In addition, you have the challenge of how do you meet up with the quality, labelling, branding, marketing, finance and logistics. So, you can see that the challenge is much more when you are exporting.

    Would you say we are better now with regards to standards?

    I don’t think that we are there yet. Compared to where we are coming from, yes. But compared to where we are going, the rate the international market is dictating standards, we need to do something to hasten the growth. We are competing with people with cheaper manufacturing cost, marketing cost. The challenge is across sector. The food it is complex tracing the source of those foods that you used to produce. It is unlike the modern economy that you can trace every source in the production of that product.

    How many trade fairs have you participated in?

    I have attended over a hundred trade fairs across the world. You find that one of the most veritable platforms to access is the trade fairs. Even before the advent of IT, you cannot go online to search for buyers. Those days, you had to go physically with your products. It was tedious looking for trade fairs and at the end of the day, it is important to sell your products. It’s a platform that has everybody coming together especially for specialised trade fairs. For example, if you are in the food industry and you go for the Gulf food fair, there you would meet everyone that is basically in your industry. So, trade fair is good but one trade fair is not enough. But it is expensive going for trade fairs, so if you have spent a lot of money attending one, when the next one comes up, you may not attend because you did not make a success of the last one.

    The truth of the matter is that you have to consistently attend trade fairs, because that is where people would come and see what you are doing. That is where your competitors would come and it is also the platform for transferred technology. You go to a trade fair, see a particular product, from packaging to labelling, aesthetics and you think of improving on yours. We try to take our people to trade fairs and even in my company Express logistics, we have been able to take more than ten companies to the West African sub region and I tell you, everything came from our participation at trade fairs.

    Let’s talk about women in the sector, how are they faring?

    Like every Nigerian, women are quite resilient. I admire their strength, I admire their dexterity and their focus to succeed. Since, I became the chairman of NACCIMA export group, I have had a number of opportunities to work with women entrepreneurs and their energy is just too much. They are ready to work against all odds. It’s like someone swimming against the tide, you know how difficult it is, yet forging ahead.

    What about the incubation centre and the opportunities for women?

    I will like the organised private sector and other agencies to create more bouquet of support for women in the sector. Being the chairman has really opened me up to the manufacturing sector and I work with companies and not individuals. Then we had zero membership and we have been able to raise that to over two hundred members today. There is a need to put in structures that that improve their growth and export for labelling, branding and others. If we leave them alone, a lot of them would die. We did a programme and I noticed that some of these products can only be sold in Nigeria because of our population. So, we said, how do we support these products not just for the domestic markets but for the international market bearing in mind that Africa was also becoming a major market? This simply means that if we do not support the products of our members here, products from Ghana, Zimbabwe and South Africa would be coming in. We looked at the company and saw that an average company has management problems, they don’t have basic financial knowledge to keep their accounting books together and we said it is not enough to identify the problem but to proffer solutions.

  • THE TRICK I USED TO HOOK MY HAUSA WIFE IN LONDON —Socialite-cum-bizman Wale Osiyemi

    Last October, Nigeria’s Prince Wale Osiyemi re-awakened the social life of London with his Bootleggers Re-union party, a now elite community of people who were teenagers in the days of ‘Soul Train’ and sojourners abroad in the late 80s and 90s. They enjoyed the best of life, the best of party groove in  the UK, USA and Nigeria. The party took place at Littlecroft Mansions, owned by Lord of Radlett, and boasted of elegant taste and royal class. On arrival, guests were treated to champagne and canapés. And guests from Nigeria, UK, USA arrived in Rolls Royce and other outlandish vehicles. Prince Osiyemi, a prince of Ago Iwoye in Ogun State, in this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, shares with us, the memories of London as a club owner then and now; his American connections;  growing up in Lagos;  his links with Northern Nigeria and more.

     

    YOU had a big come-back re-union party recently in London; why did you do it?

    There had been a big vacuum in the London entertainment scene since I left the scene for politics in Nigeria. So, on return from a family trip in Dubai, I received calls from four different locations in the UK, from  people telling me about the need for me to do something about the entertainment scene in UK.

    They said, ‘Wale, you have to do something.’ So, I took that as a message from God. I soon realised the vacuum and the yearning. People wanted the kind of things that I had done before. So, that was the motivation.

    It wasn’t about business for money but it was more about bringing people together to enjoy, to network, because most of us have grown and risen to the top in various fields of human endeavours. Some are royal fathers, some in government and some business tycoons.

    How did you start what is now termed the biggest come-back into entertainment scene in the UK?

    I created a WhatsApp group and the information went viral in a few days. People were calling from different continents, begging to get into the group because we reached the maximum number required and we had to start looking for solutions in other platforms to accommodate people.

    I did not realise that while I was doing entertainment as a hobby, I had touched lives. Some people were calling me to tell me that they met their spouses at Bootleggers; that was what the entertainment outfit was called then.

    I didn’t realise that I was creating a community, the Bootleggers. So there are a lot of Bootleggers children out there. Others even called me to say that their first ever car was driven to Bootleggers for a show off back then.

    Others called to say that they came to Bootleggers to pour champagne after they made their first huge earning. My ears were full.

    I was humbled to suddenly realise that my name had been coming up in many homes in London and beyond. ‘Wale’s club is where I met this person or that person.’ That blew my mind; so I decided to do it all over again.’

    After having the party, did it fulfill the objective you had in mind?

    Oh, yes, it did and more than that. It rattled the cages of those who are today supposed to be doing entertainment in London. Most of them have started advertising the way I blew up the event we had.

    They have rushed to the social media and recognised it as a power-tool for marketing. I have seen four supposedly former DJs who were there when I was there in those days, who were not happy with this event we just had.

    They felt very bad and even mentioned it that I have come back to take over the entertainment scene, which of course confirms that I was definitely on top of the entertainment scene before I left.

    There was a rave among top Nigerian society folks about the choice of the venue, tell us about it

    My past record had it that I have been having parties on a yacht, at exclusive clubs, at Hilton Park Lane. So, I didn’t want to come back after about 25 years or more to do the ordinary or have a laid back venue for the Bootleggers re-union party.

    I was offered the current best clubs in the UK and I am talking about a club that has no signboard outside, a secret club. But when I went inside, it could hold about 1,000 to 2,000 people on two floors.

    But I said it’s still a club and I needed a parking space for all the people coming for the event. Then two things came to my mind that I should do it in a mansion away from London where people could drive to, and have a weekend affair out of it.

    Wale Osiyemi
    Wale Osiyemi

    A lot of the American crowd and the Lagos crowd were calling that they were coming into London for the re-union event. So, I didn’t want them to come in to London only to go to a club. So, it had to be a location. I thought of somewhere in Windsor, maybe near the Windsor Castle, which would bring in the royals.

    But then it looked as if we were pushing it too hard, but we got Lord of Radlett who is a social person and he offered his place in Ratlett. And that sealed the exclusivity of the event. Suddenly, two of the four bad belle DJs I mentioned earlier, decided to have events on the day we picked for the re-union in order to divert the crowd from our event.

    They were calling people on our group one after the other, and telling them not to come to our party. Unknown to them, their action was only helping me to  advertise the event more; many called and said they came because they were told not to come.

    The re-union was not done for money. I may not be the richest guy around in our circle in London, but I thank God who has been very good to me in terms of finance. I did the event to bring us all around. These big guys and big girls wanted to do it all again the way we did it in the early 90s.

    What was life like for you as a prince growing up in Nigeria?

    Life was just like that of any other. I’m from a Christian family that God has blessed and as the only son, a lot of emphasis was put on me not to misbehave. My father was a President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations. He was a strict but very sociable man.

    He was also the social secretary of Island Club; so he was well known. Growing up in the shadow of a man like that who was well known, strict at home but jovial with everybody outside, meant that I couldn’t go wrong because someone somewhere could know me and tell him.

    So I had to learn the right way, do the right thing and speak the right way. I thank God that with the right friends and environment they put me in, God kept me on a straight and narrow path. It is my mom that I will say devoted her time to bring me up in the knowledge of being a prince.

     

    ‘Why any successful man should be careful about female advances’

     

    How about your other siblings?

    Oh, I have four sisters.

    Were you a privileged child?

    Would I say so (laughs)? I know where privileged children are. If I was, I was not made to realise it. I guess I should say that I have lived in a circle of friends who are right up there and I have also had friends who are down there. If I was brought up with such privileged mentality, I will have friends only in Ikoyi but I have friends in Ojuelegba too.

    What is your relationship with Northern Nigeria?

    My wife is from Northern Nigeria. She is the daughter of Late General Senator Abubakar Tanko Ayuba.

    How did you meet?

    We met in the United Kingdom. I met her through my best friend, who was close to her. This my best friend was female, the daughter of Adebisi Odutayo, who Sir Shina Peters famously sang of. We went to visit a female friend and there I saw someone that looked nice, someone that I liked instantly.

    But the father was so strict that though he was a top military man living in Nigeria, she was still affected by the strictness, even while living in the UK.

    The strictness permeated her home; so she was not having the opportunity to freely go out on her own. So I came up with a trick. I decided to throw a party so that she and her friend could have a reason to attend (laughs).

    The idea turned out to be a brilliant one because every other place she went, she was monitored but couldn’t be followed to a party.

    So, we had the party. Guess what after the party? We were all lazing about with music at the background, but she left us and went into the kitchen to wash the dishes.

    And that shocked me because here was the daughter of a former governor, who was also a General and a former minister in my kitchen attending to chores, tidying up what we used for the party, while we lazy lots were feeling high in the sitting area and enjoying ourselves.

    There and then, I made up my mind that this is the person I would marry. Her simplicity and dedication to duty impressed me. You know, I had already taken to her when I initially saw her.

    This turned out to be the icing on the cake. I called the attention of one of my friends, urging him to go and see what was happening in the kitchen. My friend went to the kitchen and picked a drink, returned and he didn’t notice anything in the kitchen.

    So I told my friend to go back there and look again. He went and came back to tell me that the General’s daughter was cleaning, tidying up the place.

    So I jokingly asked him, ‘Se eyin were yi; e le lo take care of the kitchen ni?’ meaning: ‘So you lazy lot cannot go and tidy up the kitchen and you all left her to attend to it’.

    That was how I knew she was a lady well brought up and decided to put up all my efforts to marry her. And 35 years after, the rest is history. We are still on it.

    Read Also: Socialite-cum-politician Kenny Martins commissions church

     

    What does the family look like now?

    We have two children, a boy and a girl. My son plays for Abbey Rangers FC.

    If you are a prince, it means that your father must be from a royal family?

    Yes, my grandfather was the first crowned king of Ago Iwoye of Ogun State and my father was his first son Daudu. I am the Arole of the family, his only son.

    Royalty seems to celebrate polygamy, how did you and your dad escape from polygamy?       

    The word polygamy was brought to us in Africa as part of the civilisation or colonisation of Africa under the guise of Christianity. Back in the days here in the UK, it was a norm for a noble man to have a wife and a mistress. I think it was in 1600 or so that it was re-addressed to one man and one woman.

    It is not like it is in the bible that we should have one man one wife. At a point, it turned into a revolt when the nobles could just pick any of the women as mistress. And it was thought that it should be that as Christians, it should be a man and a woman.

    Wale Osiyemi
    Wale Osiyemi

    King Henry had to leave the Catholic Church to Anglican because he wanted to take a second wife. So polygamy was a social cultural thing for the English then. So when Christianity and colonisation came to Africa, it affected us. My grandfather was a good looking young man then, he had five wives.

    He was wealthy enough to keep them. Even then, because he was a king, some people would readily give their daughters to him for marriage. In those days also, marriage was used to promote inter-family relationships and business ties.

    So it’s good to have one wife; more so when you look at all it takes to keep even one wife, the expenses and all that. But if you are so endowed to find two women who are of like minds, to be your wives, both will form a defence for you. Both can pray and protect you.

    But first you have to find such women; which I don’t think comes easy. Don’t join two women who are opposites together, when they explode it won’t be funny. There’s a king in western Nigeria right now that has three and he is at peace with the three.

    You are also known as an international businessman, what motivated you into business?

    At a point, my friends and I took advantage of our background, identified our strong points and decided to work together in business to keep our wellbeing going. And I thank God for what He has done.

    I am an engineer by training and also a certified project manager. Project management cuts across every sector. But lately, what gives me joy is my new business which is Royal Protocols, which puts events together and gives the time table of how and when every aspect of the event should go.

    That is what I did at Ovation Red Carol and what I did when Otunba Gbenga Daniel opened his hotel recently in Abeokuta, and what I did at Otunba Alex O’s party too. I even did stage works at formula 1 in Abu Dhabi few weeks ago.

    A prince in politics, you tried politics at a time, why did you stop?

    I haven’t stopped. I was a former senior special adviser to ex-Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State on Protocol and Special Duties and I later became a Local Government chairman of Ijebu North. I am still in politics presently as afi oba je. We worked recently with Dapo Abiodun to emerge a governor.

    So what’s the difference between the London of the late 80s and early 90s and that of today and why does the old skool music still sound unique today? Life was good then. There was a lot of carefree lifestyle and people looked out for one another.

    If you walked on the streets of London then, you were safe. You didn’t have to worry. But now when you are on the streets of London, you worry and pray that somebody does not come out from nowhere to stab you or do you something harmful.

    Again, then we didn’t have children to look out for, your money was your money. But now, when you make money, madam must have part of it and it goes down to the children.

    Then, if you had N1million, you asked yourself, how many bottles of champagne you can buy. It is natural for people to recall the period of good times.  That’s why people recall those old skool music.

    As a successful man, there’s no doubt ladies love coming close to you; how do you handle that?

    I handle that with humility. Not every lady coming to you is coming to add. In most cases, they are coming to subtract. A man should not look at himself as Michael Jackson that ladies flock around because of looking good. It has its minus too. The ladies flock to take something.

    Do you speak Hausa?

    Yes, I do, though I am not fluent with it. I understand the culture because my father was the Public Relations Manager for the Nigerian Tobacco Company and their major base was in Zaria.

    We used to go there a lot. That was when I started learning and speaking Hausa, so it wasn’t when I met my wife that I started learning. I understand Yoruba, I speak English and German language.

    You love cars, tell us some of those that you have been attached to

    I’ve had Roll Royce phantom, but my first love of a car is Jaguar and it was my first major car. I love Mercedes and SAAB too. It wasn’t like I was really crazy about these cars but I owned them so that I could also be mentioned that I owned such in life.

  • WHY I’M YET TO GET MARRIED – JAYWON

    After storming the music scene with ‘Filebe’ over a decade ago, Jaywon has remained relevant ever since, dishing out good music year after year. The Kogi State singer and record label owner, whose single, ‘Aje’, is already an anthem, speaks with ADENIYI ADEWOYIN on his music, family, political ambition and other interesting issues. Excerpts…

     

    WHAT are you working on this New Year?

    I’m actually trying to work on an album. I’m going to compile it. I’m working towards an album, a different collaboration from different African countries like Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and Benin Republic.

    I actually have two from Benin Republic, two from Cameron and one from Sierra Leone as well. From my last album of collaboration, I’ve recorded over ten and my last album was in 2016.

    These days most artistes are not recording albums like before; what they do is singles. Why did you like that?

    I feel it’s just because singles get more attention. Nigerians don’t pay attention to a body of work anymore. A lot of people still don’t know that Tekno doesn’t have an album and he is huge. Though I like the body of work because my last album was the only album I worked on since I left Kennis Music.

     What’s up about your label?

    It’s been a lot of work. You know what it takes to sign an artiste and what it takes to build a team from the scratch and build a proper label. Those are the things we are working towards and you know it’s not easy, but we’ve been pushing it to see how we can get there.

    So far, we’ve had only one artiste who is no more with us, so at the moment, we have a management contract with upcoming artist with the name Safe… So that’s the only person we are working with aside my own brand.

     What transpired between you and Twist da Fireman who was on your label before?

    He decided he wanted to go. He wanted to move forward. He had other things to do and I said that’s fine.

     Could it be that he wasn’t getting enough attention from the label?

    At least people get to know who he is and see his face through the label. But some of the time, we, artistes, don’t understand when we just started. Here are a lot of things I did not understand when I left Kennis Music. And a lot of artistes don’t know that and it always ends up in trouble.

    I have different people who always call me to say I should come back, but I feel whatever must be the reason why you left, you should leave it like that because we don’t understand that when we are coming up, nobody cares about us, but the day you get a new platform a lot of people will come through.

    They don’t come through because they like you, but they feel like you are heading somewhere, they now start to talk to you and then you start to listen.

     Do you think floating a record label as at the time you did was the right decision?

    Starting my own record label was my dream, and I had to leave when my contract got expired.

    But you said when you were with Kennis, there were some things you actually didn’t understand…

    I did not understand a lot of things.  Kennis did so much to protect me from a lot of people which back then I didn’t know he was protecting my life and my career for me. But definitely, there will always be a bad time.

    Read Also: Behold celebs who married colleagues on the job

     

    There will always be a good time.  I had my own good and bad times at Kennis Music, and I’m very sure they are proud of me today, and I’m proud of them. Kennis still remains a father. I’m sure he is really proud me.

     Some people are of the opinion that it’s quite difficult for an artiste to sign on an artiste and that it is better for a businessman to do so. What do you think?

    The people with that opinion don’t understand and don’t want to understand. Banky W was the one that brought Wizkid. Davido was the one that brought Mayorkun and Perruzi as well. Olamide was the one to that brought Adekunle Gold and Lil kesh and announced Fireboy.

    As an artiste, you are a platform on your own. This thing is what is in your mind. It’s about your personally. Do you want someone to grow under you, and if you want the person to grow, you will put in your best. You will spend your money and time.

     Do you keep friends in the industry?

    I don’t keep friends, but I have more upcoming people that lead their brands under me. I’ve worked with most of them, but I’m always in my house. I can be in my house for one week, probably in my apartment, working in the studio. I do more of that and I feel it is safe with my family. I might not be as big as other people, but we are comfortable. That’s what I’ve been doing; we are over a decade in the industry and it’s not easy.

     You have been in the industry for over a decade and the industry is competitive; how has it been?

    As far I’m concerned, I don’t even care about the industry. I care about myself and my fans.  There were people who said before that I could not make it. But my lifestyle is: I just want to do my thing, whether they like it or they don’t,  I just move ahead. JAYWON

    So,it’s about me. If you believe in yourself, you go ahead because the people you think will believe in you have other people they will believe in too. It has always worked for me in the Industry, I came from nowhere to Lagos for music and it worked for me. If you cannot look into my life and learn from me or learn from  other successful people that have done it, I don’t think you can get anywhere in life.

    It is not only in entertainment. In all that you do in this life, you must be creative and need to believe in yourself. We can have over one million artistes in the world, but there will be only one Jaywon and if Jaywon produces his own music, then the people that like Jaywon will listen to it.

     You were not nominated at the Headies which you are actually not happy about; what could have happened?

    It’s not that I’m not happy. I know how to ignore such things. But I got on Twitter and I saw people twitting. That shows you that you have done something. So I just picked one of the tweets, the one from a media guy, it is from the creative industry and I know this person understands the industry. It not just ‘Aje’, ‘Saro’ was huge.  Somebody that owns a magazine came in yesterday and he was angry. .

    How is life generally outside music?

    Life has been good. I believe that family is everything. So, I’m trying to see how I can give my family a better life. I have a son, my immediate family are here in Nigeria. I’m trying to see how I can give them a better life and a better future. That’s my priority at the moment, I can’t do music for life. I am still trying to see how I can do other things aside entertainment, politics as well.

     What about marriage?

    I don’t share the idea of being single forever. I believe so much in family, having my own family, but I’m not one of the type from the school of thought that you must get married because others are getting married.  I don’t want to hear that because of my experiences with friends that just got married because their mothers or fathers forced them into it.  I feel like when I find that woman that I can call a wife, nobody will tell me.

     But you have a baby mama; are you not considering her?

    I don’t know yet. I can’t say I’m a principled person, but I’m this kind of person that if I have a relationship, it should not be through entertainment. It’s is either you understand me as an entertainer or as your boyfriend or as your man. I don’t think I have dated anyone from the industry because I don’t want my life out there.

    You mentioned politics, are you thinking about going Into politics someday?

    I might not be contesting but politics is politics. I have this relationship with senator Adeyemi in my state and I’m close to my first lady as well and the governor is our governor and I’m actually trying to contribute my own quarter into supporting them for the coming election.

  • I get advances from men but i don’t allow that to confuse me – Nollywood actress Toyin Alausa

    Nollywood actress, Toyin Alausa, starred in Dayo Amusa’s recently premiered movie ‘Omoniyun’, which brought to the fore the issue of oppression of the girl-child. In this interview with JOE AGBRO JR., she talks about her role in the movie, how women cope in a patriarchal society and her expectation at finding love again. Excerpts:

    Tell us about your role in the movie ‘Omoniyun’

    I played Mama Fiyin. Mama Fiyin is one of those African mothers who have experienced bad marriage. Her first husband left her and she was left to train her daughter Fiyinfolu.

    She shut her eyes to  the molestation her daughter was going through in the hands of  the prince and by the time she wanted to take action, it was already too late. She was just particular about her marriage to the prince.

    I can say she was lackadaisical because if she was attentive, she would have noticed the signs. The warning signs were there but she did not notice them.

    She was busy looking forward to her marriage to the prince and of course that caused her a lot. It actually cost her daughter.

     

    YOU MARRY SOMEBODY WHO HAS TEMPER ISSUES, YOU BEGIN TO GET MOLESTED, AND THEY BEAT YOU UP

    You played the mother of Fiyinfoluwa whose character was played by Seliat Adebowale, a relative newbie. What was it like?

    Surprisingly, I didn’t see her as a newbie because she did quite well and she really put in her best and it was easy for us.

    No matter how professional you think you are, you shouldn’t be too full of yourself because you also can make mistake. So I think we all came together to work as a team.

    It wasn’t a seniority cadre kind of relationship. We didn’t have that kind of relationship. We were more or less like one big family.

    You know we are here to do a job, we have to get it done and we have to do it with love, with mutual respect and that was how it was.

    What exactly came to your mind when you read the script for the first time?

    This is not my first time of working with Dayo. I know she takes care of details and her stories are always unique. So when I read ‘Omoniyun’ and I saw my character, I was angry with my character.

    And I could relate it to a true life experience; you know when you are molested by someone who you are entrusted to, who is supposed to be your guardian, who is supposed to be your protector and then the person is the one molesting you.

    You are just alone in the world because nobody is going to believe me. It is your world against his. So when I read that part, I said aaah, I wish I could have been able to do something different, like this is the way it’s supposed to be. I wished this was what I was going to do but well, that’s how the story goes.

    The fear of stigmatization has lured a lot of women into marriages especially in Nigeria, and Africa by extension.

    What would you want to say to women who find themselves in situations like that?

    Candidly, I think the African society hasn’t been too fair on women. And in this dispensation, in this generation,  women are trying to do things differently.

    They are beginning to believe more in themselves than the standard that the society has raised for them. Coming to your question, the truth of the matter is, if the deed has been done, there is nothing we can do other than to live either with the regret or to live with the mistake.

    Or if you can correct or undo the wrong that has been done, you can undo it. If you can correct the mistakes, then you try as much as possible to correct the mistakes.

    But don’t allow the society to push you into what you do not want. Don’t let them set a standard for your life. If you are not prepared for marriage or if you have not gotten the right partner, you don’t have to stay because of family pressure, peer pressure, societal pressure, or religious pressure too.

    Read Also: Why I sampled my herbs with friends – Toyin Abraham

    There are some churches who just believe, if you are of  age, they will match make you and  get you married whether you like it or not. And these are the things that now bounce back.

    You marry somebody who has temper issues, you begin to get molested, and they beat you up. You marry someone who is impotent, who has hidden it from you, and then you now live with that regret.

    You know, there are so many things that happen at the end of the day when you have been pushed or forced or coerced as the case may be, into marriage before you want to. You know, when the deed has been done, you just live with the regret or try and make a correction.

     At 41, you still look beautiful, do you still get advances from men?

    Well, yes I get advances from men but I don’t allow that to confuse me, let me use that word. I don’t allow that to confuse me.

    I am not somebody who  is going to be pushed into what I am not ready for. I believe at the right time with the right person, whatever expectations we have will come to pass.

     And what makes a man, the right the person for you?

    Well,  when I see the qualities I desire in a man,  I will know I’ve seen them.

    What measures do you think the government could take to stem the menace of rape?

    They should make the punishment more severe so that it gives people a mental alertness in their heart, and in their mind.

    Let the punishment be more severe.. Whoever goes through rape or molestation, I promise you that no matter how young that child or that lady or that boy is, it stays in the memory. It only takes one incident to trigger it. And they will remember.

    The flashes of the event will come. So, there is no amount of punishment that they give them that would really minimize the effect on the victim.

    The only thing is, let it sink in their hearts and in their head that if they do this and they are caught, this is the punishment. I believe that if they put in more weighty and severe conditions or punishment as it may be, to the offence of rape and child molestation, it will help curb it and reduce it.

  • Revenue shortfall is the biggest challenge in the power sector — Niger Delta Power Holding Company MD Ugbo

    One of the major challenges that the nation has been grappling with and has defied solution is erratic power supply. Apart from the problem of corruption, putting square pegs in round holes has been a major bane of the power sub-sector. However, the appointment of Chiedu Ugbo as Managing Director of Niger-Delta Power Holding Company was seen as a welcome development because the Infrastructure Regulation specialist knows the nitty-gritty of Nigeria’s energy ecosystem and architecture like the back of his palms. In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, Ugbo narrates his journey and how he has been able to brave the challenges to complete about 100 power projects across the country. Excerpts:

    Prior to your appointment in the public service, not very much was known about you. Let’s have a glimpse into your background in the energy industry and what the experience has been, given your private sector background?

    As you well know, I am a lawyer. I was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1991. I had my first degree in Law from the University of Lagos; the same university from which I also had my master’s degree, also in Law. I was in private practice since my call to the bar up until 2015. I worked in a few law firms for many years before I co-founded a law firm, Benchmac & Ince, with a colleague in 2003.

    I started my first electric power work in 1999 with a review of the Lagos Enron Independent Power Project (IPP), which later moved to AES. We acted for NEPA then. After that, we negotiated several other PPAs (Power Purchase Agreement) for IPPs like Ibom Power, Agip (Okpai) and Shell Afam VI (Power Plant in Rivers State),among others.

    There was a law review that eventually allows for the private generation of power. Prior to that time, NEPA (the defunct National Electric Power Authority) was a monopoly across the value chain – all the segments from generation to transmission and distribution were under NEPA.

    By 1998/1999, there was an amendment to the law, which allows the private sector – the independent power producers to come and generate and send to utility – utility then being NEPA.

    So, it was the first of its kind; although you could argue that the private sector had been there because the Nigeria Electricity Supply Company, Jos, has been around since 1929. So, this is the first of its kind where the IPPs will come and generate their own utility.

    The IPP is a known transaction all over the world but they were just coming into Nigeria at the time through the Lagos Enron IPP. I was at George Ikoli & Okagbue at the time. So we acted as advisers to NEPA working with foreign lawyers as well. I was more like the associate doing the work.

    In 2005, I was embedded at the Bureau of Public Enterprises to provide external counsel support under a DFID-funded Senior Legal Support project, which was at the heart of the electric power sector reform and several other reforms. Because I had a head start in the electric power sector, I was a little more involved in the reform.

    As a lawyer, if you want to work in a specialised industry, the best thing to do is to study the industry to understand how things work there.

    That is why they say lawyers are versatile. For instance, I have taken non-law related courses. In 2006, I went to study the basics of electricity in Canada; I was at the Canadian Energy Research Institute where I studied the fundamentals of electricity industry restructuring, which gave me sufficient insights and knowledge of the electricity supply industry.

    That helped when I was embedded at BPE by the UK/DFID. I was there between 2005 and 2009. So, we were dealing with the issues coming out of the reform. Incidentally, the project manager of the power sector reform at the time, Mr. Chudi Ojukwu, is also a lawyer; he came all the way from law school as a lecturer with a strong interest in electric power sector reforms. He did a good job.

    So, right now, one has historical, institutional and of course, professional experience, as well.

    By 2010, there was a renewed interest in privatisation. Then, I had gone back to my practice. In fact, I had gone off to do the port concession of Sierra Leone in Freetown. So when I came back, the then new DG of the BPE, Ms Bolanle Onagoruwa, got me a DFID contract again when they wanted to start the full privatisation.

    But before then, I had joined a consortium to bid for transaction advisory services for the privatisation. So when the consortium won and wanted to start the project, I had to move over to the consortium as part of the privatisation transaction advisory legal team.

    In fact, I coordinated the legal workstream, which was a multi-discipline team consisting of financial and investment advisers, technical advisers and other relevant professionals; but I did this while interfacing with Herbert Smith Freehills (an international law firm in London and other parts of the world).

    We did that all through the time the privatisation exercise lasted. I was also subsequently invited by Nexant of USA to work with them in providing technical support to the BPE under the USAID Fund in the privatisation of Omotosho 1 and Olorunsogo 1 PHCN power plants.

    These two plants were built under a Chinese loan that they needed to convert to equity. So we had to advise on the privatisation with purchase consideration largely paid by debt-to-equity conversion; I worked with Nexant of USA on the transaction, which was very successful and those plants are now run by Pacific Energy.

    The power plants are both in grid commercial operations.

    That done, I was also invited to support the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, otherwise known as NBET still under the USAID Fund.

    The NBET was set up by the Federal Government during the reforms as a credit enhancement measure because as at the time of privatisation, it was clear to everybody that distribution will not be creditworthy but there was also the need to quickly increase generation.

    And if you want to mobilise capital for generation and you don’t have a creditworthy off-taker, lenders will not be able to put their money down. So, NBET was put in the middle so that lenders will see government-backed off-takers that will encourage them to put money into generation.

    So NBET was set up to help mobilise investment in generation. Consequently, NBET signed the power purchase agreements (PPA) with the PHCN successor generation companies (now privatised), they signed PPA with the Omotosho I and Olorunsogo I power companies.

    They also signed a PPA for a new IPP – Azura in Benin. Several solar PPAs were also negotiated presently awaiting completion. I assisted in the processes under the USAID Africa Infrastructure Program and subsequently under the USAID Power Africa Transaction and Reform Program.

    ‘Revenue shortfall is the biggest challenge in the power sector’

    I was there till 2015 when the administration of His Excellency, President Mohammadu Buhari, came in. By October 2015, I was invited to join the Advisory Power Team in the Office of the Vice-President which was set up by Mrs. Damilola Ogunbiyi.

    I was subsequently made a Senior Special Assistant to the President on Power Privatisation. I also doubled as Acting Head of the Advisory Power Team, which I did till June 2016 when I was appointed the Acting Managing Director of the Niger-Delta Power Holding Company Limited. By August 25, 2016, I was appointed the substantive Managing Director. And since then, God has been helping us.

    To the second part of your question, the difference in the environment is just the bureaucracy associated with the public sector.

    The NDPHC was set up as a fast-track company to do electric power projects. It is a private limited liability company to be governed by the rules of company law but it must also bear in mind that it is owned 100% by the governments of the federation: the Federal Government holds 47% of the shares, states holding for themselves and the local governments in their territories hold 53%. So, the money belongs to Nigeria and the shares are held by Nigerian governments.

    Read Also: Senate probes GenCos over unsteady power supply

    What that tells you is that you must balance speed with the process. You are supposed to run very fast but again, you must not ignore the bureaucracy that comes with public service, which is meant for accountability.

    You must go through the processes. You must go through the Bureau of Public Procurement in your procurements; you must get all the necessary approvals for your activities.

    I have to state that the BPP has been supportive and helpful. They understand our processes. They too have to work as Public Service.

    So, we are answerable to the board, made up of bureaucrats and political leaders: six governors, each representing the geo-political zones, and four ministers, including the Attorney-General of the Federation, Minister of Finance, Minister of Power and Minister of Petroleum Resources; and we have His Excellency, the Vice President, that chairs the board.

    The company literally belongs to the National Economic Council – they are the shareholders. The board structure reflects that shareholding with the Vice President as the Chairman.

    The board has been very responsive. In fact, the board sits every month because I have to bring my procurement activities requiring board approvals for their approval in accordance with the procurement rules – the CEO does not have the sole authority to approve every procurement.

    He has a limited threshold beyond which Tenders’ Board approval is required up to a particular limit and, thereafter, the approval of the Company’s Board.

    Remember, our activities involve operation and maintenance of electric power stations, and construction of transmission and distribution stations often involving procurement of expensive equipment which must necessarily go to BPP for “no objection” and the necessary authorities for approvals. With that illustration, you can see that you must always bear in mind that you are in the public sector, even though you want to get things done as fast as a private company would, so, creating that balance is key.

    As a lawyer and someone appointed to effect speedy growth in the company, don’t you think there is a need to relax the law a bit to provide for more freedom in the operations of the company?

    I have no problems with the law as it is. It only makes us more accountable.

    But it slows down the process, having to wait on the board to get certain stuff done…

    Yes, it may look like it slows down the process but we have to be accountable. Don’t forget that enterprise managers are human beings. I won’t support the review of a process that could ultimately be liable to abuse. I can only talk about myself.

    What happens when somebody else with ulterior motives comes on board after my time here? So, let’s flow through the process. Note, however, that our board is not a problem because the board meets frequently.

    Another area that sometimes throws up a challenge is employment. You have to follow federal character. Don’t get me wrong; in every part of the country you can get brilliant minds, but you will need the approval of the Federal Character Commission or waiver, which can take time. It could slow the process sometimes, but you just have to ensure that you carry everybody along, especially in the NDPHC that’s owned by everybody.

    The challenge might come where, for instance, you need a finance person and the qualified person might not come from the state that has the quota.

    State A may have the qualified person but it has used up its quota, while the person who applied from that state with quota may not have the qualification in the vacant field; so, you have to restart the search.

    But then, I always tell my colleagues that the federal character is meant to give everybody a sense of belonging, and it is good to forge that sense of unity too.

    I believe and I have indeed seen that at this stage of our national development, every state in Nigeria has professionals in every field.

    Prior to your appointment, the National Independent Power Project (NIPP) was enmeshed in corruption and it was said to be a conduit through which a huge sum of money was siphoned.

    ]How far has the company gone about recovering the said funds from the contractors that took money without executing the jobs?

    The NDPHC was set up in 2005 as a vehicle to implement the NIPP, a government project. Just like every other organisation where you hear about things that happened in the past but we were not there then.

    I believe the law enforcement agencies are well-equipped to determine if indeed there was a fraud. However, the fact on the ground is that the company has 10 power plants, eight of them already generating power to the grid; two not completed at all. Out of the eight, two are partially complete.

    The company has also implemented the construction of several transmission and distribution projects. So, one cannot rule out the fact that in implementing these projects back then, certain things might have happened that called for the on-going investigations to truly know what happened then.

    I wasn’t there during the period under investigation and until the investigation is concluded, one cannot say in specific terms what led to what, even though a recent newspaper headline linked N1.5 billion to a former NDPHC chief.

    In fact, the report says about N8.3 billion must have been mismanaged or stolen….

    I don’t know. As I said, I was not there at the time. However, I know judging from what I met on the gro und that we have uncompleted projects.

    There was a contractor who had four power plants to construct for the NIPP, none of which was ever completed.

    Ordinarily, it should not have taken more than 36 months to complete. Granted there was a delay during the power probe between 2007 and 2009; if they started in 2010, they were expected to have commissioned the projects by 2013, or at most, 2015.

    What about 2016? But here we are in 2019 and the contractor has not completed anyone of them. They only did two partially.

    You stated that you have 10 power plants, how many of these are in operation?

    We have 10 power generation projects. I mentioned to you that eight are already connected to the grid. Those eight will give you somewhere around 4,000 MW installed capacity.

    Associated with the generation projects are gas transportation infrastructure projects ensuring that gas flows to the station; those ones have also been completed. As at today, we do an average of 700MW out of 4,000MW because of transmission limitations.

    This is how it works with power generation – transmission is what determines the generation. Unlike other products, electricity generated is not what you can store and keep somewhere. You have to generate at about the same time the distribution companies are ready for them.

    If not, the transmission system will collapse. Transmission determines whether we should generate or not. When a certain amount of megawatt is generated, it has to be transmitted. The constraint has to basically do with the transmission lines based on off-take from distribution companies.

    Transmission controls us to generate or not; it will not call you up in the morning to generate or call every one hour to either come down or go up, it is a whole process. The argument is that there is no demand and by that, I mean bulk demand at the distribution end.

    And the argument is impacting on generation companies. So, you can see why I said about the average of 700MW compared to 4,000MW installed capacity

    There is also a gas constraint. We have about 2,000 MW in the western axis from Olorunsogo in Ogun State to Omotosho in Ondo State to Benin to Sapele to Geregu.

    I need about 400mmscf (abbreviation for million standard cubic feet, a common measure for volume of gas) of gas to run them but only have been able to mobilise 100mmscf, which is barely enough to run 400MW out of 2,000MW in the West. But in our power plant in the East, we have excess gas.

    We have full gas for Calabar and Alaoji Power Plants. We have full gas for Gbarain Power Plant. These are the three operational ones in the East. So our transmission constraint is well over our gas constraint; but there is a gas constraint, no doubt.

    So how do you mitigate all these constraints?

    We just signed a 60 mmscf gas agreement with Chevron Nigeria for Olorunshogo Power Plant.

    To mitigate evacuation, we are working directly with distribution companies in our areas to see if we can supply directly to distribution companies and end-users. We have signed a few contracts in that regard.

    But there’s the gas challenge and the evacuation challenge, while the biggest challenge in the industry is the revenue shortfall.

    Picture it this way: we have 4,000MW, we don’t get dispatched; we don’t get more than 700MW daily because there’s no enough evacuation capability due to distribution constraints. Even that 700MW we do, when we put in our invoice, we get paid an average of 25% on a monthly basis because NBET remits exactly the percentage they get from the distribution companies who claim that what NBET charges is way above what they approve for them to collect from customers. That is the tariff shortfall.

    But in addition to that, there is also what they call the market shortfall, which is what distribution companies on their own are not able to meet, so these are the challenges.

    To get around these challenges again, the former Minister of Power, Babatunde Fashola, did what is called ‘Eligible Customer Declaration’ under the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, which allows us to seek high net-worth consumers and supply directly so that we do bilateral contract with them and collect our money. They are not so many but we are doing that to improve our revenue.

    We are also working with distribution companies to mitigate that and to also do end-to-end…like from our power plant to the end-users. We are looking at the arrangement with our power plant in Ogun State.

    We hope to work with the Lagos State government to start with certain areas on how to supply 24/7 electricity end to end where all the issues are cleared; and supply directly, get the payment directly. But we must carry the distribution companies along.

    How do you intend to get to the rural communities?

    One of the ways we have tried to overcome this is through massive investment in transmission. We just commissioned the 2x60MVA transmission sub-station in Ogun State. It is a major transmission sub-station.

    We expanded the Ota transmission station, and we did a new line from Ota to old Abeokuta sub-station. These transmission interventions are done to improve transmission.

    Once Ibadan Disco starts taking, what that means is that there is more energy and more access for Ibadan Distribution Company to serve.

    We are doing similar things all over the country. We are doing Lafia transmission project in Nassarawa – it is a major transmission project.

    We are also working on Ihiala now, also a major transmission project in Anambra State that would have electricity supplied to Nnewi industrial areas, so that all these will ease evacuation bottlenecks, and then we are able to generate more.

    For instance, nothing stops us from generating from Alaoji Power Plant directly to serve Nnewi consumers but the transmission corridor is constrained. However, with Ihiala, that will open up.

    We did a massive one in Ikot Ekpene. So we have transmissions all over the country.

    To answer how to get to the rural area, in a nutshell, we are making investments in the transmission that the distribution companies won’t make, and connecting them to the grid to give room for more people to be served and be able to generate more.

    We are also building several distribution projects and deploying solar home systems. So far, we have deployed 20,000 units to homes.