Retired Nigerian photo-journalist Otunba Dipo Onabanjo in this interview with GBOYEGA ALAKA speaks on his decades of experience in active journalism, his encounter covering the JJ Rawlings coup, Mathieu Kerekou of Benin Republic coup and years in the presidential media entourage. He clocked 77 yesterday.

You clocked 77 years on mother earth yesterday August 15 , can you tell us a bit of your exploits as a photo journalist back in your hay days?

I started work as a photo journalist at the age of 20 in 1964. I was already active during the January 1966 coup in which Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa was kidnapped and murdered. I’ve been around for a while and have seen enough to be able to comment on affairs in this country. We worked hard for this country and that is why I’m of the opinion that all these people stealing our collective wealth should be punished, like J.J. Rawlings did in Ghana. I covered Rawlings during the coup that brought him to power; I even met him personally and we became friends. I have so many photographs of me and him. Let them put these thieves in front of their family house and flog the hell out of them. It will serve as a deterrent and things will change like it did in Ghana.

You have spoken loftily of former Ghanaian president, John Jerry Rawlings; tell us about and your friendship with him.

On the day of the Rawlings coup in June 1979, I had gone to cover an assignment in Ikeja; but as I was heading back to the office, I got information that a molue bus had plunged into the lagoon on the Eko Bridge; so I went to cover that mishap. As soon as I got to the office, Segun Osoba, who was then Acting Editor of Daily times, summoned my senior editor to come and proceed to Ghana because there had been a coup there. Before then, Rawlings was in prison. He was detained by Acheampong; but he escaped to go and participate in the coup. But my editor was afraid to go because he heard that Rawlings was brutal and killing people. When I heard about it, I said I would go. I told them he was not a lion that would just pounce on anybody.

I left Lagos with my car, a Peugeot 504. On getting to Aflao Station, the border was blocked. Usually whenever there was a coup, the borders were shut; so I couldn’t go through. I toyed with the idea of leaving my car and walking through the footpath, and then I saw a guide; I told him of my mission to Accra and if he could help me. He said it would cost me 20 Cedis. Quickly, I agreed. It was nothing compared to the nearly one million cedis (N3,000) in my pocket. He led me through bush paths and we entered Accra. Along the way, we were stopped by security operatives. They asked where I was going and I told them I had been in Accra, wanted to go to Nigeria but couldn’t because the border was closed. If I had told them I was coming from Nigeria, I would have been in a big trouble, because they would have asked how I got through. Long story short, they allowed me passage into Accra. I entered Accra at about 11.30 in the night. I asked around and found a hotel in Osu, which was near the presidential lodge. Naturally, I filled a form, which was sent to the security. That way, they became aware that a certain Nigerian photo journalist was lodged in the hotel.

Unknown to me, Rawlings had sent a spy, a certain doctor, to keep an eye on me. I carried on with my activities and soon teamed up with some Ghanaian Times crew to cover events, which I sent to Lagos. The fact that I also had a car endeared me to them because most of them didn’t own one. I usually sent the films through the airport in Ghana to the airport in Lagos. We had an airport correspondent who’d pick it up at the Presidential Lounge and deliver at the office.

How did you meet Rawlings?

Every evening, I’d be at the bar, drinking beer, not knowing that the Rawlings spy was just beside me. Meanwhile, most of our discussions centred on Rawlings revolutionary activities, which I always praised to high heavens. I always said he was the kind of man we needed in Nigeria – at that time, Obasanjo was head of state. Aside that, most of my reports were sent to the high commission, and they ended up being sent to Rawlings in Accra. Reports got to Rawlings that I was his admirer and always praising him; so he invited me to the government house.

When the invitation came, I refused to go. I was afraid that he may kill me. He was very brutal at the time. I said I would not go until I heard from the Nigeria High Commissioner in Accra. It was when words came from the High Commission that there was no problem that I now went. When we got there, he embraced me and we discussed. I also took many photographs.

How many people did he kill to get into power?

I really can’t tell but his government later killed General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong. Actually, he did not want to kill anybody. He called on them to bring out the money they had stolen, which Acheampong refused. He even granted his request to speak to a world press, but when they got there, he denied that he had any money with him. He was executed at the beach by firing squad. Lieut. Gen Frederick W.K Akuffo was also executed. There was uproar that Rawlings was killing former heads of states; so Obasanjo intervened. He threatened to cut off the supply of oil to Ghana if he didn’t stop; so Rawlings was forced to stop.

Thereafter, they embarked on house to house search. Those who were found to have kept looted money in their freezers were brought out and publicly flogged 24 strokes in front of their house. When others saw what was happening, they started bringing out their loots.

Did Ghana become better?

In a sense, yes. He was able to stop the hoarding of money and other essential goods and prices then came down. When he now took over as a civilian government, things started looking up and Ghanaians who were on the streets in Nigeria doing odd jobs now gradually went back home.

You also covered the coup in Benin Republic.

Yes, that was earlier in 1972. There was a coup in Benin Republic; Mathieu Kerekou had overthrown the three heads of state in that country. Then, they had three heads of state in Benin. On that occasion again, they asked my photo editor to go but he excused himself. I stepped forward. Then, I didn’t have a car, so I went on my vespa, with a messenger. I asked the despatch rider to go with me, so that if I had any photographs to deliver, he would just cross the border to Nigeria and deliver it. However, when I got to Idiroko that night, the border too was closed. Some of my friends there with whom I sat to have a drink didn’t want me to go. They were afraid for me, so they tried to get me drunk by giving me bottle upon bottle. But I was not afraid. I was literally born with a lion heart. I had been like that since I was a kid.

Was it courage or passion?

I think it’s the two – courage and passion. I was never the press conference type. I liked to go where there was a problem or trouble and I can break the news. I was never afraid of death. And that was why I so enjoyed the job.

What was the role of Osoba in your life?

Osoba inspired me in life. Don’t forget, it was he who discovered the slain Tafawa Balewa’s corpse somewhere in Ota. He was one of the editors that would push you to go the extra mile and have your back. That gave us confidence. So I loved the job.

Clearly, you loved adventure. Did you have near death experiences?

Yes. There was a time when the mercenaries’ invaded Benin Republic to overthrow Kerekou. They came in through the airport. When I got there, I went to an uncompleted house on the way to the airport. Unknown to me, the mercenaries had overrun the airport and were targeting the state house. So where I was hiding to take photographs, the bullets were flying over my head. Literally, I was caught in between the mercenaries and the forces loyal to President Kerekou. I took photos of the bullets. That was in 1979.

You took that much risk? Did you have insurance cover?

There was no insurance. It was just the love for the job and adventure. Even the salary wasn’t big. I don’t think I earned up to N500 then at Daily Times. At a time, I was earning five pounds as salary at Daily Sketch. Besides, money wasn’t an issue then. We were satisfied with what we earned. I actually joined Daily Times because of because it was a bigger platform. Yusuf Oladele was our chief photographer during my time at Daily Times.

How did you develop such of passion?

As a student back then at Ade Odutola College, Ijebu Ode, I loved photography. There was a man; we called him Baba Shittu, who worked with Daily Express as a photojournalist. He had a peculiar way of carrying his camera bag, which endeared him to me; and the next day, I would see his name in the paper. So I said to myself, ‘I love this job.’ So I started taking photographs in school. Sometimes, I’d even be invited to follow some newspapers on assignments.

You could afford a camera back then?

My aunty made me a clerk at her textile shop, where I helped her record sales, those who owed her and stuff. One day, somebody came to pay some owed sum; but instead of delivering the money, I used it to buy a camera at Kingsway. Somehow I escape punishment because she didn’t know the person had paid back. However, when she saw the camera, she said: ‘Where did you get money to buy this kind of camera? You must have used my money.’ But that query ended when I took some photographs of her, developed them and handed them over to her. She was happy and that settled that matter.

It’s somewhere in your bio-data that you went to American School of photography?

No, it was a correspondence course. It was the certificate I used to join one international news agency in Nigeria. Thereafter, I joined Daily Sketch. I was based in Lagos. From Daily Sketch, I joined Daily times. It was London that I went. I attended Collie-MacMillan College, Aldermoston Court, Reading United Kingdom and Elephant and Castle Printing College, London, between 1974 and 1976. I also studied Mass Communication at the University of Lagos.

Tell us about the 1966 coup, your relationship with General Yakubu Gowon and events of that time.

The January 1966 coup is one coup I will never forget in my life. That night I went somewhere and I remember telling someone that it looks like something is going to happen, because I was seeing some unusual things. So I was not surprised when I heard that the prime minister and Okotie Eboh had been kidnapped. It was later that Segun Osoba got the information that Tafawa Balewa’s body had been dumped by a footpath at Ota. Osoba discovered the corpse after the Prime Minister had been declared wanted.

But that coup didn’t last before Ironsi was assassinated in July in Ibadan and Gowon now came in. Gowon now appointed Awolowo as Finance Commissioner and second in command to help him run the administration because he didn’t know how to save money. Gowon was a young, honest and easy-going gentleman Head of State. Where he failed was when he announced that the initial 1976 hand-over date to civil rule was no longer realistic. But he wasn’t really the one behind that decision; it was those who were with him. He was overthrown and Murtala Muhammed took over.

Why was General Murtala Muhammed assassinated? People said he was dealing with corruption and doing good things.

I believe Murtala should have been given the chance to rule; but he was assassinated by Colonel Dimka. You see, Nigerians are very funny people. When they love you, they don’t see your bad side. Nigerians love Murtala because of the way he died. Let’s ask ourselves what happened in Bendel. Let those in position of power who knew what happened tell us. Ejoor was administrators then. What happened to banks there? People see Murtala as a hero. But would those he sacked and their relatives see him as a hero? Was it not Murtala that gave Abiola the ITT contract that he did not do that made him a millionaire?

What kind of man was Dimka, who led the coup that assassinated Murtala?

Dimka was a sportsman. He was also a drunkard. He wasn’t the type that could have dabbled into a coup because he was inept. And that was why the coup failed.

Some said he was a front for some people – like Bissalla who was later indicted and executed with Dimka

Bisalla was executed because they thought he was helping Gowon to come back, alongside Gomwalk of Plateau state. They were all from Gowon’s area.

You don’t seem to believe that theory?

No. Gowon was a gentleman; utterly honest. He did not even have a house of his own when he was head of state. He was cheerful and had no airs. Gowon and I used to carry chairs to sit and discuss. He remains one of Nigeria’s freest heads of state.

A lot of people believe Awolowo was frustrated because he never became president

Awolowo was never frustrated. That he never ruled is why some people are regretting till today. See what he did in Western Region as Premier? If Zik had agreed to work with Awo whether as President of Vice President, Nigeria would have been among the greatest countries in the world today. I think their problem was that both, as masters, could not work together. Zik, in a way, disappointed Awolowo because Awolowo called on him to form a coalition; but Zik, seeing himself as the beautiful bride went with the Northern Progressive Congress (NPC) who offered him the position of Governor.

It seems Awo curried hatred of the Igbo with his role in cutting off food supplies to the zone, which ended the war.

Awo was doing his job. He didn’t want the country to disintegrate and he took that decision to end the war. It was a strategy and it worked. Awolowo loved the Igbos; he has many Igbo friends. I have an Igbo friend who told me that Awolowo saved his life and family. People see things differently. Besides, you cannot satisfy everybody. I believe Awolowo tried his best for the country.

How would you assess governance today?

I think Tinubu has done well. Current Lagos State governor, Sanwo-Olu is also doing well. They have transformed Lagos. Yoruba may not appreciate Tinubu until he passes on or become old. And he has done so much for the Yoruba race by nurturing lieutenants. He has given the Yoruba a voice in the affairs of things.

But some say he likes to have everything to himself.

Nooo. Tinubu is a man who can even give his eyes to people. I’m not a politician; neither am I trying to campaign for him. But I have met him personally and I know him well. If the Yoruba knows the value of Tinubu, they will rally round him.

What’s your opinion of Obasanjo

Obasanjo is a very intelligent man. He’s the type that would hardly talk at a meeting but what he will do is in his mind. If Obasanjo and Tinubu can work together, then Nigeria will be one of the greatest countries on the planet. Obasanjo knows Yoruba well, the same way he knows the Hausa and the Igbo.

But the Igbo are feeling like they are not getting their rightful placing in the affairs of Nigeria

Yes; the massacre of the Igbo back in the ’60s is still fresh in their mind. The Hausa do not trust Igbo. That is the problem we have and that may be why they have yet to produce a president. But everything is in the hand of God. Tomorrow an Igbo can become president. After all, we have had Igbo vice president. If you ask me, that boy, (Chukwuma) Nzeogu started the whole problem. Why did he kill Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa and others? He masterminded that January 1966 coup.

You’re saying the mass killing of the Igbo over 50 years ago is responsible for the bitterness among them?

It doesn’t matter. It’s not easy to forget such a thing, no matter the number of years.

Do you think that (January 1966) coup led to Nigeria’s problem?

Yes of course. That’s why we’ve not got to where we are going. Okay, what did we gain from that coup? Practically nothing.

Maybe we would have gained if the coup was successful

It was successful; after all, Ironsi became president. I think the mistake Ironsi made was to have surrounded himself with Hausa guides. He did not trust his Igbo compatriots. Of course you know how he was killed and how Fajuyi insisted on not allowing them take his guest away. That was a testimony that Yoruba are not traitors.

You’ve spoken well of Gowon, but it was the same Gowon who jailed Wole Soyinka.

My reply to that is: Was it Gowon who tried the case? What was Soyinka’s offence? Soyinka went to Western Region radio to make a broadcast. It was a treasonable offence. Besides, he was arrested in Ibadan, not Lagos

Talking about present day Nigeria, the same corruption that Nzeogwu cited is still very much with us 50 years after.

My brother, corruption cannot stop in Nigeria.

Why? How do you mean?

The government is not looking after the people. How can someone work 30/35 years and when he’s retiring, he has nothing guaranteed for him. No entitlement in three, four years. If government does not want corruption, then if I work in a place for 35 years and I’m about to retire, they should arrange a house for me, arrange my money; if I’m entitled to the car I’m using, give it to me. Then I will not look to steal. But if I work in a place for so long and I have nothing to show for it, even my son will abuse me. Your friends will abandon you. So unless we put these things right, we may just be deceiving ourselves. If you arrest somebody today for stealing in office and you put somebody else there, he will do the same thing – because he does not want to suffer.

But the kind of money some of people are stealing are the kind they cannot finish in their lifetime.

That one is greed. If a man can have even three, five million and a house, what else is he looking for? Do they want to go to heaven with the money? That is why I love Buhari. He made us know that people are stealing billions.

But none of them have been punished…

It is our judiciary. Some lawyers work for judges to dabaru cases. Aside that, when they jail them in court; the next thing, they’re in the hospital, relaxing, claiming some phantom illness.

How would you assess the Buhari government?

The Buhari government is not bad at all. The Nigerian situation is a case of something that has spoilt. It cannot be fixed overnight over-night. And he’s lucky to have people like Raji Fashola, Vice President Osinbajo and even Asiwaju’s backing.

But people are saying that he’s inactive; that so many killings are going on under him.

Was there any time there were no killings in Nigeria. If you ask me, the noise is political. It will be a gradual thing. You’ll recall that just a few years ago, you couldn’t drive your car in Lagos? Armed robbers would waylay you at gun point and snatch it, even kill you if you don’t behave yourself. They even attack and rob houses. For some time now, I’ve not heard of robbery of any kind. Yes, he promised to stop it but it has to be little by little. Rome was not built in a day.

Would Abiola have become a better president?

Yes but at the end of the day, he would have pandered to the North. Abiola won because he had done so many things in the North and they loved him. Tofa could not have won that election because he did not even register for the election. I was in Kano to cover Tofa and I can tell you authoritatively that he did not vote. So that tells you that he never planned to contest and was just packaged at the last minute. That may also imply that the stage was set for an Abiola victory unopposed. He just drove round in his car, gave us money and went back into his house. I came back to Lagos the same day.

Why do you think Babangida annulled that election?

Was he the one that annulled it? I’m sorry to say but most of the top Yoruba people at the time were behind the annulment. Most of the people that had meetings with Abiola were the same people who went to Babangida again to work against Abiola. They just used Babangida.

What’s your assessment of journalism today and back in your days?

Things have changed. You people are in the computer age and you can send your stories and photographs from anywhere in the world instantly. It was not so in our days.

Do you think the Nigerian media is playing its role well?

The Nigerian media is one of the best in the world. I’ve travelled to so many countries. We have courageous journalists who can go to any length to get news. I used to be in the presidential entourage and I’ve been to America, India, Europe; so I can speak authoritatively on this.

Violet Areene is a broadcaster, activist and former GM, Total Quality Management Development department at NNPC. In this interview with Yetunde Oladeinde, the Amazon who clocked 78 recently opens up on early life, how she rejected early marriage and how she traversed the humanities.

 

WHAT is the secret of aging gracefully?

The secret is having peace with God first and with your fellow men. To me, God is everything. I am a faith person, I believe in the lord Jesus Christ. Once you are hooked in that direction, you would be watered. Those planted by the rivers of water, would be watered by the Lord, would be flourishing like the cedars of Lebanon.

What are some of the principles that you hold on to?

The principles are when you go to bed without any animosity, people would hurt you and you will hurt people too, but we are not meant to co-exist with bitterness. It’s anti-God because there is nothing anyone can do to you that would define you. Everything is tied to God and you to him. So, why should you carry unforgiveness. So, why should you nurture anger and contemplate violence. We must have forgiveness, a clean heart and a clean hands. God says walk before me and be perfect but keep it in focus, so that you should not carry anything we should not carry. So, I would say that the secret of life is to make sure that you find God and hook up with Him. Then you get to key into your line of destiny and purpose and then you let him be your burden bearer. Let him be your beacon.

Let’s do a flashback, what were your dreams as a young girl?

Having grown up in a very poor background and in my generation, we were rarely expected to achieve anything beyond getting married, being the wife of a man, having children, satisfying your in-laws. Somehow, I rejected it. I didn’t know why I believed that I could be somebody in the circumstance of the 40s, when there were no human rights organisations like we have now. I believed and something in me told me that I would be somebody in life. My father first of all gave me education and that inspired everything. His stubbornness to train up a girl was broken when they pressured him into handling me over to someone for early marriage in 1958 and I was 15 years old. I ran away and I just sabotaged everything by making myself seriously obnoxious, maybe unmarriageable. They stopped my school fees and I was withdrawn from school, thinking I would change my mind. Later on, there was reconciliation and this young man, it was not his fault, he wanted a wife. And they went to pull out a firebrand from the college. I was taking first position in class at that time and I loved education. So, I told them it was not for me and it was a serious feud between the two families. But they made it up and my dad apologised. He was a good man.

Let’s talk about some memorable moments in life?

I was very happy about continuing my education because the pressure was all against it. I was very happy to get into university in spite of everything and I loved academics.

What did you study?

I studied history. I also did Latin in those days. The missionaries taught us a lot. I did Latin for the first year at the University of Ibadan, and then I changed to French,  Sociology and History. My first degree was in History, I was a university scholar because I loved it, I just excelled in academics. But then in history I was not challenged enough and I went into and I went into education. So, I  actually like philosophy because we did a lot of that, talk classic education. I traversed the  humanities and  that positioned me to deal with human development, management and leadership.

Tell us about the first job that you did?

The very first job I did after graduating was to teach. I taught and some of my students are big people now. There was one I met in December when I went to the village, he is an old man now, they made me look old, he had worked and retired .The real students that went through me are the movers and shakers of NNPC. When I got into NNPC, it was divinely ordained. I taught them management, you couldn’t pick up a manager in NNPC without passing through me.

What are some of the other things you have done?

I was president of AWLO. I was in AWLO for three years and I learnt a lot about the women’s movement through Dr Elisha but time came when I had to leave, because I saw my destiny in the other direction. I said this is what I love doing, it is development. Human Developer, now not just talking about it but doing something about it. I’m a primary capacity builder, management consultant, leadership and women are my forte. So, women need capacity building. Not just enough to make them have self discovery stuff. We are past self discovery, every woman who has self discovery alone is too late. They have to come out of the cradle and become bloom, somewhere. We don’t need to pursue leadership, or just want to be a minister. But where you have leadership as the forte of women

That leadership is a form of influence. You better get properly prepared where you are by influencing for good because that is the role, turning many to righteousness. Let me tell you my sister, we do blame men but everything a man does, the woman had responsibility for it. If we have grown dubious human beings, where were the women who brought them up from the cradle. What indoctrination did they give them, that God gave you, where did you put it in the first place. So, in my book, you will see the chapter on women. And I have said that whatever our men become, let’s shut up our mouth, we have caused it to happen that way. We better get education, get capacity building, get knowledge and impart in our children because God in his wisdom entrusted mankind to us , in its most vulnerable form. Remember Winston Churchill..

He didn’t pass but he remembered what his mum must have told him, never to give up. He was the greatest warrior of the 2nd World War. He led the Allies to victory. It is what his mum must have done. We are responsible whenever you are taking leadership, women must be there, women are the first leaders, the first partner of men. The ongoing leaders, the last leaders. Men go before us and we continued as grandmothers. So, when I found out, I knew I needed to write about it. To set up capacity building and I got partnership with America and I am not talking about giving people sewing machines here.

I am tired of all that scrap, is it giving us equality, let’s not be deceived. We should walk side by side with the men. No naivety, no simplicity, we have no alibi, If you are going to play woman, get out of the race. You cannot say you want gender parity and you are playing woman, it should be meritocracy , excellent superiority. So, that is Dr Areene for you. And now let’s have capacity building for women, where they can take decisions, this are the things we see sometimes and complain, whereas we can do better.

 

 

 

 

25 years after Beijing, what can you say?

Its almost okay. The contracts we have made has come on board. Look at us here in Nigeria politically, we didn’t do any better than before, in fact we went down 3%. Before we were 11% political representation, is that progress. The only people who have made Beijing proud are the Rwandans and they were forced to do it. It was not that men were benevolent, their men were slaughtered. so, they had women left after the war and they found out  that the woman they engaged were good and what they have now, everywhere is almost 60 percent representative of women. They are doing very well, that should be an eye opener to us. Even in Nigeria we should have more than 60 percent, but who would allow us. Women should stop playing women. Stop taking gender equalisation if they are not really prepared. Affirmative action is there, Kenyans are doing it .Our own is meritocracy because we are so underprivileged. We don’t have money , they don’t allow us to go to certain places. So, we augment our short falls with affirmative action. It is time for women to be involved. Now, in the National Assembly how many of them are there, so minimal, it is tokenism so their voice is not heard.

Violence in politics, what can we do about that?

We are not to be derailed, this must be sacrifice, we cannot because of killing not go to war, it is just that some people world be matyred as heroines of the struggle. You cannot have a struggle without heroes/heroines. That is the price but the struggle must continue.

What advise do you have for ordinary women out there?

In my book, I said if you do not want to be an activist for women’s representatives, the gender gap closure, then shut up your mouth, stop maligning women. Women should stop maligning women. Anywhere women are been maligned-, you find women.

It is women who started it, fellow women, but if you are interested to join the struggle find the right place to join because a tree cannot make a forest, women should not pull women down. There must be solidarity, more support. Women should not snub women we are fellow sister in the struggle. We should not play superiority against one another .we are fellow travelers on the road to struggle .we are gender equalisation.

Nigerian-trained Computed Tomography Specialist, Bayode Oke, 24, speaks on recently bagging the Diana Award for Outstanding Young Heroes for his social action and humanitarian efforts.  He spoke with Charles Okonji.

 

CONGRATULATIONS on winning the Diana Award for World Outstanding Young Heroes. What’s the feeling like?

Amazing. I actually didn’t see it coming. It came in when I launched my conversation series on the social media themed: ‘Your one step to Transformation with Oke Bayode,’ which got me so excited.

What are the objectives of your NGO, The Invasion Group?

Our objective is to create an ecosystem of vibrant youths with a changed mindset, equipped to be ethical leaders and motivated to deliver and scale positive impact through Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Environmental and Social Economic. We’re also out to harness the strength of youths to effect a change in their immediate environment by inspiring, empowering and equipping a new breed of Nigerian leaders through the acquisition of skills for personal, organisational and community transformation. Our aim is to grow to become an organisation with global standards and best practices, providing empowerment initiatives and global services, with core interest in education for a sustainable future and to achieve the sustainable development goals by the Model United Nations.

As a young man, you seem set to make a difference. What drives you?

I have always had this drive to be an outstanding individual in every sphere I find myself. Being a medical student, I was exposed to a lot of opportunities that I could leverage to make me pursue excellence at all cost, which was what made me start my first project with my friends who also shared similar values. The project was named, The Invasion Group. Later on, while achieving great milestones, it occurred to us that young persons between the ages of 13-18 are the most vulnerable and faced with the challenge of making life-defining decisions. Due to lack of direction, many have made bad decisions, which resulted in negative outcomes, such as high school dropout, substance abuse, or participation in risky behaviours. Through repeated failures in the classroom and the development of destructive habits, at-risk young people (13-18) have lost faith in the possibilities that await them if they had been successful in putting their lives together. I then co-founded Mentors in Nigeria Initiative; with the sole aim of creating a community of mentors saddled with the responsibility of promoting a positive mindset in young people and helping them make better life-defining decisions. So I would say my drive and passion is to be an influence on people, which I have been doing with all diligence in the last four years.

Who are your role models and mentor?

I have been privileged to have a lot of mentors who I look up to and who have shaped my life in diverse ways. I have a spiritual figure in the person of Rev. Alexander Faranpojo. Also my parents, Babayomi and Funmilayo Oke, were my first mentors who made me believe that I can be any thing I want to be if I put my mind to it. My role model is Dupe Akinsiun, Head, Leadership & Culture Center of Expertise at Coca-ColaHellenic Bottling Company, Nigeria.

 

What do you have to say to your admirers and team?

I have the best team in the whole world; all of these achievements would never have come without their efforts. I am speaking about my co-founders, Olusegun Marvellous and Ogunbela Ridwan. These are great men of influence in their respective fields. They made our projects easy and we were able to put our strengths together to achieve these milestones. To my admirers, keep out of crime and always jump out of the train of ills. Choose your friends. A friend that cannot add value to your life is not worth being around you. Most importantly, fear God and keep doing what you’re doing and do it best.

What are your high and low moments?

Receiving the Diana Awards is my highest moment. Another high point in my life was when we did the biggest campus-led campaign in Lagos, Nigeria, tagged R.A.C.I.N.G – Race Against Cancer in Nigeria. We gained a lot of traction from various influencers; television stations transmitted it and it was published in many newspapers. We had over 1500students present at the campaign which took place at the Johnson Jakande Tinubu Park. Another high would be the results of our mentorship programme. Seeing youths discover their potentials and undergo training on how to monetise their dreams is fulfilling. My low moments would occasions when we were limited by the constraint of funding. On such occasions, we had to source funds from family members because we were so young and seemed inexperienced to organisations.

 

Racey Muchilwa, head of Sub-Sahara Africa, Novartis, a multinational pharmaceutical company, sheds light on its Covid-19 programmes targeted at low and middle-income people of Nigeria and 78 other countries.  The Interview was conducted by Taiwo Alimi.   

 

WHAT is your evaluation of Covid-19 pandemic since the virus hit Sub Sahara Africa (SSA)?

As head of a healthcare company in Sub Sahara Africa, but more so as an African, I am acutely aware of the current spike in infections happening on our continent; and equally aware of the limitations and vulnerabilities we have in dealing with such a pandemic. It is for this reason that we have mobilised $2 million grant funding to 18 NGOs in Africa to support their pandemic relief efforts. We have also provided hydroxychloroquine upon request and most recently announced the Novartis Pandemic Response Portfolio for countries with inherently fragile healthcare systems.

Novartis has a programme that is targeted at 79 eligible countries, including Nigeria; how does this benefit average and poor Nigerians? 

Access to medicine can be a challenge for patients in low and lower-middle-income countries and the situation has worsened during Covid-19. With our Covid-19 portfolio, we wish to help address the additional healthcare demands of the pandemic to help mitigate the impact on LICs and LMICS, such as Nigeria, and support healthcare systems in dealing with the virus.

How do you ensure that the drugs get to the target people considering the politics of diversion and corruption in this region?

Local Novartis teams will work with health authorities, NGOs, and Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) in eligible countries to ensure proper distribution channels and that the medicines reach patients in need.

Experts have been talking about across-the-counter treatments for managing Covid-19 symptoms, how can this help to reduce fatal cases, especially for average Nigerians who cannot afford to pay for Covid-19 tests?

Most of the medicines in our Pandemic Response Portfolio are prescription medicines to support patient safety. Our current knowledge is that fatal cases of Covid-19 are mostly linked to advanced age and underlying conditions such as poorly-controlled high blood pressure, asthma and diabetes. Patients should continue to take their medications as prescribed by their treating doctors and should follow local guidelines on avoiding infection but if exposure has happened, they should prevent passing it on and should seek treatment from a healthcare provider. We advise a Covid-19 test to be done so that the right medicine can be selected by the healthcare provider.

Another drug, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), has come into the picture thanks to the US president, Donald Trump. How do you think Nigerians should relate to this?

It should be noted that the US FDA recently withdrew its emergency-use registration for hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to be used in Covid-19 and several trials in mild and severe Covid-19 have not shown any benefit. However, there are still several trials ongoing researching its effectiveness to treat Covid-19. There is no current evidence to suggest that HCQ should be taken to prevent disease and if symptoms appear, people should seek advice from a healthcare provider.

How much of R&D has been done and ongoing on Covid-19 pandemic in relation to Sub Saharan Africa?

The Novartis HCQ trial was cancelled due to difficult recruitment and also based upon latest evidence emerging to show lack of benefit in COVID-19. That trial had a number of sites in South Africa. We are also aware of some trials being carried out in Sub Sahara Africa by independent organizations such as the DNDi. There are no Novartis clinical trials ongoing in SSA specifically relating to Covid-19; however we have a number of clinical trials ongoing in malaria and sickle cell disease in East and West Africa, with our efforts also being focused on clinical trials in other disease areas such as cardiovascular, eye disease and oncology. Our aim is to improve patient access and outcomes and to this end, expanding our clinical trial footprint in SSA allows us to build R&D capabilities and to diversify the body of evidence that exists from developed parts of the world.

We continue to support the wider public health response to the crisis, including by pledging to donate millions of doses of our medicines to enable patients to access a potential treatment while also advancing clinical research in the fight against COVID-19. We have made significant contributions – upwards of USD 40 million – to over 60 projects around the world that support local communities impacted by the crisis. These include donations to strengthen medical infrastructure and provide on-site support in many countries including Italy, Croatia and Brazil. And we are supporting aid in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where the potential effects of COVID-19 could be devastating due to the health care challenges the continent already faces.

Fourth-time author and tax consultant at Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), Vincent Adeoba shares the story of his sojourn from extreme deprivation and poverty and how he clawed his way to prominence with DORCAS EGEDE.

Earliest memories of being an orphan

I never had the opportunity of meeting my dad. All I was told was that he passed away. I am not sure if this was before or after I was born. I never saw his picture, so I have no memories whatsoever of him. Attempts to find out about my father threw up conflicting stories, and it was hard to decide what to believe; so I sort of gave up on the idea. That way, I avoided inflicting on myself more emotional and psychological pain than I had already suffered.

The story is different with my mum, however. The sixth of seven children, I spent four years with her; and even though I was young, I have fond memories of the way she treated me, which was quite different from the way she treated my siblings. She had special love for me. I recall there was this particular meal called feregede; it’s a species of beans that takes several hours to cook, but despite the time it takes, my mum always cooked mine separately because I didn’t like palm oil and plantain in mine.

She treated me like a special child. I’m not sure she knew she was actually preparing me for the future. A night before she passed away, an old woman came to our compound and asked us to pray for my mum. But because I was just 4, naïve and had no idea what was happening, I slept off and didn’t join them in the prayer. As early as 6:00am, I woke up to hear people screaming, crying and calling my mum’s name. Her name was Theresa. In my innocence I cried along, only that unlike others, I cried out of hunger. This was all I could recall about my mum’s passing, until 20 years later, when we had a memorial service to celebrate her life and work.

It was that day in 2014 that I saw where my mum was buried for the first time. I recall that she was so hard-working. I remember she combined auxiliary nursing with working at a fuel gas station as an attendant, and also had farms. She combined a lot of things together just to be able to meet our needs. It was a terrible experience for us; life was hard; we lived in extreme poverty and suffered hunger. But when I look at the whole event, I believe God used those tough moments to make me who I am today.

Dark days ahead

After my mum passed, my younger sister, Gbemisola, who was still being breastfed and I, became my grandma’s responsibility. From what I heard, my grandma had many children, most of whom she lost, leaving only my mum and her elder sister. She had this special love for my mum, so she was devastated when she passed. Initially, she was comforted because she was the one taking care of me and Gbemisola; but she couldn’t get over the pain of my mum’s passing. So, less than a year after my mum passed, my grandma also passed. I was 5 at the time and Gbemisola was barely 2.

When my grandma passed, family members came around to see what they could do to support the family. But at the time, my older siblings had all left the village in Ire-Ekiti; and because Gbemisola and I were so young, nobody wanted to take us. I guess they didn’t want liabilities. So, we were left all alone in the village and at age 5, I had the responsibility of taking care of my little sister. It was my older sister, Morenike, who took it upon herself to become a mother to us. When she discovered that we were just left in the village with no one to take care of us, she came all the way from Akure and took us with her. Sister Morenike, then 19, who had relocated to Akure to sign up for apprenticeship in tailoring just before mum passed, was forced to become a mum to two little children.

The role Sister Morenike played in my life was so important that when I graduated from the university in 2014/15, I wrote a story in her honour, which went viral.

When she took up the responsibility of raising us, she had to quit the apprenticeship programme because money was not coming in and she needed money to at least provide our basic needs. So, she started selling beans. Luckily, she got a wholesaler who sold her bags of beans on credit. As early as 5:00am, she would set out for her first hawking of the day. Thinking about it now, I see she was actually a good businesswoman. With the early morning hawking, she was able to target food vendors. After that early morning hawking, she would return by noon to rest and by 4:00pm, she would start the second hawking and do so till 7:00pm.

With the little money she made, she was able to take care of us. There were days we couldn’t afford more than a meal, and our food then was always akara (bean cake) and garri (cassava flakes). Since we always had beans, it was easy to blend it and make akara. That business, however, soon died a natural death because people often bought from her on credit and it got to a point when she couldn’t pay her supplier. Naturally, the supplier stopped supplying.

Thereafter, she got a job in a canteen to wash dishes 10 hours every day except Sunday. Owing to this, she registered us in a lesson close to the house. This lesson was at best, a traditional learning centre where they dumped all of us in a class, whether you were 5 or 15 years old. And our curriculum was very simple: numeracy, the alphabets, states and their capitals. She did that job for sometime until something awful happened that ushered us into another phase.

Distraught teenage mum

At some point, Sister Morenike became so depressed that she ran away and left me and Gbemisola for more than two weeks, with nobody to care for us. We never knew she ran away. I remember going around the street, begging for money and food, so we could eat after the little food we had at home finished. I was about age 6. Words got to my mother’s only surviving sister and she came and took Gbemisola and I to live with her somewhere in Akure. I spent about a year in her house. This is one experience I don’t like talking about because it was a terrible time for me. What I experienced in that one year almost killed me. She never really had the intention to maltreat me; it was people around her, people I would rather not talk about.

Sister Morenike soon returned to Akure and came visiting when she got wind of where we were. It was then she explained the whole event of her running away from home. She took us home with her to spend the weekend. When we returned to my aunt’s place, I knew I couldn’t continue living with her. Before age 7, I packed my bag and ran to Sister Morenike’s place. I left Gbemisola there and that was the greatest mistake of my life. I shouldn’t have left her. It is one of my biggest regrets. But then, I was barely 7, how could I have embarked on the long journey to my sister’s place with a 3 year old?

Near-death experiences

By the time I moved back in with Sister Morenike, she was selling vegetables like okra, pepper, and tomatoes at Ojaoba Market in Oke-aro, Akure. I immediately moved in to support her. So, whenever I was done with school, I would head straight to the market to hawk the goods. This was my first business experience and what actually birthed my entrepreneurship drive.

While helping with the business, I encountered kidnappers. There was this big market called Iloro in Oke-aro, where we used to buy vegetables in baskets and transport to the market where we sold them. On this fateful day, another older sister of mine, Eniola and I went to the market. She had just moved in with us after her bitter experience living with another relative. While sister Morenike went straight to Ojaoba, she would send me and Sister Eniola to Iloro.

On this day, we went to the market, bought our goods and took them to the roadside. That was the period the N100 note was released and ritual killings were rife in Akure. A lot of students died or simply disappeared and it was generally agreed that they were victims of ritual killings. After buying our baskets of vegetables that morning, we were waiting for a taxi by the roadside, when a man approached us and promised to help us get a taxi for free. Happy to save some naira, we accepted the offer. Soon, a vehicle approached us and the man flagged it down. Eniola instantly hopped into the back seat of the vehicle.

Being the meticulous boy I was, I followed the man to see how he would place my precious basket of okra in the boot of the car to ensure nothing would ruin the okra before we reached our destination. While trying to adjust the basket of okra in the boot, a thread from the sac covering got hooked to the basket and just then, I saw knives, cutlasses and charms. I immediately connected to some stories that the old women in our compound had told us about kidnappers and their strategies.

So, I told the man we weren’t going again and threatened to shout if he refused to let us out. Thank God we were along the road; if we had been in a hidden place, he probably would have forced me into the car. When Eniola heard us arguing, she alighted from the car to know what was going on. When the man saw there was nothing he could do, he dropped our basket, got into the car and they drove off. It was then I realised that they were a team. Imagine that I hadn’t followed him to the boot to see how the basket was being placed; that, probably, would have been the end of our lives.

Again, I escaped from being killed by flood on two occasions. The first time, it was late at night and I was returning from where I had gone to eat. It had rained heavily and I didn’t know that the path leading to the house was flooded. To be sincere with you, that is one experience I don’t have explanation for. I actually ran into the flood and the water was already washing me towards the culvert. I also knew that falling into that gutter that day would have been the end of my life. I don’t know what happened, but at the edge of the culvert, a force I cannot explain pulled me to the other side of the road. That’s one incidence that made me know that God really exists.

On another occasion, Sister Eniola and I were returning from the market, when we walked into a flood; and just like the first time, I cannot explain how we got to safety.

School dropout

I first went to school while living with my mother’s sister. There, I attended St. Anthony RCM at Isolo, Akure; but I wasn’t doing well. After I ran off to Sister Morenike’s place, she registered me in a public primary school at Oke-Aro. I still wasn’t doing well. At age 11 and in primary 4, I could not spell simple words. In Primary 5, I got so frustrated that I dropped out of school – because I wasn’t learning much and my classmates were treating me so bad. I couldn’t tell Sister Morenike, so I’d get dressed for school, but would also take extra clothes into which I’d change once I left home. I would then go to a saw mill in the area to carry plank and earn between N10 – N50 daily. I saw more value in that menial job than in my education.

One day, one of the market women saw me and reported to Sister Morenike, who personally took me to school the following day and found out from my teachers that I hadn’t been to school for weeks. That was how I was redirected back to school. Only God knows what would have become of me if that woman had not seen me at the saw mill that day.

Defining moment

In January 2003, when I was 12 and in primary 6, an uncle came to Akure and took me to Odogbolu in Ogun State. That was my defining moment. I got to his house on January 2nd, 2003. I was registered in a very good nursery and primary school, and for the first time, they bought me a school bag unlike the sac I was using in Akure. Initially, I wasn’t very serious, but it later dawned on me that this was a lifetime opportunity I couldn’t misuse if I wanted to make something of what was left of my already broken life.

I became more studious. After my common entrance examination, I was admitted into Mayflower School for the first year and later got a transfer to Federal Government College (FGC) Odogbolu, Ogun State in my second year. I, however, had challenge with anything calculation. So, I didn’t have a credit in Mathematics when I wrote my final exams, even though I had good grades in other subjects. And since I was to study Accounting, the result was useless. Luckily, my NECO result was better, so that was what got me admission to study Accounting in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

Career progression, business acumen

Towards the end of my first year at OAU, my uncle’s salary wasn’t forthcoming, which affected my regular monthly allowance. I started borrowing to feed until there was nobody willing to lend me money again. One fateful day, as I was returning from where I’d gone to read, I stopped by at another hall of residence to see a friend. When I got to his room, I saw sachets water, wraps of groundnut and sugar. I told him I was hungry and he gave me something to eat.

As I was about to leave, he told me that he started the business because he was also running out of cash and needed something to fetch him extra cash to sustain him for the rest of that semester. I asked if he could give me a bag of water and a dozen wraps of groundnuts to see if I could sell to my roommates. He agreed. Surprisingly, my roommates bought everything in less than two hours. I realised that was a business opportunity; meanwhile I had been borrowing.

I did that business for about a month before the long break. During the holidays, I got a tutoring job and was paid N5000. That, added to my school fees and pocket money, I was ready for the new session. When I resumed, I decided to expand the business by adding bread, egg, spaghetti and noodles. It got to a point where I was generating revenue of N500,000 in my room and my profit was around 10-15%, which meant I was making more than N50,000. I soon stopped calling home for my N5000 allowance, since I was making 10 times more.

Naturally, I told myself I wasn’t going to work for anybody once out of school, and that I would focus on doing business somewhere in Ibadan. This was my plan until I met my mentor, Taiwo Oyedele, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Few weeks to my POP, I booked an appointment with him to share my plans with him and ask for his guidance.

One beautiful Sunday evening, we sat at his home for about two hours, discussing my future; where I wanted to be in the next five, ten years…. I told him I was planning to relocate to Ibadan to do business. He, however, shared an insight with me that changed my life. He said, “Vincent, you are a very smart young man, but I don’t want you to make a terrible mistake.” He told me to consider looking for a corporate job to garner experience before deciding on full-time entrepreneurship. He was the first person who told me it’s possible to combine a corporate job with business on the side.

Following his counsel, I signed up on some websites and sent out my CV. PwC was one of the places I applied to and luckily I got in there as an intern. While an intern, I started buying cars for Uber and getting monthly rentals of N30,000 on a car. I was making N120,000 monthly, more than the salary I was being paid as an intern. After my internship, I applied for their apprenticeship programme and got the job offer. That’s how I started my career at PwC.

Sincerely, taking this job was one of the best decisions I have made. I lack words to tell you how much I have learnt, the people I have met, the experience I have gained in less than three years. It’s priceless. Today, I have more business investments than I had when I took the decision not to work for anybody.

Me and my books

I have four books published. I think that is quite an interesting feat for a boy who couldn’t spell H-A-T-E at age 11. I wrote my first book before I was 21. I started writing immediately I finished secondary school because I was at home and not engaged. One of my teachers was borrowing me books to read. Books are one of the things that actually transformed my life.

From reading those books, I got inspired that I could also write a book; so I started putting my thoughts down, linking it up with my story. That’s how my first book, “A task to be a hero” published in 2011, came to be. I wrote my second book, “Change is possible” published in 2013 in my 300-Level. The N300,000 I used to publish that book was raised from the business I was doing in my room.

In 2016, I published my third book, “Maximise your potential for academic excellence” for secondary school students. I recently launched my fourth book, “I am employable”. It’s a book for undergraduates, graduates and young professionals. I just decided to share my experience in the last three years, linking it up with entrepreneurship. I wanted to balance the narrative about doing business alongside a corporate job and also let people know that there is no excuse for failure.

I know I’m not done yet. There are still more books to write, because my future is still ahead of me. This is just a little part of what God has destined me to be.