Prince Samuel Adedoyin: My life, my pains at 80

By Tope Templer Olaiya

It was a struggle catching up with the 10am appointment on a weekday in the heart of Victoria Island. Luckily, I was at the reception a few minutes shy of the hour and was so surprised to be ushered in immediately to the expansive but conservative office of the quintessential billionaire, Prince (Dr.) Samuel Adedoyin (OFR). The man, popularly known as the ‘Doyen of Industry’, was a combination of wisdom and candour, displaying an impressive power of recall while the interview lasted, and tackling every question with measured response. Born in Lagos, he is a native of Agbamu in Kwara State. An apostle of industrialisation, Prince Adedoyin is a philanthropist and a diligent, shrewd and innate businessman, who commenced his exploits with petty trading, but has now expanded into manufacturing, real estate, hospitality and energy, among others.

 

Congratulations, sir, on this milestone. How does it feel to be 80?

SOMETIMES, when I talk, people will hardly believe me. But I still feel as if I am 30 or 40 years old because I work even harder than when I was in my 30s. I thank the Almighty God for giving me the health to be able to enjoy what I am doing and life at 80.

What was it like growing up?

The story of my life, in summary, is God’s favour. And if I have to start talking about it, we may not leave here today because it is God’s favour, blessing, protection, wisdom and guidance that led me to where I am today. I was not born rich. I am not educated and I have never gone to any lesson to learn anything about education or business. The journey at the beginning was very rough. But by God’s grace, it is much better now.

What is your daily routine like?

When I was young, I shared a shop; and the owner comes to work at 10am. But when I was able to rent my shop, I started going to the office at 8am. I have continued to do that till today: resume at 8am and go home at 4pm, to rest. I take my dinner at 6pm, then inspect my hospitality business and building projects and close around 8-9pm. I enjoy doing it. It is God that has made it possible because if one were not enjoying good health, it would not have been possible. I know a lot of people whose health start to deteriorate as soon as they get close to 70. But God has been kind to me.

How do you unwind when you close at 4pm?

There is nothing much I can say. My life is full of work. It is through working that I unwind and nobody can blame me because working doesn’t kill. If work could kill, I would have been dead a long time ago. By His grace, I have great grandchildren and I am still working. I enjoy doing so.

What is your diet like?

I still, surprisingly, will tell you that my best-loved food is pounded yam. I eat it every afternoon. In the morning, I take fruits. Every 6pm, I take a light meal and assorted fruits and its good for me. It is what is keeping me going.

Besides your avowed faith and belief in God, where do you get the inspiration and drive to pull through in business? What other things keep you going?

God first and no other. For other factors, I can’t say. Maybe, because of the way we started and the sufferings we encountered, my policy is to make my environment and the country much better than I met it. That is my motto and my vision

Looking back, have you had any regrets in one or two decisions you took?

Definitely, I have had cause to regret, both here and internationally, some setbacks, but God has allowed the successes to be much more than the failures. I don’t think there is anybody who will not have a challenge in life. There are times when things would be hard and times when things go according to plan.

For instance, you know, I established City Express Bank. For whatever reason, by the time the CBN took over, we were not distressed. They rushed to the media and first of all said I was owing N13bn, later they said N10bn and later still N2bn. And even for the N2bn, I have taken them to court and we are still in court, nine years after, to prove the N2b, which they have not been able to. We still went to court yesterday, where the case was adjourned. We are pressing for judgment.

Not everybody would partner with government to establish industries. That is why all our products, we don’t need government approval to sell. Because I cannot go and be begging government officials, so I look at products like toothpaste, seasonings, noodles, detergents; things that can be made without going to beg the government. That is the policy I follow and it gives me pleasure and peace of mind. I have not been to Abuja for over two years, even though I have hospitality businesses and some properties there. Some people run it. I love what I am doing, here, and I am enjoying it.

Are you hopeful that if you win the case, your bank would bounce back?

I won’t want to go into the banking industry again. I said I sued them for wrongful takeover of the bank. Those are areas that government controls everyday and I want my independence. My other investments are the ones that are not government controlled. I am not going back to banking.

How did you venture into business?

I would say my life is God-given. I have only passed Standard Four. I have not attended any school after that and I have not worked for anybody. I would say God gave me the foresight and vision of what I would be doing at each period of my life. And He still does. It was last year we started noodles. I have always known that nobody can cover the glory of God. We started; and we are selling Doyin Noodles very well, winning market share.

We are also into export. Anybody manufacturing in Nigeria must be an exporter to break even. And all Nigerian goods are in neighbouring countries; the only thing is that many of them are not channeled officially. The documentation of export is so much and this scares them away from following official channels. We have a particular product; a Chinese balm we have been producing since 1980. Foreign countries like Niger, Gabon and Togo, consume it mostly. They buy it more than in Nigeria.

What is your advice to the present generation? What are your business tips and recommendations to today’s entrepreneurs?

Yes, and that includes my children. I have those who are doing well and I have those I am teaching. I have those who have been blessed that they even buy cars for me and I have those I am still mentoring, to be able to catch up. Having come from nowhere to be where I am, I can’t stop thanking God for His mercies.

Even in America, many successful business owners did not go to universities and yet they hold world power. All I would advise anybody is: use the brain to achieve greatness. Education shouldn’t be a barrier to success. In any business, you must improve yourself, speak well across the world and hold yourself. I am not saying that you should live on in ignorance. Even if you are not educated…I taught myself all I knew in business, even without the benefit of a formal education.

Besides business, you are also very much involved in philanthropy; can you share some insights into this aspect of you?

If you look at the way I was born, the suffering I went through and the education I didn’t have, motivate me to look out for many people in the same situation today that I can help in education and employment. That is beside other big projects, like building churches, hospitals or road construction, to benefit a lot of people, which the government, like my home state of Kwara, is not able to do. I do them for my community and I am blessed for it. It is not in my style to announce whatever I am doing. I have those I have trained who are professors and doctors and are like children to me.

Why is none of your chain of businesses listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange?

It is because of nervousness. I have seen several indigenous companies that have gone into public offers and they are not able to pay dividends to shareholders. I am very much worried about this. At a time, I even wanted to take one or two businesses to the stock market and see how it would be like, but it was about closing at the time. So, I jettisoned the idea and have not tried again, since then.

Your longstanding friendship with Chief Rasak Akanni Okoya…

We started together about 50 years ago. I respect him a lot; he is a very intelligent person. And although I am his senior, we move together as equals and enjoy our friendship. Before Nigeria’s independence, we used to travel around the world for business and we are still together.

What legacy are you leaving behind?

God owns all legacies. Everybody wants to be remembered for good. God permitting, I would want to be remembered for doing best things. I hope I will be able to achieve more.

What are your personal and corporate plans for the years ahead?

I will first of all pray to God for good health and long life and wisdom to do more.

What actually happened when you did a stowaway to Ghana in your early days?

(Laughs) That is almost 70 years ago. It’s an outdated story, which is not worth talking about now. I don’t know whether you know Lennard Shoes. In those days, they used to do mail order, which used to fascinate me. So, I just thought if I go there and tell them, ‘I want to work here,’ they would employ me. So, I took that opportunity. But it didn’t work out. God says my prosperity is here, not in Ghana. And He has made it possible.

Apart from the teething problems of finance, what other challenges do business owners face in Nigeria?

Even the Bible says money answereth all things. To me, the major factor is finance. But apart from that, the vision and the determination to succeed must follow every plan of every individual. A lot can be achieved if there are government policies in place to protect indigenous firms and small and medium scale enterprises.

A lot of your contemporaries have retired and handed over their businesses to their scions, like Otunba Subomi Balogun of FCMB, Chief Michael Ade Ojo Elizade Motors and late Chief Aboderin of Punch. What is your succession plans?

You have answered the questions yourself; you quoted two companies managed by their children. I tried it in the past; it didn’t work. We have established the gradual transfer of power and I pray it works this time. It is not something difficult, but we have to ask God to choose the right people to carry on our legacy. We are training them. I believe we will succeed and our future, even after our demise, will be successful than what we have seen today.

As you sit atop your conglomerate, how have you been able to relate with members of your board and core associates. Is there any time you feel intimidated, given your scant formal education? Are there times too that you felt disappointed, in spite of the intimidating qualifications they have?

(Laughs) Me, intimidated? Never! Many of them are not businesslike. Rather, they are the one that are intimidated because I still teach them a lot of things. PhD does not equate wisdom to run business successfully. Business is God-given, and the vision to want to succeed and never relent until you succeed is not acquired in any university. I am not afraid of any human being and I am not intimidated by anybody. I once employed a director of a multinational, and I was surprised how he was able to get that far to the top because what he was doing when he joined my team was totally unacceptable to me. We groom and train our management staff to be able to hold their own, even without my supervision.

What advice do you have for President Buhari?

We can only wish the President the best of luck; that he will be able to lead Nigeria to greatness. It is not an easy task managing a complicated nation like Nigeria. May God give the new administration the wisdom and empowerment to drive and implement a new industrial policy, especially for citizens of this country.

 

http://guardian.ng/interview/prince-adedoyin-my-life-my-pains-at-80/

 

Rewriting the Boko Haram story

By Tope Templer Olaiya

A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths are a statistic – Joseph Stalin

THERE was no better way to wrap up a three-month course on Peace and Conflict Studies at the Rotary Peace Center, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, than the nine-day field trip to Cambodia, where in the short space of time available, I had a first-hand experience of the South Asian country’s majesty, tragedy and rebirth. All of the sites visited, including the remnant of one of the ancient wonders of the world, the Angkor Wat complex, could be classified in either of Cambodia’s majesty/heritage, tragedy or rebirth. It was an exercise that left lasting impact.

Having the rare opportunity to visit the Genocide Memorial & Killing Fields, Genocide Museum and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), instituted by the United Nations, while in session was very depressing. It was a journey of discovery on post-conflict transformation after a dastardly four years of genocide perpetrated by the Pol Pot regime between 1975 and 1979.

The Spirit House where over 8,000 excavated skulls are preserved for posterity.

Walking through the mass graves and marching on bone fragments and dead victims’ clothing made visible by erosion was literally like walking through the ‘Valley of Death’ and not just its shadows. Only if the walls and trees could talk, the world would have been numbed by man’s bestiality and inhumanity to man that makes Adolf Hitler’s atrocity during the World War II pale into insignificance.

The world may find it hard coming to terms with how the German Nazi regime exterminated about six million Jews in six years, but for Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge army to have more than half of his own people killed (nearly three million in four years) and the rest of the population displaced before the Vietnam invasion in 1979 brought an end to dark history, is still a mystery.

In conversation with officials of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), instituted by the United Nations (UN)

The story of Cambodia today is, however, inspiring. What is unique is the resolve of a new generation propelled by survivors of the genocide to step out of the ashes of the past and build a new future. They have been through all of that and they live in extreme poverty but they are some of the most sweet-natured people you will ever meet in your life. It’s a marvel how they can be at peace and be open and kind with what they have gone through.

I see a painful similarity between Cambodia’s tragedy and Nigeria’s ongoing six-year war with Boko Haram insurgency. The ruthless campaign of violence by the extremist Islamic group has devastated the northeast states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, displaced millions of citizens and taken a terrifying toll on an impoverished region.

A special moment with one of the survivors, Bou Meng, artist and prisoner of the S21 Prison. He is one of the seven survivors out of 20,000 people killed at the House of Death, one of the over 100 prisons in the country

Employing the benefit of the intensive study on peace and conflict, which afforded me the opportunity of using several conflict analysis models in preparing my public seminar on Boko Haram, one of my recommendations and in fact my ‘Theory of Change’ was the need to change the narrative about Boko Haram.

My humble submission at the public seminar in August was that if the media stops dividing Nigeria along ethnic and religious lines, we can as a united people stand against the perpetrators of violence and rebuild the ruins of destroyed cities.

Great to have been introduced to Peace Journalism by Dr. Jake Lynch, Director, Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies, University of Sydney. His long years of conflict reporting while with the BBC was worth listening to and learning from

The Nigerian Army Director of Information, Colonel Rabi Abubakar, once told newsmen that some reports on the activities of Boko Haram have helped promote their operations, explaining that the undue patronage and publicity given the sect has emboldened the terrorists in their deadly activities. It was, therefore, a reassuring and welcome development when the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, recently disclosed the intention of the Federal Government to set up a communication centre to provide adequate information to counter the violent propaganda of the Boko Haram insurgents. There are some concrete steps the government’s new initiative in the mould of a Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC) can take to match words with action.

A way to begin is training on Peace Journalism to reporters covering the northeast states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, including journalists on the military and defence beats on the stories they push out to the public.   Basically, Peace Journalism is when editors and reporters make choices – about what to report, and how to report it – that create opportunities for society at large to consider and to value non-violent responses to conflict. It was developed from research, which indicates that often, news about conflict has a value bias toward violence. It also includes practical methods for correcting this bias by producing journalism in both the mainstream and alternative media, and working with journalists, media professionals, audiences, and organizations in conflict.

Another vital task that the special communication centre can be saddled with is documenting and preserving the history of this ongoing insurgency for posterity. So much may be lost in the nearest future if there is no recognized documentation centre in place to archive all available materials on Boko Haram, especially the painstaking effort to profile all those who have lost their lives to the violence.

Information gleaned from Boko Haram suspects and those who willingly surrendered to security forces that may not have been released to the public and embargoed on the ‘Need To Know’ clearance, can be chronicled and preserved with the centre. In the aftermath of the crisis, such documents and witnesses may be vital in the prosecution of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, should the government not proceed to a full court trial for crimes against humanity.

It should, however, be publicly announced that the purpose for this, if it should be embarked on, is not to compensate victims’ families but to institute a process that may lead to a befitting honour in the form of a monument by the time this war is eventually over. Sites of mass graves of the victims of insurgency need to be identified across the northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja to remain as a signpost of history for future generations not to go this present road ever again.

• Olaiya, an editorial staff member of The Guardian, is a Rotary Peace Fellow.

 

http://guardian.ng/opinion/rewriting-the-boko-haram-story/

Lagos ‘golden boy’ becomes Buhari’s ‘Actualizer’

By Tope Templer Olaiya, Assistant Lagos City Editor

PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI (R), CONGRATULATING MR BABATUNDE FASHOLA AFTER TAKING HIS OATH OF OFFICE

ONE hundred and sixty six days after dropping the saddle as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nigeria’s richest state, Lagos, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), who would forever be remembered for the sobriquet, Eko oni baje, was yesterday recalled from rest to take up a higher responsibility for national assignment when President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated his cabinet and assigned portfolios to the ministers.
While social media leaks had skirted around the probable nomination of Fashola as Minister of Works or the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), no one, not even the ex-governor, would have won the bet on the president’s plans to assign three heavy portfolios. Alas, when the president unveiled the ministers and their portfolios, the former governor of Lagos got the lion’s share as he was given a combination of three ministries – namely power, works and housing.

He joins the newly constituted cabinet on the strength of his antecedent with his above-average performance as Lagos helmsman. Former governor Bola Tinubu’s eight-year administration laid the groundwork of modern Lagos as has been rightly termed ‘The Navigator.’ Fashola came on board and did his spell as ‘The Actualizer’ to implement the development and policy thrust of his predecessor before Akinwunmi Ambode’s emergence, who is touted as ‘The Consolidator.’
Fashola, the ‘Actualizer’ must have earned the absolute trust of President Buhari for a few reasons, some of which shone brightly during the intense campaign for the general elections. Others were the way he carried himself brilliantly during his eight-year administration of Lagos, which made him far ahead of his peers and first among equals of the Governors’ Class of 2007 to 2015.
Before the president selected Fashola as a ministerial nominee, there was a lot of talk from some quarters that Buhari might drop him due to some powerful forces within the ruling All Progressives Congress APC working against his nomination. However, the president had other ideas. He had so much faith in Fashola. Moreover, Buhari saw Fashola as a disciplined man just like himself who was ready to work assiduously.

Fashola during his appearance at the Senate for Ministerial Screening

One of the qualities you can’t deny Fashola of is his high spirit of patriotism. The former governor has always showed his passion for the progress of Nigeria. He believes in the project of a prosperous Nigeria. He proved this sufficiently when he steered the ship of Lagos, and became the toast of other African countries and foreign investors across the world.
Next to his patriotism is the fact that Fashola is a workaholic. The new minister of power, works and housing is a person who never gets tired of whatever he sets his eyes to achieve. When he came in as governor of Lagos in 2007, he could count the number of grey in his hair. Today, the reverse is the case. Eight years of intense work has made his hair all grey.
The minister, who would be the cynosure of all eyes in the new cabinet, also has a soft spot for innovative ideas. And his signature and indelible marks are all over the state. From the boosted Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, which assisted in reducing crime in the state; the restructuring of the once notorious Oshodi under bridge and beautification of some notorious hotspot are few examples.

L-R; New Ministers, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (Power, Works and Housing); Lai Mohammed(Information); James Ocholi, (State, Labour and Employment)and Alh. Abubakar Malami (Justice) taking the oath of Office as Federal Ministers

For the poster boy of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Fashola has proved the saying to be true that the reward for hard work is more work. In a sense, he has had his short rest abruptly truncated to help deliver the change the ruling party promised Nigerians.
In August, when during the twists of an intra-party high-wired politics that was meant to dim his chances of being considered for a national call into the president’s team, he had replied his traducers, particularly the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) on the subject of the N78 million personal website that he was not looking for a job.
“I cannot conclude without responding to the crusade of CACOL and their ilk, seeking my prosecution on allegations that have no proof and writing “pre-emptive” letters to the Presidency. In case they are unaware, I am not looking for a job. I expect them to know that allegations of wrongdoing are not resolved without evidence, neither are they resolved in press conferences.

Readers are definitely Leaders

“I have served my state, and by extension, my country for twelve and half years and I did so with my heart. I am taking the rest that I believe I have earned. For those who still wish to remain in the mud, they should look in the mirror. For those who wish to throw mud at me, they should look at their own hands. As for me, I have moved on. My job is done.”
After taking the oath of office yesterday as Minister, the job is beginning afresh, on a national scale, where he is expected to drive the vision of the president.
All hopes are on Fashola to succeed. Some of the fangs he released at the Federal Government during the previous administration will now be used to measure his achievements in office. The Federal Government must live up to its responsibility to Lagos. Expectedly, he stole the show during the ministers’ screening at the Senate, Nigerians now expect him to steal the show with a sterling performance.

 

http://guardian.ng/features/lagos-golden-boy-becomes-buharis-actualizer/

Potholes, potholes everywhere you go!

Federal mess in Lagos (Part 1)
By Tope Templer Olaiya,
Assistant Lagos City Editor

Failed portion of Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway at Ile-Epo bus-stop, Abule-Egba

LIVING in Lagos can be as stressful as living in a war zone; the weather is constantly humid, traffic is hellish, living conditions are horrid, roads are terribly bad and the government appears to be ‘indifferent’. In the last few weeks, the combined problem of traffic logjam and insecurity across the state have made many Lagosians wondered aloud what is going wrong with their beloved Centre of Excellence.
A latest survey conducted by leading research institute, NOIPolls, revealed that severe traffic gridlock and heightened crime rate have now become the major sources of concern to the residents of Nigeria’s commercial capital, since Governor Akinwunmi Ambode assumed office in May 2015.
Predictably, the latter (heightened crime rate) exists because of the precarious situation of the former (severe traffic gridlock), which regrettably have been blamed on the lukewarm attitude to work by the state’s traffic regulatory personnel and hideous potholes littering many of the major artery roads in the state.

Creek Road, Apapa

Lagos has elevated the definition of potholes. They are no longer small openings carved out on its roads by rainfall and lack of drainage but are alternatively death traps, that an unsuspecting motorist can pay dearly for.
These potholes, mostly on federal roads, have widened into craters and usually cause unnecessary traffic gridlocks. In some cases, car owners have to visit mechanics after a trip or two on these roads. More so, it has become an eyesore to Nigeria, the nation’s former political capital.
Lagos is encircled by dreadful roads on all fronts. Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is perennially a motorist’s nightmare; Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway is caving in under pressure and influx of citizens to the fringes of Lagos; Lagos-Badagry Expressway is taking forever to remodel and expand; too much has been written and said about the deplorable but busy Apapa-Oshodi Expressway; and the situation remains the same with Ikorodu-Sagamu Expressway.

Wharf Road, Apapa

At a time, former governor and now member of President Buhari’s cabinet as a minister, Babatunde Fashola, had relentlessy told the world how the Federal Government has over the years neglected Lagos and why a special status needed to be granted.
It is no longer fruitless to play politics with Lagos. Concrete action must now be taken to arrest the rot, which is threatening the economy of Nigeria’s biggest cash cow after oil. If taken as a country on its own, Lagos would be among the largest economies in Africa. According to a recent Economist report, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Lagos exceeds that of Kenya, East Africa’s beefiest economy.
All these have made life miserable for Lagosians. There is an increase in the number of vehicles on the roads. As a result of the traffic, many have missed business engagements, while those gainfully engaged have lost productive man-hours to the traffic.

The worries do not end there, as every person behind the wheels are weary of daredevil robbers clutching dangerous weapons in the bid to disposes motorists of money, phones and valuables. And these men of the underworld have found a new hobby in plying their trade during traffic. They are so brazen they don’t need the cover of darkness anymore.
All these are enough to stress out even the calmest soul, and sometimes most people who are stressed out don’t even know it until it’s too late.
Little wonder then Lagos was listed as one of the least livable cities in the world alongside Pakistan, Harare in Zimbabwe and Dhaka in Bangladesh by a study conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Ranking, which rated 140 cities in the areas of stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
Inspite of this, it is an irony of sorts that the city of Lagos still attracts visitors in their hundreds daily.

• Federal Ministry of Works keeps mum

Oshodi-Isale service lane, Oshodi

WHEN The Guardian contacted a deputy Director, in the Federal Ministry of Works, Mr. Godwin Eke, for comment on the bad state of the road, he directed the reporter to contact the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works in Abuja, on the ground that he is not allowed to speak to the press.
When reminded that he has been talking to the Press in the past on the parking of trucks and petrol tankers constituted nuisance on the highway, Eke, who is in charge of Section I of the Federal Highway said it was in the past and not now.
Minister-designate and former governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, had last year, said a good number of federal roads in the state were in a state of disrepair, pointing out that the situation would have been worse if his administration had not intervened on some of them, adding that he spent over N50 billion of tax-payers money to fix federal roads without getting any refund, despite acknowledgement by the Federal Government.
“We intervened in federal roads because they would disrupt economic activities if we leave them in a state of disrepair. One can imagine the economic impact of watching Apapa-Oshodi Expressway to be completely unmotorable. We can’t just watch these roads to rot away because we feel the pains.”

• Quick Facts

• Lagos has 117 federal roads.
• Length of state roads is 328.
• Length of local government roads is 6,415.

• Length of federal roads in Lagos is 719.2km.
• Length of trunk routes is 646.2km.
• Length of secondary routes is 73km.

 

http://guardian.ng/features/federal-mess-in-lagos-part-1/