I Want State of Residence Not State of Origin
Trained in the best institutions both at home and abroad, Dr. Jay Osi Samuels, a medical doctor has achieved success in his chosen field. An international health care development expert, Samuels is involved in medical and healthcare development in Nigeria
You trained as a medical doctor, what are you presently into? I am an international healthcare development expert and my area of specialisation is sickness prevention and health systems strengthening. My organisation works for governments; that is the donor government and the host governments either at the federal, state or local.
Does your job cover other African countries or Nigeria alone?
For now, our focus is primarily on Nigeria even though we have Africa in focus. We have offices in four states which are Lagos, Oyo, Plateau and Abuja. These are the places where our funders want us to work.
In the news is that you’re involved in a new political movement, Alliance for New Nigeria. Can you tell us what this is all about since it is outside your core area of specialisation?
Yes. I think getting involved in the political space was not what I set out to do. If someone has told me few months ago that I would be involved in this, I would have said no. But events that are happening in the country and the way the country is being run have led one to start asking is this the best that we can get for Nigeria. From experience, this country has the resources, both human and natural, to be better than the way we are. It just befuddles one to ask what is happening. Even those of us operating in the donor landscape, all the monies that donor countries are giving us, Nigeria can conveniently afford them and even do more if well applied. Even the funders are threatening the country that if you don’t do this or that, we will do that but the government does not seem to care. These are the things that get us wondering and have pulled one to the political. Our current leaders don’t have the will to serve the people that put them there. Instead of complaining all the time, we have to let our people know that we are not hopeless and that is why we are stepping into the space.
Why don’t you leave politics to politicians and let them run the show?
And that is what we have been doing since – I mean the professionals. We have ceded the leadership of this country to politicians for long. Even if we have felt the positive impact before, we are far behind when it comes to dividends of democracy. Even those of us who claim we are comfortable, that is relative. Some of the things we could afford in the past, we cannot afford now. We are far behind now in that so-called comfortability. We don’t even know what will happen in few months time. And it does not seem we will get the right answers to the issues we are raining. Why then should we continue to believe these same people will solve our problems for us? Why don’t we take the gauntlet and try to rescue ourselves? We are in the political space to say that even if politicians have failed, there are some of us that care for our country. We must let Nigerians know we are not hopeless. That is why we are calling on all right thinking Nigerians to come on board and be part of the action some of us have taken and help to retire and replace this class of leaders we currently have.
What is your own ideology? Our own ideology is that Nigeria is one of the greatest countries created by God but we have not been blessed by good leaders. So we came about with the ideology can be great again. What average Nigerians want from government is not too much. They want good and decent life. Why has this been difficult to provide? Why? We are spurred by the fact that if given the chance, we can actually run this country. When it comes to writing and developing policies, many excellent ones have been developed in the past. What is lacking is the political will and determination to implement these policies and do the right thing. The problem is that our leaders are always pandering to certain interests that prevent them from doing the right thing. Allegiance should be to the people alone and that is what we want to do. It is only the people that can give power and take it. We don’t believe in any godfather; the only godfather we have is the people. All you need to do is to be transparent
I Am from Edo State but Hey, I am an Ibadan Indigene
and provide purpose leadership. The people will fall in line when they see these.
You focus on professionals and technocrats. Why?
When you look at the society, professionals cut across all cadres. Not necessarily those that read medicine or accounting or law. Bricklayers, carpenters and so on are professionals in their own rights as long as they learnt these vocations. But we are looking at certain class of professionals who has been carrying on as if they are not part of this country because they have been their own ‘governments’. They are governments to themselves because they did not use mortgage to build their houses, they paid cash down. They provided their own power, even built back-ups via solar panels; they built their own water system and so on. These are people who spent millions of naira to put water treatments in their homes. Some of them even constructed the road to their neighbourhoods. These people don’t feel any impact of government but when you feel you can do so many things without relying on government, wherever you are living, you are still under a local government or county. And there is someone who is the local government chairman who is not as educated or exposed as you are, but he determines what you do and what you don’t do in your area. The time has come for professionals to apply that same excellence you applied in building your business to success to public service. Come out and manage the political space the way you have managed your business and the people under you. Enough of saying it is not possible, indeed, it is possible. For the love of this country, let us come out.
What’s ‘technoticianism’? Yes, it is. Politics is something most of us are averse to. But politics is one thing you cannot do without when you are in public service. We don’t want to be seen as another set of politicians who have come. We are different. We are technocrats but at the same time, we want to offer service in the public space. That is why, for a better terminology to describe us, we will be called ‘technoticians’. We join the two words-technocrats and politician-together and formed the word ‘technotician’. We are mindful of the fact that if you want to go to the political space only with your technocrat background, you are bound to fail. You must know how to build a little bit of politics.
Is your political movement for real?
We are for real and I can assure you of that. The perception in Nigeria is that for one to play politics in Nigeria, you must have a very deep pocket and must know one big name to be able to do what we are doing and that is the perception we want to change. No one is behind us and we are not being financed by anybody. We want to tell these powers that be that they cannot continue to ride roughshod over us even though we don’t have the resources they have. We can do better than them. Therefore, my message to those who may want to join us but thinking we are being sponsored is to come inside and see for themselves. All we have been doing have been out of goodwill. Nigerians are tired and that is why our message has been resonating with all the people we have been contacting. My message is that if you are interested in us but your are skeptical, I will encourage you to come on board and in due time, you will see if anyone or any godfather is behind us or not.
Has the group been registered ny INEC?
We are on the final stage right now. We have paid the mandatory fee to INEC for application. We are putting our papers together and our national office is almost ready and it would never be like your normal party office. We want to do things differently. INEC will soon visit us for their verification and hopefully, we will be registered as a political party.
Are there Nigerian professionals ready to join the group?
Of course. So many of them who I cannot mention for obvious reasons. That is very, very true. Since we started making awareness about our group, we have been receiving enquiries from within and outside the country. Many of them are just waiting in the wings and they are ready to step in and be part of this as soon as we are registered. In fact, many of them are happy that we are even doing this. What we have now in terms of endorsement will be nothing compared with what we will have when we are fully registered by INEC.
Away from politics, what do you enjoy having most?
Well, those who know me know that I take no prisoners when it comes to good things of life. I love them. The best, the better for me. I love good cars and a good house but I don’t believe in amassing all sorts of things like people saying I have property here or there. What I do is that the one I live, I make it as comfortable as possible. I love good cars to but don’t believe in keeping fleet of cars. The one I like, I go after it and I enjoy it to the fullest.
Have you always wanted to be a medical doctor?
Ironically, I never planned to be one. I became a doctor by accident. I was a very brilliant student without being immodest. My classmates reading this can attest. When I finished secondary school, some error on the school’s part, I had issues with my result and as a result, I could not go to the university even when I had already gained admission. I actually wanted to read architecture. When my classmates were gaining admission, only one person gained admission to read medicine and he went to the University of Benin. My resolve then was that I was better than many of them and for me to show that I was better, I decided to go for the best course which was medicine. Apart from that, I decided that I would go to the best university offering medicine as a course, which was the University of Ibadan. My dad was asking if I was sure I wanted to do it since medicine was never part of the plan.
Even at medical school, many thought I was too relaxed to be a medical student since I was not what we called the ‘effico’ type that would be holed up in the room reading. I was always involved in social activities and stuffs like that. I showed them that you don’t have to be too serious because you are a medical student. One of my classmates heard about my ANN activities and he said he was not surprised because he knew this was in me from day one. He said I should go ahead and he would support.
You are from Edo State but grew up in Ibadan.
Yes, I am from Edo State but I am a full ‘Omo Ibadan’ (Ibadan indigene). My dad was from Edo State but we were all born in Ibadan and that is one of the things that frustrate one: this state of origin stuff. We lived all our lives in Ibadan. I came back to Nigeria in 2006 and have been living in Abuja since and I could claim Abuja. I am from Fugar in Edo State but how many times do I go there? Though I went to secondary school there because my father insisted I did so as to have an idea of my roots. Nigeria should get to that level where the issue of state of origin becomes irrelevant. We can have state of residence but not state of origin. That is part of what we have to restructure.
Politics is something most of us are averse to. But politics is one thing you cannot do without when you are in public service. We don’t want to be seen as another set of politicians who have come. We are different. We are technocrats but at the same time, we want to offer service in the public space. That is why, for a better terminology to describe us, we will be called ‘technoticians’. We join the two words-technocrats and politician-together and formed the word ‘technotician’. We are mindful of the fact that if you want to go to the political space only with your technocrat background, you are bound to fail. You must know how to build a little bit of politics
Lai Muhammed: I Beg to Disagree
You know this thing started like joke, when the minister announced that he had received petitions from Nigerians complaining about the hosting of Big Brother Nigeria in South Africa. He had at the time said he was going to investigate and get back to us. Today, he has announced his intention to work for the banning of creative productions outside of the country. I will totally agree with him if he extends the ban, to medical tourism enjoyed by those at the highest level, importation of cars, toothpicks and all that we import in the madness that is the one-sided trade with China. This policy beggars belief even if we situate it only to the entertainment industry. This Industry I hear is worth in excess of N3 trillion and the underlying reason for this phenomenal growth is the improved state of production. The quality of the output has continued to endear it to a global audience which in turn is bringing in some very much-needed international flows. So I think our artistes should be free to seek the production quality and international collaborations anywhere in the world. What we really do not understand is the manning of some of these positions, practitioners or at best people with the ability to understand these things should be put in strategic positions so that we do not continue to be saddled with some of these k-legged policies. Even in simple arithmetic, someone spends say $10,000 to shoot a video in South Africa because that is where they all go to and the video goes viral globally and starts generating hard currency in download, creates employment not only in the entertainment industry but also the telecommunications industry, services, distribution and allied industries not to mention tourism and also boosting the image of the country and you say you want to stop that for whatever reason? What is even wrong with these people sef? Who are their advisers? My lord in case you do not know, Whiz kid has just done a collaboration with Drake and the song was the most popular song globally for some time, winning awards, leading to all sorts of international attention towards Nigeria with many international artists coming here in search of such talent and unique sounds, with endorsements and promotions running wild and millions of dollars generated all on a five-minute song which did not even make sense to me. Dear Sir, please go listen to one of Davido’s hot tunes and listen to the line in which he said , ‘are you done talking’…
Federal Road Safety Corps and its Foray into Nollywood
Let me first confess upfront. I really do not like the FRSC people having been a victim so many times, of their arbitrary tactics especially when it comes to stopping you for minor traffic misdemeanours. In fact, it is because of them I do not drive except on Sundays. Even at that, they can know how to catch me especially by that bridge in Ikeja. It is like part of their training, they have been taught how not to take sorry. In fact, when I see FRSC people standing and I see police on the other side, I quickly surrender to the police who after their initial
gra gra will calm down and negotiations will commence. The last time Road Safety people ambushed me at Iponri, they took me to their office where the oga with a very big tummy kept me waiting while devouring a very big bowl of pap and like 24 pieces of bean cakes, the one they call akara. Yes, I counted o, before he decided to listen to my supplication. The fact that I was receiving news of my father-in-law’s passing when his people caught me using the phone while driving did not move the man at all. I was charged with various offences, given a bill to pay at the bank and the fact that I drove my car myself into the camp did not stop him from charging me for towing van and also a fee to allow the vulcaniser reflate my tyres. You will ask me why all these stories this morning. Well I am trying to gauge the mindset of the driver who was shown in that video that went viral. Immediately I saw the video, from experience I quickly knew what had happened and I totally agree with the explanations of the FRSC on this matter. You see the man like me, would have dreaded going into the FRSC camp where he would have had his car impounded, humiliated, possibly pushed to do some crazy psychiatry tests and knowing full well that ‘these people no
dey hear sorry’ would have decided to run away, forgetting that the officer was in the vehicle. So the lady in trying to save herself was seeking to pull the handbrake as they sped off and her colleagues seeing their sister about to be abducted did the next best rational thing by smashing the glasses of the car to rescue their colleague. Yes that is what happened. Now lessons to be learnt: FRSC should show their officers more American movies where they would learn how to chase cars. They do not smash the windows with a stone (what if there was no stone around) but tail gate the runaway car until the suspect’s fuel finishes. This may not work though because something tells me that it is the corps’ car’s fuel that will finish first. Secondly, male colleagues should be the ones allowed to jump into a suspect’s car while the females would be outside and in a better position to run for help and finally they should also be open to negotiations abeg. No be Nigeria we all dey. The people too dey do sef. As for the driver, next time you should have not filmed it until you are very sure you are in the right, now you have filmed your own prosecution evidence that would be used against you. pele foolish man.
Aluko and Diezani : A Twosome Gone Bad
Forgive the pun. As I was about to write this piece, the twosome joke entered my big head. These financial lovers have together allegedly raped Nigeria to its knees. You can imagine buying the eighth most expensive apartment in New York from our money and buying a yatch with the asking price of $80m while still splurging some more on Naomi Campbell and other celebrities. All his mummy could do and say was to advise him not to buy but to lease it for two weeks and of course the boy did not listen to his mummy o. He went ahead to buy the boat and ended up exposing them to the U.S authorities who are better prepared to handle such things. This Aluko person should have his head examined with the way he was running around and doing international playboy with our money. These people have mind o, why would they allegedly be moving these kinds of funds and expect not to be caught? How can these people allegedly steal enough money to run the budgets of all states in the northern part of the country only to now use the funds on international prostitutes and satanic acquisitions? This Diezani woman try sha.
Inflation: A Voodoo Report
Let me first state here that I am not an economist o so I will most likely be talking crap on this matter. Once again the Statistician General has come out with a report that has shown that inflation has been tamed and has been going down in five straight months. According to the report, the rate is now 16% but the question I would like to ask the Statistician General is if he has reduced his wife’s chop money by the same rate he is saying inflation is dropping. All these paper progress we have been reporting is becoming frustrating. We are still buying foodstuffs at exorbitant prices, price of fuel which is very key to consumer price index is still at the same rate so how can inflation be going down when we are still buying garri at the same crazy price? I am taking the report with me to Shomolu market to show the women there that inflation has gone down o and as such they should adjust their prices otherwise I would report them to the Statistician General. Await my feedback Nigerians. Let’s get real abeg.
SOLA ADEDOYIN’S HAPPY MOMENT
While it will be wrong to say that life has been unfair to her, she had, however, been buffeted, at different times in the past, with the blustering winds of vicissitude.
Indeed, the mere mention of her name would evoke pity, particularly among the few who know her story.
Princess Sola Adedoyin, a former Managing Director of the defunct City Express Bank, once battled with cancer. Mercifully, the beautiful daughter of billionaire businessman, Chief Samuel Adedoyin, survived the dreaded disease to the disbelief of those who had written her off.
The President of MariaSam Foundation also recorded another tragedy when the bank collapsed in the face of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, new regulations.
Not yet sated, fate dealt her another unkind blow, when her marriage to her former husband of many years hit the rocks. No doubt, the development had tested her avowed faith in God.
Many years after, the graduate of Marketing /Accountancy from St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia is having the last laugh, as her new-found love, Francis Olushola Alao, has just been announced as the new monarch of Olugbon of IleIgbon Kingdom in Oyo State.
Following his confirmation by the state Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, he has since been observing the mandatory traditional seclusion, as part of the rituals of attainment of the royal stool.
As gathered, she has been in a happy mood since, while activity is now in top gear for the grand ceremony for the installation of the new monarch.
As revealed, the man is an international business tycoon, well-travelled and has various businesses spread across the world. He is from the Akinbola ruling house of Orile-Igbon in Surulere Local Government Area of Oyo State. He is also a highly-educated and very influential business magnate.
LEKKI GARDEN’S BOSS, RICHARD NYONG’S TRAVAILS
Richard Nyong, CEO, Lekki Gardens came to the nation’s real estate sector with a bang! His coming then had caused a stir in the sector, as he delighted stakeholders with beautiful promises.
No doubt, he started on a good note, as his firm smiled to the bank after successfully delivering over 2,000 housing units comprising thousands of semi-detached houses and flats in more than nine residential estates.
The estates, located between Chevron Bus Stop and Lagos Business School, Victoria Island, Lagos, are Lekki Horizon, Lekki Paradise, Lekki Gardens II, III and I.
But suddenly, there was a new twist to his story when Nyong and his contractor were arrested in connection with the death of some workers at one of his construction sites in Lekki, Lagos State.
He was then granted bail. This development later made him go underground.
However, the case was exhumed when it caught the attention of the state government. He was re-arrested and charged with manslaughter alongside his top managers before Justice Sybil Nwaka of the Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere, Lagos.
FINALLY, MOHAMMED BABANGIDA’S WIFE, NOW A MOTHER
At last, beautiful Aisha Umma Wali, the younger wife of Mohammed Babangida, son of a former military President, Gen. Ibrahim Gbadamosi Babangida (rtd.), is now a proud mother, having been delivered of a baby boy penultimate week at a highbrow hospital in California in the U.S. The baby is named Al’Ameen.
She is said to be extremely happy for the grace to taste the nectar of motherhood, nine years after she got married to the scion of the Babangidas.
It was gathered that her being childless for many years had exposed her to the ridicule and sneer of some people. But she was consoled by the fact that her husband showed her true love and care, while she hoped for the proverbial fruit of the womb.
Their love story dates back to over 20 years ago when they met through one Fatima Najib, one of their mutual friends. It was gathered that pololoving Mohammed had immediately expressed his love and desire to marry Umma, who was then a young undergraduate at the Bayero University, BUK, Kano.
Even when she travelled abroad for further studies, Babangida was reportedly still passionately in love with her so much so that he gave her a diamond ring, as a symbol of his commitment to her. But sadly, their parents were said to have kicked against the relationship.
Though he later married Rahama Indimi in 2004, Babangida still reportedly had feelings for Umma in his heart.
Luckily, the coast became clear, and the two love-birds stoked the ember of their affair, after his parents gave their blessings to the union. The marriage was held in 2008, amidst elaborate celebrations.
It will be recalled that his marriage to his first wife, Rahama, finally hit the rocks last year due to irreconcilable differences.
WHEN FUNSHO LAWAL TURNED 62
Anyone who wishes to compile the list of top corporate players in Nigeria will be making a grave error if he or she lives out the name of Otunba Funso Lawal. A great but quiet achiever, he turned 62 recently. Though the celebration was planned to be low key, a number of people, from all walks of life, honoured him with their presence at his Ikoyi, Lagos home. The Ogbomoso, Oyo State-born achiever, who obtained both his first degree and Masters in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Wisconsin Madison, USA, started his career as a Trainee Engineer in Tenneco Oil in 1979 and became a Systems Analyst with the Control Data Corporation in Denver Colorado. He later moved to Citibank New York in 1985 as one of the pioneer staff of the bank’s new franchise in Nigeria. He rose to the position of the Vice President of the bank in Nigeria and retired from banking in 1992 to set up a group of companies in the oil and gas, financial services and real estate sectors in Nigeria.
THE BRAINY AWELE ELUMELU
As a man, you must count yourself lucky, if you are blessed with a beautiful, humble, faithful and pious wife.
This, no doubt, is one of the things Tony Elumelu, Chairman, United Bank for Africa, UBA, is grateful to God for. But not too many know his wife, Awele, particularly because she detests unnec- essary publicity.
Nevertheless, those who have encountered the respected medical doctor at social events attest to the fact that she is not a snub. She cherishes her privacy greatly and usually makes lasting statements with her dress sense whenever she steps out with her husband.
Very brainy, the CEO, Avon Medical Services Limited holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree from the University of Benin. She worked with the Grantham and District Hospital, Grantham, United Kingdom. She had also worked with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos.
IYIOLA OMISORE SOARS HIGHER
Since the July 8 election that produced Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party, representing Osun West Senatorial district at the National Assembly, Senator Iyiola Omisore’s profile has suddenly been on the rise.
His home is said to have become a Mecca of sorts, as he is believed to have given the leadership of the opposition party a strong hope that it can wrest power from the ruling All Progressives Congress, in 2018.
Until now, his popularity had allegedly dwindled in the state, after he lost the Osun State governorship election to the incumbent, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
During the perceived interregnum in his political life, he pursued his Ph. D in Engineering. But typical of a master strategist, the Ife, Osun State-born Prince bounced back, and is fast taking his rightful place in the politics of the state.
Today, many of his disciples who left him during the dark years are returning to his fold.
It will be recalled that shortly before the July 8 senatorial election, the former deputy governor brokered peace among aggrieved party members, a development that has proved to be fruitful. Commenting on this unfolding development, a source revealed that even if Omisore did not contest the number one job in the state in 2018, he would definitely play a huge role in who becomes the governor because of his growing influence.