Reminiscences with Senator Walid Jibrin
Senator Walid Jibrin is one of the doyens of the textile industry in Nigeria, but his sojourn in politics most times overshadows his image as an entrepreneur. Jibrin, who is in his 70s, was there in the hey days of the textile industry; he remained there
You are one of the most respected persons in the Nigerian textile industry. How did you get there? As you are aware, the textile industry is one of the oldest industries in Nigeria. The Kaduna Textile Limited (KTL) was established in1956, followed by the United Nigeria Textiles (UNTL) in 1964. That was made possible by one very strong Chinese, Mr. Chartley. It was meant to utilise the cotton produced in Nigeria into akoko, which local people and farmers used to wear because there were no printed fabrics.
My connection with the textile industry was not purely accidental. I studied Industrial Geography in my university days, so I utilised that experience. I felt that making people to wear clothes was the most important thing for human beings after moving away from the days of nakedness. I hoped to help humanity; that was how I came to this line.
Immediately after my national youth service, I joined the UNTL in 1974. I have been working here for up to 40 years.
The Federal Government doesn’t have a single share in the company. It used to be 60 per cent owned by expatriates and 40per cent owned by Nigerians. Some of us also have shares in the company. It was like a family, and we worked together as one entity, believing in the motto and objective of establishing the United Nigeria Textile.
I started working here as a personnel officer and rose to the position of a general manager of the company, as well as the executive director of a subsidiary company of the UNTL, Zamfara Textile Industry in Gusau. The UNTL is composed of subsidiaries like the Zamfara Textiles, Funtua Textiles, Supertex, Unitex and Nitentex in Lagos. All of us were working together and helping the owner. That was how I started.
I have been chairman of the Textile Manufacturers Association of Nigeria for 10 years and chairman of the Textile Sector of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria for eight years. I worked in various committees of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). I was also the chairman of Cotton Committee. After the dissolution of the Marketing Board, the Cotton Board, we took over and encouraged farmers to grow cotton. I toured all the states in northern Nigeria to encourage farmers and distribute seeds for them to grow cotton. The cottons were divided into grades. Unfortunately, the seeds have been bastardised, and there’s no control as it is imported. Farmers are no more encouraged to grow cotton.
My interest in the textile industry broadened my knowledge about clothing, not only in Nigeria but in the whole world. I am well recognised in this field, so it will be very difficult for me to leave the industry. You joined the industry as a graduate;
did you start at a top level?
I started from the middle class, not managerial level. In the industry, you must reach a certain stage before attaining a managerial level. I kept moving from ladder to ladder, up to the top management level.
Did somebody give you a note before you were employed?
Yes. My late elder brother, Group Captain Usman Jibril introduced me to Alhaji Mamman Daura, who was a director in the industry. They were very good friends. So, immediately I came, he started the process of employing me. I didn’t have to wait after my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme. I was given the greatest speed required.
Mamman Daura remains one of my mentors in the industry. I worked very nicely with him and others, including the late Ciroman Kano, the father of the present Emir of Kano. They all encouraged me to move to the level I am now.
How was your first day at work?
It was a normal day to somebody who was exposed, having worked as a journalist, a producer in the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) in Lagos with Christopher Kolade. We enjoyed working with him. He deployed us to various states. I happened to go to Borno State, where I served as a senior producer in the NBC for one year. They wanted to employ me at that level, but I begged them because that was not my area. I was fully accommodated as a journalist. I enjoyed it; that is why today I don’t want anybody to touch any journalist.
When I came here I met another gentleman, Alhaji Fadau Abdullahi, who is now late. We worked with him and I learnt a lot about industrial relations. At that time, textile workers were difficult to manage, but because of my experience in the university as a unionist I didn’t find it difficult to utilise my position to deal with the workers. I managed them very well. Sadly, these days you find some personnel managers teaming with management. You have to be between the workers and the management, and you have to utilise your knowledge. You don’t lean too much on the side of management; you have to consider the workers so that they get what they are entitled to. Any manager who is rude and does not respect the dignity of workers is not fit to be a personnel manager. You must also work in the interest of the management which employed you, but with caution.
Were you born in Kaduna?
I was born in Marmara, Nasarawa Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. I came here because of the textile industry. I had my primary education in Nasarawa State while higher school was partly in Kebbi and OkitiPupa in Ondo State during a programme organised by the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sardauna, and Akintola, the Premier of the Western Region. We went there with students from Ilorin. We managed things and enjoyed ourselves with Yoruba people. We taught them Hausa language while they taught us Yoruba. We learnt a lot from one another. We were pampered and treated like eggs. During Sallah, they would buy rams for us and we enjoyed as if we were in our hometowns. Thirty of us were taken for the programme - 15 from Kebbi and 15 from Ilorin. It was more useful than the NYSC because we interacted fully for so many years and got to understand the people of
the state. Unlike what obtains today, those of us from the North were encouraged and offered accommodation. It doesn’t happen like that again in this present time. That was about 1963.
As a Fulani boy then, were you not scared of staying in the West?
I was not scared at all; I enjoyed it. I mingled with the Yoruba - the men and women liked me a lot.
Tell us about your activism in school. Did you at any time participate in, or lead any protest?
I am always a careful person. I zealously indulged in university unionism. I first contested as a representative of the assembly; from there I contested as the director of sales of the university. Our slogan was Ga mu hai, meaning ‘We are there.’ That was at Bayero College, which is now Bayero University, Kano. My experience in school as a unionist gave me the experience to be a real politician.
During our time, we measured anything that came and made sure that whatever we were doing was correct. We never made demands blindly. We were never involved in protests that would lead to the destruction of the university’s property. We had a way of telling the management of the university what we needed, and they always listened to us. We came out with resolutions for the benefit of all of us.
You were among the first batch of members of the NYSC in 1973; can you share your experience?
Having schooled in the Western Region, where I made everlasting friends in Ondo State, life was much easier for me in Lagos during the NYSC programme. I also made friends there. My simplicity and respect for human dignity made me to be friendly with Fela Anikolapo-Kuti. His music attracted me and made me a regular attendant at his centre. It was a very well spent time, although it was short-lived because I was transferred to Maiduguri. It was there that I got married.
Where was your place of primary assignment?
I served at the broadcasting unit. I was a broadcaster and producer. They loved me and allowed me to organise what they called ‘NYSC Calling.’ I remember that they asked me to bring some people to do a programme known as ‘Christian Calling’ and I brought Mike Okiro. Several years later, when he became the Inspector-General of Police, I went to him (I didn’t know he was the one) looking for a favour and he quickly rendered assistance. He told the people around that I was the one who gave him an assignment that earned him a lot of money, which he used to marry his wife. So, we were so happy.
I sat in this office when our people came to meet me with a form to fill to contest as a senator. There was no string attached to it. They didn’t even ask me to pay for the form; they had already paid. I filled the form and they told me that I should not spend a kobo, instead they tasked themselves and gave me some money to use for campaign
Having been in the textile industry for a long time, what do you think is the problem with the industry? What is the way out?
The textile industry was very buoyant, but when things suddenly changed, the workers began to leave for other industries. We also faced many problems in the industry, such as lack of electricity. Today, we use only 30 per cent of NEPA and 70 per cent of generator, which is very costly. The generator uses diesel, which is difficult to purchase. There is also the problem of black oil, which we use in starting the engine. The black oil is a byproduct of petroleum, and it is used in the textile industry. Now, the price has gone up. It was just N2 per litre before, but now, it is about N98 if at all you can get it. In fact, if you go to Kano State, the black oil is about N102 per litre. All these costs add to the cost of production.
We also have the problem of smuggling, which is very rampant in Nigeria today. If you go to any market, especially in Kano, Zamfara, Onitsha and other places, the same cloths of the same quality we produce here are sold relatively cheaper because of the low purchasing power of the people. They cannot afford to buy our own due to the high cost of production. They used to take our products to the West African sub-region, but the people there too cannot afford to buy. And that is a big problem for us.
They import these goods through Lome ports and transport it by road to Niger Republic, from where they openly transport it on trailers to Nigerian borders. Because of the porous nature of the borders, there are many of them. There are over 212 borders that use motorcycles, bicycles, donkeys and camel, among other means of transportation, which may not be monitored. The only place that may be monitored is the road, but the Nigerian Custom does not have sophisticated weapons to fight smugglers. If they are not careful, they may be killed by the smugglers because they are well equipped; and it is a do-or-die affair. These people are trying their best, but they should have equipment for surveillance, such as helicopter. These are the issues.
Many of the textile industries in Nigeria are closed now. We used to have 175 industries, but today, we have only 24. Even in Kaduna State, we had 12, but the only one existing now is the UNTL. We used to have about 10,000 workers in the UNTL but now, we have less than 1,000.
As it is now, we have stopped the line of production of our printed fabrics like Wax and African Print. We now go into manufacturing of thread, spinning and weaving, and produce only the akoko (white), which old people and farmers would wear. This is what we use in feeding our subsidiary in Lagos and probably export.
Another problem is multiple taxation. All these affect the cost at the end of production. In advanced countries, there are so many things like the chemicals that are within reach; you only need to order for it. But in our own case, we have to order from outside the country. Because of insecurity on the road you may end up losing a lot of chemicals intended to be used for work in Kano or Lagos. So tell me why the prices of our fabrics will not be higher than imported ones?
Customers complain that our fabrics fade out easily, but many factors may be responsible. When they wash, they put it under the sun, but people must know that sunray and pressing iron take away the brightness of your colour. Also, the chemical used might have been in the market in overseas for a long time before it was brought to us in Nigeria. So after using it to produce cloths, they start fading. If you expose cloths produced abroad to too much sunlight, they will also fade. The more you iron your cloths, it wears out, so it is not all our fault.
What is the way out?
It is important to enlighten the people
and customers because they prefer to buy fabrics made in Italy, Holland or England. That is the attitude of customers, so we have to enlighten them to be patriotic and patronise fabrics made in Nigeria and not always copy the advanced countries. The same thing is applicable to other locally made goods.
The Federal Government approved loan for the industry; how far has it been utilised?
It was former President Olusegun Obasanjo who first initiated that. When he came to Kaduna during a trade fair, he heard complaints about our problems, so he said there should be a N50million loan to the industry, but we had to go to various places to organise the loan, and because of the conditions of the loan, we could not obtain it. It was updated from government to government, and now, it is N100billion. I think the UBA wanted to work it out but it couldn’t. Then it went to the NEXIM Bank, which also studied it but couldn’t grant it. It has now moved to the Bank of Industry, which gave us N1billion to be able to upgrade our machines. The issue is, when you give somebody a loan for a particular purpose, what about the capital? Most of the problem we have today is the capital. Most of the companies don’t have capital to go back to. They don’t know how to go into the process of growing cotton or assisting farmers to do so because this loan is meant to change machinery. If you change your machinery but you are in trouble with smuggling, what would you do? It is going to be difficult. So it has to be a general loan. Most of us have utilised the loan. We thank the Bank of Industry, but we want them to further reduce the loan payment to a minimum.
There are some other agricultural loans of about N200billion to get raw materials. I think there is the need for more loans, and the terms of payment should be minimal so that more industries can spring up again.
In 1983, you won election to the Senate under the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). As a Fulani man, how easy was it for you to win election in Plateau State then?
Again, I have to bring you back to my life in the university as a student union leader. I didn’t panic at all. The only difference is that, at that time, there was no love for money at all. Today, if you don’t have money, just forget it; even if someone comes to beg you and assures you, he is telling lies.
I sat in this office when our people came to meet me with a form to fill to contest as a senator. There was no string attached to it. They didn’t even ask me to pay for the form; they had already paid. I filled the form and they told me that I should not spend a kobo, instead they tasked themselves and gave me some money to use for campaign. It was a rigorous campaign. I know the act of campaign very well, but I do not know the act of giving money. That was how we won. As I told you, this company is privately owned, so they quickly asked me to go, wishing me well. They gave me a permit and I went.
When I became the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), I didn’t give a kobo to any member and nobody gave me a kobo to campaign. I only told the people to elect me if they felt I was the right person.
These days, those who come to you will only tell you lies, and when they are going, you will give them money even when you know they had told you lies. If I had tried doing politics for money, I wouldn’t have educated my 10 children to the level they have gotten to today.
How much was your salary as a senator?
I don’t know how to calculate it, but it was not up to N200, and it was difficult to get. Sometimes when we were broke, we would go to Olusola Saraki, the father of the current president of the Senate. He was our majority leader. The other senators elected me to be their spokesman, so when l went to Saraki and told him we were broke, he would give us money. At that time, no minister came to lobby us. We got to the Senate with the stand of the party, but today, where is the stand of the party? If there was anything to be discussed about the party, it would go to the caucus first, and you won’t disagree with their stand. But today, it is not like that. Personal interests have come into play. Anybody can just stand up and say ‘I don’t agree.’
Did you have furniture allowance? Was the idea of constituency projects known to senators?
There were furniture in our houses already, so we were not paid money for it. Also, constituency projects were very minimal; we didn’t even call it constituency project so openly like that. I had a constituency office.
How did you feel when the military sent you packing within three months and didn’t give you the opportunity to serve your people?
You see, I went to that place with two minds because I knew there was a problem. One General Aboki, whom I entered a plane with from Kaduna to Lagos told me: “Walid, I wish you good luck, but don’t borrow any money from the bank, and don’t sell your properties.’’ I adhered to his advice, I didn’t sell anything. I went to the Senate just like that. I didn’t even go there with any car. I used the old car from my predecessor. I was always driving the car, even as smoke was coming out. I didn’t take it as anything.
When there was coup I was arrested on my way to the airport. Somebody told the same General Aboki that Walid Jibrin was among the people arrested and he asked them to give me my car keys and the car. He also asked them to guard me all the way home. I was living in a local house in Kaduna, so when they took me home, they asked me not to come out. So, since I didn’t sell anything, I didn’t feel anything.
As Sarkin Fulani, what is your take on herders/farmers clashes?
I am very much concerned about this herders/farmers clashes because if care is not taken, it may result into Boko Haram or even worse. Today, the lands have been confiscated by rich men. In the past, the Fulani man never knew that the land belonged to somebody else. He migrated and stayed there, and after sometime, he migrated to another place, but today, anywhere you go, there is the owner of the land. The lands have been possessed; there is nowhere to move, even to ponds where the cattle would drink water. With what is going on now, in the next 30 to 45 years, there will be no land for the Fulani man.
Look at the trouble in Plateau, Benue, Mambilla etc. I happened to be in Mambilla Plateau recently and I looked at the situation. Some of us have to be very fair to ourselves and other people. Let us measure the pros and cons of the situation and try to compromise instead of adding fuel to the fire. It is unfortunate that on both sides of the communities, there are people who want war. If the people are praying for war, who is going to settle the matter? If people like us come here and give our own view of peaceful settlement of what is happening, our people will accuse us. On Facebook, someone accused me of going to Mambilla Plateau and taking sides with the governor. He said I should have said it was a tribal conflict against the Fulani. How can a leader say such a thing?
You were the BoT chairman of the PDP when it lost the presidential election; how did you feel?
Jonathan was completely misunderstood in the North, to the extent that some of us who embraced him were mocked with religious titles. I was named Reverend Walid Jibrin. Other Muslims were mocked as pastors and bishops. You can see the religious connection to the campaign of Goodluck Jonathan.
Jonathan was easygoing and simple, but his simplicity was misunderstood. The way he accepted defeat was exemplary in Africa. His decision to concede defeat shelved bloodshed in Nigeria. When he told us his decision, most of us were shocked, but understanding his wisdom, we all embraced it. Because of this good gesture, I think Jonathan and his wife should be left alone.
Do you still nurse political ambition?
I am a founding member of the PDP. I started from the grassroots and became the leader in my ward, from where I also became a leader in my local government and proceeded to the Nasarawa State western zone, party leader in my state, and to a national ex-officio member, which qualified me to be a member of the National Executive Council (NEC), deputy national secretary, national financial secretary and member of the National Working Committee (NWC). I also rose to become a BoT member, then secretary. I also combined the positions of secretary and national chairman in acting capacity. I am now the chairman of the BoT with a five-year mandate.
I have just spent one year in this position. After this tenure I will begin to think whether I would continue with partisan politics or leave it to the younger ones and play the role of an adviser. For now, I am not interested in contesting any elective position. However, I will support formidable and able candidates that will serve the people.
There were furniture in our houses already, so we were not paid money for it. Also, constituency projects were very minimal; we didn’t even call it constituency project so openly like that. I had a constituency office