For Pat Utomi, the Altruist Intellectual at 60
Iremember Pat Utomi vividly for the numerous encounters we had while I was head of public relations at MTN Nigeria. Despite the huge unmet need that existed for telecommunications in Nigeria at the time, the world did not beat a path to our shores when the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, called for an auction for digital mobile licenses in 2001. A few years into a new democratic experience, the country’s image was not regarded by many to be particularly savoury nor its economic potential particularly exciting. Understandably therefore, only a few hard-nosed telecom industry operatives, all based on the continent, paid any heed.
By the time MTN was reported to have paid a whopping $285million for a digital mobile license in Nigeria, analysts across the world were alarmed. Indeed, MTN’s share price fell considerably on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Many, there were, who believed that in making an incursion to Nigeria, MTN had committed a grave blunder. Clearly, it was a Herculean circumstance in which to raise the financing required to erect a national telecom network. MTN recorded some success, nonetheless, launching commercial operations within the six-month deadline decreed by the NCC.
Demand was overwhelmingly high at this time. Pricing, however, would afford MTN and the then Econet (the second of the operatives to have similarly paid $285m for a license) the fortuitous means of regulating demand in the face of grossly inadequate supply. Base stations were at the time being laboriously erected at the busiest locales and the two organizations, in the absence of countrywide transmission networks, relied on satellite, notorious for its instability especially in poor weather, for transmission.
Unfortunately, in the face of a pricing that was perceived to be expensive, quality of service was not always pleasant as the telecom companies struggled to match demand with supply, a battle that continues till this day. This pitched many Nigerians against the telecom companies. In the face of the quality challenges, public angst against telecom operators and the industry regulator appeared to grow exponentially and in typical fashion, Nigerians expressed this quite forcefully in the media. Indeed at some point, an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives issued a report in which it claimed the telcos were “ripping off” Nigerians.
Analysts, investors and financiers were becoming increasingly alarmed by the threats and negative commentary that they tracked on a consistent basis. As this could potentially forestall funding of the industry, it portended a massive challenge for which a strategic engagement with key segments of the public was imperative.
The public relations function in MTN quickly identified Pat Utomi as someone of considerable stature, knowledge and credibility, who could help to douse the growing negative disposition of Nigerians to the telecom industry.
We never really appointed Utomi as a spokesman or advocate for the telecom industry and he was never in any formal or contractual sense an appointee of MTN or the larger telecom industry. But we rode on the crest of his intelligence and vast bank of expertise to stave off the brand erosion which the circumstances were foisting on us.
I recall with awe even more than 12 years later, that Utomi remarkably, hardly ever needed briefing documents. Indeed, simply calling him a few minutes to an event and detailing the nature of the event and the objectives it sought to achieve was often sufficient.
Once, we brokered a special live interview programme on national television. Guests on the TV show were Afam Edozie who was chief marketing officer and Demola Eleso, chief technical officer. Both rave-making young Nigerians represented a refreshing vista into the calibre of the executive of the future which the industry was breeding: young, competent, charismatic and passionate. Both were then in their ‘30s and had been “repatriated” home from Europe to help strengthen MTN’s operations. Utomi had been chosen to moderate the show and I had informed him in passing a few days earlier. I never got the chance to brief him any further. He arrived at the television studios straight from his lecture rooms, about 45 minutes before the show was to start and after making the rounds greeting some of his acquaintances in NTA, we sat together for five minutes to go over the program. That was all the time Utomi needed to fully comprehend what he needed to do and the kinds of questions he needed to ask to enable Nigerians better appreciate the economic value which GSM portended and why patience with operators was imperative. Of course that he moderated the show excellently is history.
At another instance, we invited leading journalists, members of the House of Representatives and other key stakeholders to a session that would evaluate the circumstances of the telecom industry at the time. In my private interactions with the reps, I was amazed at how highly these gentlemen regarded Utomi. As was usual in those days, my briefing session with Utomi had been about three minutes long. But he took the lead presentation and by the time he finished, my then Chief Executive Officer, Adrian Wood, requested if Utomi would be gracious enough to deliver the same presentation at a later date, to the top leadership of MTN Nigeria. So inspiring, so replete with knowledge was Utomi’s presentation.
At yet another instance, we had put together what we called a “Telecom Roundtable” to which a rainbow coalition of stakeholders cutting across different segments of society was invited: the Nigerian Bar Association, university dons and administrators, other telecom operations, traditional rulers, Nigerian Society of Engineers, writers and artistes, journalists and many others. Again, the objective was to foster better appreciation not just of the circumstances with which the telecom was contending but also of the larger benefits that the industry portended for society. And who best to moderate such a session than a Pat Utomi, a man for whom understanding and communicating came so naturally?
It would be impossible to fully measure the impact of Utomi’s interventions in those heady days when the GSM phenomenon needed to be painstakingly nurtured to fully take root in Nigeria. What is incontrovertible is that Utomi’s efforts were invaluable at facilitating understanding and whittling down angst by key stakeholders against operators and the industry regulator, in the process, minimizing investor wariness and enhancing their confidence. Incredibly, all of this was like a hobby, an intellectual exercise for Utomi. Despite the toll on his time, he never for once demanded payment in any way or manner whatsoever and never received any.
By the time I was to leave MTN to found XLR8, I recall visiting his office to inform him. Many had wondered at the time why I would leave such an apparently good job at MTN for an unknown, but not Utomi. He simply gave his encouragement, adding that whatever incentive it was that may have driven one to entrepreneurship, could only be positive in the long run. Such is the man’s passion for entrepreneurship. But I also needed him to give a presentation at the official launch of XLR8. Utomi is a professor of political economy, but the task I assigned to him was on the subject of marketing communications. Weeks after the launch of XLR8 I was still contending with demands for copies of Utomi’s presentation.
Utomi has the rare ability to assess issues, regardless of the subject, from a helicopter perspective and communicate these with refreshing and impactful lucidity. But beyond this, he is an extremely passionate man who lives his convictions.
It is no doubt, this passion that drove him to politics, his abhorrence of the incompetence and warped value systems that have among others, combined to keep Nigeria and its inhabitants, poor. I have often wondered why someone of the analytical dexterity of Utomi would vie for elective office the way he did and expect to get more than a handful of votes. Ideologicallydriven men like Obafemi Awolowo for instance, spent their lifetimes, cultivating a followership across the spectrum, as a full time task. Utomi, for all his brilliance, however, cannot be said to have a political following, perhaps save for the mostly white collar elite and civil society members who have been privileged to encounter him. Of course, he didn’t succeed in his quest for Nigeria’s presidency. Could this have been a case of his passion ruling his head at the time? I trust that he will provide an answer to this in future.
While it may be argued that playing politics in an unsophisticated clime like Nigeria is not his natural forte, for a man so far ahead of his time, Utomi the politician would have in all likelihood, been a big hit in the US.
Today, he’s at his best at the very frontlines of change advocacy in Nigeria, providing direction and motivation to hordes of people – young and old through his teachings, his books and most importantly his personal example.
Has Nigeria fully optimized the potential that resides in the phenomenon of the restless Pat Utomi? Clearly not. Someday, hopefully, Nigeria will present the gentleman an opportunity to bring some of his bigger ideas to life on a larger perhaps even national scale. I have no doubt that Nigeria will be pleasantly delighted at the outcome.
As he turns 60, I cannot but wish him the very best in the years ahead.
–– Okoruwa works for XLR8, a communications consultancy