For my secondary education, I attended Ahmadiyya Grammer School, Eleyele Ibadan, Oyo State, and while there, I was a member of the football team. Around 1960, we went to play a football match against Government College, Apata, also in Ibadan. There was a plastic factory next to Government College, and when we finished playing football, we were curious, so we went into the factory. It was called NIPOL, and was owned by the United Africa Company of Nigeria. It was the first plastic factory in the country. We got excited when we saw products coming out of the machines there, and we were giving some plastic items to take home. From that day, it made an impression on me that it was something creative. It stuck to my mind, and I said to myself that if I had any opportunity, I would also manufacture plastics. That was how the idea of studying Polymer Engineering came in.
I was already a practising polymer engineer with a company called ICI Limited, in their Plastics Building Development Group based in Welwyn Garden City in the United Kingdom, when I wrote a note to Shell that I was available if they needed someone in plastics or polymer in Nigeria. To my surprise, I got a letter and a ticket from them to come to their office for an interview. They were impressed with my performance, and that was how they sponsored me for the course at the Shell Polymer Centre.
It was an interesting experience working there, in the sense that it gave one the impression that one was a junior diplomat at the time. I started with the passport control office at Kakawa Street, Lagos Island. At that time, the ministry had just taking over from the colonial masters, and there was discipline. In those days, members of staff had to dress properly. If one was not well dressed, one would be sent back home to put on a tie.
I wouldn’t say I was the pioneer manager. I will rather say I was the first professional polymer manager, because I had a boss, Mr Ekarika, who was not a polymer engineer, but a biologist. I performed credibly well to the extent that I was getting promotions twice a year.
There were many things that were creative and different from others that I did. For instance, there was a time we were looking for a warehouse in Apapa, Lagos, where our depot was, because we were expecting a large consignment which could not be exposed. It was called paraffin wax, and we could not put it outside. We were desperately looking for a warehouse, but the quotations we were getting for warehouses outside Apapa were on the high side. It confused the whole management team. As a young man in his twenties and the plastics manager, I went round all the warehouses we had, and in one of those warehouses, I found out that most of the products there were obsolete items. I told the installation manger that we needed to clear the warehouse for the coming consignment, but he refused, so I went in to see the store keeper without the approval of the installation manager, ordering him to get rid of the items and clean the place. When the Managing Director, Mr Bob Reid, heard that I had got a warehouse that was free in our installations, he was shocked because he had been told that we did not have any available one. On getting there to see a vacant warehouse at no cost, he was amazed.
The other instance was when we had some consignments that just arrived from Apapa. As of that time, containers were not so popular. Goods were usually kept in bags covered by trampoline, and there were about 15 trailers at our facility in Apapa then. Meanwhile, the materials in the bags would get spoilt if they were touched by water. One morning, at about 2am, while I was on my bed, there was a storm. I woke up and couldn’t sleep again. I told my wife I had to go to Apapa, because we had goods that must not be touched by rain, otherwise we would incur losses of millions of naira. My wife insisted on going with me, so we went there together. On getting there, the trailers were not covered. I woke up all the drivers, and we started covering the trailers. By the time we covered the last one, the heavy rain started. I did not know that the managing director was having the same feeling of unease. But, he could not come down to Apapa at that time, because he lived in Ikoyi.
I had worked for Shell for about 10 years. I had worked in the Lagos office for six years; from 1970 to 1976. In 1976, I was redeployed to the London office to head the plastic division there. I was treated like a king because at that time, there weren’t many polymer experts, even in the UK. Because of my relative importance to the company, I was given an apartment in London. Suddenly, they (Shell Nigeria) started pressurising Shell London to release me; that I was needed badly in Nigeria. That was because while I was in the UK, they could not find another Nigerian to replace me. So, an English man, Mr Martin Denison, was sent from London to replace me. The man who replaced me in Nigeria was also given a house in Ikoyi. I had to come back to Nigeria, hoping that since Denison would be going back to London, I would be given the house in Ikoyi. However, the company did not allow me to move into the Ikoyi apartment. I told them I had tasted the good life in London, and I could not go back to my house in Apapa. I put pressure on the management but they refused to heed, for reasons best known to them. Instead, I was lodged in the penthouse suite of the Federal Palace Hotel, which had just been completed then.
Upon returning to Nigeria, I came with a brand new Mercedes Benz car with all my squash kits in it. One morning, as I was about going to work, I realised that my car was nowhere to be found. It had been stolen. At that time, car theft was not common, especially a brand new Mercedes Benz. The incident was actually reported on the cover page of the then Daily Times newspaper. The incident disturbed me, and I went through some trauma. I thought the management would then move me to Ikoyi, but they refused. At that stage, I tendered my letter of resignation. They refused to accept it, but I told them that I had made up my mind.
Nigeria has made a lot of money from crude oil. But the industry is yet to have a functional refinery, despite all the money spent over the years. Why do you think the country has not got things right in that sector?
I have always wondered why an oil producing company would be importing petrol and other products derived from crude oil. It cannot be explained.
Also, the financial backwardness of the country is caused by the subsidy on those products that we are importing. A typical petroleum product in England is sold for over one pound sterling per litre. With the average exchange rate now, that is about N800 to 1 pound. It’s a similar price in the United States of America. Selling fuel at N170 per litre does not make economic sense. We have to take the bull by the horn. When I was still working in Shell in the 70s, we had been having shortages of some finished oil products, and could not meet demands.
There used to be seven oil marketing companies in those days, and they were called the ‘7 Sisters’. Every Friday, they would give the coordinator in Shell their requirements based on demands. They would put all the requirements together and see what could be supplied locally, as well as what the shortfall was. They would then make arrangements with a company in Venezuela. There is no money involved. It was just trade by barter. They would give us litres of finished (petroleum) products that we wanted, in exchange for our crude oil.
Now, we are in a stage where we spend a lot of money on subsidy, yet millions of barrels of our crude oil go missing, and people pretend like they don’t know how they got missing. This issue is important, as our economy is dependent on crude oil, which represents at least 80 per cent of our earnings. It is an issue that must be addressed, and not swept under the carpet.
(It was) definitely not (a right move) because they are not oil companies; neither are they in the oil industry. If it was for amnesty purposes, it could be done either monetarily or in kind, by doing things such as providing free education to the people of Niger Delta. I believe that would have been more meaningful, than giving some militants contracts to protect pipelines. As we speak, millions of barrels of crude oil are still missing. The militants could assist if the country did not have the capability to engage foreign companies or experts to protect oil fields and pipelines.
People say that because many Nigerians are not benefiting from it. Rather, agriculture, which used to be the mainstay of the economy before the advent of oil, dwindled and almost disappeared, especially cash crops such as palm oil, rubber and cocoa. We left them, while people from countries like Malaysia and Singapore came to ‘snatch’ them from us, and are now doing very with them.
People in the rural areas are forced to come to cities such as Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt (Rivers State). At the end of the day, we have become net importers of these agricultural products. Currently, the cost of rice is prohibitive; it is fast becoming a food only for the rich.
The nation is currently experiencing fuel scarcity. What solution can you proffer to the government to solve this long-lasting menace?
Most of the country’s problems are caused by the fact that things are too centralised in the Federal Government. We need to decentralise. Each region of the country should specialise on what is available to them, and make contributions to the centre. If, for instance, Lagos has control of the supply of petroleum products at its depots, the state will know how to take care of that. Nigeria is a huge country, with huge problems. However, we are still playing the ostrich; and not focusing on the problem.
For example, how can you justify buying a product at N170 in Lagos State, and it sells for the same price in Maiduguri (Borno State), Sokoto, or Calabar (Cross River State), yet the depot is in Apapa (Lagos). What happened to the cost of transportation and other logistics? Such a system is not feasible. If things are subsidised and the people enjoy the benefits; that could be fine. But unfortunately, the subsidy goes into private pockets.
We are in the world of petrochemical. Saudi Arabia is not surviving only on their crude oil. Aramco (Saudi Arabian Oil Company) supplies most of the petrochemicals, which are in fact polymer, plastic, synthetic rubber and lubricants. Saudi makes a lot of money from petrochemicals, and that makes Aramco one of the 10 leading petrochemical companies in the world. In 1971, the Ministry of Industry, under Dr Oyekan as the permanent secretary, saw the need for Nigeria to play a powerful role in the petrochemical industry, so they put together a team, which I was fortunate to be part of, to carry out a market survey and produce a feasibility study, which became the blueprint for the petrochemical plants in Nigeria in Eleme, Port Harcourt; Kashia, Kaduna; and in Warri, Delta State. That blueprint is what is saving Nigeria from importing all our plastics or polymer raw materials, as well as other pharmaceutical raw materials, especially now that we don’t have dollars to import.
It is the only business I know. I cannot dabble into a business I don’t know much about. I established a company called Petroorganico Nigeria Limited, and we became the sole agent and distributor for Exxon Chemicals in Nigeria from 1978 to 1998. We lost the contract because Mobil merged with Exxon, to be called ExxonMobil; and since Mobil was present in Nigeria, Petroorganico would have a conflict of interest
Effort must be put into the development of cellulosic or other related plastics that are biodegradable.
The second school of thought I belong to is the process called ‘pyrolysis’, whereby all the plastic products are put in a chamber, burned at high temperatures and turned to gas. The gas is then collected to produce electricity. Most developed countries use this process to supplement electricity supply.
Together with some professors from the Lagos State University, and University of Lagos, and few polymer engineers mostly from the oil industry, we established PIN in 1989 at LASU. We did very well, and we were able to introduce polymer science and technology, as well as polymer engineering to over 30 universities in the country, up to PhD level. I am glad to tell you that the institute is doing very well.
That was because the headquarters of Exxon Chemicals was in Brussels in Belgium, and I was their representative in Nigeria. I used to attend a minimum of four quarterly meetings in a year in Belgium. My association with Exxon spanned 20 years, so you can imagine how many times I went to Brussels during that period. I practically became a Belgian. In the process, I was made the Chairman of the Nigerian-Belgian Chamber of Commerce. Usually, the president of the chamber use spend two years in office. But, I was the president for five years. During that time, I was able to make my mark. In appreciation, the Belgian government honoured me.
Manufacturers importing raw materials from Belgium, as well as traders, are members of the chamber. Also, Belgians wanting to do business in Nigeria would have to see us, while Nigerians going to Belgium would also come to see us. The most difficult part when I was president was that Schengen visa was introduced, and everybody wanted to have it. I was under pressure to provide Schengen visa for people, because one could not do business in Europe without the visa
That would be getting former President Olusegun Obasanjo to visit the second largest seaport in the world at Antwerp, Belgium. We went to Antwerp to see how they managed the port to be successful, and we were not getting good results from the port in Apapa, Lagos. President Obasanjo made himself available, and we toured the whole port with a view to improving Apapa port.
Very simple; through industrialisation, manufacturing and trade. A country that is not manufacturing, but only importing products, can never grow, and that is the situation we are in now. Most factories are moribund now. They are no longer in existence because the environment is not conducive for manufacturing. I will not even ask my enemy to go into manufacturing; it has too many inherent problems. For instance, how can one borrow money with an interest rate of over 20 per cent, and survive in manufacturing? The surviving manufacturing companies are being supported by their foreign or base countries, through getting loans to buy raw materials at lower rates in their respective countries. That is why a Nigerian company that does not have that advantageous factor can ever compete with them. The government that one is helping to create employment as a manufacturer is one’s number one enemy. In Lagos State, for example, there are proliferation of taxes. In saner climes, the moment one starts manufacturing, the government pampers one with so many incentives. They would give one a moratorium of between one and three years not to pay tax. But, in Nigeria, opposite is the case.
If I was younger, I would also ‘japa’ (relocate abroad for greener pastures). I pity the young ones. They don’t have many opportunities, and that is why some of them engage in all sorts of malpractices, that were unheard of before. Acts such as selling human body parts, engaging in money rituals, doing yahoo yahoo (cybercrime),and kidnapping. Imagine a graduate being a cab driver in a bid to survive. The commercial sector keeps shrinking because investors are leaving to countries where they are being pampered. Our atmosphere is hostile, and that is a big problem. That is why the youth are seeking greener pastures abroad; where they can also give their children better education.
Very simple. By decentralisation of the police. How can you take a man from Zamfara to Lagos as commissioner of Police? He has no idea of how the people operate. On the other hand, a policeman that is local to the area would know the families that are known for criminality, and other important information. A local police officer would know where to obtain information. Policing requires a lot of information, and that is why I support the idea of decentralising police.
Contentment. I am always happy and proud of the little I have.
The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo
I work hard and play hard. I could work for 24 hours if need be. I also go to the club to have a nice time, have drinks with young ones, because my agemates are not around mostly. I get along with younger generations of about 50 or 60 years old.
I prefer dressing like a young man; putting on jeans, t-shirt and a fez cap.
My favourite is eba or amala, with egusi soup.As an Ijebu man, I also like ikokore (water yam pottage).
I have been to many countries in the Caribbean, including Cuba and the Bahamas. When I visit those places, I feel extremely relaxed on the beach.
