AUGUST 17, 2013
Festus Odimegwu
Eze Festus Odimegwu, Chairman of National Population Commission, speaks with FRIDAY OLOKOR on the secret of his success as chairman of the Nigerian Breweries and how he bagged a first class degree in Chemistry in 1979
Can you just share with us how you were able to lift the Nigerian Breweries to where it is today?
You know it is the same thing I am doing at the National Population Commission now that I did in Nigerian Breweries. There, they used to call me a controller because when somebody has a high office and everybody fears him, I don’t fear such people. I still have the ability to tell them what I think, honestly. But some people wonder where the boldness comes from. I say, “Why not, it’s true now. If it is not true, disprove it.” So, in the process, I was performing on my job and they kept promoting me, and one day, they said I was the first technical person to become MD. In Nigerian Breweries, technical people stop at Brewery Management but I became a Brewery Manager in 1989 only after nine years of joining the company at the age of 36. So, later, they made me Sales Director, Marketing Director, Strategy Director abroad and Marketing Director in Ghana respectively. But when I became MD/CEO of Nigerian Breweries, I deployed knowledge to work. Management is the application of knowledge through people; I empowered people. Where they didn’t understand, I tried to explain. A leader is a teacher but you have to understand it first yourself and I motivated them; I was not corrupt. So, I was able to deal with corrupt people. I sacked a lot of people, recruited new people and it was a new dawn. Everything started working well. Nigerians can work very well if you manage them very well. I ran Nigerian Breweries with two expatriates, now I think they are here, they are 60 there. The question you ask is why should 60 expatriates be in a Nigerian company when we are saying Nigerians don’t have jobs?
We have so many problems in this country. Who gave them the expatriate quota? If they don’t have expatriate quota, how did they come in? So, Nigerians in Nigerian Breweries could no longer have the opportunity I had during my time to become the MD, because they have brought people from abroad to come and occupy the positions that Nigerians should aspire to in their own country and not that the people there can’t perform well. I ran Nigerian Breweries better than all the people before me. Up till now, they are still using my strategic architecture. They have not changed it. If you are a shareholder and you are reading the annual report, you will see that the strategic architecture I launched in 1997 is still what they write in their reports up till today, and I am still revered in the company. I ran Nigerian Breweries very well with informed leadership and I have never been corrupt in my life. Corruption ruins an organisation. Once you are corrupt, you can no longer lead because leadership is based on credibility and trust and you cannot have integrity in percentages. You either have 100 per cent or you don’t have it.
How do you intend to apply your Nigerian Breweries experience in the NPC, bearing in mind that it has a civil service structure?
Good leadership can work everywhere. All human beings desire good things in life. It doesn’t mean that good things which happened in a private sector strategic architecture will not happen here. It is already happening here. It is the work of the strategic architecture that is raising these issues we are discussing. It is positive that some people are talking, so they give me the opportunity to also talk. It is positive, it’s democratic. So, if a good vision will work in the private sector, it is even the government that needs a better vision because that’s where the lives of people are affected.
If you will specify the objectives you want to achieve, it is even here you need it. Like we say, we want accurate data, we want the vital registration to be continual, we want to give credible National Identity Cards, we want to do certain things; those are our objectives here. It is the brief the President gave to us. If you have a strategy on biometric census, we articulated it here even before the professionals wrote it. Why did we articulate it? Because if every census leads to argument, then do biometric census that is synchronised and centralised. So, when we finish it, if anybody says it is not correct, we will say, “Why do you think it is not correct? Give me a street.” He will give me a street, I will tell him the houses on that street and the number of people inside each of the houses and we will call the press. We will go there. We will check. You will see it. It’s accurate because we will have the biometric data of those people in our system and because it is synchronised, if one person does one million times, the system will take one.
You are a role model to a lot of people; now, behind a great man is a woman. Who is this damsel behind you?
You are trying to dethrone me.
Who is this lady, the great woman behind you and how did you really meet her?
You should know my wife’s story now because this story has been told so many times in the Nigerian media. You want me to become emotional?
Ezenwanyi Stella Chinwe Odimegwu, the immediate past Mayor of Orlu Senatorial District, the immediate past Chairman of Osu Local Government Council, the current Osodiyaeme of Orlu Senatorial District, the Ezenwanyi of Umuokubiriele autonomous community, the Ugoeze of Ezeaputa Royal Palace, the Adadioramma of Umucheke in Asaubirielem Local Government, my best friend, is the first graduate girl from my village and our first Nun. But God told her at a point that the love of a man and the love of God is the same and the whole community in my place helped me and she agreed to accept me as her husband. That was the best thing that has happened to my life. She is a very gracious woman. They said in the Holy Book, the Christian Holy Book, that he who finds a virtuous woman as a wife has found a good thing. Isn’t it true? I know that version. I found a good thing the day I found her.
When was that?
In1984. We are from the same village. We have always known each other and I tried to marry her, it took four years but in 1984, she agreed to marry me and that was the day my life became positive. She is the mother of our three children; our 28-year-old son, who is in Steven Institute of Technology, United States. Our princess, Chioma, who graduated with a first class, worked as a banker, worked in the United Nations, and now doing her MBA. Then the Cinderella of the house, the most brilliant of all of us, my last daughter. She is a double major first class graduate of GW Washington. She graduated at 23. She just left Credit Swiss as an investment banker. She is a stock broker. Now, she took her sister’s place in the US. She has decided to take one year off to go and learn French. She can speak Chinese. She can speak English, a little Portuguese. She wants to go to France to learn French and become a writer. These four people I have just mentioned to you now; my son, two daughters and my wife, are the best things in my life.
Most of our commissioners here have seen my wife. My children don’t come to Nigeria again since kidnapping started. You know my wife was kidnapped and I paid N100m, if it was any of my children, I will almost kill myself. So, after that, I told them not to come again. We will go and visit them. Ezenwanyi is there now with them.
Despite the threats, you are not deterred. You still want Nigeria to be great.
I want Nigeria to be great so that they won’t kidnap me myself one day. When Nigeria spoils, all of us are affected, when Nigeria is not good, all of us are affected. It can never be good for any Nigerian unless all parts of Nigeria are good. You are because we are. If you are not, we cannot be. That is a good philosophy. It is called the story of commons; so, no part of Nigeria will be left behind because if any part of Nigeria is not functioning, one day if you put your leg in that area, you are in trouble, so we should work for the whole country to be good.
What are the major challenges facing the NPC ahead of the 2016 Census?
It is not just money; there are laws to be reviewed. If you don’t review laws, even if you have money, you cannot do those things. Those laws will be reviewed and the money, we are not expecting the government to bring all of them but the one they will bring is the necessary money. No development partner will give you money to build an office. They don’t give money for such things. Those are the things countries should do. So, once the government does their bit, we have the ability to raise money from the Organised Private Sector and do everything. So, when data is there and you can get it on demand, it’s cheaper for you like getting electricity on demand. Of all the things Nigerians say they need; electricity, road, health, education, none of those things will happen unless we have the data to plan them. We have already written a full preparation. This is the document listing the road map to the 2016 Census. We have everything lined up but the government should do their own. Once they do their own, they are the engine and we are the wagon behind, but a strong wagon, then we do our own.
What are the specific laws that need to be reviewed to aid your operations?
There are so many. I am not a lawyer but I will give you an example; in the constitution, they said that local governments can also register but they gave it as a constitutional mandate that it is what the National Population Commission will do, that is duplication. So, you have to review the constitution so that NPC will do it for the whole country. As an example, they said in the constitution that the Independent National Electoral Commission can register voters that are 18 years and above. INEC can’t know somebody who is 18 years and above. It is only the NPC that knows and has the data of people who are 18 years and above. So, when we do it, INEC will just use the figure from us, they don’t have to register for themselves because when they register for themselves, politicians will also politicise it. That needs to be reviewed.
You once indicated an interest in the Imo State governorship seat. Have you buried that ambition?
It was the then MD/CEO of Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia, who saw me one day and said, “Eze, I had a dream one day that you should really go and be the governor of Imo State and help your state.” The whole idea started from him. He took it to Baba (Olusegun Obasanjo) and then they started calling me, “come and be governor.” I called the current Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, because he is my friend and my brother and you know, he is the one who recommended me for this job before the President approved it. So, he is like my political mentor. I called him, I called Prof. Joe Irukwu and I called the then governor of Imo State, Achike Udenwa, I said, “This is what they are telling me, three of you should go and have a meeting with Baba, whether he really means this thing he is saying; not when I come now, they will begin to mess me up.”
Three of them went to have a meeting with Obasanjo, four times in the Villa and I refused to be present in those meetings. Baba told them, “Yes, Festus should go and help his state, what he did for Nigerian Breweries, let him go and do it for his state, let’s really have a governor that is performing. Three of them came and told me and said, “He says you should run.” I said, “Achike, but you know I am not a politician. I don’t have a structure.” Achike said he would give me his structure but that he didn’t know whether the zoning arrangement in Imo would allow me to run because he is my brother. He didn’t know whether the Imo people would allow an Orlu man to succeed another Orlu man. I said, “Ok, ask.” I told Baba that zoning didn’t favour me because I am from the same senatorial district with the governor. He said, “What is zoning? Your quality is good.” Then I called Maurice Iwu (then INEC chairman) and Iwu said, “Ah, with Eze’s quality, there is nothing like zoning, let him run, I will support him.” And then I declared my interest. After spending, I don’t have to tell you the amount, after spending money, I mean money, trying to convince the Imo people, taking over the two radio stations, doing 2,000 billboards, moving to win on my own merit, and the Imo people approved of me, 24 hours to the primaries, I was asked to stop. I said, “What happened?” They said Maurice Iwu said he went home and the chiefs in his village said they would kill him if another Orlu man won. And because I was not doing it for personal reasons, it’s for service, I immediately stopped.
I just stopped and I went back to Lagos, bought two Rolls Royce Phantoms to reward myself for trying and then started enjoying myself. I am not going to run for governorship again because, now I am at the federal level, let us help Nigerians. It is not about the job we have done or the job you are doing, it is about how you impact positively on the lives of Nigerians.
Still talking about Obasanjo, there was an issue that cropped up when Nigerians said you supported Obasanjo during his third term ambition. I want to really find out, with the criticism that followed the whole idea, did you regret ever being Obasanjo’s friend?
I am happy you asked this question. You know when I was saying Baba told me this, I was leading you to that question. Am happy you raised it. It is something people have said that I never bothered to comment on because it is not necessary commenting on it. The Obasanjo you know, does he look like a man somebody will tell what to do or somebody will urge on? I think he is above that, that’s one. Two, Obasanjo himself has told me that he didn’t plan any third term, why don’t you believe him? He was our President. He is an elderly man. If he said there was no third term, I should believe him because there was no third term. He handed over. So, I think Nigerians should take it as that. On my own personal level, Obasanjo made me to be the spokesman for the Organised Private Sector during his eight years. Any private sector man that wanted anything from the government came to me for it and I spoke for them but I made it a point of principle that I would never ask for something for myself because if I did, I would lose the credibility to represent the people. So, what we had with Obasanjo was a relationship between the Federal Government and the Organised Private Sector and in the process, my company benefitted here and there, but nothing for me as a person. It didn’t have to do with third term or anything.
Do you feel fulfilled at 60?
If you look at me, you will know I feel fulfilled. Don’t I look confident? Don’t I look contented? Don’t I look happy? Don’t I look like a man at peace with himself? You know many people you see are hypocrites and they are not at peace with themselves, even with the nonsense they say. But me, I am a happy man. I have done good things in my life and when you have done good things in your life, it gives you peace of mind. What people say is actually not important. I don’t take my bearing from what people say. I don’t care.
You were reported to have made a first class in Chemistry from UNN. How did you perform that feat?
My result in UNN has been the best till now and my professor told me that nobody has beaten the record. I have always been very serious in my life, where I come from and especially as an Eze, we don’t do nonsense. You do serious things with a sense of responsibility and it has always been like that. I am the first child of my parents. I was born when the sun was at its peak (noon) on August 7 in 1953 and my grandfather, the great Odimegwu Obidigbo Okonkwo Nwobo, saw in his dream that a great son and indeed grand-son was coming. When I was born, he came to Aba, carried me and after seven days, showed me to the sun and gave me my Igbo name, “Ezekulie,” meaning the king has arisen and I live by those tenets. So, I have always been serious in my life; in my primary school, I was the only one who made a distinction in my set. In the village secondary school I attended, I was the only one who made grade distinction. When I went to UNN from that village school and mixed with people from Kings College and other great schools in the cities, I beat all of them and merited the foundation’s scholarship in the Department of Physical Sciences. And in my second year, they started calling me a professor because I was teaching everybody Chemistry. After four years, I became the first person to have a first class degree in Nsukka against some very tough professors. I didn’t only get a first class, I was the best graduating student in the whole 1979 set. When I went to Nsukka three years ago, my professor told me that my cumulative aggregate is still the best result till today. The important thing is not the result but the fact that I was serious. I was a very responsible student, I developed critical consciousness and ability to think independently and make a judgment myself that is not subject to the control of anybody and it has never failed me.
Were you attending parties then?
I am social but partying is irresponsibility. In my time, it was not even there. What a lot of people do now was not there in my time. Cultism was not in Nsukka, we were responsible. You now have an effervescent self-adoration generation. It is this generation that takes their own pictures, we never took pictures of ourselves and put it in the cyberspace for everybody to see. In my time, we were serious and responsible. When you went to campus and held a girl’s hand after teaching her in the library, and you escorted her to another hall, with that touching, you had already made her satisfied. Nothing else came to your mind.
As handsome as you are, were women not running after you?
(Laughter) Go, yeye man.
On a softer note, do you like women?
I like women, if not, I won’t be married. I married my wife because I like her and she gave me three children. I love my daughters; I love them very much. My nightmare is the day they will say they are getting married because I want them to live in the palace. They can have children in the palace. In the commission here, I have three girls as commissioners, federal commissioners, I love them very much. I love them better than all these men. I love my SA, Tina; she’s always looking after me, everywhere I am, she calls me daddy. She’ll say, “Daddy, how are you?”
Are you making efforts to put your life in a permanent form so that history, I mean generations yet unborn will benefit from the first class stamp that you have registered in various fields of life?
The Nigeria that I love very much, I have written my autobiography. It’s in my library in Lagos. I also commissioned six professors to do a 12-year research on the history of the great Odimegwu dynasty and that book is also ready. If my brain fails and/or I die, though my grandfather died at 110; my grandmother died at a very old age, so, I come from a long lineage of long life. I used to tell people I will die at 120 because if my grandfather didn’t drink Gulder and lived up to 110, I have to show something for drinking Gulder, so I just added 10 years for that sake, it will be 120.
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