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‘Money is not the objective of service, what matters is the service you render’

By Martins Oloja, Kabir Alabi Garba, Niyi Bello and Tunde Alao
13 October 2015   |   3:22 am
There was no ceremony about it. Before I became the governor, I had built this house. And I did not consider it necessary for me to move my house to any other place for the purpose of public service. I feel comfortable, safe and secure here.
LKJ

LKJ

How and why did you choose Ilupeju as your permanent abode in spite of your profile as the first executive Governor of Lagos State?

There was no ceremony about it. Before I became the governor, I had built this house. And I did not consider it necessary for me to move my house to any other place for the purpose of public service. I feel comfortable, safe and secure here.
And there hasn’t been pressure, even from people to get you out of Ilupeju to a more convenient place?

I didn’t even allow that! I didn’t allow such pressure! What is your business, as long as my family and I are quite happy living here?

Sometimes, it is our business to ensure that there is comfort and security for you at all times. Even though your house is close to the Police Station, it is believed that somewhere in Ikoyi or Victoria Island would be an ideal place for you in terms of comfort, safety and security….

By the Grace of God, I am comfortable here. And I feel happy being here. By His grace, I have become an Ilupeju product.

Sir, I do not know whether you still go round these days, Ilupeju is not a bad place after all, but it appears government no longer pays attention to Ilupeju… I do not know whether you have expressed concern about this lately?

Well, we have been trying to do something about that through our local organisation, Great Ilupeju Township Association (GITA) which brings together many of us to discuss matters of interest with the people. We meet third Sunday of every month. At this meeting, we review our decisions and come to agreement as to how we can keep Ilupeju as good as it is or even better.

A lot of young people read about LKJ and the argument always ensues on whether LKJ is a Lagosian or not. By the way is LKJ a Lagosian? Is it true that your roots, family-wise, is Omu Aran in Kwara State?

Yes, my great grandfather was from Omu Aran. He settled in Epetedo area of Lagos. So, when event occurred, singers used to eulogise him as Omo Olomu Aparan…. that is my beginning because my great grandfather was from that place.
As a close associate of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, what can you say about his policy on Education? Now that Education is in trouble in Nigeria, especially in the old Western Region, how do we tap one or two things from the way he planned Education to become the tower of strength of the Region?

Chief Jeremaiah Obafemi Awolowo was the gift of God to Nigeria. I was fortunate to serve him and he did me the honour of making me Baba Kekere… putting me in the high honour of his own second-in-command. Quite frankly, I think there are very few countries that are fortunate to have many of Obafemi Awolowo character. It was my pleasure and pride to have served under him. He was a great man in every sense of the word. It was under his inspiration that I became first Executive Governor of Lagos State. And nobody was surprised that Education was our number one priority. Before I became the Governor, education and schooling was done thrice a day. It was my electoral promise that I would cancel that system and introduce free education for all Lagosians. I had some critics who thought I was dreaming, that what I said was not possible. But with God, all things are possible, and on the Monday I assumed office, I declared education free in Lagos State. I will never forget the grace of God because some thought my project would fail.

They said it was impossible, but with God, as you know, all things are possible. So, education is priority No.1. The free education programme is an everlasting programme. And it should be till date. I appeal to the new Governor of Lagos State to put everything into the programme and sustain its success. Education policy in the then Western Region under our leader Awolowo was through a careful policy and the leader was serious about it as a fundamental objective to build capable citizens in the area.

It is on record that when you became the Governor of Lagos State, one of the first steps you took was to withdraw your children from private schools and put them in the public schools. You also encouraged your friends and associates to do the same. How can we bring back this culture of people in authority to patronise public schools, because the practice now is to send their children abroad?

We will continue to appeal to the political leaders. Nigeria belongs to all of us and we have a duty to promote this great country to the highest level. We are the biggest country in Africa and God has given us enormous resources – agriculture, land , minerals and so on, even things that other countries lack the Almighty God has blessed us with it. So, there is no excuse at all for failure. We must move forward.

Still on education, what is your advice for people who are developing and funding education here and at the same time sending their children to schools abroad? You didn’t do that .

My advice to them is to give the priority to education in Nigeria. It is fashionable to send children abroad, but at the end of it all, you will find that the children who are educated in Nigeria, at all levels, are in no way inferior to those who have part of their education abroad. My appeal to the present leaders is to do everything possible to explore resources that God has given us to develop Nigeria and Nigerians. Our schools deserve special attention so that they can be of world standard.

What was the percentage of your budgetary allocation to Education when you were the Governor?

Well, I will have to look at my record for that. But what I know is I gave priority to education in all our proposals. We did not hamper the education sector with financial predicament. After all, budgeting is a matter of policy and priority. I gave first place to education. I had with me a core of hard workers who were committed to the same goal in the cabinet and outside. And Lagosians accepted not only our goals, but also our methods. The fortune we have in Lagos State is that we have many Nigerians who are not born in Lagos State but who regard Lagos State as their home. So, we were able to make the best use of the best available materials. You will find in the leadership of Lagos State, several Nigerians from different parts of the country, even outside the South-west. In fact, many of them are proud to be Lagosians and they have made immense contribution to the development of Lagos State. Maybe, that is why Lagos is being described as mega city.

Who is a Lagosian? Are there indigenes in Lagos?

Of course yes. It depends on where you begin from. In every community, you begin from somewhere. For instance, my great grandfather was from Omu Aran and he settled in Epetedo. Even that Epetedo is a settlement by the name… people from Epe settled there. And you have other Lagosians from other parts of the country who are welcome. The beauty of Lagos State is that it is open-minded; no one suffers discrimination in Lagos State on account of his community of origin. And it has done us a good. Even today, you will find many leaders who adopted Lagos State as their state. Here in Lagos State as far as I am concerned, Nigerians are Nigerians, whether you are from the east, west, north or south, Nigerians are Nigerians. And this helped us considerably to build a sound economy and also we are able to maintain the high standard which we started with this educational programme. It was not only education, we did health, and that also was a programme of which I believe many Lagosians are proud. The third one was Housing. We have many housing estates now, affordable housing and it remains till date, example to others. I believe God in His mercies did it for us. It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes.

But today, complaints are that those Housing Estates are not affordable… They are not built for low-income earners. In your days as Governor, how did you do it? And where did present government derail?

Quite frankly, I can only urge the leadership to go back to the beginning. There is no cause in my mind why housing should be too expensive. I know there is economic downturn, but government of Lagos State should give priority to the provision of affordable houses.

Do you normally hear about the Lagos State University that is always in crisis? You started the foundation but it appears LASU has long time ago derailed from the vision of the founding fathers?

I read about the crises and I feel sorry that crises should become norm in what is supposed to a citadel of learning. I wish to appeal to all parties to the crisis to put these problems behind them. What matters is Lagos State and its citizens. I urge government to give priority to these kids because they are the leaders of tomorrow. I appeal that they should sheathe their swords and go back to the classroom. There is no crisis that can’t be resolved.
How do you feel now that the light rail you wanted to do in form of Metro-line did not sail through?

The question should be is Lagos State not suffering today from that cancellation? Every day on TV, you see odds of cars… that is one of the evils of military administration. I saw on TV recently, that Metro-line could have prevented the bad traffic situation we are now grappling with in Lagos. The most annoying thing was that there was no need for its cancellation. Now you know what it is like to move in Lagos. I hope the time will come when a good administration will emerge and restore Metro-line.

Incidentally, the head of the administration that truncated the Metro-line project is now the President of Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari. What message do you have for him concerning the project?

I appeal to all of them to do Lagos State a favour by restoring the Metro-line. If I can be of any service to them in terms of advice, I am available. What is clear is that we can’t continue to live in Lagos without a Metro-line.

There are many Federal Government properties in Lagos unoccupied, for instance, Tafawa Balewa Square, old Federal Secretariat, and there are investors that desire to take over some of them including some Lagosians such as Chief Femi Okunnu and his team who insisted that they would not allow ‘outsiders’ to take over these two facilities – TBS and old Federal Secretariat. What is your advice as these structures are rotting away?

I agree with the argument of Femi Okunnu and co. What we should do is to dialogue with the Federal Government to leave these structures for Lagos as they are preferably Lagos property. We should appeal to whoever is involved in the business of selling them. Why selling them when Lagos is capable of procuring them even with a fee? Besides, some of these institutions have become identified with Lagos. I appeal to those who want to do the selling to think more about the interest of Lagos State. We are not a very big state, but there are opportunities for us to use these institutions to uplift Lagos State.

But the Federal Government once said that they left some facilities for Lagos while they were selling others, such as the School of Nursing, and one local government secretariat in Ikoyi. And these structures have been appropriated by individuals in Lagos. What is your take on that?

I do not know that. But I will still appeal to the Federal Government to think deeply before doing what they want to do. I appeal to the President to give opportunity for Lagosians to retain these institutions.

While in government, did you take loan to finance any government project?

We did some banking… there is no way of running a government in any part of the world that you will not require banking operation. But whatever loan we raised, we paid back.

You mean you didn’t leave any debt for your successor?

Not any un-payable debt!… Ambrose Ali of the then Bendel State was my very good friend and as friends there is nothing more wonderful than helping any state in need. Whatever loan or assistance Lagos State got from anywhere, we did our very best to honour our commitment.

How do you attend to your personal health issues, especially at old age, since there has never been news of LKJ going abroad for medical check up or treatment?

The credit for my healthy living goes to God. I thank God for it. He did not make it necessary for me … I do not blame those who access health facilities abroad, but I did not have to go abroad for health matters and the credit belongs to God Almighty.
With the kind of leadership that you offered to Nigerians then, is it possible now to have people like you in government considering how politics is being run today, as well as the conduct of politicians?

We must not give up. I think that what one reads in the newspapers can’t be imagined during our period. So, I want to beg our political leaders to go back and look at what we achieved. There is no sense in a politician buying N1 billion worth of a house for himself! It does not sound good. I want to assure everyone, especially political leaders that it is the name you make, the service you rendered that will be insured forever as a leader. It is saddening to read about billions being siphoned by the politicians. I appeal to them that money is not the objective of service. What matters is that service you rendered. How can you estimate financially what your service is when you have Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers as products of your educational legacy. I feel the time has come when political leaders should bring an end to this crisis of corruption.

Your peers – Ambrose Alli, Onabanjo, Ajasin, Bola Ige – and yourself… How were you able to immunise yourself against corruptive tendency at that time?

We were committed by the then leadership. Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo was a great leader and all of us that you mentioned served under him. Chief Awolowo left nothing unturned to establish a great nation. It was even impossible if not impracticable for those of us who were his lieutenants to do anything else than follow his good steps. That era was an Awolowo era.

What did Chief Awolowo do to ensure that all of you followed his footsteps?

He gave us the leadership and it is natural to follow that lead. For instance, there was no mountain of houses built by Awolowo for himself, therefore, how can you depart from that philosophy? You can’t!

You were known then as “Baba Kekere” by politicians in the then UPN… the impression that people got was that naturally you were going to step into the shoes of Awolowo. But a lot of people are now saying that your participation in the Abacha government might have contributed to your not assuming that role?

Abacha could not be compared in any sense to Chief Awolowo and what I did (serving under Abacha) was with Awolowo’s consent. My intention at that time which Chief Awolowo endorsed was to use the appointment to project and carry out our programmes. If you check your records, you would find that what I did was to use the appointment to carry on what we were doing during UPN era. For instance, I had a national housing programme under Abacha targeting 121,000 housing units. Abacha while doing his business of soldier, gave me the opportunity to pursue our programmes under his administration.

How did Chief Awolowo endorse your participation in Abacha government when he had passed on over 10 years before Abacha took over?

Chief Awolowo encouraged it. I could not have stepped into the office of Abacha without the endorsement of my great leader. He was not alive, yes, but Mama was still alive. She was consulted then and until her transition, she was still my Mama…

How were you able to write great editorials and there was no record of you learning this skill in any university, but you were credited with writing great editorials… what did you do?

What I did was God’s willing. Looking back now I am immeasurably grateful to Almighty. Some of these things occurred with some measure of grace …. I made that an unchangeable goal and it worked. I mentioned earlier that some people were saying our policies would not work, especially on Free Education. But with God everything is possible. I am eternally grateful, especially when I could see the results of what God did. You could have very good ideas and with the grace and blessing of God Almighty, you will achieve. You will also appreciate that the emphasis in all our programmes was the service to the people. And the people fortunately recognised this.

How did Journalism propel you for publicoffice?

Well… Journalism, which is called Social Media now gives you an opportunity to serve. Of course then, we had some corrupt journalists, but Journalism as a profession offers you an opportunity of service, which no other profession offers. You are in it day and night, if you are committed. Journalism is a profession of service at all levels – reporter, editor. You can do nothing in journalism without people. So, it was a great opportunity and it is still a great opportunity for service.

How did you acquire such a great writing skill? There were no great books, no great teachers of journalism and communication at that time… but you were a great writer

It is the Lord’s doing!

Your contemporaries in the newsroom then engaged in drinking, smoking and womanising… out of these three which one was your preference?

None!

How were you able to survive?

I survived by not doing what others were doing! If you look at my professional record, it was not only in Lagos, it was nationwide. The profession is service, if you are not ready to serve, you can’t make a good journalist. At every point in time you are called to serve. I hope that even in present days, the profession of journalism remains a profession of service.

Do you still read newspapers?

It is the first thing I do every day after my prayers. When I wake up everyday, I pray, then eat, and thereafter, read newspapers…
How was the great skill in using English Language acquired? How was the language taught to people at that time… to the extent that people with even school certificate mastered the Language?

Again, I will say, God did it and I was driven to acquire a number of people with whom we worked together. You can always make history and change a situation simply by example. You must however concede that, as I said earlier, the Lord did it. It is only God who can inspire you and give you the strength to struggle in a situation in which so many factors exist. Indeed, in our profession, you are open to various temptations, but you must also know that you have the knowledge of the country and the world… the greatest opportunity you have is the opportunity to change society for better.

How did you come about the name, John West?

I had regard and respect for the great journalist of the past and I feel I should honour this great man by establishing John West Publications company. I am still in John West and I still go there to oversee work… I am not yet retired. I am a journalist from day to day.

At 86, how do you feel?

I feel that there is a lot for us to do. I think that the country deserves to be assisted in every possible way. Some of the goings-on nowadays are depressing. Everyday when I read my newspapers, I feel depressed…

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