MY interview with Salisu Buhari: shocking !!!

Lesson i learnt from Politics:

I started my business  with only N2,500 

Sailisu Ibrahim Bihari was the first Speaker of the House of Representatives after the return of democratic government in 1999. Though he short lived the office, he is still in the political arena but more of a businessman. In this interaction with Ayodele Samuel, he reveals how he started his business with only N2, 500.

Sailsu Buhari's name rings a bell; many remember him as the first Speaker of the House of Representatives. He has since put behind him the controversy that rocked his short reign. Still, he remains a politician but only few know that he's endowed with passion for doing business. 

An alumnus of the prestigious Kings Collage in Lagos, Sailsu Buhari who also attended ABU Zaria in Kaduna State, is married to a beautiful Yoruba lady and is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer of his numerous concerns in the country.

Sailsu who had been off political radar since 2003 after he contested the governorship of Kano state said he had moved on from what happened in the past and now a happy man doing his business quietly. "I am happier doing my business. I could never be happier in my life and I think every Nigerian in fact pursue that dream of happiness, I enjoy what am doing now, that is my business. For criticism, everybody has his right to own an opinion. For me, it's all about being happy."

He said a lot "of people are surprised that am into manufacturing, but those who understand me know that I have been into business before venturing into politics and have been back to it because its better I do my business than carrying my briefcase and going to see ministers in Abuja. Today, I go to see a minister today, tomorrow he might not want to see me, you understand. But if you are on your own, the little you are making, you are able to maintain your sanity and dignity which is much more dignifying than to go to Abuja and be going from office to office. That is why I decided to go into manufacturing and not oil and gas because I don't want to run after public officials."

How it started:

I started business at a very young age. I actually started with a loan of N2, 500 from my daddy. That was when I was in ABU Zaria. I bought a taxi. It was working for me in Kano while I was schooling in Zaria. Every weekend, the driver comes down to Zaria and he gives me my money, like that till I finished from Zaria. I had kept a lot of money to begin other businesses. That was the beginning of my coming into business. The rest they say is history.

Doing business in the North in face of security challenges:

 

I think the issue is that there is no society that can prosper within the context of insecurity. For any country to prosper, you need a stable and peaceful environment, not only in Kano. A lot of factories in this country suffer from insecurity because the problem is not just in Kano. Its spread everywhere but really you have to commend the President for the steps he has taken now, things are subsiding for this violence in the north. 

Doing business in the north at this time is quite tough. If you ask any business man here, they would tell you it's not easy but we are living it through day by day. There are a lot of challenges. We have power problem like everybody, we also have infrastructure problem. 

It was hard but I think we have overcome it, you know what happened in the north mostly in 2011 in Kano. We had a lot of the insurgency. The business environment was hostile. Many of the manufacturing companies in Kano were in need of funds. Most of our commercial banks were actually withdrawing their money from their customers and not giving out loans, because they had declared Kano a war zone so we were left stranded in Kano. The last bank we ever thought of was the Bank of Industry BOI. We had no other option. We needed to supplement our capital and boost our operations. Fortunately BOI was able to sit with us and listened to us. They understood the incidents in Kano had no bearing on our operations. Where we source our raw materials was not affected. Our market was not affected. Our customers don't come to our factory or Kano state to buy our products. They pay their money into our account in their various states and we cargo our goods to them. With this little point, BOI was able to agree with us and help us. Fortunately, 2011 was our most profitable year, despite the unrests, the insecurity and  Iam proud to tell you we are growing from strength to strength. 

Coping with politics, business and the home front:

To be honest, I dedicate most, if not all my time to my business and family, which I enjoy doing. As I said, every Nigerian should aspire to be happy. I have a beautiful wife and four kids and of course I have my parents that I take care of and they take care of me. I am still a daddy's boy. If am not in the office, am in my house. I don't pay much attention to politics. For me, it's my work and my home. I do 12 hours at work; I do 12hours at home. My family is very important to me. I don't joke with them because they are lovely. I love traveling. Me, my wife and the family go on holidays. I don't choose where we go for holidays. My wife chooses the destination, and I love playing squash Game. I have a Squash Yard in my house.

How to tackle unemployment:

Part of it is the Bank of Industry issue I told you about. If you go and ask them, they are also creating jobs. I tell people, if you see somebody employing or we create jobs for about one thousand people, it's not just the 1000 people. Look at the effect of the 1000 people on the society. Out of those people, maybe most if not all are family men with at least four dependants. Then look at those who will serve those people lunch, the society would be better. Unemployment would reduce. Also, don't forget that in every country of the world, there is unemployment but we Nigerians are fantastic people. We are among the bravest, brightest and industrious people on earth. Whatever a Nigerian wants to achieve, he achieves. The only thing is that everybody wants to make money. But apart from making money, what you want to do, pursue it with passion. If you want to be a barber, go to a barber's shop, start sweeping the owner's shop. You would learn from there and one day, you would become a shop owner. But it hurts me to see young people going into something either, it's that they have no option or just because somebody else is doing it. If it's what you really want to do, you must have passion for it. Whatever you want to be, go out there and fight for it and leave the rest to God.

Advice to youths:

My best advice is to look for what you like from the bottom of your heart. If it's business, go ahead and do it. If it's politics from the deepest part of your heart, go ahead. If you want to serve the country maybe in the police or military, just make sure that is your passion. I tell you that is the key to success. A lot of people go into business or choose a career for wrong reasons and lack of passion. Anything you have passion for, you will succeed. That passion would drive you into making it from the business and you would be happy. 

Kano Politics:

Giving a pass mark on Kano state government under its governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, "You should know that am from the same party with Kwankwaso. We might have some differences within the party in terms of opinion and party structure but I can say he's one million times better than the ANPP man that left there. Everywhere there are road constructions going on in Kano. Just drive in and out of Kano. For me, he's trying to do his best. I don't belong to Kwankwaso's faction of the party but he's also our governor by the grace of God. That does not mean we should not give credit to him. This man is working. Go to Kano and see what is going on there. I am proud that he is in PDP. If he's from another party and he's working like that, I would tell you we (PDP) are finished in Kano.

There are factions, yes but primaries would come and we will always participate in elections united, despite all these factions and disunity in the party. At the end of the day, when the chips are down, we would put our house in order and confront elections as a united party.

Lesson learnt from Politics:

If there is anything politics has taught me, it's the nature of humans, their behaviour. It has really taught me how to relate with people from different parts of this country. My deduction truly is that we are all Nigerians. There might be different languages, different cultures but we are a united country and it has taught me more about human character. But I have moved on with life. This is a happier Salisu Buhari.

I must go to Jail- Abiola, MKO’s Last Interview…….

The Sacrificial Lamb For Nigerian Democracy…

This is Basorun MKO Abiola (my role model)Last Interview via phone by BBC in June, 1994

BBC: What is happening at your house? Are you being arrested?

MKO: I'm being arrested, I'm just going out now with the police

(National anthem being recited in the background by his supporters, so there was a momentary pause in conversation)

MKO (continues): There is a large crowd here and I am being escorted out to detention by singing the national anthem

BBC: Why are they arresting you?

MKO: They are arresting me on the allegation of felony and treason or something like that (his voice becomes low and he continues) they are not doing anything they are just taking me away. Please let me go, you know I'm delaying them.

BBC: and so where are you now? Are you in your car?

MKO: I'm in my car now

BBC: is the police with you in your car or are they escorting …..(MKO cuts in)

MKO: The commissioner of police is in the car with me and my senior wife (Kudirat Abiola) is in the car with me.

BBC: Why are they letting you talk on the phone to the BBC while in the midst of arresting you?

MKO: (chuckles) they've come to arrest me not to arrest my mouth

BBC: You sound very cheerful about it chief Abiola

MKO: of course you know(chuckles on) it is all part of democracy here

BBC: And you are happy to go to the police and await whatever charges they're going to file against you

MKO: I'm not in any way disturbed by it, ANY SACRIFICE IS IN ORDER if it will bring democracy, peace and prosperity to Nigeria.

BBC: Is it possible to talk to the commissioner of police who's with you in the car

MKO: I don't know if the commissioner of police is authorised to talk, he cannot talk to the press.

BBC: what is your advice now to your supporters many of them we heard a moment ago?

MKO: I told them before I left home to just stay calm! It is very very important that they stay calm

BBC: So you are appealing for calm you don't want them to take any direct action in your support

MKO: No, no, no, no

BBC: You still say you're the president of Nigeria but it's no much good if you're going to be in jail

MKO: well, Mandela was in jail for 27years, Kenyatta was in jail. I suppose that is one of the qualifications you need in this part of the world, don't worry yourself my friend …….

*End of phone interview and that was the last we heard from him*

His wife Alhaja Kudirat had this to say upon MKO's arrest

"When I saw M.K.O. alighting from the Black Maria, I felt really bad. I was weeping. I felt so sad that something like that could happen to someone of his caliber"

He indeed paid the ultimate price for democracy

June 12 is our Democracy Day, Nigerians

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

Inuwa Abdul-Kadir and the NYCN crisis

The last time I raised the issue of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) on this platform, it was full of misgiving.

I was bombarded with text messages, calls and many agreed with me that the council will not witness peace until a proper election in line with laid down rules and regulations guiding the youth council is held.

As I began writing this piece yesterday (Friday by 4.00 am), the crisis rocking the NYCN following the wicked imposition of its president and other national officers, has not subdued, just as the state governors (with exemption of few) imposed their protégés on its state chapter leadership. President Jonathan using his cabinet member, Inuwa Abdul-Kadir, the Minister for Youth Development and Jude Imagwe, a Special Assistant, has seized virtually all youth organizations including the once vibrant National Association of Nigerian students NANS, with the sole agenda of using them for the 2015 general elections.

If you trace many leadership discords rocking all these youth organs, you will see the imprimatur of those in Aso rock.They have turned many vibrant youth groups to toothless bull dogs that wag tails to any bone coming from them.

What transpired in Markudi was rightly captured by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), In a press statement dated, June 5th 2013 which part I reproduced below

''…the Presidency's anointed candidate has been named the President of the NYCN even when the body's election did not hold. Are these pointers to the mindset of the PDP/Presidency ahead of the 2015 polls? 

"ACN said that the man who has been imposed as the president of NYCN, even though the Council's election was cancelled because of a court order, the Presidency's anointed candidate is a card carrying member of the PDP and an aide to the PDP Chairman Bamangar Tukur.

''The PDP and the Presidency, using the Minister of Youth Development as their arrowhead, orchestrated the movement of the NYCN congress from Ondo to Benue state (a PDP state); the incumbent President of NYCN was invited to the State House in Makurdi where a fat cheque was dangled before him as an inducement to step down for the Presidency's anointed candidate (Tukur's PA) for the NYCN leadership, in accordance with a supposed 'order from above', but he refused.

''However, when some aspirants obtained a court injunction stopping the election, the NYCN trustees advised that the congress should be called off because of the court order. The delegates had hardly departed Benue state when the Minister allegedly started writing the names of selected government candidates as winners of an election that did not hold. The names of the 'winners' were subsequently sent - purely for information sake - to the delegates who had already left after the congress was cancelled.

''The result of the shenanigans orchestrated by the Presidency and the PDP is the crisis now rocking the NYCN, with two persons laying claim to the organization's presidency. This is an uncanny resemblance to what happened to the NGF, again with the Presidency and the PDP being fingered as the culprit,'' the party said.

Inuwa Abdul-Kadir should know that his agenda to capture the council for his pay master will not work. If his so called sanitation of the council has the interest of Nigerian youths, then a fresh election is a must. The Nigerian youths who constitute members of the council that I know, are dodged ,and will not allow its apex body be turned into another arm of the PDP.

 http://weekend.peoplesdailyng.com/index.php/opinion/opinion/1309-inuwa-abdul-kadir-and-the-nycn-crisis
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

90 Million Nigerians are malnourished

As Nigerians join rest of the world to celebrate this year World Environment Day, experts say more than half of Nigeria populace are underfed and malnourished.
Executive Director of foremost Nigeria advocacy group, the Environmental Right Action/Friends of the Earth, Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo said many Nigerians are dying  of hunger daily.
Speaking at a Press Conference to celebrate the event, the theme; Think, Eat, Safe, Reduce your food print, Uyi said over 1.2 Billion people in the world goes to bed hungry and about half die of starvation and malnutrition.
Uyi called on government to address the problem of food waste and deficit. "first, there is the urgent need to fix the deplorable road network that seriously affect transportation of food from area of surplus to area of deficit".
He called on all tiers of government and business to invest on a post harvest food preservation enterprise as a visible way of preserving food produced in Nigeria.
He called on Government to support small scale farmers who represent about 70% of the population since they have the capacity to feed our growing population and be gainfully employed.
He however condemn the spate of land grabbing by some state government in collusion with cooperation which met the falseful appropriation of farm lands belonging to small holder farmers and transferring same to large scale farmer in the name of foreign investment. "This barely disguised land grabbing scheme should seize and land acquired from small holder farmers in this process should be returned to them. "Our system of food production is by organic and small scale farming, if government empower the communal farmers, it would boast local food security"
He said land grabbing threatens food security in Nigeria.
He however emphasised the need to minimize unnecessary food purchases and food wastage and to cautiously reflect on our roles as stewards of nature and the planet and to take decisive action to protect and preserve mother earth. He noted  that food is a human right and to be given with dignity according to tenement of communal living.

6 million Nigerians die from smoking every year

 

L-R: Barr Nurudeen Ogbara, Chairman, Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance, Executive Director  of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani and Director of Corporate Campaigns ERA/FoEN Akinbode Oluwafemi, at the World No Tobacco Day 2013 press briefing held in Lagos yesterday

As Nigeria joined the rest of the world yesterday to mark the 2013 World No Tobacco Day experts says tobacco kills nearly six million people every year in Nigeria, of which more than 600 000 are non-smokers exposed to second-hand smokers.
They also express concern over high smoking rate in the northern states and Lagos. experts have expressed concern over high smoking rate in the northern states and Lagos.

For that, the National Assembly has been urged to steps up work on the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) with provisions to strengthen the ban on all forms of Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorships (TAPS).

Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) Director, Corporate Campaigns, Akinbode Oluwafemi  stressed this at a  media briefing in Lagos to Mark  the 2013 World No Tobacco Day yesterday.

He lamented that smoking especially among youths in Nigeria over the last few years has continued to rise. "A survey conducted in 2001 showed that 9.1% of Nigerian youths smoke cigarette. The figure by another survey conducted in 2008   jumped to between 17% and 27%. A recent survey in four local governments of Adamawa state put smoking rates among the youth at 33.9%."

Akinbode  said research shows that about one third of youth experimentation with tobacco occurs as a result of exposure to tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Worldwide, 78% of young people aged 13-15 years report regular exposure to some form of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

"Bans on advertising, promotion and sponsorship are one of the most effective ways to reduce tobacco consumption, with countries that have already introduced bans showing an average of 7% reduction in tobacco consumption."

 "WHO's report on the global tobacco epidemic 2011 shows that only 19 countries (representing just 6% of the world's population) have reached the highest level of achievement in banning tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorships.More than one-third of countries across the world have minimal or no restrictions at all.

He said Nigeria is not the only country where the tobacco industry is breaching bans on TAPS.

 "Countries that are making strong progress in banning the last remaining forms of advertising include Albania, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, Iran, Mauritius, Panama and Vietnam

"Here in Nigeria, the British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) which controls over 80 per cent of the Nigerian cigarette market has continued to undermine the treaty, not only through deliberate misinformation and illicit actions targeted at the youth, but also through brand stretching, point of sale adverts, diverse promotions and sponsorships. It has turned its so-called Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to a most visible tool for corporate brand campaign. Not only does BATN utilize CSR for far reaching media mileage, the participation of top government functionaries in its CSR events is a tacit government support of BAT's activities by government and a drag on attempts at effective regulation of the industry."

Spokesman for the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals,  NATT, Philip Jakpor, said the theme of year: 'Ban Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorships' aims to draw the attention of national governments to industry activities that undermine the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) through Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorships.

He said the FCTC entered into force in 2005 and has since been ratified by more than 190 countries. Nigeria signed the FCTC in 2004 and ratified it in 2005 but its yet to domesticate the protocol.

"Ironically, that signing and ratification coincided with the same period that British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN), controller of over 80 per cent of the Nigerian cigarette market started evolving new strategies to undermine the treaty, not only through deliberate misinformation but also through brand stretching – a form of advertising which targets mostly the youths.

He  recalled that the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) in 2004 issued a directive banning all forms of TAPS. "But BATN lived up to its bidding in evolving newer strategies to gain good press through an annual farmer's day event in Iseyin, Oyo State, where loyal farmers are giving electric generators, water pumps, knapsack sprayers, and fertilisers to keep them tied to its apron strings. This event is strategically targeted at painting the company as a socially-responsible company.

"Unfortunately, the participation of top government functionaries at the Farmer's event is tacit endorsement of BATN so-called CSR and it has exploited this to expand its activities to other rural communities beyond Oyo. In 2011 the company donated a N4.5 million cassava processing cottage industry to Odo-Oro community as part of what it claimed was a poverty alleviation initiative. A similar initiative was implemented in Ogun state."

He however called on the Lagos State House of Assembly to declare Lagos State smoke-free and prohibit smoking parties which BAT has clandestinely held in Ajegunle and Victoria Island in recent times.