The former Minister of Communications, BARRISTER ADEBAYO SHITTU, who served under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, reveals to GBENRO ADESINA how he rose from abject poverty to wealth in the concluding part of a chat with PrimeStar News. Excerpts:
Q: Were you born with the silver spoon in your mouth?
A: I was one of the most wretched around. I attended primary and modern school in Ghana. I was born in Ghana. I attended four-year modern school. LA Primary school, Chinderal, and LA Modern School, Chinderial Volta region of Ghana. In 1969, when I graduated from middle school, there was a Ghana alien’s quit order, which said every non-Ghanaian must leave for their home countries. I was one of the victims. We came to Nigeria. When I came, there was no hope of going to secondary school because I didn’t have parents to train me in secondary school. My initial prayer was to be able to learn printing and become a printer. There was only one printer in Saki then. I approached him at age 16. I wanted to learn printing and he said I would have to pay 10 pounds. Where would I get 10 pounds. If I had 10 pounds, I would have gone to secondary school. So, there was no hope of going to secondary school. At that time, Chief Ebenezer Obey was turning out a lot of music and I got so passionate about it. So, I said, since I can’t learn printing, let me go and join Ebenezer Obey to become a musician. I discovered I needed one pound to transport myself to Lagos. If I had got that one pound within a short time, by now, I would have been a wonderful musician. Unfortunately, I couldn’t raise one pound transport fare to Lagos. So, there was this Saki Parapo annual convention. I went with a friend to witness what was going on. It was a gathering of Saki people from all over West Africa. It happened on Saturday. There were two secondary schools in Saki then, Baptist Grammar School and Ansar ud deen. The two principals were invited to give their reports over the last one year. The principal of Ansar ud deen was the first to give his report. Then, the principal of Baptist High School, who repeated virtually what the principal of Ansar ud deen has said. But he added, people from Ghana, I know you have just come back, if you have children who have been going to school in Ghana and you are back home and you don’t have money to train them, let them come and see me. I would give them introduction letter to the Ministry of Education in Ibadan. Perhaps, government will give them one year scholarship. That was what I heard and my spirit rose. On Monday; my friend and I, went to the school. The principal didn’t know us and we introduced ourselves to him. He gave us letters straight away to go to the permanent secretary, Ministry of Education. We found our way to Ibadan and we met the first female permanent secretary in Nigeria, Mrs Folake Ighodalo. She asked us the secondary school we would like to attend out of the two secondary schools in Saki. Ordinarily, as a Muslim, I would prefer Ansar ud deen High school, but I felt, as a grateful citizen, it wasn’t the principal of Ansar ud deen that gave us letters to her; it was the principal of Baptist High School. So, why must I not take a letter to the Baptist High School. So, I said, Baptist High School. She gave us a letter awarding us a year scholarship. That was how I started secondary school and I started from form two. Interestingly, at that time, the thinking was that any Muslim child who attends Baptist High School usually get converted to Christianity. Elders in my area, when they got to know that I have started attending Baptist High School, were concerned and thought I would be converted to Christianity. I assured them I would go there and not get converted. When I got to the school, I got the love of all staff because my English was very perfect and they were excited about how sharp I was. I spent three years and three months in secondary school. At the end of which I became the only person in the whole of Oke-Ogun, who got grade one in 1973. From there, I got appointed as a teacher in the school. At the time, I had applied to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to study Mass Communication. I wanted to be a journalist. I was a voracious newspaper reader. I became unofficial member of free readers’ association. Unfortunately, I wasn’t given admission. The following year, my principal offered me a teaching job. I taught English in form one, and History form two. After a year, my principal gave me a letter of introduction to his friend in the Faculty of Education, University of Ife, who got me admitted. I got admission to read Education English. I soon had to abandon it because of inferiority complex. In the dining hall at that time, people would line up in the cafeteria for food. Most of the student of the Faculty of Education have done grade three. They were matured. But the law students were young boys like me and they will be sarcastically calling us SAKUBA. SAKUBA means St Andrew Old Boys Association. So, when we line up, they will say SAKUBA. I was feeling embarrassed and degraded. How can a young man like me be called SAKUBA? I determined I would have to leave this line of SAKUBA and join these ruffians. The problem then was that the Faculty of Education will not release you; Faculty of Law will not admit you. If education want to release, everybody will leave education and if Law will admit, everybody will go to law. So, I had to engage in lots of prayer and fasting to go to law. At the end of the year, only two of us were released from the Faculty of Education and admitted in Law.
Q: Who sponsored you in school?
A: I sponsored myself. My parents were very wretched. In fact, my father, who insisted I should go to Qur’anic school died in December 1970. He was riding a bicycle to the farm which was about 80 kilometres. So, one kobo of his, he never spent on my school. I was engaged in holiday jobs. I will also go to Burkina Faso, go to Lagos and Ibadan to beg for money. That was what I did throughout my university days.
Q; What was your mother doing?
A: My mother was not doing anything. She was a full house wife. She was a very wretched poor woman.
Q: Are you the first born of your father?
A: No, I was the 6th and the first to go to school and graduated from the university. Myself and my junior sister. I had to sponsor my junior sister.
Q: Meaning that your background shouldn’t define you?
A: No, I was very wretched. Nobody before me went beyond modern school in my family. I was determined to be educated and God assisted me.
Q: How do you rate the present government at the federal level?
A: Well, the truth is that I pity and symphatise with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, because it is like you have a super structure almost collapsing and you invite somebody to come and take control of it. I was in the Buhari’s administration. I recall that during the campaign for his first term; he gave Nigerians commitment that he would revive the four refineries that have collapsed completely. Unfortunately, his administration couldn’t do it even after his eight years, there was no refinery working. Tinubu came to face the negligence and the ineptitude of the previous government. For me, I symphatise with him. I know that the situation is very overwhelming. I keep praying for him that God will make him get things right. If a progressive like Tinubu doesn’t succeed in putting things right, then, who?
Q: Why is it that there is no opposition to put the government on its toes?
A: I think parties don’t have any orientation exercise. If you are in the opposition, you should appreciate that it is a duty for you to keep the government in check. But there is no orientation. Everybody goes into election with the mind of winning and enjoying the benefit.
Q: What about the civil society?
A: Unfortunately, the poverty level in the society is also killing. Everybody is looking for something, fallout from the governors. Everybody wants government appointments. So, it is difficult for people. The courageous people like us are very few. We will challenge the government when they do things wrong. We also point out mistakes of our own government. Until political parties get their bearing right to know their duties as people in government and people in opposition, until then, things will remain very bad in Nigeria.
Q: What are your last words to the people out there?
A: I pray that they get themselves properly re-oriented. I feel very bad as somebody who is an aspirant, I go out to communities, campaign and the first thing they ask is Ki lemu fun wa wa? (What do you bring for us)? instead of ki le ma se fun wa ti e ba de be (what will you do for us when you get there?). If you don’t task those coming into office with responsibilities and all you are interested in is the fallout from their pockets, at the end of the day, they will give you little. When they get there, they go to recoup in multiples. My plea is that people should be courageous enough to task people on what they should do even in writing. With this, when they get there, you will be able to take them to task.
