By Sunday Ani
Managing Director, Sinocle Nigeria, a construction firm in Delta State, Chima Israel Onyeolu, has identified god-fatherism and favouritism as the major reason behind leadership failure in Nigeria.
He noted that the idea of giving sensitive positions to people simply because they supported those in positions even when they don’t have the right knowledge to perform in such offices was wrong. “You don’t just give somebody a post because the person supported you during the election. That is part of where our problems lie. You don’t give out public offices as a souvenir for supporters or as a payback. We have people that are capable. We have young people that are capable. Bring them into the game,” he said.
In this interview, he takes a look at one in office of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State, the need to bring the youth into governance to complement the efforts and experiences of the old breed politicians, his exploits in business, and how government policies affect businesses in Nigeria among others
One year on, do you think the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori has lived up to the expectations of Deltans?
No doubt, he has. The former governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, tried his best; he did a lot. He touched a lot of lives. I saw a lot of improvements in the state when he was governor. Okowa is somebody that carries everybody along. He did a lot of road projects. He touched a lot of towns and grassroots. I give him accolades.
The current governor too has really done a lot in the last one year. I am happy he’s learning from his mentor, Okowa. That is the essence of having continuation in government. Okowa is one of the persons that played key roles in the real estate sector in Asaba, the Delta State capital, because he opened up a lot of roads and made the state peaceful. You hardly heard about kidnapping cases during his time. He coordinated the security of the state and handled the infrastructure, including roads. That was why they called him road master. The roads he opened up helped a lot of us in the real estate sector, such that the price of property located on the constructed roads went up. It started selling fast. Even till now, Okowa’s impacts are still being felt in the state. I am beginning to see the same footsteps in Oborevwori’s administration. Despite litigations here and there, he has actually done well within this one year. We still have three years ahead of us. So, we are expecting him to do more.
You are a big player in the real estate sector in Delta State, a field that is totally different from what you studied in the university; how have you been able to tag along?
That’s a good question. I’ve always been a fighter. That fighting spirit gave me this positive mindset. There is this positive mindset that always drives me. I guess that is why whatever I do always prospers. When you are running a business, or pursuing a goal, there will always be discouragement from your environment including family and friends. But, what has been keeping me going is my positive mindset. This real estate and construction generally is where I have my passion. When I walk around an area, and I look around to see houses, I would ask myself why the owner didn’t do this or that. It would have been finer if he had done it this way, or more beautiful that way. I’m just an inquisitive, creative mind. Great people are not made in a comfort zone. Before gold becomes gold, it has to go through fire. Most of the products we are seeing today went through processes in the factory. So, great people are not made in a comfort zone.
With the government’s unstable business policies, unfriendly economic environment and systems; how have you been able to stay afloat?
Despite all the hindrances, if as a young man, I have this positive mindset and I’m able to scale through it, I think others can do the same thing. If you have the zeal to be great, your environment cannot stop you. Yes, there will be difficulties and challenges along the way, but when you are focused it won’t matter at the end of the day.
For example, you bid for a construction job, and you get it but shortly after, inflation sets in. That is a major problem at the moment in the real estate sector, because at that point, you will start having issues with the client. If you want to review the contracts, they will say no, we have paid you for this project and you must deliver it. If, for example, I am quoting for a project, let’s say a bag of cement was N3500 or N4500 and two weeks to the project completion, a bag of cement rises to N7500, it will affect me negatively and that is one of the challenges we face in construction. All the items are dollar driven. Once dollar rates jump up, everything goes up. So, it takes patience and continuous explanations from the clients. There are some clients you fall out with, and you end up terminating the project due to inflation because some clients will not want to continue the project. You have to bear the loss to keep your name and integrity. You come around different personalities, and characters. There are some clients that will not understand, no matter how you explain to them. So, you just have to let go. You’re building a residential house for a client, and he releases money, that might be the only money he has to build the house. So, if you come back to tell him that inflation has affected the contracts, most of them will not understand.
You talked about the government’s economic policies as they relate to inflation earlier, can you throw more light on that probably using your experience?
It does affect business generally in Nigeria, including the real estate sector, especially when it comes to inflation. Something happened to me recently. I was opportune to have $200,000, which was about N300 million. I invested it in a housing project. A dollar was exchanged for N850 then. The duplexes of the estate were completed. By the time we were done, the dollar was exchanging for N1,510. Watch what happened. I got land for about N60 million. Then I divided the land into two 900 square metres each. I was to sell for N150 million each based on N850 to a dollar. You can see that the profit margin was high. By the time buyers started coming, the dollar exchange had risen to N1,510.
The important part of the whole transaction was that there was no profit at the end. I only got the actual invested money back, not with profit. That is the effect of inflation. So, inflation is not only affecting the poor or those that don’t have food to eat. It’s affecting us, the businessmen and everybody. This is where the government must be seen to be doing something so that the environment can be conducive for everyone and business.
Talking about policies, some are of the opinion that political leadership should be with the young and not the old politicians; do you agree?
Nigeria is a very blessed country. I don’t have a problem with the old people ruling the country. That’s not even the problem of this country, in my view. Who is at the top plays a major key role, but let’s not just blame the president alone.
What are the local government chairmen doing? What are the governors doing? What are the senators and House of Representatives members doing? Truly, the president has a share of the blame but what about the other levels of government?
Yes, you can say the president should be blamed because he’s not able to organise the country very well, but note that Nigeria is a big country with different dialects, ethnic groups and ideologies. We have Christians, Muslims, and traditionalists. So, the problem of this country is not just from the top, it is also from the grassroots. Why I blame the top partly is because they have not been able to get the persons that are capable to handle specific roles and offices.
I thought that as you run for an office, you would have from the outset the kind of capable persons that are going to work with you. You don’t just give somebody a post because the person supported you during the election. That is part of where our problems lie. You don’t give out public offices as a souvenir for supporters or as a payback. We have people that are capable. We have young people that are capable. Bring them into the game. If it’s your own company, will you run it like that?
Why is my mother not my manager? Has she not done a lot for me? Why is my mother not my accountant, or my brother not my accountant? Did he not play a role in my life? My mother played a very key role in my life. Why did I not make her my accountant? I did not do that because I know she can’t handle it. That’s where this godfatherism has brought us.
But at times, you don’t also blame the people at the top, too. You know, when you are climbing and the people that put hands as ladder for you to the top are demanding from you, your hands may be tied as you would not want to create enemies for yourself. However, you can still pay back without neglecting merit and competences. I don’t support discarding the old from our politics. I believe there should be a balance in the system? Yes, the young people should take over those offices that require smart brains, people that can think fast.
At a young age, you have been this successful. Some can attribute it to unethical practices or shady arrangement, what are your thoughts on that?
That is expected. I have always grown up in a church. I’m a Christian and my mother is a Christian. I grew up with my mother, a single parent. I’m an only child of my mother and I have always been a prayerful person. Every night, in my prayers, I kneel down to ask God what the next move is. Should I do this or should I not? I’m a spiritual person. I have never laid my hands on anything illegal. I started my business from scratch. If you do a good job, people will like it, love it and they will give you more. My school mate gave me my first project. My rise to success was through the circle of friends around me.
You are barely 33. You equally married quite early at 29. Why did you rush into marriage?
I’m the only child of my mother. So, I needed to get married on time. Besides, marrying on time makes you more stable and more focused. It makes you more disciplined. Running after women won’t allow you to get to your destination on time. I am a proud product of a single parent. When we had nothing, the only blessing God gave me was my mother. My mother was and is still my blessing. She did not remarry even when she had issues with my late dad because of me. She finished school, and looking for a job was not easy for her. She didn’t get any job. She hustled. At times, she would take me to our family house or friends, to stay so that I could eat. It wasn’t easy for us at all.
Whenever I went home from the university, she would give me like N200 which was all she had. I would cry and break down. That was when I started defining my life and said no, even if my upbringing was not good enough, I should be able to change the story and change the state of my mother because she struggled for me. She would carry me on her back wherever she was going, even to work. There was a time she was working as a cleaner in a hospital. I was about four or five years old. She would carry me on her back because the hospital was quite a distance from our house. The owner of the hospital was generous and considerate to my mother that she gave her a room within the hospital premises to live.
With the little she was giving to me, coupled with various jobs I was doing in school, I graduated. She is doing very well now. She now owns her own school.
That is what I tell the young ones that there’s life after school, especially when you are in an environment like Nigeria. There are no jobs. You need to have a plan B and even a plan C incase Plan B does not work. Of course, plan A is given that you get a job when you graduate.
I have a step brother intending to go to university, I told him no, you should learn handiwork first. I told him we are going to sacrifice your one year because he is still young. He is learning the art of plumbing presently.
I told him that plan B at times has nothing to do with plan A. If this road does not work, you follow another road. My advice to the youths is that great people are not made in their comfort zone.
You have to sit down, look at yourself and know what you are good at and try to build your capacity through that. Nigeria is the easiest place for anyone to be a millionaire. It’s easier to be a millionaire in Nigeria than in other countries if you know what you are doing. You don’t need a godfather to be a millionaire in Nigeria. You don’t even need to have a rich parent. If you are focused and determined, you will achieve your goal. Do you know the population in Nigeria? Just look for a problem and get the solution to it. Just create a value and every other thing will follow, including riches. That is all. I tell my staff not to limit themselves to this office. You should have a dream. You should have a goal. Build your capacity from here. If I am paying you salary, there are some you spend, and others you save for your goal. You shouldn’t remain here forever. If you want to do what others are doing, like fraud and other negative things, it may not end well.
I don’t blame some of them at times. Why? It is because of the environment they find themselves in. We all react differently to the environment. Some can be positive and some can be negative depending on the spirit that is driving a person. That’s why I don’t blame them too much. Everybody wants to follow the trend. If you look at girls today, they want to follow the trend. There was a lady in my school then. Oh God, this lady really motivated me. She was making popcorn and doing very well. That was what she used to train herself in school and graduated. Other girls would travel at weekends and go and do what other girls do. They returned with money and all that, living a flashy lifestyle. But in her case, she was just living her life doing her popcorn and she was making money even more than those girls. And she was not messing up herself.
So, if you are focused and determined, you will make it in this country. The youths in this country don’t need the government to succeed. Yes, they don’t need the government. If they are smart and intelligent, they don’t really need the government to succeed. Yes, there are a lot of problems in this country that need solutions. Create that solution.
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