Sir Ifeanyi Atueyi, founder and publisher of Pharma News, who clocked 80 years on October 1, was born in Okija, Anambra State, where he spent his childhood years. He shared his life story with Daily Trust on Sunday.
How is life at 80?
Life is a gradual process and I am happy that I am 80. When I was younger I used to see people at 80 as very old, but now I don’t see myself like that because I am still working and moving around. I am happy that at 80, I am still mobile, and I do my work in the office. I think there is a bit of what they call graceful ageing, which is God’s blessing.
How would you describe your childhood?
My childhood was very remarkable. I lost my father when I was about eight years, so I didn’t enjoy fatherhood. My mother took care of me and my younger sister. In fact, a lot of ideas and principles I live today were gathered from my mother. She was deeply religious. She prayed every time – morning, afternoon and night, and never missed early morning service on a daily basis, as well as Sunday services. She always brought us together for family devotion. My mother disliked lies. If you told lies near her she would just hate you. She also disliked borrowing. As a trader, she would always grumble when people came to buy things on credit. In fact, I inculcated this principle from her. I don’t borrow and I hate taking credits. In all my life, I have not borrowed money from any bank to do my business or for personal things. When I can’t afford it, I do not buy it. I wait until I can afford it. And God has helped me.
I also inculcated the principle of integrity – you have to say the truth at all times. It can be hurting, but that principle has led me in my business. Here in Pharma News, we believe in integrity, we tell the truth. For instance, some people who are into publishing produce 5,000 and tell you they are producing 10,000. I tell my staff to tell them the number of copies we produce. Tell them our advert rate and don’t cover anything because the truth will make you safe.
I have one case I always cite. Initially, we were making 5,000 copies, but when there was depression in the pharmaceutical industry, in fact, our print dropped to 1,000. But we were telling our people, “Sorry, we have dropped, we are making 1,000 copies.’’ We told them the truth. Because of depression, the advertisement was low. That was in the late 1990s, getting into early 2000; if you have an idea of what happened to the industry because of fake drugs. Many companies went down.
But in 2002, there was a conference in Calabar and I was there. One of the big guys in the industry, an Indian, came to me and asked about Pharma News. He asked how many copies we produced and I said 1,000. He said, “But I see it everywhere.’’ I told him we were making 5,000 before but because of the economy we dropped to 1000 and that if things got better we would increase. The man said, “Okay, we will see when we get back to Lagos.’’
When we came back to Lagos, he phoned me, saying we would discuss. We met at the New Castle Hotel in Anthony and he said he would do some business with me. He asked whether I could get 1,200 doctors in my list. I told him it was easy.
He took Pharma News and said he would advertise on the wrapper and other pages, adding that he would pay upfront every year. So my business got boosted at thousands of percentage. One day I visited him in Lagos and he asked, ‘Mr. Atueyi, do you know why I am doing business with you?’ I said I did not know. He said, “I am doing business with you and I have told my Indian friends to do business with you because you are very honest.’’ He told me that he had been in India and Nigeria for many years but he had never seen any publisher who told him the exact number of copies he produced every month. They just inflated it to attract advert. He said I was a special person; hence he would do business with me and always recommend me. This is a testimony of integrity. I believe that when you tell the truth and you are honest with your business, God will still provide and make you prosper. If I had told the man that I printed 5000, he might have advertised but he would not do what he did because I told him the truth.
What are the memories of your primary school days?
I attended primary school in my village, Okija. At that age, as you were growing, you didn’t even know whether you were a Christian or not, even though you were baptised in the church. There was a tendency for truancy among us. I remember what happened when my mother was going to the market in Onitsha. She had counted her money and prepared to go. We were sleeping on the mat. When I woke up in the morning I saw one coin under the mat and thought that mama had not seen it. When she returned she asked if I found the coin under my mat. I said no (laughs) because I had already planned what to do with it. She said, “The thing went under the mat and I didn’t want to wake you up.’’ And because I had said I didn’t see it, I insisted. But the guilt was much on me. I went and took the coin and put back in the tray containing other coins, but I didn’t confess to her that I stole it because she hated the idea of stealing.
A similar thing happened while I was going to the stream in the evening, after school. On the way, there was a palm tree that was not tall. In my place, our custom is that if palm fruits fall on the ground, anybody can pick them up. But if you go up and pluck it and it is not your palm tree, it is stealing. So, as I was going, I saw some palm fruits on the ground and picked them up. But the palm tree was short, so I said I could steal a little bit. As I made an effort to pick some, one man who was looking at me and I didn’t know said, “This boy, I am seeing you.’’ The man was on a tall palm tree and was watching what I would do. As soon as he said that, I jumped down, took my container of water and went to the stream. These are dishonest pranks you played as a child. But as I was growing, the spirit of God was working on me.
What about your secondary school days?
It was when my father died that we actually started real schooling. My secondary school was Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS), Onitsha. I later got admission into another good school, Merchants of Light, Aba in 1954. My late uncle, Daniel Erinne, took very good care of me. He started paying my school fees and said I had to get into another school where I would study sciences to prepare me for Medicine. When I finished in 1958 he still insisted that I should go to a higher school. I went to higher school and studied Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, in addition to the compulsory general paper. And I passed very well. DMGS was a place that developed people. We were given the opportunity for real academics and to develop ourselves. It is a Christian school, so we had spiritual development. Apart from that, there were hobbies provided for every student to learn something for self-development. We learnt tailoring, bookbinding and agriculture, which was compulsory for everybody. We also had photography. They introduced many things for people to develop themselves. In fact, I did a lot of photography. At that time you had to learn how to focus properly, otherwise, the image would not be sharp. You learnt to focus, print and develop in the darkroom. So it was real photography. In fact, that experience helped me. We were engaged in a variety of sports for self-development.
One interesting thing about my career is that my uncle had the ambition that I would be the first medical doctor in Okija, but I disappointed him. He had a lot of influence on me, but I disagreed with the idea of going to study Medicine, which was his ambition. I disagreed because I didn’t like the profession. In fact, up till today, I don’t like seeing blood. Whenever there’s an accident I don’t like to go there. I try as much as possible to avoid being in the hospital, even seeing patients. There was an incident when I was a prefect in the school and one student had a fracture. We took him to the General Hospital, Onitsha, and when the nurse there brought a needle to inject him, I walked away; in fact, I fainted at the staircase. When they finished with the boy, they were looking for me, not knowing that I had fainted outside. That was when I knew that it was not a thing I would enjoy doing.
But why are you in pharmacy?
Yes, people ask that question because Medicine is very close to Pharmacy. When I finished higher school in 1960, I wasn’t sure what to do. I had the weakness of knowing what I was to do. It is now that I realised that it was the way God wanted it.
In fact, what pushed me into Pharmacy was that the University of Ife (the present Obafemi Awolowo University) advertised that there was a new degree in Pharmacy – B.Pharm. Up to that time, they were offering diploma courses. I said since it was a new degree in the country and nobody had done it, I would be among the first to get it. That was my attraction, and there was a scholarship. Pfizer offered a scholarship, which was very generous. It covered everything, with a lot of pocket money. So I told my uncle to let me do this course. He asked what I would do when I finished reading the course. I said I didn’t know what I would do, but I wanted to get the degree. He asked if I would be in a hospital and I said I would never do that. So he prayed for me because he was an educated man and a very good Christian. In fact, he was the first graduate my town had. He graduated in Chemistry from Birmingham University in 1949, so he was very much enlightened. He said, “If that is what you want, I will support you. I want you to do Medicine, but if you want to get into B. Pharm, it is alright.’’ With that, I made up my mind and entered the University of Ife to get a degree in Pharmacy. At that time, it was located in Ibadan, not its present location in Ile Ife.
But things happened the following year, 1962, and we were traumatised. The university said they were not ready for the degree any more. It was a big disappointment for me because that was the only reason I entered the university. They said they would do it later, but we should carry on with our programme and get the diploma. It was very depressing to me. In the same year, I had another major disaster. My uncle got an appointment at the Commonwealth Education Commission in London. When he was going in December he had a motor accident in Owo and died at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. I lost my guardian, uncle and mentor, and the B.Pharm I went to obtain in the university was no more coming up. It was a tough time for me. I had nobody to guide and direct me as he was doing. And the change of mind of the university affected me.
However, I continued with my programme, but I made up my mind that I must have the degree. In fact, in 1963 when I was doing a vacation job with Pfizer in Aba, I did not understand how I would end up in diploma. To inflict punishment on myself and make me never to forget my life ambition, I decided to change my name. I entered the university as Christopher Ifeanyi Atueyi, but on September 18, 1963, before I returned to the university in October for the final year, I went to the court registry and changed my name to Ifeanyi Atueyi so that I would never forget the reason for entering the university. I vowed to fulfil my ambition at any time.
As soon as I finished my exams, I started working in Pfizer on June 15, which sponsored me. I spent roughly one year there, but I wasn’t happy because my mind was to go back to the university. The job was very exciting, but I didn’t have satisfaction, so I left. I went to the West African Drug Company, which had the biggest retail outlet supermarket on Broad Street in those years. I joined them in 1965, but I wasn’t happy. There was no job satisfaction and I left. I went to a Lebanese company that wanted to import drugs and distribute; it was even worse there. I asked myself what I was doing in all these companies. I told myself that it wasn’t what I should do. I was not where I should be. I was confused.
I later joined the government even though I had sworn that I would never work for her. When I joined the government I heard that they would sponsor some members of staff to do the B. Pharm in Ife and I had two people there. I didn’t benefit, but I had saved a lot of money.
There were coups on January 15 and May 1966. These coups brought a crisis in the country and many Igbo people were running home. It gave me a chance to also run, but I ran to the University of Ibadan. I went there because the B.Pharm programme started at that time and I was one of those admitted. I was happy that my ambition was to be fulfilled.
When war broke out, I worked for Biafra. The only employer at that time was the government. I was in Red Cross Hospital, went to Port Harcourt, then to Owerri, and they posted me to the military. I was a lieutenant in charge of the military hospital in Abiriba. I was a military pharmacist in Abiriba. I never enjoyed work in the hospital because I didn’t want to encounter those wounded soldiers; some of them with broken legs and arms. So it was a miserable time for me. In fact, at any time they brought casualties to the hospital, I would just leave that place. But we dragged on during the war, which ended on January 15, 1970. It was a new chapter in my life. When the war ended, we tried to resettle ourselves, but I quickly decided to return to Lagos.
From your experience during the civil war, would you say that Nigerians have learnt any lesson?
We are learning a little bit from that experience, but things have not gotten better and quality of life has not improved much. There’s not much prosperity. In fact, people who lived at that time are depressed. For instance, when we were in the university in the 1960s, each student had a room to himself, with beddings that were washed every week. When you went to the refectory at my university you would sit and a steward would bring food for you. And if you lacked anything you called the steward. Today, no university can talk of such a life. Now, I don’t know how many they are in a room and refectories such as what we had hardly exist. Now, people have to pay. Those of us who enjoyed such system of education know that this generation is not very happy.
Also, I told you that I finished in June and started work immediately (June 15). You didn’t need to run around. At that time, companies and institutions would go to universities and get graduates. In fact, they motivated them to join their organisations. At the end of the session, you would see them on campuses enticing students to join them.
The situation has changed. Now, many graduates are looking for jobs. At that time we had good roads built by so-called expatriates. There were solid roads all over the country. But today, what we have are potholes. People valued integrity and were more serious and generous, but today, fraud is everywhere. Young men and women get involved in fraudulent activities, using the internet. That is the generation we have now. Those of us who belong to the old generation know that we lived better lives.
When I was in Lagos we enjoyed night clubs. I started living in Lagos in 1964. I wasn’t very good, but we played Kakadu and danced. You could return at 4:00 am. You would go to many night clubs where good musicians were playing and enjoyed yourself and you hit the road anytime. Today, there is insecurity, which is such a serious case that people find it difficult to visit their homes because they don’t know what would happen on the road. At that time, there was nothing like fear.
Also, a lot of food items were coming from the North. Yam and everything were produced down South. Now, the land cannot even produce food any more and more people are there for the small quantity. People are now using all sorts of chemical to make their lands fertile because even the land is revolting. It is not what it used to be. The land is deficient in nutrients, such that you don’t even get big yams and healthy products from the soil.
We need the courage to keep going at this time, especially those of us who enjoyed what you can call the good old days. In those days, school teachers would take you as their children, both in primary and secondary schools, as well as the university. They were after your welfare. I remember that I went a bit late to Ife and the lecturer teaching pharmaceutics offered to take me to the lab and do the laboratory works and all that I needed. Today, which lecturer would do that? Today, lecturers want to exploit students; they want to make money and have sex and do all sorts of things. They are not after the welfare of students. And not many of them are committed. They are doing it just to fulfil all righteousness. Also, some are not educated teachers, and it is affecting the quality of education.
At what point did you venture into pharmaceutical journalism?
I owe everything to God. It is a revelation God gave me. Like I said, at high school, I didn’t know what to do. My mates had made up their minds about what they were going to do. I entered the university to read Pharmacy, but I still didn’t know what I would do with it. But God told me, “There is something you are ordained to do; that’s why he created you.’’ All the time I was working, I knew I was doing the wrong thing and I didn’t have satisfaction. But one thing happened. In 1974 we attended a pharmaceutical conference in Kano, which I enjoyed. In fact, from 1973 till this year, I have been attending. I have attended the conference for 45 years. I have a record that I never missed one conference from 1973 till last year. And by God’s grace, I will be in Kaduna in November; that would be the 46th year, uninterrupted.
In 1974, we were in Kano, and that conference was remarkable because the editor-in-chief of the Journal, one Mr. Ekwunife, was sick and couldn’t continue as editor. Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi came to me at the bar of a hotel called Lake Bagauda Hotel and said there was something I had to do. He said he wanted me to be the editor of the Journal. I said I was not interested because I didn’t want to dabble into what I didn’t know how to do. He said, “Juli, just accept that you want to do it. It is a service to the profession. If you accept it, we would return to Lagos, and if possible, we would do it together.’’ So I accepted it. When I accepted this position in November 1974, I took the job very seriously. In fact, I modified the name of the journal published once in two months instead of once in three months. I improved the quality, collected more adverts and it yielded more money to the PSN. That was what I did during my time, just service. When I finished the service, I handed over. I didn’t know I would ever go back to that, but God worked out things for me and I knew it was his plan that I would edit that journal without any ulterior motive or being a journalist.
But there was a problem where I was working in Apapa, after handing over as the editor of the PSN Journal. I was a marketing manager and there was a course that was available in the US in Cambridge Massachusetts. A friend said the course was good for me to broaden your scope. I contacted them, and luckily, I got a grant and paid my boarding and tuition fees and it remained the air ticket. I approached my employer to support me with air ticket and allow me to go and come back, but the company said they would not pay my ticket. I made all efforts because I had determined to go. I went and bought my ticket. At that time, Lagos to Amsterdam, Boston-Amsterdam-Lagos was only N560. It looks small but it was tough for me to get that money. I approached my manager, saying I had bought the ticket and they should allow me to go. He said no. I offered to take my leave, but the company refused. I said, ‘This is serious.’ But I made up my mind to go; it was then that the company allowed me to go.
When I returned, I had already lost favour with my employer. That was the greatest period of thinking in my life, before the end of 1978. I was asking myself what I would do. It gave me food for thought. I didn’t have any clue until one day, a voice came to me, saying that I should publish a pharmaceutical newspaper. The voice told me, “You have experience as editor of a journal, go and start your own.’’ Then I started thinking and asking questions about the challenges I would have and possible opposition. Eventually, I made up my mind that, ‘this is what I would do.’ In fact, one day, in 1978, so many ideas came to me and I started writing them down. It gave me the name, Pharma News.
After that, I knew the direction I would go, so I said I would work with this company till December 31 and resign. I decided to dabble into this newspaper because I had no other thing in any other area I could flourish and be happy. I said this is where I would get job satisfaction because when I was doing that thing for the Society, I enjoyed it so much, so I would put that energy, enthusiasm and interest into my own. My boss asked where I was going and I said publishing. The man laughed and asked, “How will you be feeding yourself and your children? I said from there and he didn’t believe me. That was the beginning. I made up my mind and said the bridge had been broken, so I was going in for this and nothing else. That was January 1979. When I took that decision, I made up my mind that I would sink or swim because I won’t go to manufacturing, community, hospital or university. When four of us made Second Class, upper division, they asked us to come to the university in 1970. Three of them went, but that was not what I wanted, so I was left with Pharma News to sink or swim. And God justified that decision.
What is the state of the pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria today, especially when you look at the issue of fake drugs?
The fake drug thing is minor today. From 1995 to 2001, that was when fake drugs nearly destroyed this country. Companies closed down because most of their products were fake. Some overseas companies sold their companies to Nigerians and left; very many of them. Many of them changed names because of fake drugs and people’s health suffered heavily. It was difficult to quantify, but we know that many people died because of fake drugs. They received a prescription and purchased, not knowing that what was inside the capsule was chalk. So many things happened. But we thank God that in April 2001, the late Prof. Dora Akunyili came on board as the director-general of the National Agency for Drugs and Food Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and determined to clean up the mess. You remember she started with sachet water because people were putting tap water and calling it pure water. She started with training; I was one of those who did the training.
After that, she stepped into pharmaceuticals. It was like a miracle because she dealt with all those factories producing fake products in Nigeria and closed them down. She dealt with overseas companies, especially China and India, which were bringing fake drugs. Our people would go and place an order for fake drugs. They would put only 20mg on something that should contain 500mg and bring here to sell and make money. Prof. Akunyili did a lot of work on that. In fact, it was during her reign that pharmaceutical companies started recovering. Right now, some of them that left have started coming back.
The present director-general of the NAFDAC, Prof. Adeyeye, is determined to fight these fake drugs, and Pharmacy Council is fighting. In fact, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) is determined. The war on fake drugs is going on seriously. But you see, people have learnt how to manipulate. Despite the control we have on some drugs, they are still found in places, but the regulatory bodies – the NDLEA, NAFDAC and the PCN – are equal to the task.
But I can tell you that fake medicine is not only in Nigeria, it is nearly in all countries now, including the US. So all we need is to be more vigilant and determined. But Nigeria is a peculiar situation, where people, apart from pharmacists, sell drugs; and that is a weakness. You enter a pharmacy and you don’t know that it is not controlled by a pharmacist. And these are channels. Unless you control the channels through which this thing moves, your control is weak. This is a weak area in Nigeria. Until when you enter a pharmacy and there is a pharmacist in charge, control would be strict. But now, it is porous.
There should be education. This is where the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) is playing a major role. We are not leaving any stone unturned to end fake medicines. There is a lot of misuse of drugs and it is our responsibility to advise. We cannot arrest anybody because we are not NAFDAC, NDLEA or PCN. They are the ones backed by law. I believe things would improve in the country as people get educated and reduce the misuse of drugs.
