How would you describe life as a young boy from a poor family?
The journey of my life is quite interesting. I grew up like any other person in Kabbah. My father was not educated; he was a farmer while my mother was a petty trader and farmer. As a young man I was privileged to be a little brilliant, and that helped in my education. As a boy who came from a very poor home, it was difficult to pay school fees. However, I was privileged to go to Keffi, where I could afford to go to school. I was not on scholarship, but the fee was affordable. But at a point, the fee was increased and it was difficult for my father to source for 15pounds, from one pound. I was almost going to drop out.
One day, in the morning on the assembly ground, the school principal, who was an English man named Patience, mentioned my name and I was scared that I was going to be sent home because I could not pay school fees. But he announced publicly that the Kwara State Government had given me scholarship to complete my education. We were still part of Kwara State. I was in Form Three. That was how I completed that phase of my education.
I left for the Higher School Certificate (HSC), but my father thought that after five years, I should stop going to school because he had no money and wanted me to join him in farming. People appealed to him not to waste my intelligence. That was how I moved on to HSC. I had the opportunity to go to three schools – either remain in Keffi or go to Government Secondary School, Ilorin or Government Secondary School, Okene. Because Okene was very close to Kabbah, my hometown, I decided to stay there, having travelled so far to Keffi.
Again, how to pay school fees in the HSC programme became difficult. The saving grace was that I was a sportsman. I was playing football for the school, and that quickly exposed me to the principal, Alhaji Adebayo from Ilorin. I believe he is still alive. When I was about to drop out because I could not pay school fees, the Kwara State Government came to the rescue again and gave me another scholarship.
After the HSC, I taught for one year in Baptist High School, Ekinrinade and moved on to the University of Ibadan. At that time, there was nothing like the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). I applied to three universities – Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and University of Ibadan (UI). The three schools offered me admission to read History and I chose UI. Immediately I got to UI, I got the Kwara State Government scholarship again.
I joined the Kwara State civil service after my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in Kaduna State. I worked in the state Ministry of Information for two years and joined the University of Ilorin in 1981. I rose to the rank of an admin officer and assistant registrar. And while I was almost thinking of retirement as deputy registrar, God smiled on me and they extended our retirement age from 60 to 65. I had one year to retire when the decision came, so I benefitted. It was that same year that I became the registrar of the university.
Who were your schoolmates in Keffi, Okene, Kaduna and Ibadan?
In Government College, Keffi, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua was my senior. He was in Form Three while I was in Form One, so also is the present Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed. He was Yar’adua’s classmate. I met all of them in school. I have many of my classmates who are governors. In Okene, several of them are doing very well in various fields.
You enjoyed scholarship at every level of your education; can you compare what happened during your time and what obtains nowadays?
There is a very big difference, and it is very unfortunate. You see, in those days, if you were brilliant and a little outstanding, the government would not allow your talent to waste. And since we were not many, the demand on government was not as heavy as it is today.
In the secondary school we were feeding free of charge and school uniform was free because it was a government college. It was when they introduced school fees that some people found it difficult. Even at that, out of the school fees they were giving us transport money to go home, as well as pocket money every week. We didn’t have too much problem then.
At the university level, many of us enjoyed state and federal scholarships. I was one of those who enjoyed the two. But when I finished, it became a battle to decide which one of them to work for. I was interviewed for jobs at the federal level and the Kwara State Government. At the federal level, I was given an appointment in external publicity while Kwara State employed me in the Ministry of Information. I weighed the options. If I accepted the job at the federal level, I wouldn’t have served in Nigeria. But my father didn’t like the idea of going to work outside the country; he wanted me to be around him, having sent me to schools outside his hometown. He would not allow that, so I stayed back. Scholarship then was small but very effective. When I was in UI, the breakfast was 10 kobo, launch was 20 kobo and dinner was 20 kobo – everything was 50 kobo. The money was enough for us, but today, it is not possible because the demand on government is much. Today, there’s no yardstick for scholarship. It is no longer determined by a student’s intelligence but who you know. During our time I didn’t know anybody, but I got scholarships.
There are so many things that made the scholarships of olden days better than what we have now. For example, we were not up to 20 from Kwara State in UI. Today, if you talk about Kwara scholarship, you would record more students than we had in UI during my time.
You read History but ended up working in the Ministry of Information. What happened?
Although there was no journalism in our institutions, I was studying English alongside History. History was my major while English was my minor. Also, History is about many things. One picks better English in history than English, so when you have the opportunity to study the two together, you are like a super English person because we read more books and picked more diction in History. That was what endeared me. I also supported my English with French because I did French in my WASSCE. I became a bilingual person at that level, which became an advantage for me when I became a referee. I was always at home in almost all the West African countries we went for refereeing. I became an information officer because of the job I was given. And we were sent to the National Institute for Public Information in Kaduna, where we studied journalism. We were regarded as journalists.
I got appointment in the University of Ilorin as an information officer but I dont know how it happened, one of the vice chancellors I worked with said I should be moved to administration; that was how I became a registrar.
How easy was it to switch from state to federal employment?
It was very difficult. Again, I don’t know how it happened; but I am a child of circumstance, right from my childhood. When the advert to start an information unit in Unilorin was placed, I decided to apply for the position. I didn’t know anybody because I never thought of Unilorin; I was enjoying the ministry. I went for the interview and got appointed. But I told them that there was already a process for my promotion at the ministry, so I asked if they could consider me for promotion and put me on a higher level.
When I came in, the registrar invited me and said he discovered I made a request and the Board had agreed that if I could present my letter of promotion within six months of assumption of duty I would skip a level. I went to the Civil Service Commission, collected my letter of promotion, which was three weeks after my interview in the university. I presented it and got moved up. Despite the fact that I did the interview with professionals from the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), I got the job because everything was on merit. Unfortunately, things are no longer like that.
