Buhari has started well -Ifeanyi Ubah
Dr Ifeanyi Ubah, big-time player in the oil and gas sector and boss of Capital Oil, is an engaging speaker. A reporter’s delight any day; he speaks from the heart and does not even attempt to dodge controversial questions. For about two hours, the one-time gubernatorial aspirant in Anambra State sat down with Taiwo Alimi and Adetutu Audu to speak about himself, business, politics, TAN and other controversies around him. It is vintage Ubah at his candid best. Excerpts:
You are the strong force behind Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) and a lot has been said about it. In some quarters it has been said that you got money from former President Goodluck Jonathan government to do it, how do you react?
What I did with TAN I would do it again 200 times. I spent my money on what I believe in and that is the trait of an Nnewi man. If Jonathan had given me money to run TAN, will I still be in Nigeria doing my business? I would have been running helter-skelter now. I thank God for the life of Jonathan but he did not give me a single kobo to do what I did with TAN. Even if his people were not marketing Jonathan well, I believed he did something for Nigeria. You can’t be perfect as a human being but at that point in time, he could not do much. Boko Haram overran his government. He was like a lame duck and I told him ‘you have to move on’. ‘You have to show them what you have done’. And I started without him. If I was running to him to collect money, I would be belittling myself. I spent my money to run TAN because I was convinced that Jonathan is a good man and he is still a good man. Nigerians do not understand him and the politics on Nigeria is media driven. His problem was that he had so many bad eggs around him. At a point they say the Minister of Petroleum was giving us money and I say if there is anybody that minister has injured, it is me. I have not benefitted anything from her in the last seven years and that is why it was easy for me to break out of the group of people that make up the oil marketers. If I’m involved I wouldn’t be able to break out like that. I am an independent man and these are things people must know. I would more than TAN because I’m a Nigerian and I have my right. TAN is not died and after Jonathan it would continue to air its opinion and whenever there is a point to make TAN would be there.
Some Nigerians have complained that the new government under President Muhammadu Buhari is too slow. Do you share this opinion?
President has started well. It is good that he is taking his time. There is no point rushing him to make mistake and TAN would evaluate him well after 100 days in office. TAN is here to stay. I know his capacity and his genuine desire to move Nigeria forward. I think his pace is fine. He is not rushing things. He is not playing to the gallery. This is what Nigerians must understand. Somebody must be there to talk about it. And that is why I am saying he has started well. We are always in a rush so he should not allow himself to be stampeded to making fatal mistakes. I can’t be a perfect man, but I’m speaking from my heart. I am not a Politian, I am a businessman and I can tell you that practicality is the best way. Anything I do and say is from practice and no politician can brainwash me.
I am happy I did TAN and like an old soldier I am matching on with TAN.
We should be part of issues in Nigeria. We cannot afford to stand aloof. In the U.K today, an Ibo man is aspiring to be Prime Minister. A Yoruba man is aspiring to be governor in the UK, so why can’t we talk about government and take position. We must say what we mean and that is what TAN is doing and it will continue to mobilise people. When Fashola was to become governor of Lagos, he came to my office and threatened to eject me on getting to power and I respect him for that. He would tell you unless you do it right, I would do this and that to you and I respect him for that.
TAN is not about PDP, TAN is not about Igbo. TAN is about all Nigerians. We mobilised people in Lagos because we believed that Igbo have contributed a lot there and should have a stake in government. Go to Surulere, Amuwo Odofin, Alaba Market, Somolu, Okota, Mile 2 it is all about none indigenes. So, why can’t these people have a stake in how Lagos is governed? TAN is all about give and take, balancing the equation. So, at the end of the day, we got six House of Representative seats in Lagos and eight House of Assembly seats in Lagos. This has never happened in Lagos. But we tried, we built a platform and it is real. We have members all over the country. We are about 14 million members. And the structure is solid.
President Buhari suffered for 12 years and if you see the manner he won the election, you would know that it is a reward of all he has suffered.
I don’t have big ambition in politics. If I have, I would have been a Senator representing my constituency and the man that won here, Andy Ubah, you know what I did to make him succeed. He cannot come back here and say I did not contribute to his success. I know what I want to do. I don’t want to grab everything. I am in politics for a vision. Today, government doesn’t know what to do to pay salary and I would tell them what to do at the right time. And that is what TAN is all about.
You have also been hammered for breaking out to provide fuel during the last crisis in the country. Many said your motives were not honourable but politically motivated?
My passion for this country is beyond business and at the same time I don’t ask for anything. I have a mission to liberate Nigerians. What I did during the fuel issue I would do again given the opportunity. I did it because of my passion for this country. It is not because of politics. I don’t need anything from government but to give all I have and expect Nigerians to appreciate it for what it is.
As a big-time business man what do you think about government policy in the last dispensation and how do you think President Buhari can improve on it?
On government policy, government needs to have a very strong research team and know those that can do the work well. During the last administration, you would know that those who are in Goodluck’s economic team are monopolists. And they monopolised their sectors. If that trend is allowed to continue this country would be plunged deeper into disaster. They have killed this country and made the masses to suffer more because they made things not affordable to the masses. You find them mixing business with politics. Government has been saying they would deregulate and you go and position your business in line with deregulation and it never came. Before now, those who do not understand deregulation very well fought against it but today they are asking for it. Government policy is one that would say tomorrow, nobody would import Tokunbo car (used cars), but it would not be implemented. And government takes politics above policy, which is not supposed to be. Policy is supposed to be above politics. Policy is what keeps the country going, but here, politics wipe away policy of government. This is not correct.
Buhari should not listen to many people in government because they are giving advice for their pocket not for the masses. If there is deregulation, petroleum would sell for less than N100. So, policy is what I will call ‘Masses Parliaments’. Ask people what they want and go for it. Buhari should take government policy seriously, above politics.
For example, when government said it would deregulate, I went to the United States and bought 19 vessels. I sailed them to Nigeria, only for government to summersault and the equipment that I have invested on is useless. I have a vessel today floating for three years without anybody using the vessel because there is no volume to carry. In the US, when this kind of thing happens, government will come back to the people who have invested and subsidise them. Here, nobody cares and I think that is why Nigerian businessmen manoeuvre their way and cut corners.
Given another opportunity will you contest for the governorship position of Anambra state?
It is something I cannot say for now. It is not in my agenda now. When I was contesting, I told my people that I am coming out at that particular time because I believe that I can use the seal of government to change things. For example, deregulation in the oil sector. I can’t really say that I want to go into governance because my hands are full now. I want to go back to my business. I want to change some things in my industry and prove that local content is working. I want to prove that indigenous Nigerians can change the face of Nigerian economy. So, I cannot tell you that I would go for it again. But if it is the wish of my people, my family, my wife, my good friends and it is the will of God, then I will think about it.
You have referred to yourself as the most misunderstood Nigerian. Why do you think is so?
It is because Nigerians take people at face value. Ifeanyi Ubah was loved when he did not come out in the media. When Ifeanyi Ubah came to the media they started reading so many things into it. Politics is a dirty game and when I ventured into it, many people were afraid and they tried to pull me down. There was a combination of forces that fought me but by the grace of God, I defeated all of them. The noise that characterised the election is no longer there now since I lost and that was when I realised that they just wanted to tarnish my name. But, one with God is majority. Especially, when you know your heart and inner strength and the plans you have for your people is genuine. Even Jesus Christ was not loved by all.
Not many people know the background of Dr Ifeanyi Ubah. Can you tell us more about growing up?
I have a humble background and like every other children my parents were ready to send us to school but at a very tender age I was not ready to bear the hardship that my parents suffered in order to ensure we get education. So, I opted out because it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to take care of our education. I decided to opt out.
Though I was brilliant and it was painful, I took that decision to start apprenticeship at Enu-Owa, Idumota in Lagos to learn tyre training and business. That was during the era of HRH Oba Afeyinka Oyekan. I was a part and parcel of Isale Eko boys and I have my history there. By the time I was 18; I was already aiming for my own independent business and started flying out of Nigeria with goods. I would fly goods to places like Bamako, Mali and Ghana. I ended up in Ghana and from there; I was taking goods to other countries. I was the only Nigerian then doing major tyre business and taking goods to other African countries. My tyre business grew in Ghana and I was doing business with many big companies all over the world. I ventured into automobile at some point and I was lucky because I was among three or four Nigerian executives flying goods by air. Providence led me to meet the, then Captain of Kotoka International Airport; R.O Sachin, partly due to the fact that I frequented Ghana Airport then.
He took a liking to me and we became close friends. That was when he told me that he studied at Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State. He sold my first car; a brand new Peugeot 504 to me. Therefore, I bought my first car at the age of 18. Luckily for me he bought the car in Nigeria when he was at Jaji before he was promoted on getting back to Ghana, so it had a Kaduna registration number and all I needed to do is take it back to the border, pay the necessary duties and change of ownership and the car was mine.
From Ghana I moved on to DR Congo and within a year I became the President of Nigerian Community in DR Congo in 1991. I was the President of that society for 11 years. At 21, I built my first house in my village, in Nnewi and got married the same year and I was happy my parents were alive to witness this. I remember that when I made that decision to quit school and moved on, my father cried and that was the only time I have seen him cry. So, I made a resolution that I would make him proud someday.
One other thing I had wanted to do is to marry early and while we were still living in a decorated mud house I prayed over it and I met my wife that same day. However, I was afraid she would not accept my proposal because I was living far away, but she did and at 21, I got married to her. That is one of the happiest times of my life but I had to wait for her to finish school as an undergraduate of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria. That is that about growing up.
You said Ghana gave you the springboard in international business, why did you leave there for DR Congo?
While in Ghana I was taking good to Congo and because my business was flourishing there, I decided to move there and grow my business there. Moving to Congo was a stroke of luck for me. When I was the President of Nigerian community there, it gave me the opportunity at that early stage of my life to travel to many parts of the world. In addition, getting visa to travel to other countries became very easy. For businessmen that have done business in Congo, they would tell you that you are guaranteed a good margin of returns on investment. The indigenes are not so much into business, and it gave me opportunity to do international business and go into different things. I was doing business in Belgium, Netherland, the whole of Schengen countries, United Kingdom, the United States and so on. I remember in 1993, when I travelled to Las Vegas, U.S, they mistook me for a young African millionaire coming to gamble away money, but I was there to attend a popular Automobile programme; the Las Vegas Auto Show at Las Vegas Convention Centre. I take delight in training and retraining myself and I go to different countries to do that.
In Nigeria, today, I know my pedigree and few businessmen have the trade exposure and training that I have in international business and the volume and capacity of business that I do internationally. I am an all-round man and I remember participating frequently in the biggest Auto Mechanical workshops in Frankfurt, Germany. It is the biggest automotive show in the world and I am always attending to learn new things in the auto industry. I used that to train myself in my line of business.
Then, another chapter opened in my life when I became a close friend of Congo President, Laurent-Desire Kabila, because Congo had become like a second home to me. I was particularly involved in rehabilitation of many industrial complexes and many mining concessions in DR Congo. So, these are my reference points in how I made it and the kind of businesses that I do. If you can imagine that at 21, I had houses in Nigeria, in Congo, Ghana and the village, it means my money was working for me. And my friends that I grow up with are still around me. They know who I am, my character, what I am capable of doing.
From 1993, I invested in South Africa when there was nothing like the Southern Sun or Holiday Inn in Johannesburg and other big hotels like we have today. I was staying in a small hotel and we were doing a lot of businesses with Anglo America Corporation. For a Nigerian or a black man to enter Johannesburg that time, you must have a permit, and I was getting it and doing business with many foreign companies, from Germany and others that had their corporation there. I bought my first house there at the age of 24 or 25.
I was among the first set of Nigerians that visited Dubai in 1992 and 1993. That time, there was no direct flight. We had to go through another country to arrive there. We opened up Dubai. So, I have a long history of achievement, hard work, touring and adventuring into business opportunities.
When I was in Congo, we were also doing business with Lunda and Luanda; we were buying fish from Windhoek, Namibia, can beers from South Africa Brewery and we would charter aircraft to fly them from South Africa to Congo and from Congo to Lunda and Luanda. We were doing a lot of businesses in Dares Salaam, Tanzania. We would cross Lubumbashi in Congo, to Tanzania. We had mining concessions in Kisangani, which is rich in diamond and gold. We had good partnership with Anglo American Corporation in our mining business. It was all well good for me and I came back to Nigeria in 2001 after Laurent Kabila was assassinated. I spent one more year in Congo before my wife said we have had enough and we should come back home. And that was how I returned to Nigeria.
Your closeness to the late Congo President, Kabila must have put you in harm’s way when he was assassinated by one of his aides; what was your experience like?
In fact, I was lucky to be alive to tell the story. I was on a mission by Late Kabila to the former President of Nigeria, General Ibrahim Babangida in Minna, Nigeria, when he was killed. I got to Minna late Friday and was told to wait till Monday to see Babangida. So, I had to wait three days at Shiroro Hotel, waiting to see the General. On Monday, he met me and gave me a note to take back to Congo. On getting to Lagos on Tuesday and as I was entering into the office of Chief Cletus Ibeto, one of my mentors, he said there is problem in Congo and it is on TV. That was how I learnt that Kabila may have been killed. I told him I must go back to Congo because he was like a father to me. But Chief Ibeto convinced me to stay a few more days for things to calm down. I waited a few days and flew back and I almost paid for it with my life. On getting to Congo, I couldn’t talk to anybody and they took me in as a suspect. But I told them that I was outside Congo, when the thing happened and if I had anything to hide I would not come back. I was released but after a year, my wife said we have had enough of Congo and we should just go home. Inside me, I was scared of coming back home to do business because of the volume of business I was doing in Congo as well as the competitive nature of every Nigerian.
Congo is a peaceful country, like many Francophone countries. It is more pleasurable to live there unlike Nigeria where there is a lot of competition and race for life. What I call tikitaka game. Everybody here is busy. Go to Isale Eko Bridge and see determination on faces of people; young and old. However, in Congo, it is different; the environment is quiet and calm. If you invest in a $100,000 worth of articles from Dubai to Congo, you are sure that you would make $300,000 to $400,000 within a month. So, why come to Nigeria where competition is the order of the day?
Your teenage years were spent in Lagos where you learnt tyre business. How did that impact in who you are today?
I am proud of my background. You can go to Enu-Owa and ask about me. Go to No 6, Palace Road Olodi Apapa where I was living and doing business as a teenager. I grew up to know business in Lagos. I was like a mini AJ (Ajegunle) boy and have learnt to appreciate the pains of people that are there. The same way I appreciate the pains of my people in my village too. Meanwhile, in all these stages, I was making friends. It is all about people. If I come home for festival, you will see more than 20 vehicles in my house. If I don’t move they don’t move. They always see me as a leader.
Imagine at 21, I was made president of over 5000 Nigerians in Congo. Many Nigerians will come to Congo from South Africa, because you can cross to Congo from South Africa by boat. We call them Mungo Park. They would come looking what to do and would get stranded and I was saddled with the responsibility of caring for them; feeding them, entertaining them. There was war in nearby … Congo Brazzaville and about 400 Nigerians fled to DR Congo and l had to feed them morning and evening.
I have friends all over the world and whatever I have achieved today is by dint of hard work. I have not gotten any government waiver. Nigerians appreciate people by face value not by doing research to know who they are. I have done well for myself by working hard, training myself and researching and making good friends. In addition, these are the things I gained doing business in Lagos.
Not many people know Ifeanyi Ubah until your 40th birthday when the newspapers were awash with congratulatory adverts from eminent Nigerians. It has been said that you orchestrated it for political gain?
The surprising package that I got when I was doing my 40th birthday was never planned for. It would tell you how much I love people and how much they love me too. It was as if hell was loosed by people who love me. I was not even in Nigeria and did not plan for any celebration. What I remember was that my friend: Ali Baba collected my phone, saying he would like to tell my friends about my birthday and that was all. At that time, I was in China with Governor Rochas Okorocha to show him some investment opportunities. Even, some weeks to my birthday, I took about 14 House of Representatives members to China to show them how I was building my ship.
I don’t socialise much. I’m not a social person. I have always been friends to people who are 10 and 15 years older than me. I don’t befriend my mates, even though I respect them, especially people that I grow up with. But I seek advice from my friends who are older than me. However, I don’t have too many friends but whatever I believe in I go for it and I believe in my ability. And God has been my helper.
What is a typical day of Dr Ifeanyi Ubah like?
I work for many hours every day. My entire mechanism rests when I know I have accomplished what I set out to do. I will then have a good shower and sleep peacefully. I travel a lot and chat with my wife and children on a daily basis. I engage myself with quality discussion with my wife. I have never worked for anybody.