Mr. Emmanuel Omokwale is the Chairman of Dedora Nigeria Limited. In this interview, he tells FISAYO FALODI why he took to farming after he retired from Nigerian-German Chemicals Plc
I can see that you are still agile with the way you smartly walked in, how have you been taking care of yourself?
It boils down to the way I have been carrying out my responsibilities. I always walk around to ensure that everybody is at his or her duty post. I have also been a sports person all my life. So, being agile is natural.
What type of sporting activities do you engage in?
They are mainly cycling and walking. But when I was young, I played football and basketball, as well as hockey. I also loved running, which I did almost every day. In fact, I was the Sports Prefect in my secondary school in those days. I also played table tennis when I was young. So, no type of sports is strange to me.
Do you still engage in cycling now?
Of course, I ride a bicycle in my compound and estate. My wife does not fear that I might be involved in an accident because we have been advised that staying idle without physical exercise is not good for the elderly people. So, she also engages in walking, but does not ride a bicycle. She covers a walking distance of three to four kilometres. Luckily for us in our estate, we hardly have problems while engaging in sporting activities. We choose our time properly, like periods when vehicular movements are very light. We also walk against vehicular traffic so that we can see oncoming vehicles very well.
What was your growing up like?
It was quite exciting. I grew up in the North. My father worked in UAC and he was being transferred from place to place, even within the Northern part of the country. I moved with him round all the cities in the North like Kaduna, Zaria, Kano, Kotangora and many others. So, my growing up days were very exciting, especially when I was in secondary school. My parents brought me to the South for my secondary school education because they wanted me to know their own villages. I must add that I am an Ishan man from Edo State, but my mother is a Yoruba woman from Oyo State. I can speak both Yoruba and Hausa fluently.
You were born at a time when basic facilities like pipe-borne water were not available, how were you able to cope without such facilities that we take for granted today?
Funny enough, we had public tap running in those days. We would go to the public tap and fill our buckets with water and return home. Electricity was not always available then, but it was there, especially in Kano and Kaduna. It was when we got to Kotangora and Debi that we started making use of lanterns.
People believe that education was exclusive to the children of the rich in the past, is it true?
I don’t believe that; it depends on the interest of one’s parents. If parents were ambitious and wanted their children to have education, they would send them to school. Some parents did not know the value of education; in fact, they believed they were punishing their children by sending them to school. But parents who realised that Christianity was not meant to detach them from their culture sent their children to school. In essence, my father sent me to school because of the interest he had in education.
Can you recall some of the pranks you played while you were young?
Yes, I can recall that I played pranks with some of my childhood friends. I remember that we used to sneak into one compound where fruits like oranges, mangoes and the rest were planted, to pluck them. We sneaked into the compound when the members of the family were resting. I used to lead my friends to the place; I would be plucking the fruits and throwing them to my friends. I also remember that we used to throw baits to the dogs inside the compound to make them stray away so that we could pluck plenty fruits. I also remember one particular prank I used to play with one of my sisters on Christmas days. She would wear my trousers and shirt and I would wear her gown. We would go to many places to make people laugh.
What was your ambition while growing up?
My ambition was to become a medical doctor.
Why are you not a doctor now?
As we were growing up, three of my sisters wanted to do the same thing. That was why I changed my mind to do something else.
What did you study instead?
I finally studied Chemistry at the University of Ibadan.
Assuming that you did not have the opportunity to go to school, what would you have done?
I would have become a farmer because I love farming a lot even from my childhood. When I was young, I was rearing domestic animals and livestock such as goats, dogs and fowls. Farming has been in me since I was young.
Can you recall one specific piece of advice by your parents that really made a major impact on your life?
The main advice my parents, especially my father, gave me was that whatever I would become in future was in my hand. My father taught me honesty and also emphasised on it. He always told me to fear God. There was no day he did not mention the need to fear God to me. In fact, he wrote a lengthy letter to me when I was in secondary school in Obuluku, Edo State, where he advised me to always be honest and respect my seniors. Since I was living in a hostel, very far away from him, he kept on reminding me that I should not engage in unlawful activities because he and my mother were not with me. He always told me to believe in myself and to be prayerful.
Do you still have the letter you said your father wrote to you in school then?
Yes, I still have it in my house.
Have you shown the letter to your children?
I have only read it to one of them.
Why not all of them?
The opportunity has not come because all of us have been very busy.
We know that in the past, parents often chose wives for their sons; did your parents choose your wife for you?
No. As I said, my father was educated and had travelled wide. He was sent abroad by the management of the company where he worked and as a result, he was exposed to various cultures. So, he did not interfere when I was getting ready to marry. It was after I had proposed to my wife and she had agreed to marry me that I introduced her to my father. Although he asked her a few questions before he gave his consent to the union.
How did you meet your wife?
I met her here in Lagos after I graduated from the university and our meeting was coincidental. I was attending my cousin’s wedding and fortunately, my wife was a relation to my cousin’s wife. She was not planning to attend the wedding, but somehow felt the urge to attend. The moment I saw her, I developed interest in her and that was how we met.
Was it love at first sight for her too?
No, it was not. She even thought I was a chef.
Probably because of the way you dressed?
No, because everyone around me were cooks. I was using my mother’s car to assist my cousin move his friends and the items he was going to use at the wedding. So, all the people with him were cooks; I was the only person among them who was not a cook. But since I was with the group, she thought I was also a chef. So, it took my cousin time to convince her that I was a graduate and not a chef. That was when she now asked me to come to her house to see her parents. Luckily for me, the person she was living with knew my father. That made it easier as the woman was very happy that I came to the house. We finally got married after one year of courtship.
How many years did you spend with Nigerian-German Chemicals Plc?
I spent 23 years with the company.
As the former director of the company, how did you receive the news of your retirement?
The retirement was planned. I had discussions with the company’s management before I requested for the retirement because I felt I had contributed my quota. I left to start farming. In essence, the management and other workers were happy with me.
Before your retirement, was there any time you felt like resigning your appointment with the company because of one unpleasant experience or the other?
Yes, there was one particular incident I can vividly remember. I applied for a study leave without pay so as to allow me to get a Master’s degree in Polymer and Fibre Science in the United Kingdom. Before I left Nigeria, I had discussions with my German Managing Director and my immediate boss, who was a Nigerian. When I came back after the programme, the management wanted me to rent a place in Ikeja, not far from the office. The management wanted me to stay very close to the plant so that I would always be around and the management also knew that my house allowance was not enough to rent a befitting apartment in Ikeja. It, therefore, asked me to get a place with a promise to subsidise the rent. When I finally got a house, I went to my MD and informed him. But he was furious, asking me why I should be treated differently from other workers. I was really annoyed and wanted to resign. In fact, I went to my office in annoyance to write the resignation letter because I felt cheated. But my French friend, who was a marketer with the company, came to my office to ask for some products. He noticed the frown on my face as I was writing the resignation letter. He just said, ‘Emmanuel, I don’t know what you are writing, but I can see that your face is not friendly and that you don’t write when you are angry’. I dropped my pen and explained what happened to him. He advised me to allow the matter rest overnight. He then advised me to write another letter to the MD to explain why I needed the house and to remind him of our earlier discussion and our agreement that the company would subsidise my house allowance. I wrote the letter as my French friend had suggested and took it to the MD. To my surprise, he approved the money. That was how my friend’s advice did the magic. If he had not advised me to allow the matter to stay overnight, I would have angrily resigned that day. I felt the company reneged on its promise and it (my resignation) would have destroyed my career because I would have gone to another company to start from a lower cadre, which I believe would have denied me of many opportunities. So, I thank God that I did not submit that letter because the MD would have accepted it and sent me away. So, the French man’s singular advice saved me from taking a decision I would have regretted.
How do you manage your anger?
I have been following the advice of that my French friend. I don’t wait overnight now, but more than a week before I take a decision on whatever gets me angry.
As a director in Nigerian-German Chemicals Plc, what do you think you should have done better or differently?
The only area I think I did not do well was in the training of my workers; I did not push enough for them to be trained. I would have done better if I had pushed enough that they should be trained.
So, if you are invited now to serve as a part-time director on the board of the company, will you do that?
Definitely, I will push that people should be trained. The reason why I did not push much was that the company had its own system of training and I just slotted in, but I could have done better if I had pushed that people should be trained.
You started your career in a corporate company, are your children working in corporate establishments now?
Children of nowadays have minds of their own. Two of my daughters are working with corporate organisations in the United States. One is working with me in the farm; she had worked with Akintola Williams and Deloitte to get some experience before she resigned to work with me as my human resources manager. One is also working in a private company in Nigeria. Another one studied medicine, but she is not practising medicine; she works in the financial sector. In short, all my children decided what they wanted to do.
All your children are females, were you not bothered that you didn’t have a male child?
I wish I did not bother, but God did not give me a male child. My wife and I decided to stop having children right from the time we had our third child, but my mother was putting pressure on us to have a male child and as a result, we ended up having five female children.
Did your wife fear that you might have a male child from another woman?
She nursed the fear then, but I am not sure she still does now.
You went into farming after you retired from a corporate establishment, what informed the decision?
Two things. First, I felt that I had inhaled too much chemicals and I wanted a more refreshing environment. The second reason was passion. In fact, one of my uncles, Chief Asamu, in whose house I spent a lot of my holidays when I was in secondary school, was a farmer. So, my interest in farming grew more during that time. Before I started farming fully after my retirement, my wife had already started egg production as a hobby and so I abandoned my dream of establishing a chemical production firm for farming.
Is farming lucrative?
It was lucrative until now. The economy is bad; raw materials are very expensive. We need electricity and water to run the poultry because we produce the feeds by ourselves. Even the birds need electricity and I spend a minimum of N2m to buy diesel every month to run the farm.
What would you have done if you had not got the land to practise farming?
I would have gone into chemical manufacturing because I have all the knowledge about it. I know where to buy the equipment and I know how and where to sell the products. In fact, I had already chosen what I would love to produce, like liquid soap, detergent and others, two years before my resignation.
What do you think that government should do to encourage youths to go into agriculture?
Government has started already; it should give them loans and provide lands and farming inputs for them.
As a person who witnessed the oil boom period in Nigeria, what do think government should have done right to put the country on the path of progress?
Government should have invested all the money realised from the oil boom in agriculture; it should not have allowed agriculture to die. If government had done that, Nigeria would have been providing the whole world with palm oil now. The groundnut pyramid too should not have been allowed to die, so that the country can be a major producer of groundnut oil, groundnut mill and the rest. Luckily for us in Nigeria, our land is good for the production of food crops, but government did not lay much emphasis on food production. Oil cannot sustain the country forever, but agriculture is sustainable. Cotton production should have been developed to enhance the development of our textile industry. If Nigeria had done that, we would have been providing the world with textile materials.
With your robust knowledge in agriculture, will you accept to be appointed Minister of Agriculture by the Federal Government?
I prefer working in the background. I am not the type of person that want to be in the limelight. I prefer giving free advice to whoever needs it without asking for compensation. I don’t think I would want to be appointed a minister before I can offer useful advice to people or the government.
How do you want to be remembered?
Like every human being, I have my own shortcomings, but I would like to be remembered as a honest and simple person. I try my best to do the best I can, but I know I cannot satisfy everybody. So, there are those who may feel I have hurt them because I am very strict, particularly if I have entered into an agreement with someone and he fails to honour his part of the agreement without any genuine reason. This makes me very angry, but I will show understanding if the person’s failure is due to circumstances beyond his capacity or control.
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