Chief Kayode Williams is the second son of the late legal icon, Chief FRA Williams. In this interview with Eric Dumo, the younger Williams speaks on his life as a farmer while also sharing some of the most memorable events that have shaped his journey
You are into farming, how and when did you start the journey?
It started in the 1960s when I used to help my late mother with her poultry farm. I soon developed an interest in farming from there. It wasn’t easy for me especially coming from a family of lawyers. I am the second son of late Chief Rotimi Williams. While in school, I was very good at the art subjects but I had the passion for farming. So, I went to England for my A levels and then to Holland to do tropical, sub-tropical and temperate agriculture. After that, I did my specialisation course in animal husbandry and I majored in pigs and poultry and also feed milling technology. I came back to Nigeria in September 1971 and I have been actively involved in farming since then.
Under the Gbolahan Mudasiru regime in Lagos, he had a very capable commissioner, Mr. Alesinloye Williams, who decided to assist farmers through a scheme he called Agricultural Credit Input Scheme. Under that, farmers got improved seedlings and were also given tractors on easy payment terms. This was in 1984. The tractor I bought at the time which is still working perfectly today, 30 years after, was N45, 000 and I remember I used to pay N3, 000 quarterly. I remember that I had to pay N15, 000 in a year because we were given three years to complete the payment for the tractor.
I am proud to say that because of my background and training as an agriculturist, I know what to do to maintain the engine of my tractor. The maintenance culture is very poor in this country. The ministry after only five years packed up all their tractors. At that time, people were saying that Fiat products were not good but I disagreed. The Italians might not be as strong as the French or British militarily but when it comes to mechanical technology, they are very advanced. The greatest sports car in the world is the Lamboghini made by Italians. So, Italians are very good in this regard. As for the tractor, I know when to change the oil, I know when to change the primary and secondary filters, I know when to overhaul the engine and clean out everywhere. It has been working perfectly since 1984.
So, for the 30 years that the tractor has been with you, the maintenance has been done by only you alone?
Of course.
How easy was it for you to choose agriculture in the midst of lawyers? Were there protests from your father and other family members?
Well, my father was a very liberal man but he didn’t believe I would do agriculture for a long time because in school, one of my greatest passions was the Literary and Debating Society. I was a star in that area and so everybody, including my father felt that I was going to do law. But I told him to interpret the laws of man while I interpret the laws of nature. He agreed, saying he wouldn’t force me to do what I didn’t really like.
My mother also encouraged me to go for what I truly liked. She had no biological daughters even though she brought up quite a number of them. So, because of my interest in farming, I became very close to her. Right from my youth, apart from looking after chickens and other animals in the house, she also taught me how to cook, bake and sew. Even till this day, part of what my mother taught me is what led to me and my wife opening a restaurant here in Lagos. It is next door to the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club. I have three other brothers who are lawyers. They have taken after our father’s profession while I took after my mother’s. Two of my children are lawyers as well.
In those days when a lot of parents wanted their children to become doctors, engineers and the rest, when you ventured into agriculture full time, apart from your family, what was the reaction of people around you?
When I got back to Nigeria from abroad where I was studying, I was employed by Oke-Afa Farms of late Chief Ashamu. Even he called me one day and said I resembled my father so well and it just would have been a fantastic transition if I had studied law. He said, ‘While you are very useful to me here, I want you to reconsider your stand and go back and read law.’ But I told him I was quite happy interpreting the laws of nature.
On several occasions, when I tell people that I am a farmer, they say no, it’s not possible. I say okay, let me put it in a better way, I am an educated farmer. It took a lot of efforts for people to come to terms with the fact that I could leave a well established path and venture into a completely different field where I had no helper or assistance.
But I was not the only one who had this problem. My cousin who was five years my senior in our profession, Mr. Kunle Adetokunbo-Ademola, son of the first Chief Justice of Nigeria, also rebelled like myself and studied agriculture in Denmark and also specialised in animal husbandry. So, we naturally became close because of our profession.
It had not been easy because in my own days, it was not possible to get money from the Agricultural Credit Bank. Most unfortunately, tribalism was very strong at the time. I also do consultancy work and you could imagine that the people I consulted for who came from a certain part of the country got their loans while all sorts of objections were raised on mine. Eventually I realised it was not going to be easy to get the loan, so I forgot about it and started the very hard way.
My father bought me land, I cleared it and with the little that I was able to gather together, I started farming at Ojota. Later again I got into serious trouble at Ojota. You see in Nigeria when you are the son of a big man, you suffer a lot. My father took Lagos State government to court over the issue of educational facilities and institutions. Lateef Jakande’s government wanted to close down all the Catholic schools and my father went to court, won the case and as a result of that, I was victimised. My land was compulsorily acquired without any concrete reason. So, I had to leave Ojota.
So, there was no compensation from the government?
There was nothing. Once somebody victimises you in government, it becomes institutionalised and even when friendlier governments come in, they continue that way. That has been a very tragic and traumatic experience for me. So, my father bought me another land at Iju and I continued with what I could muster. I was able to establish a piggery and poultry. I also grew a lot of corn. Right now I grow a lot of ugu, I am veering into snail farming too.
Between the time you got into farming and today, what do you think has changed over the years in the industry?
Very little has changed over the years. Some people got into agriculture because they could not get admitted into other disciplines in the higher institutions and so settled for agric while some got into it because they genuinely loved it.
A lot of banks prefer to pay the penalty for not lending money to farmers than actually lending to them. I still think that the economic salvation of Nigeria lies in agriculture. The oil may finish, there could be political upheaval which would make it difficult to mine the oil. But we have other resources that can give us three times the revenue we are getting from oil.
The Federal Government needs to create a ministry of agricultural education and make it compulsory in schools and also facilitate the establishment of vocational training schools in the geo-political zones of the country. It is one thing to give somebody money for farming and it is another thing for the person to know what exactly to do with it. A lot is taught in the textbooks but the practical thing is a different ball game entirely. So, we need to put these things in place to help the agricultural sector.
Would you attribute your success in farming to the personality of your father?
My success first of all is attributed to God. With Him, all things are possible. My father’s name often times has militated against me. In those days when I told people that I was broke, they just looked at me and said that’s not possible. I am somebody who has always been his own man. I have managed to hold up my head high and take care of my responsibilities. Of course on a number of occasions, my father helped out like buying land for me, I have had to work truly hard to get to where I am today. The training I had in Holland has been a blessing so far. I am very proud of it.
What was childhood like for you?
I had a tremendous childhood, a very happy one. My father would take us to church most Sundays but majority of the time, we didn’t always have him around because of the nature of his job.
I remember there was a quarrel between Chief Adelabu, the strong man of Ibadan politics at the time, and Obafemi Awolowo. Adelabu said that Awolowo had built primary schools for his free education scheme and that none of his children and that of his ministers were attending those schools. That was a big challenge to Awolowo who went ahead to order all his children and that of the ministers to enrol in those schools. My father was a minister under Awolowo and I am glad I went to such a school. When you were about getting to school, you had to remove your sandals and put them in your bag lest you were branded a rich kid and be mocked by the other children. That was a very memorable part of my childhood.
As a child, where were those places that you looked forward to visiting?
The Zoological garden at the University of Ibadan was a very interesting place to see but sadly now, it is in a shambles. We also enjoyed visiting bookshops, Kingsway stores and the rest. My grandmother would buy money pots made from clay and so from January when people gave us money, we put it in there and by December, we broke it, counted the money and bought fireworks with it. It was more fun than what you have these days.
I also remember that during holidays, my elder brother and I always enjoyed going to my grandmother’s house where our cousins and other relatives of our age also came around. In the morning, we were served breakfast, we got lunch in the afternoon but in the evening she would give us money to go out and buy dundun, akara and so many different things. The entire children would buy different things, came home, put everything together and have a feast. Every night we did that and it was fun. To cap it all, my grandmother would tell us interesting stories. One by one, we would fall asleep.
Being a good-looking man, what was it like with the ladies?
I went to Government College Ibadan and I used to be a member of our musical band in school as the bass guitarist. There were girls who openly came to ask me to be their boyfriend as a result. But in those days, we didn’t do the things that boys of this age do. All what we wanted to do was that if you were a dancer, you wanted to show off your dancing skills and if you played music, you were not playing for the money but to impress people, especially the girls.
I remember that in those days, we would go to one of the girls’ schools and we would be asked to remove one leg of our sandals and put it in front and the girl or girls who wanted to dance with you would go and pick it. So, those of us who played music and who were the happening guys, the girls used to rush our sandals. It was fun.
At what point did you meet your wife and how did it happen?
I first met her at my cousin’s wedding in November 1966 and I went abroad the following year. When I came back, I started looking for her because she is an extremely beautiful woman and a very pleasant person to be around. She had this stubbornness which I liked. Anybody who is stubborn can build a dream. I prefer somebody who is stubborn because if you get such people to believe in a dream that you have, they would hold on to it irrespective of what happens.
My wife is also very good at handling money. Since we have been together, I have never kept any money away from her; in fact she signs all my accounts. Mind you it is a very risky thing to do if you had a bad woman as a wife because she could clean you out. But she has been a restraining factor on me and ensures that I spend prudently.
So, we met again in 1972 but it wasn’t easy to persuade her to marry me. I am somebody who doesn’t give up easily too and so eventually we got married. Last Sunday was our 40th marriage anniversary.
And in those 40 years, how has the journey been like?
We have had our difficulties like everybody else but let me say that God gave me my wife. We have four lovely children, all are graduates. We have six grandchildren and it’s a happy home.
How do you find the time to relax?
My own form of relaxation in the early days was that I used to go to the movies a lot but now, you have movies at home. I watch television a lot, do a lot of reading. Sometimes when I am free, I do things which most Nigerian men wouldn’t do. I make breakfast for my wife, take it to her in bed, wait for her to finish before clearing the place.
Even till this day?
Yes, when I have the time. Even at 64, my wife is still looking very beautiful like she was in her early 30s. I take very good care of my wife. If you don’t take care of your wife, she will age prematurely and then you start going outside. She is a big part of my life and success, so I don’t joke with her.
Looking back, if you have a chance, are there specific things you would love to change about your life’s journey?
If I had the knowledge I have today some 30 years ago, I would have been a billionaire today. Most of the Opebi area, my father did the case for the Egba refugees and they wanted to give him some plots of land but I wasn’t interested. I said I wasn’t going to do farming on a few plots of land and that I needed a big land. If I had accepted, the value of a plot of land there is far bigger than several hectares in rural areas.
Generally, looking back I don’t regret my life but I would say on the economic side, one could have made more had one been a bit more informed.
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