Chief Rasheed Abiodun Gbadamosi became a commissioner in Lagos State when he was 27 years old. The former minister of National Planning and chairman, Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency shares his life experiences with ADEOLA BALOGUN in this interview
How does it feel like to be 70?
I too didn’t know it would come so soon. When I was 60 years old, I was a little bit apprehensive; I was asking myself, am I going to reach the famous three scores and ten? I said there were things I ought to do, so I started work on my autobiography mid last year hoping the launch would coincide with my 70th birthday but unfortunately, I was unable to complete it. I was in the third chapter and I could not believe the gift of memory. I thought I might finish it to coincide with the birthday but well, man proposes, God disposes. There were so many competing interests here and there. Things were happening so rapidly and they needed attention. The stress of composition of thoughts, trying to eliminate what you thought might be a little bit juvenile and what might be slightly contestable. Again, I had to be careful about sequence of events. Then I experimented with what James Joyce taught us in literature- stream of consciousness. In other words, you go on trajectory and suddenly you go back again to recall as part of growing up, you might then end up with something fairly intelligible and you may be doing a lot of rewrite.
Now that you are 70, I want to believe that you want to slow down.
That is inevitable, first there will be physical slowdown; the muscles are not as lithe as they were. Even if you want to go on, the body will put you at check. Then, it will be necessary to observe what is going on with your peers.
How was it growing up as a child born with a silver spoon?
There is no doubt, one should be grateful that one’s life was not poverty stricken, I cannot deny that. Life was comfortable because my parents decreed so, they gave me enough to eat; they gave me good clothes; everything I needed and a sound education. Certain privileges came with being the son of whom I was; the thought of getting up early to go to school and a domestic afternoon teacher who would continue to fill your brain was an enervating schedule while growing up. Because of the privilege of the domestic teachers, one was able to do the homework and read ahead of one’s classmates. Again where I grew up, Isale Eko, was not so much overcrowded and you could easily stay away from hooliganism and play with your own peers; I won’t want to call it class. You were taught early how to choose your company; there were certain areas you would not go ordinarily.
We learnt that you wanted to train as a doctor but your father decided you should embrace economics, even though you didn’t know its meaning then. When you look back now, how would you assess your father’s judgment?
It was not a judgment as such; I will rather see it as a recommendation because he was the one that paid the bills. Therefore, he could easily say this is what I think you should do. When I told him I wanted to be a doctor, he just laughed it off and said children of business men don’t pursue any of those science-based professions. He said there was something called economics and I said I didn’t know what it was all about. The following day in the office because I was working with him, I went and bought J. L. Hanson’s Introduction to Economics and I sat down to read beginning with laws of demand and supply and all the stuff. It was abstract to my mind compared to all the literature I had read. But gradually, I was getting used to it and that was it.
How did you become a commissioner at a tender age of 27 in Lagos, was it through politics?
You journalists might have had something to do with it. When I came back from abroad with my degree in Economics and a postgraduate degree in Economics Development, I thought I had learnt a thing or two. So I started writing in the newspapers. I made my voice heard, especially writing and analysing annual budgets. Whenever there was any debate on the economy, I would be there. So, I must have come to the notice of the powers that be. So Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson said he wanted to expand his cabinet and he just summoned me one day and said he learnt I was working with my father. He said he wanted to expand his cabinet and asked if I would like to join him. I had no insight into such an office but I said I would join him. He said, ‘Don’t you tell anyone because I may still change my mind until you just hear it on radio and television. If I change my mind, you will be the one that expose yourself to ridicule.’ So as a young man who was adventurous, that was how it happened. Fortuitously, my father had a car accident at that time, he had broken his femur and he was in the hospital in Oxford, England. He might have been an obstacle because he had looked forward to me taking over from him; then I was second-in-command to him in Ikorodu Trading Company, but I had to quit. He was not even here to decide for me. Again, joining the government was a kind of natural progression for me.
How busy or tasking was it like then as a commissioner in Lagos?
I was working at odd hours. Any project that had to do with capital expenditure had to pass through my desk. I had to vet and approve and do a lot of stuff and it was great fun anyway.
After your tenure, were you not tempted to go into politics?
It had nothing to do with politics; my job was fully technical. As far as I was concerned, there was no impulse for me to do that.
Did you eventually become the successor your dad wanted you to be?
No, once I went into Lagos State executive council, he couldn’t achieve that with me. He still came back and resumed his office as managing director of Ikorodu Trading Company.
You’re an art collector, is it a part of yourself you could not just forget having gone ahead to study Economics?
I started art collection as a kind of a hobby and it is something that I enjoy; something I have passion for and it is fun and I haven’t really left the zone.
What are the secrets of being a successful businessman?
Economics is a social science where you have to apply your knowledge of managing humans and resources. Nothing untoward about it; there are rules which you apply to every situation.
At a time, you wanted to become governor of Lagos State.
That was way down the line; it was when some friends of mine from Lagos State felt that I should come out. That was the time of the two-party structure when Sarumi and Agbalajobi were on the political stage. Then I was part of an association called Hope and we were all meeting to discuss. My friends said I should step forward and we were having some nocturnal meetings and discussions but somehow, the story leaked to my father that I wanted to contest as Lagos governor. Then, he had moved to Ode-Remo to be close to my grandmother because according to him, Ikorodu was becoming too industrialised for him. He said his mother had pledged when she was leaving Ode Remo to marry into an Ikorodu family that some day she would be back in Ode Remo to spend the rest of her life. When he got information about my political move, he called me and said I must write a disclaimer and that he would take the letter and go round the media houses to say his son was not interested in any governorship position. That was how I was stopped in my track.
A father would want his son to become governor; didn’t you ask him why he stopped you?
He told me. He said one, you don’t have the temperament; you are my son, I know you. He said he had been in politics all his life and he was sure of what he was telling me. He said he didn’t see me going far because of my temperament. He said I was not cut out for politics.
Did you find it difficult to let go?
I had always surrendered to my father’s superior judgment. He was the one that said I should read economics; it was his idea and he hadn’t been proved wrong. He was my greatest inspiration; he trained me and sent me to England for a sound education and after a bit of argument, I went to America for my Master’s degree.
You didn’t feel you were more educated than him even though he was your father?
My father taught me how to write business letter; that you would not have read in any text book. The logic of presentation, bargaining, arguing for concession, he had all that and I gave it to him.
What was your experience as chairman of PPPRA?
It was just a technical job, nothing to it. My knowledge of economics and resource allocation was handy; it was no rocket science. I knew we were dissipating the resources of this country and we needed to rein in the excesses.
A lot of criticisms followed your argument that Nigerian oil was the cheapest; why did you make that statement?
If I can use the young people’s language, it is not cool dissipating our resources. There are alternative uses of your earnings inclusive of investing in the oil sector in order to develop other spheres. You could decide to be more frugal about resources; how about petro chemicals? There are a myriad of possibilities of utilising the oil resources. Why import petroleum products when you could build your refineries? Why go on bringing in products which on calculation could be as many as 80 products in a barrel of oil, giving all kinds of employment to young people? You cannot just use the resources carelessly. In an economy, there are close to 80 products you can derive from oil and some people believe that you limit yourself to five or six. There is a multiplier effect of earnings on expenditure. You invest and you trigger off a chain of investment which will have a repercussion effect down the line. But if you narrow yourself to just one area, you cannot be multiplying job creation possibilities. As you sit with me in the car now, just look around and see a lot of products you can derive from petroleum; the upholstery, the leather, the glass, the rubber, even the car itself, the engine that is burning the fuel; all these are related to petroleum. I don’t know why some feel it is wise to control pricing. To me, it is foolishness subsidising petrol.
But do you blame Nigerians who kicked against removing the subsidy because that is the only thing they believe they enjoy from their government?
That is foolishness; it is funny to believe that there is only one dimension to wealth creation. In fact, removing it will have a lot of us being employed; paying taxes and making revenue available to government to do a few things like building public houses. I would rather subsidise consumption; it is foolishness. If we have an educated populace, the nation will be better off and to say that we should just thrive on cheap fuel does not make sense. It is a matter of value and it is funny when people take a short term alternative rather than a long term option to have enough funds to build long term investment.
But why is it difficult for government to either refurbish the refineries or build new ones? Is it that we don’t have the resources?
These things are extraordinarily expensive. For any investment, there is competition for resources. If you take all your money and put it into just one scheme, the other schemes will suffer; there won’t be even development.
If the refineries are working, we would not have to import fuel.
There is hardly any country that is totally self-sufficient in petroleum resources because that is the nature of the chemistry of it. By the time you get sophisticated, you have superior advantage in several petrochemical products, making gas, making fertiliser and so on.
What is the way out?
The way out is to listen to those who are endowed with the knowledge; to prioritise. Let the market take charge.
Even the little gain in SURE-P, do you think it is being utilised well?
SURE-P is just a mechanistic way of transferring money; playing around with figures. It doesn’t make the totality of our wealth generation. SURE-P is just to say we are shocked by this suddenness of the withdrawal of petroleum subsidy, it doesn’t add on to the economic well-being of the population. It’s just to give a soothing balm, not the fundamental acceptance of the structural adjustment.
But do you see any government surviving removing subsidy completely?
I am not a politician. To me, long term management of the economy has inherent wisdom but for us to live from hand to mouth, long term gain or short term gain may not be sustainable.
So what do you think government can do to get the correct pricing?
Let the market take charge; allow the market to decide.
When you were appointed a minister, what was the experience like?
It was just a call to service, nothing more. It was just to be there and use the resources of the nation to develop it. It was more of a national call to duty.
Let me take you back a bit, as a school boy, what pranks did you play?
Go and ask Segun Osoba, he was my classmate. He taught me some pranks. Then, Lagos was becoming expanded and civilised; we were the successor generation to the British and we were imbibing the cultural change and at the same time absolving the imperatives of modernisation.
Why did you decide to marry just one wife?
My religion permits me to marry more than one but I decided to have one.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: editor@punchng.com