Pa Titus Sokanlu, a retired civil servant and newsmaker, shares his experiences with ADEOLA BALOGUN
Tell us about your stint in the civil service.
It was very interesting. I joined the civil service in 1962 as a building inspector and I rose rapidly up the rung of the ladder. Before I knew it, I had built a wide network of contacts, comprising celebrities such as Olorogun Michael Ibru, Sir Mobolaji Bank-Anthony, and a former chairman of the Nigeria Railways Corporation, Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani, who was my friend. Although I was a very young man at the time, the nature of my job as a building inspector gave me the opportunity to interact with them. In those days, these people were building houses in Lagos and I inspected the buildings. I was well connected in Lagos. Before I had spent 13 years in the civil service, I was already everywhere. I retired in 1975 after working in the service for only 13 years. I have been a pensioner ever since. Immediately I left, Sir Bank-Anthony made me his property manager. But after spending a year and eight months, I had nothing to do except office work. I was used to field work, not this. I would be dressed up in my suit everyday and represent him everywhere. I told him that I wanted to quit and he said that if I left, he would not give me anything. I told him that if I continued to live like that, I would not be able to use my hands again. He thought I was joking and that was how I left. I went to supervise the people that built the army barracks in Warri. After three months, he invited me and asked if I really wanted to leave. And I said I had already quit. Then he told me to come, with a promise to give me anything I desired in life. But I did not go back to him until he passed away. It was not my style to go to people and ask for things. I don’t do that.
Why did you leave?
I just wanted to be on my own. I considered it far better than to work under somebody else. I had the connections and I was good in my job. So what else? If I hadn’t quit, maybe I would have retired in 1990 and I wouldn’t have made so much progress in life. I like to meet people and I am adventurous. I like to help ease other people’s pains. When I was in Kano, I was connected with the NIPOST headquarters building there. In Warri, we had some white engineers and after three months, one of the engineers queried my company for coming to hire him when I was there.
Now that you have clocked 72, are you still in the field?
When I crossed the 70 years mark, I decided to start working for my eternity. I was offered different kinds of jobs, but I declined them. I have decided to dedicate the rest of my life to God. You can see the signs: I am still very strong, even at 72. I thank God for my good health.
As a young man, what was your dream?
Honestly, I had no dream. In those days, six school prefects from my alma mater, Eko Boys High School, moved directly to work at the Central Bank of Nigeria because of the principal, G Percy Savage, who was the vice-principal of King’s College, without an interview. I was one of the six prefects in my time. I was the school football captain and the health prefect. In Form One, I played for the school. I was already 17 when I entered college. When I left secondary school, the Nigeria Railway Corporation wanted me because of football. But my uncle, who retired from the corporation, said I would not go there. He was afraid that I would be transferred to a remote village, far away. I dared not oppose him. Since I was very good in Mathematics, I went to the Standard Bank (now First Bank) to write the exam. The following day, I was asked to report for duty. Yet, my uncle insisted that I would not work in the bank. He said he was afraid that I would put the family in trouble if any money got missing. He decided to pay me a salary until I found a suitable job. At that time, you could not stay at home for two months after leaving school without getting a job. I finished writing my examinations on Dec. 5 and got a job immediately. On Jan.13, someone said there was a vacancy at the City Council for the post of building inspector and that I should apply for it. At the time, my credentials included the certificate I got from the Lagos State Amateur Football Association as a junior international. Then, it was fashionable to say with pride that you offered Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. When I reported for the interview and said I offered the science subjects, the city engineer collected the LAFA testimonial and said I should go. I was angry that he didn’t ask me any question, though he allowed over 70 others to sit for an examination. At about 4 pm on the same day, I received a message instructing me to report for duty the second day. That was the power of football then. The following day, while those who sat for the examination were still coming for an interview, I had started working. I was sent to the Adekunle area and the man I met there was my best friend’s father. I was one of those who inspected the 13-storey building of the West Africa Examinations Council. We went as far as 120 feet before we got solid ground for Iddo House. While I was still working with the City Council, I studied building at the College of Technology. We were very strict because anything that happened on the field was tied to our reputation. You could not afford to compromise standards. I was satisfied with my job then, irrespective of any monetary inducement from anybody.
Is it true that the terrain is the reason buildings collapse in Lagos?
That is not true. We have had different governments in the state and each administration had its own policy. When it was Lagos City Council, you could not build any house without following the laid down rules and standard. There was nothing anyone could do to evade inspection. As a building inspector, my duty was to ensure compliance with the set standard. As big and strong as CAPPA was at that time, if I said they should stop work, they had to stop until I said I was satisfied. Then, we tested blocks by lifting them up to the midsection and dropping them. If one block broke, then it was not suitable for construction. I don’t think that can be done with the blocks we have nowadays. The day you planned to pour your concrete, I would be there to test it. I would tell you that I would be foolish to satisfy you and get sacked for incompetence. But at a stage, a governor came and transferred that section in the City Council to the state. I can tell you that Lagos State did not prepare anybody to inspect buildings on site as we did at the City Council. All the building inspectors were transferred to Lagos State and that stopped the practice of checking on site. Nowadays, when I walk around and see how people build houses, I feel disgusted. For example, a man in the Mosalasi area was supposed to put up a 24-room building, as contained in his plan. But he went ahead to build 48 rooms and then used corrugated iron sheets for the bathrooms and toilets. That year, I refused to give him the certificate. In those days, the Certificate of Occupancy was issued strictly for suitability and for living in a house. That was in 1969. When I got there, I went back to the office to write my report, instructing him to break down the building and to make provision for the facilities, as they were in the original plan that he submitted. Then we had a police escort that accompanied us to everywhere so that nobody would embarrass us at the construction sites. Even if you wanted soldiers to accompany you, you would be provided for. The man threatened to remove me from the civil service because of my report and I just laughed. He went to our office. Segun Osoba was still with us at the time. He complained to him and a few others. They advised him to do what I asked him to do. He wanted to offer me money, but I refused. The following morning, I went with my gang and we started breaking the building and restored it to its original plan.
Does this mean that buildings collapse in Lagos because the inspection unit in the City Council was transferred to the state?
Of course, I am stating the obvious. Although I had already left the service, I knew what I was talking about. As soon as that was done, there was nobody to inspect the buildings, just as we were doing at the City Council. We were well trained for that job. If a building is well monitored and materials checked thoroughly and constructed according to standard, it will not collapse. Nowadays, there are no good blocks. All the ones we have break even before you lift them off the ground.
How do you compare Lagos of old with the present?
To tell the truth, Lagos is no more. When Lagos was Lagos, it was a pride to be a Lagosian and everybody was eager and happy to come and experience life in the city. There was security and everything worked. In those days, we would leave St. Agnes, Yaba at 2 am and go to Kakadu to have fun. You would see a policeman, but he would not harass you. After following you to safety, he would go back. We used to go to night clubs on Lagos Island in the night without any harassment. In those days, a shirt cost 75 shillings and you would use it for four years because it came with an extra collar. The best shoe was Balley and it cost 126 shillings and one generation could not use it. But now, if you buy a shirt of N3,000 and you wash it only once, that is the end of it. Insecurity has killed night life and the streets are all looking so disorderly.
Why did you enter secondary school at 17?
In those days, you started at the elementary school Class One and pass to Class Two. Then you moved from Class Two to Standard One, then you start to use ink and you go through two, three, four, five and six. If your stature was small, it was not good enough because you had to touch your left ear with your right hand across your head. I gained admission to elementary school at the age of seven. In those days, we had less than 20 secondary schools in the entire Lagos. I wanted to attend King’s College. When I was in Standard Five, I passed the entrance examination, but there was nobody to back me financially. At that time, you must be somebody before you could go to King’s College. So, I was at home for two years teaching before I was able to make it to Eko Boys High School. By that time, I was already a fairly tall person and I played football very well.
Who were your contemporaries at Eko Boys High School?
There was one Engineer Gboyega Martins. He is still alive. The Oniru of Lagos was my junior in school by three years. Many of them are still around. We used to receive lessons in about 14 subjects until we got to the final year. Then we were allowed to choose eight subjects for the School Certificate Examination. I studied Latin, French, English, Yoruba and other science subjects. Interestingly, I was the best in Yoruba and I got the school prize for that in 1960. Also, in my school certificate examination, I scored A1 in Yoruba. The kind of instruction we received in secondary school is comparable to what obtains in the university now. That time, it was education at its best.
Why didn’t you join your mates who left for higher school at home and abroad?
At that time, your progress depended on your family background. In my family, I was the first person to go to a secondary school. It was very tough then because of responsibilities. After leaving the College of Technology, I was offered a place in Britain, but I did not go. Today, my children and my mother are there as I am talking to you. I don’t normally run after what others run after and I am always satisfied with what I get. When Segun Osoba left the City Council, we were staying in the same room in the St. Agnes area. We were still very close even when he joined the Daily Times. Then, he was riding a scooter, with registration number LK1444. He is a very funny guy. He would wake you up anytime and you could not do without following him out. There was a hotel at Alagomeji where we used to have fun. Osoba did not touch alcohol, but he enjoyed having fun. Three years before he became governor, he told me that he was going to be governor. As Managing Director of Daily Times, he told me he was going to resign and go into politics. If Segun Osoba tells me he is going to be Nigeria’s president, I will tell you he will get it. We may not see each other for 30 years, but we still remain good friends.
Segun Osoba made history when he discovered the corpses of former Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa, and the Minister of Finance, Festus Okotie-Eboh. Can you describe what you saw when you accompanied him to the spot?
The principal of his school was coming from Abeokuta and saw the corpses there and because he knew that his old student was a journalist, he contacted him. Then Segun came and asked me to accompany him. We went on his scooter to Sango-Ota, where the bodies of the late Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and Chief Okotie-Eboh were dumped. The fear of the military was real because they were not living among civilians. The following day, when the story came out and my name featured that I witnessed the discovery, my father cried that I wanted to kill him by following my friend to see the corpses.
Were the corpses dumped in a house or in the bush?
The corpses were dumped in the bush near where a brewery stands now in Ota. To the best of my knowledge, Balewa’s body was very neat. There was no blood stain on it. Okotie-Eboh’s corpse was a bit rough and different from Balewa’s. It was a very big story then and Segun Osoba became very popular with the story.
Why did the soldiers decide to dump the bodies in Ota?
I don’t know. Maybe they wanted to put them there where people least expected to find them. Look at the case of Apalara, who was murdered at Okobaba in the night. He used to preach against oro. They warned him to stop, but he continued. He was eventually murdered in the night and his killers thought they did a very perfect job. They did not know that someone had witnessed the incident. That person was able to identify those who killed Apalara. The witness was able to spot the killers among many people arrested for the crime. It was one story Segun Osoba used to celebrate in the papers at the time. The prime minister and the minister were killed in a military coup and in those days, it could be difficult to unravel some of the things that happened. Many people used to run away when they sighted soldiers and this continued till the end of the Nigerian Civil War. Then, soldiers were kept away from the civilian population.
How close were you to Osoba?
We are still very close. When I wanted to mark my 70th birthday, I told him about it the day before the event. He said he would be engaged, but that I should send somebody to him. Behold, he sent me the sum of N100,000. That is Segun Osoba for you. Let me tell you another aspect of him that will interest you. As soon as he became governor, I won a N4m contract to renovate Ogun State Hotels and my business partner, Afolabi Odufuye, said we should go and see him about the contract. Osoba said he would have to split the contract and give us part of it and the other to those who elected him into office. As soon as I heard that one, I made up my mind not to press it further. That is Segun Osoba for you. I call him whenever I like and he gives me the courtesy as an old friend. Even as a governor, he quarrelled with me one day that I had to wait for hours to see him in his office in the name of protocol. He said I should not have allowed that to happen. Then he said I should call him whenever I wanted. He is very generous and doesn’t forget old times.
You lost your wife in the 1990s. How have you been coping?
When she died, I didn’t want to get married again. I already had children that were grown up. But at a stage, I decided to marry again because I realised that a man without a wife to look after him is susceptible to all manner of things. He eats whatever comes his way, which is not good for his health. I was not so sexually active until I clocked 60. I have been a member of a church choir for 62 years now. I met a widow who was also a member of the choir and I talked to her and she agreed to marry me. I will tell you that she is the brain behind my healthy looks. She takes care of what I eat and what I wear. I started wearing glasses since 1969 and stopped in 1995. Now, there is nothing in print that I cannot read without glasses. She is the one taking care of me. I thank God for good health too. My best food is garri and I can eat it three times a day. I have never slept in a hospital for one day and I will not. I was brought up taking herbal medicine, which I still take and it is working for me.