Babasola Kuti: Pledging to serve Lagosians in 2015

You want to hear the truth? I will say it just the way it is…I am tired of people complaining about the country, leadership and the state of the nation without at least attempting to effect changes in any way they can no matter how little. That is why I am intrigued by my ‘date’ for this week who is defying all obstacless and daring to come out to contest for the governorship position of Lagos state. It takes a lot of nerves to do so and I salute his courage.

Sometime ago I featured Ifeyinwa Maureen Okafor (I.M.O), (who wants to be the governor of Imo state), Kate Henshaw (who wants to go to the House of Representatives), on this same column and I will be featuring others like my guest for this week. We need to hear what they have to say perhaps, it’s time to change our ‘frequency’ to a new ‘wave’…think about it!

As I write about my guest for this week, I remember meeting him at I.M.O’s fund raising party where I went to recite a poem. He was with other young and dynamic candidates who had declared their intention for various positions in government. I looked at the table where he was and saw young and great minds, the leaders of tomorrow working the path today in preparation for a fruitful tomorrow and my heart went out to them to wish them well.

Fondly called SK by friends and family, he is a 44 year old Nigerian entrepreneur, well known in the political, business and social circles in Lagos and Abuja. He lived most of his life in Lagos State, Nigeria where he attended the University of Lagos Staff School, St Finbarrs College Akoka, International School Lagos, and University of Lagos before relocating to the UK to attend Business School at Middlesex University Business School in Hendon. He studied Business Information Systems with Human Resource Management and graduated with a Second Class Upper division. He went on to consult for the London Borough of Hackney, French consulting firm – SEMA group, and the American Oil Company AMOCO…now BP-AMOCO. Though based abroad, SK continued to contribute his quota to the development of Nigeria. In 1999, he launched a portal www.afriproducts.com, an ecommerce portal which was officially the first online payment portal in Nigeria. With the launch of  the GSM service, he immediately ventured into that area and with business partners introduced the lower denomination (N500 and N750) recharge card idea (which was unthinkable to the networks then) to both Econet Wireless (Now Airtel) and MTN, and also push for the now popular virtual and logical methods of dispensing airtime via POS. Babasola Kuti is my ‘date’ for this week.

Sola’s early days was pretty cool, he comes from a small family so it was quite a delight even as his parents were what was considered at the time, middle income. “I think my parents are my strongest influences. My dad is easy going, pretty hands on with everything and he is very schooled, has loads of worldly experience and a man of modest means but very generous. He is now 78yrs old. My mum was tough (she passed away nearly 8yrs ago). She was a thorough no nonsense mother…so much so we called her Margaret Thatcher but despite that, she was extremely loving, she was very hard working, a go getter, she was extremely addicted to helping others, and very generous. My mum is best described as not diplomatic, what you see is what you get…with no apologies.” Sola says and continues “I think I got my outspoken nature and determination from my mum, I never quit or give up. I see everything through. My wisdom and jolly side I got from my dad… he was a real people’s person who knew a lot of people and was liked by many. A simple man but influential so I am a balance between both worlds. Integrity, generosity and loyalty are key components of my life.” Sola admits.

Sola was able to sell the N500 and N750 recharge card idea which was unthinkable to the networks then so I asked him how he made that happen and his response? Hear him “The greatest challenge that good ideas have is their practicality. If today someone tried to sell me a car that flies, the first thing I would do is to say show me how it works. I won’t take the credit alone because I worked with a partner who is a genius back then. What we did was ask the networks to tell us their main fears. Once they did that we showed them how we would overcome the imagined obstacles. I am proud that I was able to do something that has a positive effect on people’s lives. At the time you had no choice. You could not even buy less than N1,000 but today, because we dared to dream and do, you can even buy a N100 voucher. I am proud that I was part of the pioneering effort.”

I asked Sola when and why he decided to go into politics and his response said it all. In his words, “it’s funny you ask that. I have always been fascinated by politics. My aunt’s husband was a politician in Ibadan in the UPN days and I spent a lot of holidays in their house. He always had meetings and plenty activities…I was only probably about 9 or 10 at the time but I remember that I met the late Bola Ige in my uncle’s country home in Gbogan, Oyo State and sat on his lap while he visited. I loved his eloquence…he was Governor then so the experience made a huge impression. In my later years, as a student in Unilag I worked closely with my late uncle Prof. of medicine, John Abimbola Kuti. He had asked me to help put up posters for Sir Michael Otedola’s campaign for Governor in Lagos and to do some canvassing of voters for the NRC then. He had provided me with some cash, a car and posters. I loved the experience”.

“When I moved over to the UK shortly after that, I immediately joined the Labour party and began recruiting students. At the time, I was so keen that I even paid the £10 membership fee for my cousins…The party won the general elections and became the ruling party. I was a beneficiary of the Labour party’s economic policy so I immediately saw the correlation between electing the right party and impact on society. My dad is conservative by the way and he is seriously regretting it today. Then finally, when I moved back home in 2003, I immediately got an appointment to work as an aide to a Senator. In essence I have been in and around politics for 22yrs.” Says Sola.

Sola’s eyes are on Lagos state’s seat of power come 2015 under the PDP flagship, a party he tells me he almost left “I have been a member of PDP since I returned from the UK in 2003. I  have to admit, I have been tempted to leave the party on few occassions but I was convinced to stay and I am happy I did” SK says even as he shares with me his reasons for running for the office.  “I am running for Governor of Lagos State because I believe that the ultimate service to God is service to humanity. I currently do my little bit as an individual but I believe I can do a lot more as a policy influencer and an executive office holder. I am a hands-on type of person, I could not see myself in any other role e.g. Legislative. Believe me, if I could I would be running for that. I like to be happy while working. I don’t want to be governor for prestige or my ego, but because I have some serious enemies. Poverty, injustice, deprivation, sickness, neglect are all my enemies. I want to eradicate them as much as possible and the office of Governor will provide me the opportunity to do so.” Sola tells me.

Every aspirant comes with their manifestos, sometimes; we can almost recite it along with them as many of them usually say the same thing but Sola says he plans to do things differently. He agrees that the current administration has done well when compared to some other states and previous administrations and I completely agree with SK on this because it is so true! However, he enlightens me on what he intends to do differently. “I intend to do differently, what has been done badly or insufficiently but I want to do much more. I believe that they have done what I can best describe as preservation (in line with the slogan: Eko o ni baje). I have a plan to carry out a transformation through regeneration (#EkoMaYato  which means ‘Lagos will be different’). Lagos is the centre of excellence they say…but I ask..is it only in Lekki and VI and Ikoyi? Is it the same when you go to Ketu or Okota or Aguda or Ajegunle?”

“I want to create a Lagos where both rich and lower income families get the same measure of attention. In fact I strongly believe that government should invest more resources in lower income areas. That is where help is most needed. They say if you want to know a good government, see how they treat the poorest citizens.” Sola explains.

The African tradition is very strong on respect, so much that when elders are speaking, the youths keep quiet until they are asked to say something. Perhaps that is what has hindered several youths from coming out to contest for certain positions, the idea that such enviable positions are not meant for the young ones has eaten deep into the system but things are changing now. However, it still doesn’t change the fact that the youths are not adequately represented in politics neither is it obvious that the Nigerian government is sensitive to their needs. This SK agrees to and adds  “It is a fact. If I asked you to give me a few names of youth in government (and by this I mean 18-35) you would hardly find any at cabinet level, as governor, in the state assemblies or National Assembly. The Nigerian government is not sensitive to the youth at all. Neither are political parties. For instance, the recent announcement of prices of nomination forms for aspirants…how many youth again 30-35 have N1m-N11m to buy nomination forms? I am however not waiting for governments or political parties to suddenly play fair. A few aspirants including myself launched www.campaign.ng to serve as an incubator for younger generation politicians. We have taken the ‘fight’ to the political parties and government by demanding that they waive the nomination fees for youth aspirants and include more youth in the mix and cabinets at all levels.” Sola laments and further tells me more on what burdens his heart about the Nigerian environment. Again, he speaks “The lack of love. People have become so self absorbed it breaks my heart. I grew up in a Nigeria where people were their brother’s/sisters keepers. Today you could get knocked down by a car and people would rush to you. Instead of picking you up and rushing you to a hospital, they would either rob you of valuables or bring out their phones to take pictures and share  on social media for entertainment. Corruption, injustice, nepotism, terrorism and the likes can all be traced to a lack of love or concern for fellow humans. ”he concludes.

I’m sure you have heard of the popular slogan ‘politics is a dirty game’, SK however has his view on this. According to him, “it is not politics that is dirty, it is the players. We need to reset our mindsets in Nigeria. We need to be more focussed on people instead of ourselves. Why would you promote violence or rig elections if all you truly want to do is provide succour for citizens?” SK explains.

Excited about the involvement of more youths in politics, SK ends our conversation on this note saying “The children we were told, are the leaders of tomorrow. So if we go with that logic, the youth are the leaders of today. Some leaders had said the youth were not ready to lead Nigeria, I am glad more young people are turning up and aspiring for office. It will improve our political space and create competition. It will also promote new ideas. I am a strong believer that in today’s world, ideas and not experience will shape our future.”

KEMI AJUMOBI