Sir, can you give us a brief history of the traditional office you occupy?
Opobo kingdom as it is known today came out of a bigger grand Bonny kingdom and this kingdom dates back to many centuries if you like because I recall that as far back as the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, our greatgrandfathers were trading with the British merchants and the rest of them. However, somewhere at a point, which is history anyway, a certain section of Bonny kingdom have reasons to leave Bonny following a little family misunderstanding and out of the 18 war canoe houses that we had in Bonny, 14 had to leave Bonny kingdom with King Jaja who was a chief at the time they founded Opobo kingdom, which is made of eastern Alibiama, Abonema Ebonima and so on. Ours have interesting history in the sense that our own forebears, Captain Uranta the first, had reasons to leave Opobo kingdom, Opobo town as it were, to found what we know today as West town.
Some people would say we had a problem but I see it differently, it is nature’s own way of expanding the world and creating space for future humans that will inhabit this earth. If I simplify put it, you cast your mind back to let’s, say West town, Nima , Kanibiama now returned to Opobo town, you can imagine that there will be no space left. Even as it is now, we are grappling with space problem. It’s God’s own way of expanding His world and creating some level of space and comfort for nations yet unborn. As for Captain Uranta the first, he was a great man in the sense that if you imagine that somebody single handedly founded a whole community as large as that is today, was able to establish different institutions such as the church, the school, the hospital and other things that make up a town. He also brought some very good fun to his people and that fun is always enjoyed on the first of January every year. As it is today, West town, which derived its name from the intervention of Queen Victoria where there were a little of family fracas who said that nobody should go near that place. At that point henceforth, that was her own town and that gave us that latitude to have that level of peace, security and protection from our neighbours.
In a nutshell that is the history of West town.
Going further, Captain Uranta created one huge compound called the Ichi compound and that by extension brought to bear what is known today as Aboyana compound as well. In West town, there are three major compounds, the one, which I represent as a paramount chief, which is called Owari and Ichi Aboyana, however, we have a larger body called the Irayapolo, which now comprises of the Waribo Uranta in Opobo town, it is a long history.
Please, what is the role of traditional institution in a community setting?
We have a lot of roles to play. However, it is a function of the level of recognition and understanding a political government has about traditional rulership. Primarily, the first thing is that we ensure that there is peace and order in each of our communities and of course, by extension, security. It encompasses the idea of ensuring citizens live in peace among themselves. We try to settle misunderstandings , we try to promote development as far as we can go, ensuring that people are exposed to western education and embrace modern healthcare and so on and so forth.
We want to know your life experiences in the corporate world that gave rise to the community choosing you to lead them because leadership is a continuum?
I left the university at the age of 23. I studied Insurance, Business Administration, Management at various levels up to doctorate level but it was a checkered kind of education because it was not something I went straight on. Somewhere along the line I would stop my work and go back to school. Some of them were part time but the bottom-line is that it is a young man’s determination to achieve what he set out essentially to achieve.
I actually started my career as a school teacher and that I must say helped me a lot in terms of understanding how to go about my work, in terms of patience and those virtues you cannot take them away from somebody who aspires to a very high level. After my little stint as a school teacher, I went on to the university after the school cert and A Levels because i did my A Levels in Enugu. My primary and secondary schools were all done in Aba, present day Abia State. Thereafter, I went to Enugu state where I did my A Levels and then moved on to the north, Ahmadu Bello University. That is where I did my undergraduate education. Thereafter, I settled for Lagos State like every other young man. You see a lot of hope, opportunities in a big city and a federal capital like Lagos. I found myself here and with the benefit of hindsight , it was a very good experience. I worked in the federal ministry of finance, after which I moved back to the private sector. I worked in a couple of insurance companies, brokerage firms and finally, at a point I found myself at the National insurance corporation of Nigeria owned by the federal government. I rose to the level of assistant general manager and I was in charge of oil and gas departments, equivalent of international department in the banking sector. That gave me a big advantage to travel round the world as it were. It was from NICON that I was seconded to Niger Insurance. NICON and Niger Insurance were both federal government owned until they got commercialized and eventually privatized. I moved from NICON to Niger Insurance as an executive director, Marketing and Technical. I did that for eight years before I was eventually promoted to the managing director and chief executive of that company, Niger Insurance. That is where I served until I retired.
Incidentally, after my two terms there, I was supposed to go home but for the wisdom of the directors of the company; I was recalled to come and serve on the board of the company, which I did for about six years and eventually bowed out. In a nutshell , this is my experience of my working career.
Based on your experiences and foray into management, what do you think should be the role of insurance in SMEs with special focus on export business in Nigeria because we are seeing export as the new crude oil in Nigeria?
Small and medium enterprises happened to be the engine room of economic development in any economy of the world. There is no economy that started at the level of industrialization. We hear stories of industrial revolution which presupposes that there were smaller companies that overtime evolved into bigger ones and of course were better organised and managed along modern lines. Insurance has a lot of role to play in the economy infact, in the life of every human being in the sense that we are always exposed to all forms of dangers and risks whether it is a property, vehicle, house or goods in transit you are importing or even your person. We have all sorts of insurances, classes of packages to cover these aspects and no one who ventures into enterprise or should not embrace insurance from day one because the little capital you have is already exposed to the vagaries of the economy if not well taken care of. So, if you want to start an SME as a matter of fact, there is insurance for SMEs. The fear that the practitioners express that the insurance people are apathetic to meeting their liabilities and all that is totally unfounded perhaps while at the beginning we say yes but overtime, the business has evolved to a standard where there is no tax. The only thing I know about insurance is that it is a highly technical field that people don’t understand. If I give you an example, you come around and say, you bought a car for N5m and you want to insure it comprehensively, I say ok, the current thing now is 5 per cent. 5 per cent of N5m is about 250,000. Wont you be wondering if you give me 250,000 and your car is stolen, how am I going to get the money to buy you a new car? That is the technical context that people don’t understand and people find it difficult to accept. But we have a way of turning over these small monies we collect which we call premium. And insurance companies also have backing which we call reinsurance. Just like you a director will go to NICON Insurance and insure. Nicon Insurance also carries all their risks to reinsure in a yet bigger reinsurance company. That is how it works. Insurance is highly technical. It is like magic. We invest heavily in other areas like shares, stocks and all what have you to insure that we turn around these small monies as fast as possible preparatory to receiving your pay whenever it comes. For SMEs essentially, even their own capital is usually very small, if anything happens it is totally eroded and you are back to square one, so they are encouraged to embrace insurance.
Another reason why people are skeptical is that they feel that insurance companies could bring up different things to drive itself away from that liability?
Insurance is a contract. If you go to a bank to obtain a loan, won’t they give you documents to read and fill like if you take this loan, you are going to deposit maybe 10 per cent of it? You would be told you are going to do this and that. In fact, some banks go out of their way to physically inspect what you are doing with the money. It is the same thing. Insurance is also a contract guided by terms and conditions. From what I have told you now, if I bring say N250,000 go and drive your car and I don’t give you any conditions, won’t you be very happy to go and bash it and come and collect N5m and buy another one and collect another 5m and become a merchant of cars at the expense of the promoters of the insurance company? Insurance is also a business. They get investors to put their funds together. Remember there is staff structure. We pay salaries. We pay for buildings, we have vehicles, we have all sorts of things that we take care of in addition to the primary thing that we insure which is your claims therefore, we must say that you must abide by certain terms and conditions.
What advice would you give to some other traditional rulers who seem to mix politics with community leadership. Politicians come and go but the traditional institution remains?
I’m sure you are talking about partisan politics. There is politics in everything. Even in your family there is politics. There is corporate politics and so on and so forth. There is politics everywhere. If you are talking about partisan politics; when a country finds itself in a democratic dispensation, ordinarily traditional rulers are supposed to be apolitical , don’t go near there, what is the reason? In Nigeria, they will say it is a dirty game. So, traditional rulers are not supposed to soil their fine garments with the dirt of politics but you see, that is what it is. However, in a democratic dispensation, it is almost impossible for a traditional woman to insulate yourself completely from politics. I give you an example, in my community like any other community, every party have a right to exist in that community. Let’s say you have APC, PDP, LP, you have all sorts. These are your relations doing this things and they come to you for one advice or the other or where there is a problem you call them to calm situation or whatever. In the process of doing that directly or indirectly, you will find yourself entangling yourself somehow in this politics. But the important thing is that if you are very conscious of it and you don’t go into the partisan aspect of it, perhaps you might be lucky. Let me Nigerianise it. The kind of governors that we have in Nigeria cannot leave traditional rulers alone because they know you are in control of the locals and they will come to you clandestinely if you don’t mind and because they know they are in control, they want to use you as a means to reach out to the rest of them in view of getting their votes. This is what I am trying to explain to you that ordinarily, we are not supposed to be entangled in partisan politics but the truth of the matter is that the way we practice politics in Nigeria to be honest with you, is almost impossible to extricate yourself completely or insulate yourself but like I said it is good for you to know where to put the stop or match the brakes. It is good for you to know the extent to which you want to advice politicians.
