AFE BABALOLA WALKED ME OUT OF HIS OFFICE THE DAY I TOLD HIM TO SET UP A UNIVERSITY – AYORINDE

Dr. Bode Ayorinde

The Pro-chancellor and chairman of the Governing Council of Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State, Dr. Bode Ayorinde, shares his life experiences in this interview with ADEOLA BALOGUN

What do you want people to call you?

Call me Bode Ayorinde, very simple because you may get into trouble by trying to call me a barrister. I’m a lawyer. If you call me a doctor, I have a PhD in Law. If you call me a banker, I’m an associate of Institute of Bankers and also a council member of the institute. If you call me a teacher, yes. I have been teaching in the last 30 years. So to the glory of God, simply call me Bode Ayorinde.

I’m sure you didn’t set out to be all of these. How did you start?

I started by not attending secondary school. Maybe I should call it a divine plan that I should attend modern school. From there, I went to a teacher’s training college and became a pupil teacher. On my own, by the grace of God, I wrote GCE O and A levels with which I went to the polytechnic to read secretarial studies. So, I am also a secretary. My first certificate after Grade II and GCE was a national diploma in secretarial studies. I went further to write my 120 words per minute and became a stenographer and it was with that that I started looking for a job. I went into teaching and from there, I joined the banking industry as a typist in 1983. As a stenographer in the bank, I started writing professional exams. I qualified as a chartered banker which made them to change me from the secretarial line to banking operations and in 10 years, I grew to become a manager in the bank.

So at what point did you think of reading law?

By the way people were asking me whether I was a lawyer in the bank anytime there was an argument, I started thinking that they definitely must have seen something to say that. So, I decided to write a fresh A Level and joined University of Ibadan to study law. I was called to the Bar in 1998 after which I went for my masters in Law at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. My performance in Banking Law was spectacular and I was invited to come and take up a lecturing job in the law faculty and that was what gave me the opportunity of studying for my PhD in Law. Of course, before I joined the academic staff, I already had this chamber and I continued to practise my law. Not as extensively as somebody who is fully in it but there is no week that I’m not in court. So, I’m a legal practitioner, a law teacher and an educationist.

Why didn’t you attend secondary school?

My late parents could neither read nor write. The highest they could take me to was primary six. For the modern school, it was my maternal grandmother who was rearing the local pigs that paid my fees for the three-year duration in the school. It was tough for me because my father was disabled, not as a result of any birth deformity, but because of political turmoil in Owo. His hand was cut during the crisis that followed the banishment of Oba Olagbegi II. My father was a frontline supporter of the monarch. In fact, his head was to be cut but he used his hand to take the blow and a very active farmer became a dependant. That in a way affected all the children, but my grandmother saw me through modern school. By the grace of God, I enjoyed the UPE policy introduced by General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1975 which made all teacher training colleges in Nigeria free. I was lucky to be part of those who enjoyed it and everything was free for the three years I spent in the college. I sympathise with the youths of today. Perhaps, if I had the misfortune of being part of what is happening today, I probably would not be able to go far. Then after Grade 2 or school certificate, you would get a job either in the ministry or as a teacher. With the Grade 2 certificate, I was able to mentor myself by writing GCE and going to the polytechnic and the university.

What was your dream as a young man?

After my Grade 2, those of us who went through the late Chief A A Akinyanmi in St. John Mary College in Owo would recall that the man would talk to us once in a week about the philosophy of life. We were 600, almost all of us gained admission within two years of leaving the teachers college. It was more of his philosophical talking, telling us that we should see the teachers college as a stepping stone. I want to recall some of his sayings. He would say, ‘There are many rooms upstairs while the downstairs is crowded and stuffy. With perseverance and determination, you can reach the top’. On honesty, he would say, ‘A little thing is a little thing but faithfulness in the little thing is a great thing.’ Every week, we would have a philosophical saying of Baba and we were becoming hungrier for knowledge every day. We went to write GCE with anger and we passed so well. By design, you could not gain admission beyond NCE with Grade 2, but we went to write private GCE to go to polytechnics and universities. When I became a Grade 2 teacher at Okemesi, every week, I bought Business Times and there was a column there called ‘Business Opportunity’. Usually, I would read the column and I liked to read the company chairmen’s statements at their AGMs. I not only read, I would cut them out of the paper. My dream then was to become a chairman of a company, not even as the managing director. I said one day, I would deliver a speech as chairman of a public company and my speech and picture would be published in newspapers. So, that was my dream, not to become a lawyer. That is why sometimes, it is not your wish but what God has destined for you that comes to pass.

Is it correct to say that you came by Achiever’s because of your training goals?

No. It was an idea by a member of my staff. When I was working in the bank, I joined two other persons to start a training institute and there was a disagreement on how to share the loss after the first year. The other people abandoned the loss for me and I had to pay the N36,000 loss, which was big money then. When that collapsed, I decided to do it alone and in the process, a member of staff in my office, the clerk, then said why not call it Achievers Professional Institute? So, it was not my thinking but a suggestion of my junior staff and I registered the institute in 1989. By 1991, we were already publishing books as a professional centre. By 1994, I registered it as Achievers Investment Limited and it was the one that gave birth to Achievers High School and Achievers University. We later expanded by selling shares, bringing other people on board.

Would you say that establishing a university was a lifetime dream or one of the happenstances of your life?

To found a university does not have to be a lifetime dream; all you need to do is to be interested in education and human capital development. I had been in the educational business for about 13 years at the lower level before the establishment of Achievers University. And when I saw one or two approved, I felt that I should find out the requirements from the National Universities Commission to found one. When I saw the requirements, I felt that it was doable and I started writing out about 150 steps to be taken before getting a licence. The NUC requirements are 11. But when you break it down into the minutest things, they are about 150. So, when I completed one, I would tick it off. I was not in hurry. It took me 48 months to get the licence. I don’t believe founding a university is a lifetime ambition. Look at Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti; I remember when I went to Chief Afe Babalola to tell him that he should establish a university, he walked me out of his office. He said he didn’t want to get into any problem, that he was not interested. I wrote the proposal for him; I planted the seed in him and when he started processing it, five years later, the university was approved.

When you wrote the proposal for him, had you started your own?

Of course yes. I got my approval three years before he got his. Earlier, I went to him so that he could assist me; that was when I told him that ‘you can do it’. His idea was that he was an astute legal practitioner, that he had done so much in life that I should allow him to rest. But I told him that establishing a university was a achievement that would outlive him. I said he didn’t need any government to immortalise him because he would have done so by himself before he passed on. I gave that university name and the acronym, ABUAD. I still have it on my laptop. So it is not that Baba had a lifetime ambition before; he had the wherewithal quite alright but he had somebody like a son to suggest it. And I know that by the time I left him that day, he would process it in his mind and perhaps he found out that it was doable. The outcome of it is one of the fastest growing private universities in Nigeria today.

Is Achievers University faith-based?

No. It is a joint stock university. When you call something a joint stock business in the UK, it means where different people come together. It is different from Afe Babalola University that is owned by Chief Babalola, or The Bells University owned by Chief Obasanjo or Covenant University owned by Winners Church. Achievers University is owned by a group of individuals. Though I founded it, I’m not the owner. I invited others to join me and we were able to jointly finance the university. It is not faith-based as such; there are Christians and Muslims, though we pray. We have a Christmas carol every year and we start with God every year because I am a Christian. There are Muslims because it is a university that tolerates freedom of religion.

I read somewhere that you became a student of an institute you founded.

Yes, when I started the Achievers Professional Training Institute, I was not yet qualified as a chartered banker. So, as a student in the institute, I received my lectures in the evening to qualify.

Who was paying the teachers?

I was the one. I was collecting money from students and I was paying the lecturers. I was already in the bank and I put the lecturers together; that was 25 years ago. I was about 29 years old and the lecturers looked up to me to pay them. And I was going round the banks and offices looking for students that would want to do professional exams. They paid to me and out of it, I paid lecturers. I looked for a venue and teachers and that was the beginning of Achievers Group.

But somebody who established an institute was supposed to be a qualified professional in that line, why was your own different?

For you to achieve the extraordinary, you must think in an extraordinary manner. When I joined the bank as a typist, I was writing the institute’s part one in Ibadan. Usually then when you finished part one, for the professional stage which is the more difficult stage, everyone must travel to Lagos to receive lectures. I didn’t have such money because of my background, so there was no way I could go to Lagos. I then said why must everyone travel to Lagos? I noticed that there was no lecture centre in Ibadan and yet, everyone had to travel to Lagos. I then contacted those who could teach the course and I gave an undertaking that I would pay. So, I was able to get lecturers and I was able to get a centre. I made the announcement on radio and on television and I got students. For the first diet which was six months, I was able to pay the lecturers though I didn’t pay for my own lectures. My salary was about N400 per month and after paying the lecturers, I was still able to get N600 surplus which was big money then. We began to grow from that point.

You have a secondary school too, what should be an ideal secondary school?

The primary and the secondary school can be put together as the foundation. And when the foundation wobbles, you can’t get a perfect person. To get a person perfectly developed intellectually, the foundation must be right. Foundation is not just classroom teaching and where we miss it is that the Federal Government lays much emphasis on university education to the detriment of primary and secondary education. An ideal secondary school must take care of physical development; there must be a school environment where pupils can play and embark on physical development. All the corner piece secondary schools all around the place are no schools. They just get classrooms and there is no space where pupils can play or throw balls between classes. There must be a place properly called a library where pupils can do some independent reading. Most schools don’t have this, then plus the religious aspect of it. Schools must have devotion time because what you tell pupils in school about God is different from what they hear in church. They tend to believe their teachers more. I attended a public primary school and we had a lot of activities but now, they are no more and that is why we have imperfect persons from secondary schools going into the university. So if I were to be in a position in government, I would rather prefer the Federal Government should have interest in primary and secondary school while the university should be left for the local governments and private sector. What is being transferred to the university are only five credits which is mere academic content, no moral content, or physical content. In those days, we were offering civics in schools where your duties as a citizen were spelt out but now, people are no longer patriotic or have a sense of belonging to the nation. The Federal Government should show more interest in the foundation while local and state governments and the private sector should focus on university education and you find out that there will be more patriotism. If everybody had a sound primary and secondary school education, they might not need university education to make it in life. But now, corner piece schools have taken over the nation.

If universities are self financing, why are our big universities depending on government subventions to survive?

The culture of higher education in Nigeria is a culture of spoon feeding. You don’t have free higher education anywhere. Even in UK or US, everybody pays and if you cannot pay, government gives you a loan to pay. There is no free lunch anywhere. If everybody the University of Ibadan pays N100,000 each, you know how much it is? It will take care of so many things but since the Federal Government is a Father Christmas, it says people should not pay. Somebody who pays N500,000 in primary school, in secondary school, he pays probably N1m but when he gets to the university, you say he can’t pay, it has to be free. Can you see the self deceit? Why should university education be free? I’m a lecturer in the university, I must be careful but what I feel is that UI has no business collecting money from the Federal Government. You have all it takes for the university to be self financing but even as an adult, if your parents still want to give you breakfast, will you refuse it? I don’t blame the administrators, it is not their fault but the policy of the Federal Government.

What stage should free education be practised?

If you ask me, free education should be for primary school and maybe partially secondary school. When you have been able to read and write, you should find your bearing.

Why did you leave the bank after becoming a manager?

I was just 10 years in the bank when I pulled out. I first applied for leave of absence without pay to go and study law. But after the degree and call to Bar, I just sent in my letter to retire. I retired at 33 as a lawyer and a chartered banker and everybody tried to persuade me to maximise the use of my qualifications, but I thank God for that decision.

Did your rough beginning make you to shun things like early marriage or parties?

I got married before I went to study law but my poor beginning assisted me because even till now, I don’t see luxury as a sign of achievement. I will tell you that I will not feel comfortable in an SUV. I would have considered the cost of the SUV and what it could do in the university. I remember that I used my first car, a Beetle, for seven years. I could afford to change the car but something in the enterprise needed the money. In fact, after the third year of using the car, I got a driver because the driver was my assistant. The driver drove the car for four years and my students then who were bringing exotic cars would look back and see that there is wisdom in postponing enjoyment. My students would get to Achievers and write, ‘sell me’ on my Beetle and I would go and write, ‘I won’t sell you.’ Sometimes, I look back and praise God. The Owo community where Achievers University is sited had lost the opportunity of hosting a university four times. Initially, we heard in history that the University in Ife was meant to be in Owo, but power play took it to Ife. Then, when our son was governor, he said there was no point giving us a university when we already had a polytechnic. Ekiti was about 52 per cent of the entire Ondo State then. Pa Ajasin was the only state governor in UPN that did not site a university in his home town; it went to Ado Ekiti. The federal university was to come, but the elite began to struggle for it and the policy then was to put it at the state capital and it went to Akure. And after the division of Ekiti and Ondo states, Pa Adefarati who became governor established the state university in his hometown in Akungba. But for the private university, there is no way Owo could get a university. The land upon which the university was sited – about 170 hectares – was more or less donated. Today, they are reaping the benefits. Professors who used to go there and attend parties during weekends now live in the town.

When you look back at the day you joined the bank as a typist, how do you feel?

Nobody should despise small beginnings. There is this adage that says it is better to offend an old man than a small child. The child may become the state governor in future. I want to tell you that all that I have achieved in life is the discipline that I had as a teacher, a banker, a lawyer or a legal practitioner which shaped my life.

How were you able to bring together the rest of the group to fund the university?

I told you that Achievers Group had been in existence for some years before I invited people to come and join. When I felt that I could not do it alone, I wrote some documents and distributed it among my friends to come and let us set up a university together. I told them how far I had gone and I let them realise they could subscribe with as low as N50,000. Eventually, we had about 60 people subscribing to the minimum and we had others who put in good money. As the money was coming in, we were putting it to good use. By the time the NUC came, they were so impressed by the magnitude of work done and they gave us approval. You wonder how people believed in the project? Some did not believe; some gave money half-heartedly while some believed sincerely. We were able to raise good money together with what I had put in and here we are. This month, we are five years old and we are 90 per cent on the permanent site.

As a very busy person, do you find time to relax?

Very well. By my nature, I don’t carry problems on my forehead. The challenges are much but I sleep a lot. When I get home, I take pounded yam with a bottle of non-alcoholic wine or juice. I would be on my bed to listen to the network news and would have slept off before they finish. I don’t wake up until after six or seven hours or so. People ask me how I get the time to manage all the enterprises, go to court and still teach in the university. The university system is not like ‘pure water’ business. I don’t have any business in the day to day activities of the university because I’m not the vice-chancellor. I’m just the Chairman of Council and it meets once in a quarter. The VC and his team are experienced hands; the secondary school has a principal. All you have to do is trust people, though people may be mischievous. Then many of our colleagues spend hours under the tree arguing about Jonathan and the rest are at joints taking stuff.