Opinion

As torrents of trophies pour for Isa Kutepa

Published

1 year ago

December 19, 2023

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Abdulrasaq Isa Kutepa

By Tunde Olusunle

Not too many people who had the kind of experience which Abdulrasaq Isa Kutepa had in 2011, were able to reinvent themselves and spring back on their feet, thereafter. A successful banker, high-flying oil magnate, serial entrepreneur and noteworthy philanthropist, Kutepa thought to avail his home state of Kogi some of the experiences he had garnered on his pluri-faceted routes in life. Soundbites by those who speak about Kogi State profile the geo-polity as a pristine goldmine awaiting exploration.
The monstrous Dangote Obajana Cement Project in Lokoja local government area, (LGA), on the Lokoja-Kabba road has been in operation for over a decade for instance. It is, however, just a tip of the iceberg of the infinite potentials and possibilities in the state. An additional cement enterprise has berthed in Iluhagba in Ijumu LGA of Kogi State, floated by Mangal Industries. Crude oil has been struck at the *Oda River- 1 well* in Ibaji LGA of the state, which, since 2022, qualified Kogi State for listing as an oil producing state. It is the first such state in the northern section of Nigeria.

Beyond its endowments in solid minerals and petroleum, Kogi State is blessed with swathes and stretches of fertile lands across the state capable of sustaining a plethora of crop species. The state is home to scenic touristic sites and iconic monuments. Lokoja the capital of Kogi State for instance, is the confluence of Nigeria’s two largest rivers, the Niger and the Benue. The conjoining of both rivers is a sight to behold from atop *Mount Patti* in the Kogi State capital. Colonial era Governor-General of Nigeria, Frederick Lugard, superintended over Nigeria from the flatlands and highlands of Lokoja.

This was before the amalgamation of the northern and southern components of contemporary Nigeria into what many have described as a forced matrimony, in 1914. Lugard’s erstwhile workspace, today hosts the seat of administration in Lokoja. Added to all of these is the super-abundance of highly, multi-dimensionally educated, skilled and certified human capital from Kogi State. They are in such an overflow of numbers that most have opted for addresses elsewhere, within and outside Nigeria. I have always bragged for example, that with almost a dozen most deserving Senior Advocates of Nigeria, (SAN) from the Okun sphere in Kogi State, some whole states elsewhere and geopolitical zones may not be as endowed.

Kutepa had with him a diligently articulated masterplan to assist Kogi State in leveraging this bouquet of endowments, capabilities and competencies for its upward socioeconomic ascent. The document was safely in his pouch before he stepped into the political fray in the run-up to the primary of the off-cycle gubernatorial election of 2011. He pitched his tent in his bid for the governorship ticket with the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP), the party to beat those days. The primary election which was to produce a successor to the incumbent governor, Ibrahim Idris at the time, attracted some of Kogi’s best and brightest, including Kutepa.

Apart from his credentials as a bona-fide homeboy, Kutepa had in previous times, selflessly dispensed to his constituents in parts of the state, flickers of his own “corporate social responsibility,” in his private capacity. While some politicians flaunted platoons of urchins they had recruited as deviants and thugs, Kutepa had already made a huge statement about the projected educational slant of his agenda, if he scaled the primary. He had built, equipped and donated classroom blocks, laboratories and similar facilities in parts of the state to schools, freewill, to underscore his specific preference for education as key to the future.

The Kogi State PDP governorship primary was held twice that year. It was fiscally, physically, even emotionally draining for the contestants and their supporters alike. Whereas some of the aspirants who participated in the earlier primary held in January 2011 withdrew from the September 2011 sequel, Kutepa ably participated in both. He diligently acquitted himself as the proverbial macho man in Yoruba lore who dared to sleep bare-chested in the open in the freezing temperatures of numbing harmattan. This underscored his deep-seated grit and ruggedness. He emerged in a photo-finish second position on both occasions, a most commendable showing for a self-propelled aspirant with neither a godfather or state backing in any form. He was pitched against the “anointed” candidate of the incumbent governor, Ibrahim Idris. Idris confessed to those who took him up on the subject that he was doomed to produce his kinsman as successor or risk being ostracised by his kinsmen, maybe neutralised. That is the variety of politics played in our clime.

Kutepa wasted no time brooding over the outcome of his attempt at the Kogi governorship. Not for him the lounging around the corridors of State House, Aso Villa, Abuja prospecting appeasement with a “candy bar,” in the name of some nebulous compensatory political appointment. He dusted his boots, made an about turn and headed for his primordial habitat in the skyscraping boardrooms of Victoria Island and Ikoyi, both highbrow districts in Lagos, at the very heart of the nation’s economy. Back in 1998, he had co-founded Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, an indigenous upstream oil and gas company, dedicated to the exploration and production of oil and gas resources. The company operates the *Ibigwe* field in “Oil Mining Lease 16,” Imo State, which was acquired through a competitive bid in 2004.

Waltersmith Petroman successfully began commercial exports from Ibigwe field in 2008, growing peak production to 7000 barrels per day, (bpd). The company’s 5000bpd modular refinery was commissioned by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2020 and contributes almost 300 million litres of refined products annually. With the additional award of the *Assa* marginal field to Waltersmith in 2021, the modular refinery is being expanded to have a refining capacity of 40,000bpd. Waltersmith is also diversifying into power generation and has procured a 300 megawatts power generation license. In collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, (UNIDO), Kutepa’s organisation is developing an industrial and innovation park. Such has been the fairytale of the ascendancy of Kutepa’s vision, over one decade after the Kogi political experience.

The development of Kogi State also remains very dear to his heart as demonstrated by his unfailing generosity over time. Despite not clinching the governor ticket in 2011, Kutepa remained very supportive of the administration of Idris Wada, the veteran aviator who eventually got the ticket. For his carriage and comportment through the motions culminating in Wada’s emergence, Kutepa was assigned the prerogative of nominating a running mate to Wada. He never dithered before forwarding the details of Yomi Awoniyi, son of the historic personage, Sunday Bolorunduro Awoniyi, elder statesman and retired “super permanent secretary” of post-independence Nigeria. Kutepa has a relationship dating back to the late 1970s and early 1980s with the younger Awoniyi who read architecture, while he, Kutepa, studied sociology at the Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU), Zaria. Yomi Awoniyi indeed served as director-general of Kutepa’s campaign, ahead of the primary.

His *Isa Kutepa Foundation* has worked over the years with the United Nations Children and Educational Fund, (UNICEF) in the provision of potable water in rural communities across the state, taking up part responsibility of what is ordinarily the schedule of the government. He is also keen to endow a professorial chair in geology at the Federal University Lokoja, (FUL), devolving from his subsisting endeavours as a big player in the petroleum sector. Kutepa said this much when he received the management of the institution led by its Vice Chancellor, Professor Yemi Akinwumi, in his Lagos office, last year. Kutepa also committed to build structures at the permanent site of the medical school of the university, to accelerate the evolution of the new faculty.

Honours have kept pouring in recent months for the cultivated, urbane, personable Kutepa, ever generous with his smile and lather-laced laughter. He has for example been officially recognised for his enormous contributions to the socioeconomic life of the nation. Former President Buhari was sufficiently gracious to adorn him with the prized national honour of *Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic,* (OFR), before Buhari’s own disengagement last May. This was spontaneously followed by his investiture with the revered Nupe title of *Jikada Raya Kasar Nupe* by the *Etsu Nupe,* Dr Yahaya Abubakar, CFR, September 16, 2023, at a colourful ceremony in Bida, the heartland of the Nupe nation. Back home in Lokoja, his longstanding honour as *Majindadi* remains evergreen in communal consciousness. Kutepa equally has a long string of professional affiliations with home-based and foreign bodies.

The career transmutation of Abdulrasaq Isa Kutepa over the decades is the stuff of motivational modules. He will be 63 next February and earned an honours degree in sociology from ABU in 1982. He equally attended the Lee Kuan Yew School of Policy at the National University of Singapore. He was at the Citibank Global Training School, New York, in his tireless cycle of self-redevelopment. He cut his professional dentition at the former “Bank of Credit and Commerce International,” (BCCI), which later became “African International Bank,” (AIB), post-National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC), in 1984. He equally had stints at the erstwhile “Chartered Bank Nigeria Ltd,” now Stanbic/IBTC, and “Safetrust Savings and Loans Ltd.” He transited from the banking hall to the boardroom in 1998. Kutepa has served variously on the boards of publicly owned and private concerns over the years, and continues to make himself available for service in the public good.

A pan-Nigerian to the core, Kutepa grew up in the sociocultural melting pot of Lokoja where diverse tongues and different traditions converge. He is married to Kate Isa from Nigeria’s South East who shares her husband’s entrepreneurial DNA. Mrs Isa’s specialty is in scientific products and equipment, and the union is blessed with two charming children: Amina Ezinneka and Zaq Chidiebere. In a society still dominated in parts by mundane and parochial considerations like ethnicity and religion even in the 21st century, not many people from Kutepa’s parts will accede to their children bearing names considered “alien” to their geo-religious cleavages. Not for Kutepa, a conscientious patriot who thinks humanity and Nigeria first and foremost, before other thoughts.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, poet, journalist, scholar and author is a Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA)

Related Topics:Abdulrasaq Isa Kutepa Banker

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Opinion

BENUE 2027:The Apa/Agatu Quest for Equity

Published

4 days ago

January 14, 2025

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By Tunde Olusunle

It may be well over two years to the next cycle of general elections in Nigeria. For the people of Apa/Agatu federal constituency in *Benue South, however, the measure of their participation and integration into the governance scheme will be defined in the run-up to the general polls that year. Nine local government areas make up the predominantly Idoma country of Benue State also labelled Zone C in the senatorial tripod of the geo-polity. The zone is also home to the Igede ethnic stock and the Etulo. Local government areas in “Benue Zone C” include: Apa, Agatu, Oju, Obi, Ado, Ogbadibo, Okpokwu, Otukpo and Ohimini. The other zones, Benue North East and Benue North West, are wholly dominated by the Tiv nationality, striding across 14 local government areas. They are christened Zone A and Zone B in the local political scheme of the state. Federal constituencies in Benue South are: Apa/Agatu, Oju/Obi; Ado/Ogbadibo/Opokwu and Otukpo/Ohimini.

The subjugation of groups and ethnicities considered demographically smaller, by the larger groups which has dominated Nigeria’s politics over time, has not been any different for the Idoma of Benue State. Until the circumstantial emergence of a Yahaya Bello from the Ebira ethnicity in Kogi State in 2015, the Igala had the relay baton of governorship of Kogi State, in rounds and succession. The Ebiras and the Okun-Yoruba zones in the state could only aspire to be serial deputies or Secretaries to the State Government. This political template was virtually cast in stone. The Ilorin people of Kwara State have similarly wholly warehoused the gubernatorial office, sparingly conceding the position to other sociocultural groups in the state. The only exception was the concession of the seat to a candidate from Kwara South, in the person of Abdulfatah Ahmed, by his predecessor, Bukola Saraki in 2011. Even at that, there were murmurs and dissent from those who believed Ahmed came from a community too close to the Ilorin emirate to be of genuine Igbomina stock, which prides itself as the pure Yoruba species in Kwara State.
Twenty-six years into the Fourth Republic, the maximum proximity of the Idoma to Government House, Makurdi, has been by the customary allocation of the Deputy Governor’s slot to its people. Ogirri Ajene from Oju/Obi, the charismatic blue-blood of blessed memory, was deputy to George Akume, incumbent Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), from 1999 to 2007. Akume it was reported, genuinely desired to be succeeded by Ajene who exhibited competence and loyalty and could build on their legacies. The Tiv nation we understand, shot down the proposal. Gabriel Suswam succeeded Akume and had the urbane multipreneur, Stephen Lawani from Ogbadibo as deputy. Samuel Ortom, a Minister in the Goodluck Jonathan presidency who took over from Suswam opted for Benson Abounu, an engineer from Otukpo as running mate, while Hyacinth Alia, the Catholic priest who succeeded Ortom, also chose as deputy, Samuel Ode, who was also a Minister in the Jonathan government, from Otukpo. Arising from this precedence, Apa/Agatu has not for once, been considered for a place in Government House, Makurdi.
In similar fashion, the position of Senator representing Benue South, has repeatedly precluded Apa/Agatu federal constituency. David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark a former army General from Otukpo, took the first shot at the office in 1999. He was to remain in the position for five consecutive times, a distinctive record by Nigerian standards. Mark would subsequently become President of the Senate and the third most senior political office holder in the nation’s governance scheme for a string of two terms between 2007 and 2015. He was replaced by Patrick Abba Moro, who hails from Okpokwu and was a former teacher, in 2019. Abba Moro who previously served as Minister of Interior in the Jonathan government from 2011 to 2015, won a second term at the 2023 general elections and remains substantive Senator for “Benue Zone C.” He is indeed incumbent Minority Leader of the Senate, and thus a principal officer in the leadership scheme of the “red chambers.”
While Moro is barely two years into his second term, there are suggestions that he is interested in a third term which should run from 2027 to 2031! This is the core issue which has dominated contemporary political discourse in Benue South, especially from the Apa/Agatu bloc. For Apa/Agatu, it is bad enough that they are repeatedly bypassed in the nomination of deputy governors in the scheme of state politics. It is worse that they are equally subjugated by their own kinsmen within the context of politics in *Idoma and Igede land.* This is particularly worrying when both local government areas constituting the Apa/Agatu federal constituency, Apa and Agatu, are not in anyway deficient in human resources to represent Benue South. Names like John Elaigwu Odogbo, the incumbent *Och’Idoma* and respected clergy; Isa Innocent Ekoja, renowned Professor and Librarian; Sonny Togo Echono, FNIA, OON, Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, (TETFUND), and John Mgbede, Emeritus State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Benue State, readily come to mind.
Major General R.I. Adoba, (rtd), a former Chief Training and Operations in the Nigerian Army; Professor Emmanuel Adanu, former Director of the Kaduna-based National Water Resources Institute, (NWRI) and the US-based specialist in internal medicine, Dr Raymond Audu, are eminent Apa/Agatu constituents. There are also Ada Egahi, long-serving technocrat who retired from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, (NPHDA), and Super Eagles forward, Moses Simon, (why not, hasn’t the retired soccer star, George Opong Weah just completed his term as President of Liberia)? The Member Representing Apa/Agatu in the House of Representatives, Godday Samuel Odagboyi, an office previously held by Solomon Agidani, as well as Adamu Ochepo Entonu, is, like his predecessors, a prominent figure from the resourceful Apa/Agatu federal constituency.
The Olofu brothers, Tony Adejoh, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, (AIG), and David, PhD, a renowned management and financial strategist, who is also an Emeritus Member of the Benue State Executive Council during the Ortom dispensation, are from the same federal constituency. So is Abu Umoru, a serial entrepreneur who represents Apa State Constituency in the Benue State House of Assembly. The continuing intra-zonal alienation of Apa-Agatu from the politics of Benue Zone C, remains a sore thumb which must be clinically diagnosed and intentionally treated in the run-up to 2027.
If previous top level political office holders from Idomaland in general and Apa/Agatu in particular, had diligently applied themselves to tangible, multisectoral development of the zone and constituency, the present clamour for inclusiveness would probably been less vociferous. *River Agatu* which flows from Kogi State, and runs through Agatu before emptying into *River Benue,* is a potential game changer in the socioeconomy of Apa/Agatu, Benue South and Benue State in general. Properly harnessed, it can revolutionise agriculture and aquaculture in the state, beyond subsistence levels which are the primary vocations of the indigenous people. Rice, yam, guinea corn, millet and similar grains, thrive in the fertile soils of the area. These can support “first level” processing of produce and guarantee value addition beneficial to the primary producers, before being shipped to other markets. River Agatu can indeed be dammed to provide hydro-electricity to power the entire gamut of Idomaland.
The infrastructure deficit in Benue South with specific reference to Apa/Agatu is equally very concerning. A notable pattern in Nigerian politics is its self-centeredness, the penchant for political players to prioritise their personal wellbeing and the development of their immediate space. This has accentuated the ever recurring desire of people to ascend the political pedestals of their predecessors if that is the principal window by which they can also privilege their own primary constituents. Motorable roads are non-existent, seamless travel between communities therefore encumbered. Expectedly this has been a major impediment to subsistent trade and social engagements between constituents and their kinsmen. Primary health facilities are almost non-existent, compelling people to flock to Otukpo, headquarters of Benue South, for the minutest of medical advice and treatment.
Apa/Agatu pitiably bleeds from the relentless and condemnable activities of vagrants and bandits who have reduced the constituency into a killing field. Reports suggest that in the past 15 years, no less than 2500 lives were lost to the vicious attacks of marauders and trespassers in the area under reference. This unnerving situation has compelled engagements between concerned Apa/Agatu leaders, and the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force, (NPF). The prayer is for the swift establishment of a mobile police outpost in the troubled sub-zone to contain bloodletting. The proposal, anchored by AIG Tony Olofu, NPOM, (rtd), and Echono, has received the blessings of the police high command. At the last update, a commander for the outfit had been named, while the deployment of personnel had begun in earnest.
It is very clear that in the march towards 2027, Apa/Agatu will refuse, very vehemently, to be sidelined and trampled upon in the political scheme of their senatorial zone. Abba Moro may desire a third term in the Senate, but the people of Apa/Agatu are quick to remind him that his curriculum vitae as a politician is sufficiently sumptuous for him to yield the seat in the “red chambers” and sit back like an elder statesman. They remind you that for a man who began his working life modestly as a lecturer in the Federal Polytechnic, Ugbokolo in 1991, Abba Moro has done extremely well for himself in Nigerian politics. For reminders, Abba Moro was elected Chairman of Okpokwu local government in the state as far back as 1998. Ever since, he has remained a permanent fixture in Nigeria’s national politics.
The people of Apa/Agatu will put up a determined fight for the Benue South senatorial seat in 2027, and no one should begrudge them. They are the proverbial ram which was pushed to the wall, which must of necessity push back with angered horns to liberate itself. They are already engaging with their kith across “Benue Zone C” to ensure that intra-zonal equity, fairness and justice, prevails in communal politics.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA), teaches Creative Writing at the University of Abuja

Opinion

The Prince Adebayo prescriptions for ease of doing Business: 15 Take-Aways

Published

4 days ago

January 14, 2025

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By Dr. Ag Zaki

On Thursday, 9 January 2025, Prince Adewole Adebayo presented a keynote address at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos. The occasion was the annual conference of a group of professionals, business executives and experts codenamed J9C for January 9 Collective. The theme of the Conference was “Business and Policy Strategy: Examining the Role of Reform in enhancing the ease of doing business in Nigeria.” Prince Adebayo is a versatile cerebral man of many parts, a lawyer, a multimedia practitioner, a real estate investor, a large-scale miner, a philanthropist, a community developer, and the 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The organisers of the J9C conference introduced him as an intercontinental lawyer because he currently practices law in over sixteen countries.

The full speech of Prince Adebayo at the occasion is available online and can be accessed by clicking at this url: https://youtu.be/SsHkcJbVNRg?si=ebvoOVqGh0zVOsnt or by scanning the QR code above. However, we are presenting the salient take-aways from this most incisive keynote address below for the convenience of interested persons and for the public good.

THE TAKE-AWAYS
Preamble
1. Not every change of policy or programme is a reform. A reform is a fundamental change in the activities, programmes, and policies structured to cause improvement. Genuine government reforms are people oriented and so citizens can interject, comment or contribute.
2. Reform may be internally motivated, externally forced or imposed, or technological driven.
3. The government of Nigeria must first reform itself to be able to implement development-oriented reforms to improve the country’s economic performance.

In general terms
4. Fiscal and monetary reforms are critical and are urgently required in Nigeria. While government can freely control its fiscal reforms, it must be bound by market forces for realistic and realisable monetary reforms.
5. Economic reforms must positively affect developmental policies, programmes and projects to engender economic growth, increase in efficiency, and lead to stability. Economic and political reforms must be implemented pari-passu for untainted policies and programmes.
6. Urgent structural reforms are required in areas of legal reforms, laws on banking controls and regulations, lending and borrowing as well as land matters.

In specific terms
7. Reforms which are aimed at targeting ease of doing business must be aligned with the Malam Aminu Kano maxim that “all civil servants should abstain from contracts or business”.
8. Nigeria must break the current odious and unwholesome conspiracies between policy makers, civil servants, and contractors, which can lead to irreversible endemic corruption, long foreseen by the revered Malam Aminu Kano, and which can permanently damage the economy.
9. Structural reforms must ensure that land laws open up maximum benefits and potentials of the land, encourage labour productivity and efficient and transparent entrepreneurship rules including registration, capital and lending matters.
10. Tax reforms should be broad-based, not about sharing of revenue but promoting productivity and competitiveness in all aspects of endeavours and infrastructure reforms should make transportation of people and goods safe and cost effective.
11. Monitoring economic crimes must be thorough and should go beyond arresting of “Yahoo boys” and those spraying Naira notes, but those devaluing the Naira and abusing economic rules and regulations.

Warnings
12. Adebayo left some stern terse warnings for the business sector and for the government of Nigeria.
13. Business executives and professionals should not ask or encourage government for specific reforms but for general broad-based reforms as firm-specific reforms can enhance operations of specific firms or business in the short term but will ultimately kill the industry.
14. Government should not meddle into business or be guided by partisan businessmen; government should meet business only at the junction of regulatory framework.
15. Government should be selfless and honest in carrying out reforms, incorporate measurable performance indices and ensure that reforms are implemented in a way not to inflict pains or punishment on the people.

# DrZaki25, 903 Tafawa Balewa Way, Abuja

Opinion

Governor Monday Okpebholo: A Blessing to Edo State

Published

5 days ago

January 13, 2025

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Monday Okpebholo

By Eigbefo Felix

His Excellency, Senator Monday Okpebholo, the Executive Governor of Edo State, has demonstrated that he is a blessing to the state through his policies, appointments, initiation of road construction across the three senatorial districts, and his deep love for the people of Edo State.

Governor Monday Okpebholo has begun fulfilling the five-point agenda he promised the good people of the state since his inauguration.

In the area of security, he has shown total commitment. He assured the people of Edo State that he would ensure their safety, and true to his word, the state remains peaceful, which has brought joy to its residents. He has provided the necessary support to security personnel.

The governor increased the subvention for Ambrose Alli University (AAU) from ₦40 million to ₦500 million. He also promised to address the issues facing AAU medical students. Additionally, he has started renovating primary and secondary schools across the state, underscoring his understanding of the importance of education.

The agricultural sector has taken a positive turn as Governor Okpebholo has allocated ₦70 billion to the sector. Recognizing agriculture’s importance to both the state and the nation, he is positioning Edo State to become the food basket of the nation with his investments in the sector.

During the electioneering period, Senator Okpebholo promised to create 5,000 jobs within his first 100 days in office. He has already begun the process, and soon, the people of Edo State will benefit from these employment opportunities. Unlike in the past, he will not rely on MOUs before making appointments. Furthermore, he has started appointing Edo State indigenes, rather than outsiders, to various positions.

Governor Okpebholo has commenced road projects across the state, from Edo South to Edo Central and Edo North. He believes that when roads are motorable, the prices of goods in the market will automatically reduce.

He has also begun investing in the health sector, understanding its critical importance to the people of Edo State.

Governor Monday Okpebholo’s initiatives and actions affirm his dedication to transforming Edo State for the better.