Today is the birthday of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos. He
was born on 14 June 1963. After a 27-year stint at the Lagos civil service
after which he was a financial consultant, he ran for public office as Governor
in April 2015 and won. Since he was sworn in on 29 May 2015, he hit the ground
running.
You attended the Federal
Government College, Warri. How did that impact on your life directly?
I
actually started my primary education at St. Judes Primary School, Ebute Metta
between 1969 and 1974, and I went from there at the age of 11 to the Federal
Government College, FGC, Warri. I left my parents at that tender age to go to
the then Bendel State and I had a very good opportunity of meeting with other
students from every part of Nigeria. You know the way the Unity Schools are set
up, with students coming in from every state of the country. We had at least 10
people from each state across the nation. I had the opportunity of meeting
Igbos, Hausas, Efik, Edos, Yorubas and the rest at that tender age of 11 and I
spent seven years in that school. I did my O’ Levels and A’ Levels in Federal
Government College, FGC Warri and came back to Lagos in 1981 to gain admission
into the University of Lagos. But whatever it is that I am today, had been
shaped in those formative years. You actually form the totality of your being
in your teen years. I grew up knowing that I was a true Nigerian, and that
there was no difference between me and a Hausa man for instance. We lived
together. Concerning my nationalist outlook, I will say it was borne out of the
fact that I spent several years at the Federal Government College, Warri. That
has influenced me till today because I see myself as a Nigerian first by birth
and a Yoruba man by tribe.
Can you tell us about your
parents?
I
was born into the family of the late Festus Akinwale Ambode who was a teacher
and to Mrs Christiana Ambode, Nee Oresanya. I was born in Epe and my parents
were also from Epe. My father died at the age of 57 in Ebute Metta in Lagos
State and was buried at Atan Cemetery in 1981. My mother is still alive and she
is 81 years old. She comes from the stock of the Ijebu Epes. I am the sixth of
10 children. I have five brothers and four sisters.
Can you tell us the
influence your teacher, Philip Davies had on you while you were at the
Government College, Warri?
I
was fortunate to have met Pa Philip Davies who was then the Principal of the
school. He was a retired military officer in the British army before coming to
Nigeria as a teacher and principal. He began his career at Kings College, Lagos
before being transferred to FGC Warri. So, the whole lot of us at FGC Warri
between the years of 1970 and 1981 had the singular honour of meeting a
disciplinarian; you know what it means for a man to be a military officer and
at the same time an educationist. He had a particular influence on school
children. My character and that of majority of the people who went to the
school at that time was shaped by Pa. Davies of blessed memory. I can attest to
the fact that the majority of the students who passed through Philip Davies
became well rounded personalities.
It is being rumoured that
you are not an indigene of Lagos State, how do you react to this?
I
am a full blooded Lagosian, born in Epe some 51 years ago. As I told you
earlier, I started my primary education at St. Judes Primary School
Ebute-Metta, before I left for Federal Government College, Warri, then returned
to the University of Lagos, Unilag for my first and second degrees.
I
started my career with the Waste Management Board before I got transferred to
the Local Government where I spent thirteen years. I was later transferred to
the mainstream where I worked for another fourteen years, making a total of
twenty-seven years of meritorious service.
My
father was a teacher at Ebute-Meta where prominent people like Chief Lanre
Razaq and many other notable individuals passed through his tutelage.
Don’t
forget that the Lagos State House of Assembly cleared me as an indigene when I
was nominated as Auditor General of the State.
So this rumour is not only
false, it is also a political gimmick.
Beyond
that, the constitution of Nigeria is clear on how to stand for election in the
country. One must be a citizen, be above 18, not indicted and must belong to a
political party. In all, I am well qualified.
In
1981, you had the second best WAEC result in West Africa, how were you able to
achieve this?
In
1981, we did Higher School Certificate, HSC, examination and like every other
student I sat for three papers. I did History, Economics and Geography. And I
happened to have been the person with the second best result of ‘A’ in Economics,
‘B’ in History and ‘B’ in Geography, which is ABB. The best result then was
AAB, scored by one of the students from the same FGC, Warri, Fidelis Odita, now
a Professor. We both went ahead to the University of Lagos. And he was actually
made a Queen’s Counsel before the age of 40. I think God just gave me natural
talents. I may not be the best of students that you would like to have as a
teacher, but somehow, I strive to do my best, and that happened to be one of
those things I achieved.
How were you able to cope
when you lost your dad at a tender age?
If
there is any singular event that actually shaped my life more than anything
else, I think it was the death of my father. It was a turning point in my life.
It was supposed to have deprived me of my future, but it brought out that
leadership instinct in me and that personality we are all sharing today. I lost
my father two weeks after I finished my examination, and it was quite a hard
time because my mother was a housewife and I had other siblings. The ones who
were my senior were in school and I just finished HSC. So, I had to choose
between searching for work or struggling to go to school. God helped me, and I
made the right choice. I decided that I was not going to live the life of my
father and that I was going to challenge myself and be as hardworking as
possible to be successful in life. That was how I decided that I would do
everything possible to succeed as an accountant. At the age of 11, I had an
encounter with one of my father’s friends and he challenged me and said ‘you,
can you ever be an accountant?’ He was an accountant in one company. That hit
me real hard. That was when I decided that when in secondary school, I would
take the subject, Principles of Accounts. And I did that in form 3. That was
why I also went ahead and got the points I scored in my HSC. I remained focused
and told myself that I wanted to succeed in life and to be an outstanding
accountant and I went ahead at the age 21 to be a graduate of accounting, had a
masters in accounting at the age of 23, and became chartered at the age of 24.
But all that journey was a culmination of that event that happened at the age
of 11 when my father died.
When
you are in a very hard or bad situation and you remain focused and hardworking,
you will achieve the unusual. I became a leader to my other siblings, and also
played the role of a leader in the house to my mother because my other siblings
were outside Lagos and I happened to be in Lagos. In short, I became a father
figure as a young man at the age of 19. So, the whole idea of the drive to
excel was inculcated in me at a very early age and I had a combination of good
friends around me that were also supportive.
With your qualification,
you could have chosen a career in the private sector, but you opted for the
public sector. What informed this?
I
actually did not choose a career in the public sector. At the period in 1984 or
85, what was in vogue was to work in a finance house or a bank. And even before
I left the university, my dream was to be a banker. I was fortunate enough that
when I went for the National Youth Service, I served at the Central Bank Of
Nigeria, CBN, in Sokoto. But when I came back, I stayed at home for three
months and couldn’t get a job. The dream of working in a bank became elusive,
but I tried not to lose my mind. The job that came to me was the job at the
Lagos State Waste Disposal Board as an accountant in 1985. I can say that
beyond my wishes, I found myself going into the civil service. With all my
qualifications and attempts, the finance houses and the banks kept refusing to
take me. I made several attempts, but fate or destiny said I was designed for
the civil service and led me there. If you look at the kind of qualifications I
have and the background I was coming from, I should naturally have gone to work
in a bank, but I found myself at the Waste Disposal Board. And when I needed a
bigger job, it happened to be at the Local Government, and not the private
sector. At the end of the day, I worked for 27 years in the public service. I
am excited that I was able to give to humanity what the God-endowed gift
allowed me and I am also happy for who I am today.
How was your career in the
civil service?
I
had a rewarding career in the civil service. I joined Lagos State Civil Service
at the age of 22. It was within the civil service that I became a chartered
accountant and had my masters degree in accounting. It was also while working
in the civil service that I got a Fulbright scholarship at Boston University;
it was within the civil service that I became the youngest person to have ever
attained the position of Auditor General at the age of 37. I must have put a
whole lot in for Lagos State for me to have been able to achieve such positions
at a young age without necessarily having to know anybody. For me, the work
comes first. I love contributing to progress in this equally progressive
government and touching the lives of people I came in contact with. I worked in
six different Local Governments for 13 years, starting my local government
career after leaving the Waste Management Board in 1988 as Assistant Treasurer
in Badagry Local Government. I worked in this council between 1988 and 1991. I
have worked in Somolu Local Government before as their council auditor and treasurer.
I have worked in Mushin Local Government as their council treasurer. In Ajeromi
Local Government, I was their council treasurer. In all those years, I was
always in a position to improve on government’s delivery of service. This made
it possible for me as a young man to have reached the peak of my career as a
local government staff at the age of 29 when I became the council treasurer of
Alimosho LG. All these places I have gone, I worked with lots of people who
were older than me in various positions. Being able to manage and sustain
sensitive positions at a young age from location to location without blemish
speaks a lot about my competence and character. That is the experience I now
want to bring into this next position that I am aiming for.
At what point did you
decide that the next move is to become the governor of Lagos State?
Like
I said earlier, I became aware of my leadership quality at that tender age when
I lost my father. It was not easy for somebody coming from such a stressed
situation. when I say stressed situation, I mean having family challenges about
going to school, having a career, and setting up a family. Yet, one was able to
combine such together in a way and manner that years after, you are able to
reflect and say that this is how far you have come. I have always seen myself
as somebody that has leadership attributes and I have used it maximally. I am a
beneficiary of the Fulbright Scholarship which is a Hubert Houston Fellowship
programme and I had this in 1998. The essence of that scholarship which is
given by the US Government is for public leadership. This is a competition that
takes about 112 participants from about 120 countries for a leadership training
programme for 12 to 13 months with the government of the United States. Having
the capacity to go through that programme means my leadership quality has
always been there through the years, and it is not necessarily being brought to
the fore because of the gubernatorial aspiration I have today. When you check
my profile also, you will notice that I took calculated steps in the course of
my career as I tried to display competence in managerial positions and while
playing leadership roles. So, what you see today is the aggregation of all
those activities deliberately planned to situate myself for leadership roles in
my life. Today, I happen to be the gubernatorial candidate of the All
Progressives Congress, APC in Lagos, and it is not by accident; it is something
I have always nurtured in my life as an avenue for giving back to humanity. The
Fulbright Scholarship also inculcated in us that one person can make the
difference. That same fellowship gave me the drive to come back to Nigeria and
decide not to work in the local government system again but to challenge them
at the state level.
I
voluntarily left the local government service as the treasurer of Ajeromi
Ifelodun LG. Ajeromi Ifelodun happened to be the biggest LG then in terms of
revenue, but when I came back from the U.S., with all my training in public
leadership, I said to myself that this place was too small for me to display my
public leadership quality and voluntarily wrote that I wanted to join the
mainstream. It was not as if I was deployed. Fortunately for me, the first role
I had was to be the Auditor General for Local Government because I was able to
challenge myself that I needed a larger space to operate my leadership role and
I was able to take the risk and became the Auditor General at the age of 37.
That means I left something that was certain for uncertainty. But because of
that attribute that flowed around me, I was able to showcase the qualities
which earned me that position. The task was for me to go round all the local
governments and be in charge of all the auditing of their financial statements,
and we made lots of progress. I was able to clear all the backlog they had in
2001 within 18 months. Through the accomplishment of such tasks, I proved the
leadership and managerial qualities in me. I am a good driver; I drive people
in a team to achieve results. Without trying to be boastful, my achievements
then helped me to become Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance at the age of
42. And in January, 2006 I was made the Accountant General at the age of 43, which
I accepted with all my heart. I defended Lagos State Government on all issues,
as was necessary in terms of the state building up revenue generation and
needing a defense at the federal level. It was in a situation when we needed to
stand up for the people of Lagos State, and I stood up and was counted. I was
the Accountant General of Lagos State for three years. I am very proud of my
contribution to Lagos State. Lagos State will be 48 years this year and I
worked here for 27 years. I came in when I was quite young and left at 49
years. I am very proud of my contributions to Lagos State.
Culled from PM NEws
Read more here:
http://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2017/06/the-story-of-my-life-ambode/http://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2017/06/the-story-of-my-life-ambode/
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