Alhaji Aliko Mohammed (Dan Iyan Misau) is one of the first chartered accountants from northern Nigeria. He spent a lot of his time in the corporate world, serving as chairman of many companies, including NICON Insurance, The Daily Times and Bank of the North. He capped it all as the president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the organisation that handles the affairs of registered or blue-chip companies in Nigeria. As chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), he has led efforts at finding solutions to the problems in northern Nigeria. He spoke on his experiences, including his educational background.
By Kabiru A. Yusuf
It appears that in the beginning you were not going into finance because after Bauchi Middle School you went to the School of Hygiene in Kano, is that right?
At that time it was your emir who decided where you would go. There were four of us who were leaving middle school then, so he said that one of us within the family of the emir should become a clerk so that he would be in the emirate council. My brother was to go to the School of Arabic Studies because of our background as imams. Our family has produced imams in Misau for over 200 years, so he was ready to go there. Musa was to become a teacher. They chose for us where to go and you were just told to go there, and so on.
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When I went to the school of hygiene we took exams every six months. To prove that I could do it, I stayed there for six months, passed the exams and became number two; then I gave them a notice, left and joined the UAC.
Normally, in those days people would go to the civil service, why UAC?
At that time, the UAC was really attracting young northerners. They had just built their headquarters in Kano and called it Gidan Golde. It was very nice to work there, and their pay was also much higher than civil service. That was why I went there.
How did you end up going to the UK to study chartered accountancy?
From the UAC they sent me to outstations. I was in Ringim for two seasons, and then realised that I would like to work in civil service, so I applied and was sent to the Treasury. The Ministry of Finance then was called Treasury.
The northern regional Treasury?
The northern regional Treasury. I was there in Kaduna and for three years, then left them and went to Backlays Bank. They were employing northerners; and their salary was very high. It was from there that I went to Gaskiya Corporation as an assistant accountant. Gaskiya Corporation sent me to UK to study chartered accountancy, with the promise that when I came back I would take over from the expatriate chief accountant and secretary of the corporation.
Accountancy has a reputation of being very difficult, how were you able to cope?
In my schooldays, Mathematics was my best subject. Accountancy is not difficult; it is not even as difficult as engineering, it is just that you work with figures. You work with money, and normally, people run from those things.
How many people were chartered accountants like you there?
There was none. When I became a chartered accountant, the late Wazirin Katsina Hamza Zayyad was the only one in that field.
That makes you one of the two in northern Nigeria. You were the financial controller of many northern companies like the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), Northern Nigeria Investment Limited (NNIL). These companies apparently did well in the past, but they have more or less crumbled; why do you think this happened?
The northern government under the late Sardauna was really very interested in developing the region. They created the Northern Regional Development Board, which was the beginning of the NNDC. Then later on they teamed up with the British government to form the NNIL. I worked in both of them.
The NNIL was for investment only. They took on the investments the NNDC had done with foreigners, and so on. And they were doing very well and paying 50 per cent dividends every year. It was a very good investment.
But why did these companies fail; what happened?
The NNDC was formed to do this. They came with investments from foreigners. Unfortunately, foreigners are not coming to this country to do investments. In any case, they also need a lot of money for investment; you know that yourself.
The government itself hasn’t got enough money to invest; therefore, the companies are not bringing in any money. That was why it failed.
From your perspective as one of our earliest chartered accountants who was a financial controller of these northern companies, why is the North having challenges running businesses?
Well, one of the main reasons, in my view, is our background. In the North, we do not understand business; we do not know trading, maybe, apart from people from Kano and a little part of Katsina. Most of us don’t know about business, and therefore, we don’t run it well. As a result we incur losses, which will make any business to go down.
What businesses have you run and what were the lessons from that?
Actually, the NNDC had done quite a lot for this country. They teamed up with foreigners (the British) to do four textile mills, including Kaduna Textile. The Japanese and Chinese also came. They also got a businessman from Pakistan. There was the Northern Nigerian Textile Mill. Those were really very successful at that time. And they were paying a lot of dividends to the NNDC, which was thriving very well. Eventually, when they went away, there was nobody left and the company is what it is now.
What was your experience while running your own private business if there was any?
I run businesses. You see, people think business is only about putting money, but the most important thing is management. You must make sure you are doing the right thing and supplying the market what they require; therefore, if you make money you have to spend some and leave some. But from our background we do not do this. When we save money we think you have to spend it. That actually is our own problem.
Which private businesses have you run and what have been the lessons? What can you tell us about the challenges of that?
First of all, we do not believe in made in Nigeria goods. We would rather go and buy from abroad with dollars, pounds, yen or whatever. And you have to generate that; if you don’t, it is the government that generates it by selling oil, and you have to take foreign exchange to do that.
Actually, the main problem is that we like buying foreign things. For example, if there is a new car, let’s say Mercedes or so, the latest (up to six months) you will see it in Nigeria. If we don’t buy our goods, who will buy them?
Did you make some Nigerian products and had difficulty in selling them?
The shadda we wore were imported, but we had textile mills. Although they were not producing the same sort of things, Nigerians did not buy them.
What advice do you have for young people who want to start their own businesses, especially as a lot of people are saying they should not wait for government jobs?
Nigeria is very lucky that it has got population and capital. If Nigerians would buy goods made in their country there would be no problem at all; but I don’t know whether it is because of our background or whatever that they prefer to buy things abroad. We like to start from the top but don’t worry about how to get to there.
You were the chairman of many companies and eventually stock exchange. How did that all happen? How did you break into the corporate world of Lagos?
I was appointed the chairman of NICON Insurance when I was between 32 and 33. Then I joined the Nigerian Stock Exchange and became a council member at a very young age. From there, it was easy to rise.
What about the Bank of the North?
I was the chairman, Bank of the North for 10 years. As you know, the bank was owned by 10 northern states at that time, but now, there are 19 states. I was a member of the marketing board, so they nominated me as the director of the bank. The late Waziri Ibrahim was the chairman. When politics was opened, he left and started a political party, so I was appointed as the chairman of the bank.
One appointment that surprised many people was that of The Daily Times. You were appointed as the chairman of the organisation, being a chartered accountant, and the appointment came the same day as that of Adamu Ciroma to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). People thought there was a mix-up as you were expected to go to the CBN and Ciroma to the Daily Times. How would you explain this?
I do not know what actually was the thinking of the then head of state, Murtala Mohammed. Actually, I thought the place I should go was the CBN, but instead, he said I should go to the media house, where Adamu Ciroma had been all along. First of all, he studied History in the university and was appointed as the governor of the Central Bank. He could not even read a balance sheet. I thought he knew he couldn’t do it, so he had to leave after one year.
Some people asked the head of state and he said “both of them should go and have the experience.” I don’t know his reason for doing that, but I am glad I went there because it opened up my Nigerianness. I think I learnt quite a lot there.
As a chartered account who found himself in the media, was the experience difficult for you?
I was the chairman of the board. The newspaper had a managing editor, editor and so on. But immediately I went there, there was crisis and they dismissed the managing director and appointed someone else. I was new and he was also new. Although we had crisis, things worked out. I was there for six years.
You were the chairman of a committee set up to revive the New Nigeria a few years ago. The organisation is not yet revived; what happened?
Actually, when the late President Umaru Yar’adua was the governor of Katsina State, they appointed me to look at it. We wrote a report and suggested that the NNDC should take about 30 per cent and the state should have the 70 per cent so that the company would look at it in a commercial sense while the government would have their representatives, but the governors decided what they wanted.
What is the fate of New Nigeria?
We wrote a report and gave to the governor and he discussed it with his colleagues, but they didn’t come back to tell us what their decision was. I think I wasn’t interested in finding out, anyway.
You are actually one of the few in your generation who spent so much time in the corporate world chairing companies, including banks. Did you make a lot of money in the process?
You don’t make money by being on the board of directors. First of all, there is a rule that you cannot borrow money from the bank you are directing unless you gave 105 per cent in collateral. It is only now that a chairman of a bank can borrow billions of naira; in our time you could not do it. Rules were followed properly, but that is not the case now. I don’t know what is happening.
After all the years in the corporate world, what do you do now in your retirement?
I am retired.
What do you do as you have been retired for many years now?
I do nothing, actually. I am always at home. If you see me go out now, it is on Fridays when I go to the mosque, or any other important reason, otherwise I do nothing all the time.
How do you spend your day?
For the last 38 to 40 years, I have been reading the Quran. Every 24 days, I will read the whole Quran and repeat it. That’s what I do daily — two and half in the morning and one in the afternoon, two and half in the evening and in the morning. So I spend a lot of my time doing that, and I am quite happy.
What about hobbies?
I don’t have any; I am 86.
People say the elderly should do exercises and watch what they eat; do you do any of that?
I have a friend and doctor, Bello, who has advised me that every morning I should go round my house and my sitting room about 20 times. I have been doing it dutifully. I did it today. He is in Abuja at the moment.
What about food, are you restricting yourself? Are there things you eat in order to stay healthy, or you just do what comes to you naturally?
I have been advised not to eat beef, so I eat fish and chicken. Apart from that, there is no restriction.
I remember somewhere you said you liked to take toast and eggs; is that a daily thing?
Well, not now. I still eat toast every morning, but it is not special.
At 86 your handshake and voice are strong; the temptation is to think that you must be doing something you can share with us to keep healthy.
It is just a gift from God, and you can’t explain some of the things. Apart from walking round my house as I told you, I don’t do anything else.
Are you not into farming, which is also the activity of the retired?
No. I have farms but I am not doing farming now. I have the biggest farm in Misau Emirate.
Who takes care of it?
My children, nephews and others.
In terms of family life, it seems you just have a wife and children, is that correct?
I have eight children, one is a boy and others girls, but happily, they are all professionals. My eldest daughter is a medical doctor. She is also the commissioner for health in Kaduna State. Before then she was working with the United Nations. She got a degree from there. Kaduna State cannot pay her in dollars but she had to sacrifice. Certainly, it is a pleasure to sacrifice this.
Is she a commissioner in Kaduna or Gombe State?
She is a commissioner for health in Kaduna State.
I thought you were from Gombe State?
No, I am from Misau in Bauchi State.
You are a widely travelled man, which of the countries interests you?
As a Nigerian, Britain is always a very nice place for those of us who went there as students. And you could afford the best of hotels. Also, I have a lot of German friends and businesses, so Germany is one of them. I don’t go to America. In the last 60 years I only went to America once.
What about in Africa?
In Africa, I go to Egypt quite a lot. I used to go to Ghana because I was in an oil company where I was the chairman and it had its headquarters in Accra. So whenever we had a board meeting we would go there. Also, I have been in Niger quite a lot.
You didn’t mention your extracurricular activities. You became the chairman of the ACF after retirement. How did you come about that?
There were northern elders with the late Abdurrahman Okene as the chairman; I was deputy. Wazirin Katagum was heading another one, so there were about three of them. Sultan Maccido suggested that we should come together; and he suggested the name, Arewa Consultative Forum.
I served first. As you know, we were rotating it among the three zones. I started as a treasurer, then the chairmanship was zoned to the North East. When it came to the North East, I did only three years because I took over from another man from the zone, Major-General Haruna.
For years, the ACF has been trying to unite the North and give it direction, but it doesn’t appear that anything like that has happened. Is the Forum really worth the trouble?
It is amazing that people could say that the North is divided. You see, the East is only one tribe, the West one tribe, but in the North we have hundreds of tribes and we can come together. It is amazing.
So you are not worried about splinter groups like the Middle Belt Forum, which should have been part of the ACF?
Whether they were part of us or are still part of us is actually politics. I still have problems with what we call northern elders because the constitution of the ACF states that every northerner within the age of 16 could be a member.
My friends like Ango Abdullahi felt that they wanted to do politics. This is actually what has happened. So they started their own thing with no objection.
What are your views on the current political situation in Nigeria? Are you alarmed by some of the things happening around us in Kaduna and all over the country?
It is only in Nigeria that you have up to 100 political parties. In any part of the world you cannot see that; you can have two, three, five or 10, not 100. Anybody who has got some money and influence likes to be head of state, and he will create a group or groups.
There’s the need to really look at the people who say they are interested in running the country and see their backgrounds and what they had done in the past.
You also tried to run for presidency once, how was the experience?
I told you earlier that I was in politics for one month. The reason was that Babangida decided, for no reason, that all the politicians should not contest. One month later, he said they should come back, but I said I could not compete with my friends like the late Adamu Ciroma, who got the basic structure. I went and told him.
How do you think the current president is doing?
First of all, he has been a personal friend for more than 50 years. Nigeria is a very complex country, so he is doing his very best. And believe me that those of us in the North should be grateful that he came.
During his predecessor’s time, we were importing rice worth N1billion every day. And at that time we had foreign exchange and oil was bought at a certain rate, we came to a time when we don’t have the oil; even oil we cannot do that.
Buhari encouraged and financed rice cultivation and now, we are self-sufficient. With that alone, he has done service to this country because if we have no foreign exchange and no rice, God knows what would happen in this country.
When you hear people complain about poor performance of this government, what do you say to them?
In the North we should be grateful to this man. Go to Sokoto and Kebbi and talk to them about rice. They are cultivating rice three times a year. We are now sufficient and even thinking of exporting to neighbouring countries. So it is unfortunate for people to say that. There are many practical things.
We are approaching 2023 and the noise is all over the place about who should contest and from which region; what do you think we should do to keep things?
Buhari did not represent the North; he contested with all other Nigerians and eventually won the nomination and the election. Anybody in any part of Nigeria wishing to contest should do the same, it is open to all Nigerians. We should not say the president of Nigeria, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, should come from a particular area. I think that is a mistake.
It is particularly funny now that the Igbo are agitating to be the president of this country. First of all, they are still clamouring for Biafra, which is a completely different thing to Nigeria.
Are you saying that the notion of rotation or power shift should be abandoned completely and we should only select leaders based on merit, no matter where they come from?
This is what I believe in. Sardauna Sokoto was not selected because he was from Sokoto, he emerged as a leader and we know how he worked for the North.
The argument is that Nigeria is highly divided, such that for a period we should allow this rotation to build unity before we open it up to merit, what do you think?
I think it is merit that will bring the unity. The North has got more tribes and diversity than the rest of the country. I think the presidency in any country should be on merit, not going from one area to another.
So it won’t surprise you if in 2023 a northerner wants to be president after Buhari has done it for eight years?
Why not? Let Nigerians vote for the person they want. Why do we have to say if it leaves this place it should go to another place?
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