Dele Momodu
13 June 2008
Lagos — I returned to Cotonou, the beautiful capital of Benin Republic, last week, at the invitation of Dr Mike Adenuga Jr., whose miracle baby, Globacom was being launched, in that small but nice city.
My last visit was exactly seven months ago. Believe me, I did not envisage what I saw. In those seven months that I did not have the chance of visiting The Ovation International French office in Cotonou, the President of Benin, Mr. Yayi Boni, and his team, had caused a revolution of unimaginable proportions in that small country.
Everywhere you go, roads are being constructed or rehabilitated. Fly-overs are being built. Massive housing projects are springing up. Along the beaches are ultra-modern properties, targeting the rich and famous. Buildings are being coated with fresh paint. Flowers, and trees, are sprouting. And the city of Cotonou is aglow with the Nigerian wonder, GLO. It is amazing what a serious government can achieve in little time.
President Yayi Boni came to power about 26 months ago. He was a distinguished banker, and a major critic of government policies. He was loved by the media for his incisive analysis on issues relating to the economy of his country. Unlike most arm-chair critics, Yayi Boni chose to challenge the status quo by joining the presidential race. Not many gave him a chance, against the intimidating presence of formidable politicians like Adrien Houngbedji, Leadi Soglo (son of former President, Nicephore Soglo), Bruno Amoussou, Idji Kolawole, Severin Adjovi, and World Bank banker, Richard Senou.
At the time of the last presidential election, Benin was a poor country on her knees. Corruption was rife in public life. The customs, and the gendarmes, regularly terrorized those of us who had one business or the other to transact in the country. In fact, about three days to the presidential election in March 2006, I was stopped in the middle of nowhere, as I drove from Ilakodji, the border town of Togo and Benin, towards Cotonou, by an officer who announced calmly that he had instructions to bring me and my cars to their office. He did not say more. I was very agitated as we drove off, and promptly put a call to an influential Nigerian lady, Mrs Susan Gumel, wife of the Late General Ibrahim Gumel, who lives in Cotonou. She immediately contacted some powerful politicians who sent some security guys to trace me. Thank God for mobile phones, and roaming facilities.
Anyway, the time wasters suggested that they suspected me of running a drug ring, or why was I always driving through Benin. They alleged my BMW 525i, which I legitimately got from Coscharis in Nigeria, was a stolen vehicle. They also implied, from underground investigations by me, that I was too close to one of the presidential aspirants, Richard Senou, and that I had helped to organize his political rally by bringing many superstars from Nigeria, including Richard Mofe-Damijo, D'banj, Stella Damasus-Aboderin, Tony Tettuila, Segun Arinze, Zack Orji (who speaks impeccable French), Fred Amata, and Praye from Ghana. That was very true. But the other allegations were totally unfounded.
My car was impounded, and after much harassment I was asked to go and come back the following day. I didn't know who was behind my ordeal, so I went to the Nigerian High Commission for any form of rescue or protection, the following morning. But I only wasted my time. The officer I met was as unhelpful as they come. He simply gave me a cliché that, that was how Nigerians are regularly terrorized in Benin, and that I should just write a report which they'll study, and, hopefully, send to the appropriate authorities. I thanked him and left.
The only option left was to engage the services of a famous lawyer, Leopold Olory- Togbe, who immediately went with me to where my car was detained. He was told my car was a stolen vehicle, and that my chassis number was different from what was written on my ECOWAS Brown Card. After some private negotiations with the officers, my lawyer advised that I should get out of the country as soon as my car was released, since the election was only two days away. I heeded his advice and drove as fast as the law permits out of their town. I would later discover that what the officers did to me, and so many other Nigerians who travelled that route, was to use their pen to add one letter to my vehicle papers, thus criminalizing me instantly. I swore never to pass through that country again.
But time is a healer. I later got apologies from my friends, after Yayi Boni won the election. As fate would have it, my friend, Richard Senou became a prominent member of Yayi Boni's cabinet. One of the first things the new president did was to recognize, and acknowledge, Nigeria as the big brother, and he promptly hooked up with President Olusegun Obasanjo, whom he called Baba. He announced to his country men and women that all the investments, and investors, being sought by their country, are just a stone-throw away from them in Nigeria. This was a radical departure from some countries that arrogantly belittle the influence, and contributions of Nigeria in Africa, and the world over. Rather than shut the doors of Benin against Nigerians, Yayi Boni went out of his way to personally open it to our brilliant, and daring entrepreneur, Dr Michael Adenuga, who was encouraged to come in to inject badly needed life into the telecoms industry in that country. And this was at a time Obasanjo had succeeded in hounding the proud Nigerian citizen into exile.
At that time, President Yayi Boni was at loggerheads with the telecoms giant, MTN, and even shut down their operations in Benin Republic. Of course, South Africa fought back spiritedly, like all responsible nations must do on behalf of their citizens, and got MTN back into business. And those who did not want Adenuga's fabled talisman to work in Cotonou promptly sprang into action. They went to town with the negative stories of his problems with the Nigerian bully, Obasanjo, hoping to use a tar-brush against his unprecedented achievements in the world of telecoms, as one man who has single-handedly owned and developed the fastest growing network on the African continent. President Yayi Boni simply ignored all the campaigns of calumny.
In little time and without too much protocol, Adenuga was granted a license, and he wasted no time in paying the mandatory levies. It was a major leap for a company that was rearing to expand its services of excellence beyond Nigeria. The success of Globacom in Benin is very important because of the far-reaching effects of telecommunications on a nation. It would be the biggest public relations coup in favour of Nigeria because every citizen of that country now looks up to Adenuga and his crew to make mobile phones available to the ordinary man. Everywhere we went, expectations were high. Even the immigration officer who stamped me out of their airport, an elderly woman, fondly described Mike Adenuga as "my husband," and praised the "big man" from Nigeria for bringing his money to help them. Adenuga's visit to President Yayi Boni, on the day of the highly celebrated launch, was shown repeatedly on television. It was obvious that the gangling leader was proud of his decision to invite Globacom to Benin.
All Nigerians present, including the Senate President of Nigeria, Senator David Mark, the Minister of State of Information and Communications, Ibrahim Dasuki S. Nakande, and Nigeria's telecoms regulator, Engineer Ernest Ndukwe, gave Mike Adenuga and his team a standing ovation for demonstrating beyond doubt that great things can come out of Nigeria. It was a wonderful moment for us and for me in particular. I remember the incredible difficulties I went through while trying to establish a French office for Ovation magazine, less than three years ago. And even after scaling the preliminary huddles, I was further discouraged by the terrible treatment at the borders. I noticed some improvement this time. Better still, one can now catch Virgin Nigeria flights, three times a week to Cotonou. The journey is only twenty minutes.
Other countries would do well to open up their doors and windows of opportunities to Nigeria. Nigerians can no longer be treated with disdain in African affairs. We are amongst the most educated Africans on Earth. We are adventurous and very stylish. Our professionals can compete anywhere and can never be intimidated by anyone. Nigeria is the America and China of Africa rolled into one. Never mind the facts that our narcoleptic leaders have failed to tap into our awesome potentials. Nigerians are working on how to rescue the nation from the terrible grip of selfish and extremely corrupt politicians. We'll do well to learn a few lessons from our neighbours in Benin Republic, who threw out their traditional politicians and voted in an accomplished banker. Our future lies in the hands of the private sector.
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