Daily Independent (Lagos)
23 October 2008
interview
In 1993, Sunny Ofili was among the 12 Nigerian journalists selected by The Centre For Foreign Journalists on the bill of American government to train on how to function as a journalist in a democracy. While there, late General Sani Abacha and his troops of soldiers struck and one thing led to another and he decided to stay back in the U.S. from where he now publishes 'The Times of Nigeria' in addition to his IT business. In this interview with Deputy Editor (Saturday), Charles Okogene, he reminiscences on his days of struggle in America against Abacha's despotic regime and why he is partnering with Delta State government on IT. Excerpts:
What brought you to Nigeria this time?
I pretty much shuttle between Nigeria and my base in the U.S. This is because I work for the Delta State government as an adviser to the governor on information technology. We are trying to see how we can reposition the state from the point of view of technology by making sure that our schools are well equipped, give our students a head start in technology, and get the processes in our state ministries automated. We are working on all of these and I am glad the governor gave me the opportunity to help implement some of these changes; that is why I am here.
Some years ago, you opened an IT skill acquisition centre, Nigercom, in Lagos, what has happened to that investment?
I ran the place for over five years and because I wasn't stationed, and I had managers who ran the place. Unfortunately, no one can run your business the way you want it especially when you are not there, when it is technology-related and skill-based. The way I would run it is not the way a manager would because it is very technical and, of course, a manager does not have the same experience that I have in the business. But because I have my family in the states and I have to shuttle between the states and Nigeria, I had to suspend it, return to the states and worked for the U.S. government, some top companies. But after doing all that, and like they say, no matter where you are, home is the best, I decided to take up the challenge to assist my state and at the same time impact on people's life. And I am very glad that I have a governor who was kind enough to listen to my proposal on how to move the state forward and gave me the opportunity to come to the state and implement one of some of the things I have learnt overseas. But Nigercom is pretty still much in existence in the states. However, my focus now is primarily on Delta State. We want to make Delta State become the number one in ICT infrastructure in the country and not just that, we want to begin to introduce it to our students; begin to introduce computers to them at least right from secondary school. I give the credit to the governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, for automating the payroll of the state. That is a huge potential for the state to eliminate a lot of waste, a lot of ghost workers and this is the way it is done almost everywhere else in the world. No one receives paper pay slips anymore, everything is automated.
How will this IT project work in schools and in a country where power supply is almost at ground zero?
The power issue is very relevant, because without power, you can't operate your computers but what we have decided to do is that we want to build...you probably might have heard of one laptop per child programme by an MIT professor, Ponte.
The best way to get them introduced to the world of IT before they get into the workforce is to start from very early stage and the stage we have chosen to start this off, is the secondary school level. But instead of doing the one laptop a child that is being promoted the worldwide, we don't have the money because even in the U.S. every child does not have a laptop, what we have decided to do is to build computer labs, the same way they build library of about 30 computers, in selected secondary schools spread across the three senatorial districts and the students will be able to alternate it and use it so that everyone will have access to computer. Instead of having one laptop per child, what we want to do with the computer lab is to make sure every child would have access to a computer; and of course, this doesn't come cheap. With my international contact, we have been able to get some NGOs involved in what we are trying to do. For instance, we have gotten a British NGO, Computer Aid International, to donate some computers and we have about 500 computers waiting for us to distribute to the schools. We were able to sell the idea of what we are trying to do to this British NGO and they plugged into it and gave these computers to Delta State government. We want to pick about five schools from each senatorial zones and use them as demonstration centres after which we can now begin to approach other stakeholders like companies that are domiciled in Delta State, that make money in Delta State to see how they can assist us in doing this. I mean we need generators in these schools to power these computers, we need to have the labs connected to the Internet because what is the value of computer when you don't have access to the very important tool we call Internet where you can do all sorts of research. We are going to work on that, discuss with oil companies in the state, tap into the PTDF fund, discuss with DESOPADEC (Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission), NDDC (Niger Delta Development Commission) to see how they can come to our help. This is not just the state government burden, it is that of all stakeholders. We have gotten a head start with the computer that was donated by the British NGO. With that we will show all what we intend to do and when they see it, there is no doubt that they will fall in love with the initiative.
What about the challenge of personnel?
I will be honest with you, I don't see a challenge of personnel, because what we intend to do with that and it is a well known strategy is that we are going to train the trainers; in the selected schools. We are going to train the existing teachers. We don't need to employ anyone who is a computer expert, no. We will train the teachers on how to use these computers and how they can instruct their students. These teachers will also in turn train other teachers. This is what I specialise on. I am a professional trainer when it comes to computers. And, again, when these computers go bad, perhaps that is where the issue of personnel comes in, in Delta State, we do have the ministry of science and technology that has experts who can assemble and fix computers. So when we have technical issues like changing of memory, process or stuff like that, we can do internally without out-sourcing it to a contractor.
How can you assure us that this project will continue, even after Uduaghan's tenure?
I feel that the students and their parents will make sure that the programme continues no matter who is the governor of the state because, number one, the students who will be the beneficiaries of the project will take the impact of the programme to their parents who in turn will make sure that it does not die. Also you have to remember that those we are training are the same people who will at a later date become the leaders of the state, who will become the senators from the state, House of Assembly members, commissioners, governor. It will be their job to make sure that the project is not discontinued.
How much do you think this project is costing the government?
I tell you right now, it is not costing the government a dime, not a dime. We got the computers for free. Of course, there are some logistics of shipping the computers, which we have to handle but those cannot be associated with the programme. We are hoping that when we get started, stakeholders will come in. PTDF was established primarily to help in such project. It is a technology fund that is supposed to help initiatives like this but unfortunately, PTDF was used for something else. This is what it was established to do; to aid acquisition of technology for schools. What we need mostly is government support and we have the support of the government, the commissioner for science and technology supports it, hundred percent. I would say it is an initiative of Governor Uduaghan himself and if he didn't want it, he won't get to this level. So, I have no fear about the future of this programme.
Despite your assurances, apart from the NGO that has already partnered with the project, which other NGO are you in touch with?
Like I said, we are going to talk to DESOPADEC, NDDC and others that are stakeholders in Delta State to also support it; all the telecomm companies we are going to talk to them to help in buying more computers. When we go to them we will not be asking for money, rather we will ask them to provide what we need in these labs that are in their areas of operation. The support we are talking about is not strictly cash.
So, when are you expecting this programme to roll off?
By God's grace, by December we should have some of the computers delivered to some of the schools and we should have that going. It is going to be in batches.
You are also involved in Internet publishing; you run the very popular The Times of Nigeria.. Would this not affect the publication?
Absolutely not; what I have done with The Times of Nigeria. is that as the publisher, I have built and managed it to a certain level where it is now handed over to someone else, an editor, who runs it. I am no longer involved in day-to-day running of The Times of Nigeria. I have editors and reporters that do that right now. I am not even involved in the editorial matters anymore. So there is no conflict of interest. It is not going to affect my ability to carry out this job because my focus right now is to assist the governor in meeting the goals that he has set out in technology point of view.
How challenging is on - line publishing?
It is quite challenging, because unlike the regular or main stream media, print or broadcast, it is more like broadcasting, more like what CNN and others are doing.
Deadlines are immediate. Right here now, if there is a newsbreak, all I need is my laptop, so the challenge there is that you have to publish news up to the minute. If something happens in Nigeria, the first place Nigerians in Diaspora want to go to is Times of Nigeria and they expect to read the news in Times of Nigeria and if it is not there, I get phone calls no matter what part of the world I am. 'Oh! Times of Nigeria, you guys are late with the news,' that is because they expect the news to be there immediately as it happened. That is why we say at The Times of Nigeria that 'we break the news as it happens.' Again, we don't have the luxury of time and our news go stale faster. If you go to my paper you will find out that the story you saw as the lead early in the morning will no longer be the headline an hour later. Something else has happened; it is no longer there. It is being updated. You have to update every minute. And because of the immediacy of Internet newspaper, we don't have much time to cross check facts and information. What we do is minimum background check and cross checking of facts and this come with its own draw back. I remember I once published that Yar'Adua (Umaru) is dead, that is what I did but it also takes a responsible journalist to retract it almost immediately; when we published it, the man called me from Germany and said, 'Sunny, I am alive.' That tells you how fast on line news is. I had an interview over the phone and we published the retraction with a space of two hours; this couldn't have happened with print and equally, the print wouldn't have made such mistake because you have a lot of time to cross check and find out that it is not true and drop the story. We don't have that luxury in Internet publishing.
Times of Nigeria, has ruffled some feathers with news it had published in the past. How do you manage the backlash or reactions from those involved?
I want to say that we recorded more negative reactions than we ever get positive ones. The positive reactions we get are from the common man; from Nigerians in the street. And fortunately because we do not operate from Nigeria, we are not subject to the kind of pressure those that are based here in Nigeria are subjected to. We get threats. The Times of Nigeria was shut down last year by hackers. Someone was paid to hack into our site and shut us down. We were off circulation for good one week. That is how vicious politicians who have money can get. All we do is to achieve balance but again in attempt to achieve balance, they try to stop you from publishing such stories either by refusing to pick your call to hear their side of the story. They do this because they know that as fair-minded journalist you will not go ahead with such story if it is not balanced. But that would not deter me. I would keep attempting and if you refuse to pick your phone, I will publish and whenever you are ready with your side of the story you send to us and it would be used.
You left Nigeria some years ago. What actually made you leave your promising job then at The Guardian and embark on a trip to the U.S.?
That was in 1993. I was selected by The Centre For Foreign Journalists, along with 11 other journalists to go (that was the time Nigeria was trying to transit from military dictatorship to democracy. That was during Babaginda's experiment) so, the U.S. government felt that it was necessary to have some Nigerian journalists trained on the coverage of democratic system of government since it had eluded us for some while. Unfortunately while I was there, there was a coup and The Guardian was shut and because of that, I could not return to Nigeria and also being a CLO (Civil Liberty Organisation) member before I left I immediately joined NADECO under the auspices of CLO that was then headed by Olisa Agbakoba and another great Nigerian lawyer, Felix Morka, who was doing his LLM at Harvard. We teamed up with NADECO to canvass for democratic change in Nigeria; we organised demonstration in front of Nigerian embassy in Washington, which was, then on 16 Street, a major street in Washington. On a daily basis we picketed the embassy and when the late General Sani Abacha sent Dim Emeka Odumegwu - Ojukwu and Anenih (Tony) to launder his image, it was Morka and I who met them at every stop they went to in the U.S. to present the other side of the situation in Nigeria under Abacha aside their own message of Nigeria is great that Abacha sent them to tell the world. So, on a daily basis with the former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu and Ralph Obiorah, we all carried placards in the U.S. A. I come from that background where I always feel the need to do things in the interest of the people. All those that were with us in the struggle then are all in government now, people like Abdul Oroh was with us then. Right now my focus has shifted from advocacy to empowerment of the people by equipping them with the technology of 24th century, with education, access to information.
Most of the people that were in the struggle with you right in America have since joined the government and have done what the late Sunday Afolabi described as 'come and chop.' Why have you not joined them?
I was invited...even during Abacha's government, I was invited to join Abacha. Then it was much easier to make money under Abacha but I have a conscience. Apart from that, in my own right, I am a well qualified IT and I can't be induced by money because by God's grace, I can fend for my family and myself in the States; I am not a career politician who depends on government handout or favour from someone, somewhere. During the Atiku/ Obasanjo crisis, people swore that Times of Nigeria. was on the pay roll of Atiku but no. We were on his side because we believed that he was right by opposing the third term agenda of Obasanjo. I get very passionate about issues; during Abacha's time, my passion was that military government is an aberration, must not be allowed to stand and so I joined in fighting against that. During Obasanjo's time, when he started showing dictatorial tendencies, I opposed it also. It is my passion to help the people that led me into consulting with the Delta State government on IT and the passion of 'come and chop.' And everybody, who knows Uduaghan, the governor of Delta State will know that he does not run a 'come and chop' government and those who joined his government because of that are already regretting. I was one of those who criticised his candidacy for the office of the governor of the state but when I realised that his passion is the development of the state especially from the IT point of view, I decided to contribute by way of consultancy. It is my passion for the people that led me into Uduaghan's government.
Which story can you say made the day for Times of Nigeria?
I will be say it is the story of the fight between Obasanjo and Atiku because at the time they were busy accusing Atiku of fraud and all sorts of embezzlement of the PTDF. We were able to get hold of cheques that were issued to Obasanjo's girlfriends, aides and we splashed them on our front page and that story was a sellout. That story helped a whole lot in shaping people's view about Times of Nigeria.
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