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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Having worked as media consultant to the rich, famous, influential individuals and organisations, celebrity journalist, publisher of Mega Star Magazine and Executive Producer of Mega Star Man of the Decade Award, Adeniyi Ifetayo Moses, needs little introduction.
A product of London School of Journalism, and Institute for Advancement of journalism, South Africa, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Senator Ned Nwoko, spoke to Sunday Sun on the challenges of managing the fame and controversies of his boss.
He also spoke on the award he holds today in Abuja to celebrate outstanding Nigerians and companies.
How easy and challenging have it been managing Senator Ned Nwoko’s image and his controversies as the Chief Press Secretary?
I can say that of all the people that I have worked with, of the entire clients that I have handled their media, Public Relations (PR) and brand personality, perception, Senator Ned Nwoko is the most fantastic of them. He is one person you can easily ask what he did with his wife the previous night and he will practically tell you what he did. His answer will always surprise you. He will be very spontaneous without being afraid to answer any question. If he didn’t want to talk, he would push the response to his aides because, according to him, Mr. President is not supposed to respond to everything people say. For him, that is why the aides are there. He is a very understandable person. He is someone who values and cherishes quality. Yes, he is a billionaire in his own right, but anyone can be his best friend as long as the person has what it takes. He doesn’t put into consideration years of experience as long as the person can deliver in what he promised to do. He knows that most of us working with him, apart from those people from his senatorial district that joined recently, are very young, but as far as you can deliver, and you are very good at what you do, you will be his friend and part of the arsenal he can deploy. He is also someone, and one individual who will introduce you to his billionaire friends. He has that Western mentality in engaging someone. He thinks West in his dealings and relationship with people without putting certain mundane things into consideration. Of course, he has been involved in so many controversies that I was scared at one point. I would ask myself why people will just sit down and come up with something that is not true? But, Senator Nwoko is a fantastic Senator and most distinguished with the heart of gold who will always think of people. Many times in the National Assembly, they would plan a foreign training programme, but he would discourage them, suggesting that bringing in the facilitator would be more cost effective. He is one person who does not encourage waste of resources, especially wasting resources in taking certain programmes abroad. He is a man so exposed having lived in the UK for over 30 years, yet he is one person in love with the village. He believes so much in making an impact in the lives of the villagers. He is an apostle of charity beginning at home and believes he must add value in the lives of people in the village, despite the length of years he spent abroad. He is someone who can take a lot of risks. He is a risk taker and that was evidenced when he travelled to Antarctica as one of the first black man to visit there. I accompanied him at least to Cape Town in South Africa during the trip. He is one person who will tell you his vision and other things at the Senate, including Sports, his university, among many others.
Which of his controversies will you single out as the most difficult and challenging you have managed, and even wished that it never happened?
It must be an incident in his village during a kingship tussle. He was very suspicious of the Prince because when his father, the King died, the Prince announced the passing away, buried him and within two days suddenly invited the elders in the village to install him as the king without observing the cultural and traditional mourning period. Senator Nwoko objected and vowed that such cannot happen. He insisted that if the poorest of the poor elders will be kept in the mortuary for his family to assemble, why not a great man like the King? The Prince was too desperate to assume the kingship throne, but Senator Nwoko vowed that it could not happen. It was so tough that before you know it, editors were calling me for reactions over the issue. The most dramatic of all was when the Senator called me to leave a live television session since I am not from the community, and may not be conversant with their culture and tradition. It was a very difficult one to manage. Although he has his own reason, because there was so much information that I don’t have and not in the position to speak on the matter. Yes, I was not in the position to speak on the matter, but I just felt that I should react to the bashing at him from many sides, painting him in such a bad light and equally alleging that he has taken over their land since I have all the documents. So, it was tough during that period and even the human rights activists got involved, the crisis lasted for almost two years. But, it was a very tough, dramatic one. They will call me, and some people will post something on my Instagram, threatening to get us out of the land where he has his university. Do you know that he promised to give the community 40 per cent of the declared profit in that institution for development? I am not sure there is any investor who can do that.
Having been in the upper chambers with your boss for some time now, what is your impression of the 10th Senate?
With the crops of Senators in the 10th Assembly, I feel that they are made up of people with experience, not the former trend in the past 20 or 10 years ago when they sent people to the Senate because there was no one else. The chamber is populated with senators who are technocrats with intellectual capacity, and with traceable records. Most of them have presided over top businesses successfully before coming into the Senate. I pity those into full-time politics without any experience of managing any private business previously let alone managing the resources that belong to the people. I am not sure that is the case now. The current Senate is doing much better. You can see some of the bills they have passed and some of the conversations going on. It shows that they have the interest of the people at heart.
What impact do you think your principal, Ned Nwoko, has made in the 10th Assembly?
They are so many and too numerous to itemise. When there was a constituency project, when some senators disclosed that they got N500 million, my principal got about N3 billion not in cash for the constituency project. He networked very effectively with the committee chairmen and ministers. Let me just confirm that he is somebody who wants to work for his people. He wants the people to know that somebody is there to represent them. And now he is lobbying for one of the bills on Diaspora voting he presented. He has been talking about repatriation so that some of the artifacts taken should be returned. He is also campaigning for compensation for the slavery they subjected our forefathers to. Most of the bills that he has sponsored are all about the people, not campaigning for SUVs for the senators. They are all about people, and he was rated among one of the top three performing senators in the upper chambers. It was not surprising because he was there in the House of Representatives before. He had that understanding and being a lawyer of international repute, he knew what his people wanted. He was the first person to champion that our crude oil be sold in Naira. He started that move so that Naira can be one of the most sought-after currencies in the international market. He pressed that nobody should pay in Dollars and that every transaction on all our mineral resources should be done in Naira. I was happy recently when Mr. President announced that crude oil should be sold in Naira to Dangote refinery. It will make our Naira strong. He sponsored so many bills and amendments too numerous to mention.
Can you give Nigerians insight into your programme coming up on Sunday?
Mega Star Man of the Decade Award is coming up today, December 1. The event is to appreciate some of the people that have remained resolute after going through thick and thin to ensure that Nigerians have a better country, regardless of the harsh economic situation in the country. No matter the situation, their product is still speaking for them and adding value to the country. The award has about three special categories, comprising Mega Star Man of the Decade and Posthumous Award for those individuals who are no longer with us, but whose impact still speaks and still adds value to us. We also have Friends of Nigeria. I am sure that almost all of the awards that we have, if not 99 per cent, are for Nigerians that will be receiving the honours because they sit at the top of governance, economy, business and all of that. But this time around, there are some foreign nationals who have been doing business here for over 10 years that their services and products are adding value to the nation. We want to recognize, appreciate them and assure them that they are not outcast in Nigeria. We also have Nigerians citizens in the Diaspora we feel proud whenever their names are mentioned. They are in sports, entertainment, and technology, among others. We will also appreciate and recognize those people in the creative industry, media, real estate, agriculture and even governance. We have a panel session with the theme; Social Enterprise, a Catalyst for Development in Nigeria. The topic dwells on the impression that whatever you gain in business as an individual, you should not think about yourself and your family alone. You can extend the hand of fellowship. It might be in your street through grading of the road, and sanitation, among others. CNN Senior Editor, Stephanie Busari, will anchor the panel session while our home-grown entertainer, Efex, will anchor the event to honour those individual and corporate organizations that have done well in the past 10 years.
