Follow Us on Google
By Agatha Emeadi and Diamete Braide
It has been one year since the Senior Pastor, Trinity House, lost his wife and then Chief Executive, Elizabeth R, Pastor (Mrs) Ibidunn Ighodalo, who succumbed to a health challenge.
With the grace of God, Pastor Ighodalo, has been working hard to sustain the laudable charity works of his late wife.
In this interview, he bares his mind on the state of the nation and suggests the way forward especially in the areas of education, healthcare and infrastructure.
Just before her demise, your wife made plans to mark her 40th birthday. Did those plans eventually materialise?
The essential plan she had was to ensure that 40 couples were able to receive IVF treatment that would most likely result in conception for her. She said it as a joke as a request for her 40th birthday, but it was a serious request. Nobody knew she would not see 40. Her demise was very sudden and unexpected, but we did not forget what she said. We were fortunate that the dream was fulfilled through a lot of kind hearted friends, too many to mention. Family members and business leaders, all joined hands together to ensure her dreams were fulfilled. We have started the second round of another 40 sponsored IVF treatments, after the successful 2020 edition. We have selected about 37 couples who have started their treatment in different best hospitals that partner with us while we support them with prayers, counselling, home visitation and make sure they are part of us. Her dreams are being fulfilled, every single thing she did in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR), which I know of has been continued.
What are her other dreams that have been continued?
We continued with the training of a young boy she picked from Abeokuta. Her yearly baby’s day out where she supplies stuff to 400 babies and their mothers once a year is still running and this year’s has been slated for December 14. Every January 1, she goes to three hospitals in Lagos, to present gifts to newborn babies and also pay hospital bills the much she could. We are also hoping to sponsor one or two people in her name in some of the business courses she was taking before the unfortunate happened. Also in the pipeline is to build two-three mother and child hospitals in her name too and then continue a bit of her work with women who are disadvantaged, women of the night who she trains, educate and empower them to start a new life. Then her business, Elizabeth R’ which is her event management company is still in existence. She also had a clothing business called Avant-garde. This we would change a little bit by getting decent clothes from people who do not need them anymore, sell them at a very reduced rate to people who need them. All the proceeds would go into the IVF/Mother and Child hospital projects. It would be a complete cycle and we would be creating employment for one or two people. I am sure she would like that wherever she is.
What is happening to her Foundation?
All that I mentioned are part of the Foundation work and all has picked up. We have a board which I am the chairman with other members; we have a complete team. Her mother, brothers and relatives are very encouraging and supportive. We are coping by the grace of God.
With such a vibrant wife, how has it been without her in the last one year?
Only the grace of God has kept me. Ibiduni and I were very close; she was my wife, sister and friend. She was not quite my mother although she tried to mother me, but she was also a mother because she really looked after me and the house. I would like to say that I did my best for her also. Living without her is like walking with one leg, flying with one wing, eating with half the stomach, seeing with one eye. It’s like a whole part of the body is gone. So, I leave God to help me with my missing part.
Before the government banned Twitter, young Nigerians used the platform to build successful micro-enterprises. For a government that created the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, how do you feel about the seeming disconnect between government actions and its policies aimed at combatting youth unemployment?
I think the government over reacted by banning Twitter. There is an adage that says ‘do not throw away the baby with the bath water’. The problem is not Twitter, but the way people are feeling concerning government. So, it was an overreaction on the part of the government. Twitter is just a vehicle by which people communicate messages knowing that we need the technology age. Whatever the government does to support the investment and promotion of technology for the young ones is what they should try and do because technology makes a lot of money and the new way. I would like to encourage the government to look not just for technology, but for economic development in Nigeria.
What is your view on the rapidly increasing demand for restructuring of Nigeria?
When people are calling for restructuring, it does not mean that they want to govern themselves and be in a different state and all that. No. They want the enabling economic environment and the laws that would protect the indices of Nigeria.
How would you characterize the state of the Nigerian economy?
The problem Nigeria has is oil because the government has centralized oil and wants all the money from oil to get to Abuja before being distributed to the states. Meanwhile, a lot of people in, out and around government are making money from the oil. They resist the decentralization of oil and are afraid that if they allow the oil producing states to control the oil, they will starve the rest of Nigeria because they would have control. Because no law has been made except that of the mineral rights law, which means that every single mineral in Nigeria comes under that law, and for that reason, there is no motivation for the owners; therefore, all the owners efforts would depend on the Federal Government. The Federal Government should allow owners to mine, sell, spend and remit at 20 per cent into Federation Account as it is done all over the world. In America, for instance, everybody owns their oil wells, to whatever they want. Texas is an oil economy, California is an agriculture economy, New York is wealthy based on financial services, Delaware is economic policies, Houston is housing. Switzerland does not have one oil well and they make money based on financial services. Singapore makes money from tourism, efficiency and production of resources they do not have. What they did was to make its cities and country safe and comfortable for manufacturing, where all other manufacturers go to Singapore for business transactions with their aesthetic seaport that is fantastic. What this means is that every vessel going from East to West passes through Singapore to load and offload, they make money daily because they provided an enabling environment. Now, Nigeria is so well placed that people travel to most countries through Nigeria. We are blessed with sea coasts that are unbelievable. Why can’t Nigeria, therefore, have three or four sea ports? Those goods coming into Africa or West Africa come first into Nigeria for onward re-distribution; that was what Singapore did. Apapa Port built in the 50s has not been upgraded; why can’t a port be developed in Akure or Owo in Ondo State which has seaport. If it is done, no oil cargo needs to come to Lagos, they should all go to Warri or Port Harcourt and develop them into major trans-shipment port. A country does not need her money to do all these.
Dubai and Singapore did not use their money to develop their country. What should be done is to invite people under some terms and condition, they would work and also enjoy the fruit of their labour. All these are not magic, it only takes a plan, vision and determination, but we do not have a political vision to do it in Nigeria for only one reason: the people who should do it and their friends are benefitting from it. That is why we are where we are today. How? We have oil refinery that does not produce a drop of petrol. In the first place, why should Nigeria’s refinery not work? Why is petrol being brought in from outside? How can one plant corn, send it to London to be roasted, bring it back to eat when all one needs to do is to buy a corn roaster and be enjoying corn at its best in his home.
One year after the #EndSARS protest, what thoughts come to you?
During that protest, I went to address the youths and was accused as an anti-government personality. #EndSARS was not a complaint against President Buhari, it was a call for Buhari to do something. It could be likened to a situation where a son informed his father several times that the employed cook is starving him and, therefore, decided to react saying Daddy talk to the cook, I will not leave until you address the starving issue.
What is your take on Health infrastructure in the country?
It is also for the ones on top to note that the key factors for developing a country are education, food sustainability, health and infrastructure. Once people are educated, fed, protected with health, they would not be weak. Indian health sector picked up because they came together and told their government to give them enabling environment. The government listened to them. Nigerian doctors in America are also saying the same thing and no one is listening to them. If government does not invest in health infrastructure, it’s a timebomb. My first advice is to call out all doctors in foreign country to come back and tell us what they want. Nigerian doctors remain the best in the whole world, if they are removed from foreign countries, their health care system will collapse. For a longtime, the whole of Saudi Arabia health sector was manned by Nigerian doctors even till recent times. Nigeria trains and exports their doctors and others gladly receive them. Let the government provide the facilities for our doctors to come back home and practice here. One might not be wrong to say Nigerian doctors form part of the president’s health protocols in London. I mean doctors trained either in UI, Ahmadu Bello, Nsukka, Lagos or somewhere in Nigeria. Nigerians spend millions on their children in overseas countries. When I was growing up, it was not fashionable to school abroad because we believed that Nigerian degrees were superior to foreign degrees, especially that of America. All schools were equal to University of Ibadan.
