From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Chairman, Kakatar Group Limited and Zeetin Engineering Limited, Azibaola Robert, is a man of many parts – a lawyer, an environmentalist, a sports enthusiast and an engineer.
In this interview, he disclosed that becoming the governor of his home state, Bayelsa, is not his priority. He speaks on these and other issues.
Excerpts:
You have been preoccupied with the engineering construction of your mansion in Abuja. Why did you decide to handle the engineering work by yourself?
It has always been my passion to show good examples and to also show that it is possible with Africans and Nigerians; it is possible with the black race and that there is a possibility that things could be done to perfection and after the perfection, that there is the possibility that things could as well be maintained to the highest possible standard.
We shouldn’t use only foreign entities as example of good practice in engineering. Even as it is, we should also have the possibility of students – university, secondary school students taking cue from entities, buildings, structures that are within the country as case studies for reference in their academic studies, as well as with the members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.
Why do structures collapse? Why are structures not constructed to perfections, to the most aesthetic, beautiful structure that you can see anywhere in the world? Because at the end of the day, concrete in Nigeria is concrete abroad; glass in Nigeria is glass abroad; stone in Nigeria is stone abroad. I also have the passion that in most cases, we can actually use local materials and give them the aesthetic value that makes it a tourist attraction. So, just like I mentioned in one of my social media posts, I have been to places where I have been taken round as a tourist to visit and explain to, stones that were brought from one region to be installed in another region. And stories were written around those stones to give them the value that people would now be looking forward to going there for tourism. When people don’t have stones, they create myth around those stones and people go there for tourism. They make money out of it.
As a trained lawyer and an environmentalist now turned engineer, what kind of fulfilment does the edifice give you?
Seriously, it is one of the greatest gifts that I can pass on to the next generation. It is not about me. I am proud to say that it is fully built, 100 percent fully built by Nigerians, including me, and that I used a lot of local materials to mix it up to show that it is possible to take local materials and make it very beautiful without necessarily importing. The next thing is that yes, this is an edifice. One estate surveyor came and I will give you his contact so that you probably talk to him personally, one prominent estate surveyor in Abuja. He came here and said that there is hardly any building in Abuja that he has not entered or he has not seen because that is his job. But that he has not seen any building as, I don’t want to say as beautiful as this; that is almost like an understatement. But he has not seen any building as fantastic as this, both in structure and in conception. The building might look mighty, but it has its functionalities and the functionalities are what people will see when eventually it is finished. This building, for me, it is like a workshop. It is a tourist centre. I have been able to take kids, young engineers from the university round and showed them how things are done. Of course, there will be part of the building where I will be producing small, small things as a way of showing them that industrialisation doesn’t mean a huge factory. Industrialisation is a combination of small, small products from various people’s garages and rooms. And when you combine all those products, they become an industrialised nation. I can in one room or two others, be making gaskets. I can fit in a gasket making in one room there and it will be so quiet and nobody will know and I will be producing gaskets and supplying to major distributors and they will be distributing. In another room, I can be making springs. You know springs? You don’t need a large factory to be making springs. And in various ways, various dimensions, I can be making springs. In another room, I can be making PCB. Every electronic equipment has a PCB. That is the driving power of your phone, portable circuit board. Portable circuit boards are printable by machines. Every equipment you buy that is electronic, you plug into the computer, has a small PCB inside. Those PCBs are designed by electrical engineers and sent for printing. And people who design and print might not necessarily be the same people. So, you design, you send it to a company and they print and then you bring them and you couple them and it becomes a device. So, I can be making PCBs and when students come, they will take a tour and it will serve as a way of inspiring the future.
Governor Duoye Diri is gradually completing his second term in office. As one who is very versatile in different fields, don’t you think your experience will be needed in Bayelsa State?
Actually, I used to think about it a lot, about my state. I know deep down in me that probably, I am one amongst the lots that can develop Bayelsa State. Deep down in me, I know. But diversion of your objective in life is also a very dangerous thing to do. Will I want to trade becoming the first Nigerian who galvanised Nigerians to make an electric car or who brought Nigerians together to become an automobile manufacturing country to becoming a governor of Bayelsa State?
So, you don’t want to be the first Nigerian who turned the Niger Delta into Dubai, particularly Bayelsa State?
Well, that is insignificant compared to the bigger picture of being a trailblazer in the automobile industry. I mean, governors will come and governors will go.
In essence, are you saying you don’t want to govern Bayelsa State?
It is not something I am thinking about. I am not thinking about being a governor.
Where do you derive the motivation or passion from to be involved in multiple endeavours at the same time?
This is the way my DNA is made. My DNA is made to learn and to impart knowledge, not in a formal setting like a university or a school.
Not in a classroom?
Not in a classroom. My way of imparting knowledge is a practical way of imparting knowledge. It is do it yourself.
DIY?
Something like that. DIY. But I am more a scientist. A scientist is somebody who does experiment; someone who is prepared to waste resources to get result. And if the result doesn’t come, it should not be an obstacle for trying the next endeavour. So, as this building is, I don’t care if I destroy it and start afresh. Anything that is destroyable to get a better result, I am in for it. I don’t have like sentimental attachment that it must be there. No! And that is the bedrock of science. In science, any country or people or entity that is not prepared to destroy is not prepared to develop.
From your list of law, environment, sports, engineering, which do you find more fulfilling?
I find engineering more fulfilling.
So, why did you go into law?
Well, I went into law because my Mum wanted me to be a lawyer.
Have you ever been to the court?
Yes. Initially when I left the law school, I went to court. I defended the Ogoni 19, not Ogoni nine. Ogoni 19 were the ones that were left behind after they killed Ken Saro-Wiwa. So, they were the Ogoni 19 and those Ogoni 19 were almost abandoned and I was the one who was defending them, on account of which I went to detention several times. This is a story for another day because I told a few people who came around me about four days ago that the truth, those who deserve national honours, are people like us. I deserve national honour far, far more than most of the people that were awarded by the president. And it is obvious because we were the field generals as a young man coming out of the university. You know Ken and I were very close and I know that some of the leaflets that they used to prosecute Ken in court were printed by me under his authorisation.
What is happening to your idea of producing the first ever wholly made in Nigeria car?
Yes, it is still in the, not in the pipeline because in Nigeria, when you say in the pipeline, people will go and break it and remove that thing. But it is still my life-long dream. I have somehow indirectly explained some aspects of it. No single person makes half of the parts of a car. And I have looked at this country and I know that we have the talents to produce it. Everybody coming together has the talents to produce half or more than half of the parts of the car, using somebody who is the dreamer to fulfil that goal. In fact, very soon, I will launch what I call Auto Parts Manufacturers Association of Nigeria. I am working on it. So, the Auto Parts Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, I want to be able to find out across the length and breadth of Nigeria, who is able to make what in a car.