By Christy Anyanwu
Professor Kingsley Moghalu, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, is the Founder and President of Strategies LLC, a global risk management and investment advisory firm that has advised multinationals, private equity, asset management and other emerging-market investors.
A candidate for the Office of the President of Nigeria in 2019, he wants to contest again in next year’s general elections, on the platform of African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In this interview, he speaks of his childhood memories and the Biafran war, among others, even as he shares his vision for Nigeria.
How was your childhood like?
I was born in 1963, here in Lagos. My names are Kingsley, Dosa, Chiedu, Ayodele. When I was born, my father was in the Foreign Service. He was in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So shortly after I was born, three months after, we left for Geneva, Switzerland, which was his first posting. So we lived in Geneva for a year and then my father was posted to Washington. Then we moved to Washington DC. So my early childhood was spent abroad. But in 1967, he returned to Nigeria and joined the Eastern Region Government, as the political crisis was snowballing and many Igbos who were in the federal service were afraid and they left and returned to the Eastern Region. So I went through the civil war, which was not an easy experience. We ate cockroaches, crickets, all sorts of things fried and many of them were very succulent.
So that part of life, Biafra, was a very difficult experience for many families. So I saw war, I saw suffering. It made me hate suffering, and it made me hate conflict. All these were part of the reasons why I went into diplomacy as a career later in the United Nations. After the war, I grew up mainly in Enugu and Aba. My father remained in the civil service, became a local administrator and all of that eventually became a deputy permanent secretary, later retired. Then I went to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where I studied law. After that, I went to Law School in Lagos in 1986. After law school, I did my National Youth Service, as a legal officer at Shell Petroleum at their headquarters at Marina Lagos. Later I joined Newswatch where I was the general counsel.
So I became a lawyer and a journalist for Newswatch. I was also a special correspondent for several international newspapers at the time. And that was how I was earning some dollars. But my mind was always fixed on an international career. So I knew that, that was a transitional phase for me. I wanted to leave the country immediately after youth service, but my father restrained me. He is late now, Isaac Moghalu. At that time, as I was waiting to go to the US Embassy for an interview, a call came that Newswatch was looking for a legal officer, who could double as a writer and special assistant to the publisher. It was a mixture of many things and my father told me to take that opportunity because in those days, Newswatch was the place to be in the media. I spent three years there and it was a wonderful experience. And while I was there, I applied for my masters at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
It is one of the schools you attend and you are piped into the international system immediately. That was how I was able to join the United Nations, Foreign Service, in 1992. I spent 17 years in the UN from entry level to the highest career rank. I have a very successful career in the UN, but it was hard work, a lot of competition, you’re competing with the best from all over the world, from 200 countries. And I was able to learn the management of diversity, which I believe is of great advantage for my political career. The diversity in Nigeria is a small change compared to the diversity in the United Nations. There you have different faiths, religions, races. We are all black in Nigeria. In the UN, you have white, black, brown, all sorts. I also had different types of assignments in the UN. I also played important roles in the reform of the United Nations itself as a member of the redesigned panel on the United Nations internal justice system. There are so many things I picked up along the way, which I didn’t know that they were preparing me for a time such as this. And to top it all, I now became a central banker ultimately. When I left the UN in 2008, I set up a risk management consultancy in Switzerland and that was what I was doing when President Yar’adua appointed me as deputy governor of the Central Bank on the recommendation of Lamido Sanusi who had become the governor.
As a teenager, who had the most impact in your life?
Both my parents have very strong impacts in my life, but they were different in their impacts. Naturally, children are closer to their mothers at a certain stage of their lives, but ultimately, my father had the strongest impact on me, because he was my role model because he was a man and I am a man. And I am the first son. I was brought up to bear responsibility. I was brought up to know that you are responsible for your siblings and that you must be an example for them and bring them under discipline. They call me Okoli (The Headmaster). That was my nickname as a child. I brewed no indiscipline from my younger siblings in those days.
In those days, my father would beat his chest and say, 35 years as a civil servant, I never took a bribe. That thing never left me, so everywhere I went, once I say, I’m his son, the warm reception, the respect that follows, and you could see the legacy he left behind. I grew up determined to uphold and improve on the legacy of my father. That was why, when he died later, we set up a foundation in his memory – the Isaac Moghalu Foundation.
What is the focus of this foundation?
The foundation supports our local communities with education, scholarships, infrastructure for schools, among other things. We built classrooms, toilets and libraries for some schools. My wife, Mary Anne, is the executive director of the Isaac Moghalu Foundation. Occasionally, we hold leadership lectures. We have had people like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Sanusi Lamido deliver some public lectures. That is our way of giving back to our community. And it is done across the country. In Nassarawa State, we support disabled women and train them with skills. In Abuja we went to LEA School in Gishiri, a school in a slum and built a library and toilets for them, just to equip the school. Philanthropy is good, but it cannot replace a functioning state. That is what we need to understand. So when people say, oh, what have you done for your village? And I laugh. It is not my job to provide water or roads for my village. If I have the resources and the kindness of heart, I can do it. But you cannot make that a requirement electing people into public offices. I do philanthropy, but I do not agree that it should become a requirement for elective office. No, it shouldn’t.
What lessons would you say life has taught you as a person?
The lessons I have learned about life is to think beyond yourself that the greatest men and women are not those who focus on their own needs, but who focus on the needs of others. I am happiest when I have a transformative impact in people’s lives or in the lives of organisations where I have worked. I have also learned the importance of family. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. I take my immediate family very seriously. And so I try to spend time with my children. I didn’t want a life in which I was simply successful professionally, outwardly to the world but a failure at home.
So how do you balance it?
I balance it by making sure I create time to spend with my family, my wife and my children, I have four children – three boys and a girl. I go on holidays with them. It was hard, but I had to learn it, and it taught me that work-life balance is important. Greatness must begin with the immediate environment, your family. A man is the head of his own, and if your home is in pieces and you’re making noise outside, I’m sorry. That is not my ideal situation. So I have invested a lot in my children, telling them stories, holding them close and teaching them the way to go. That is my duty that God gave me as a man with a family and I cannot abandon it. The time I spend with my family is my happiest time.
Where would be your best holiday destination?
I’ve had an international career. So I’m very different from politicians who invest abroad or travel abroad with stolen public funds. We know that happens a lot. But I worked in the UN for two decades. I was earning hard currency most of my life. So, my kids were educated abroad, mainly abroad, because of my career. But also they’ve gone to school in Nigeria too. My kids went to Stella Maris School in Abuja for some years. So that’s also part of their own upbringing and I did it to give them the Nigerian experience. Croatia is my best destination. Croatia is one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
There’s a part of it – oh my God. It’s out of this world. You know, the beauty of the sea, the coastline and all of that. Actually, while I was on a holiday there, there was an earthquake in the nineties and I slept through the earthquake. I had to be woken up. My wife teases me about it. This man loves his sleep so much. Then Indonesia. I loved Ballet. Thailand has some beautiful holiday places. So these are some of the places. Turkey also has some great places. So, I have been around as a UN official, I’ve been to so many countries. I know places that are beyond the normal. Most people will say London, New York. For me, those are places where I work.
Let’s talk about fashion. What do you like to wear?
First of all, I like to look good. No apologies. I am the drip Lord. I am versatile in fashion. Okay. I wear suits. I wear traditional dresses. I am a titled man; the Ifekaego of Nnewi Kingdom, so I wear my beads, red cap and all my paraphernalia that goes with it. I like being simple as well. The older I get, the simpler I like to dress, because I’m no longer dancing to impress anybody. I like elegance and in a responsible way, for example, in women, I prefer my wife and my daughter to be dressed, you know, in ways that are elegant, but responsible. I don’t like people who are close to me wearing clothes that are too revealing. For example, I don’t encourage it. So you might say I’m a bit conservative in that sense.
Must your outfit be designer wears?
I like elegant things. I don’t focus on names or brands. I don’t focus on brands. I wear things that are elegant. Because they are elegant, many people think they’re more expensive than they actually are. When it comes to those things, I’m actually quite cheap. So I look good for less cost.
What kind of music do you like?
I love music that is just melodious. I like P-Square, especially the track Oyinye. My wife’s name is Oyinye. There is a lot of beautiful music that comes out of Nigeria these days. I can’t even keep up with the young people. I like Flavor, Wizkid, and Davido too has some really good music.
How do you keep fit? Do you have time for exercises?
Yes. I like to walk. In Nigeria I try to use the gym. When I’m abroad, I walk.
You want to be president. Could you tell us your vision for Nigeria?
My vision for Nigeria is that Nigeria should become a 21st century modern economy where its youth are well educated, have skills and have jobs, a country that moves from poverty into prosperity over the next 20 years, achieves what countries like Malaysia did, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, those kinds of things. So I have a vision for Nigeria that is transformed by competent, visionary, capable leadership that I would love to provide for our country. So I’m a transformative leader, I’m a visionary. So I have a vision and I have a plan to achieve the vision. My word to Nigerians is – Nigeria can be great again and this is the year for us to make it happen. We should not lose hope. We should not agonise, rather we should organise. Let us all get our PVCs and use it to reclaim our future, but let us understand that we have the power to do so. The responsibility and the power lie with us.