Dr. Stephen Akintayo is a globally recognized wealth creator and Real Estate giant.
He took time out for a one-on-one session with the Publisher of NaijaTimes USA, Thompson Tabi. In this second and concluding part of the encounter, Akintayo speaks about his interest in politics and the 2023 Presidential election. Read on:
In what way do you think your experience can help solve the myriads of problems in your country Nigeria.
Professor Wole Soyinka said the problem is ataric. ‘Ata’ is pepper in Yoruba language . So it’s ‘Ata-ric.’ Pepperish with overdose of pepper. Sincerely, I think Nigeria problem is too complex for one man to solve.
However, some of the things we are doing is to say, you can not solve a problem with the same mindset it was created. The major problem with Nigeria is that we have not built enough financially empowered individuals. For example, why are they able to do vote buying.
Vote buying is only possible because people are poor. So, poverty has been monetized and somebody is asking himself: this is 5k here and I have not eaten for two days.
With this 5k, I will get food for today and tomorrow even if my next 4 years is mortgaged. But you see, when people like this one become financially free and educated.
For example, look at who are those really really fighting for us in Nigeria, it’s those in the diaspora. It’s possible because you are not waiting for any politician to send you money or anything.
That’s why many of us, including myself, if we are to be hundred percent in Nigeria, may be I won’t be this vocal. But because I know that worse case, if you come after my Nigeria business I still have the others outside of the country, so I should not be too afraid. I think we need to teach wealth.
How can individuals empower themselves , we can’t be waiting for government anymore. That’s the message. Even those of us in the diaspora need to look beyond the 20 dollars per hour job. It has to be bigger than that. The reality is that we need to begin to build businesses.
Our politicians are the reflection of who we are. They are not able to perform in office because how much were they performing when they were not in position of power, if you couldn’t help yourself while out of government, you can’t help us when we give you our money. That is why you see a lot of excitement about Peter Obi. He started as a trader, built wealth, became chairman of a bank, made it before politics and after office he continue to do well.
Am sure many of your followers would love to know this; are you interested in politics?
Politics is about people and governance of people. Positional politics is one and getting elective office is another. My father was a grassroots politician. He was the secretary of SDP in Maiduguri in the 1993 election. We are politically conscious am sure you can see that in my posts. Some people take it that I am interested in politics, no. It’s because we have been taught to realize that politics affect our day to day life. I am interested in how people are governed. That we have the right people in the right places.
To seek political office? I am not yet in the position to do that. I am running a business, trying to expand globally. There is just no way I can leave all that and go into politics. Secondly, because we have not started the kind of politics that excites me. I cannot use my money to pay you to vote for me to come and serve you. It does not make any sense. Until Nigerians are ready to say we will use our money to put you there…look at Trump. Is he not a billionaire? Americans still used their money to vote for him, until we get to that level I can’t contest because I won’t leave my business.
What if you are appointed a Minister.
I am not interested. I will only be interested in a committee to resolve issues in my sector. Something like Chairman Committee on Real Estate.
What if you are appointed Minister for Housing.
I won’t. Because that means I need to leave my business and it’s usually the easiest way for people’s reputation to get soiled, but I don’t mind serving Nigeria without being paid. People should be allowed to serve and still do their business. Abroad, people do it because they are not paid much so you don’t put your eye in government money.
You have a foundation. What have you been doing with it?
Yea. Thanks so much. The Foundation is doing fine. We take care of orphans, Widows, we have sent almost 10,000 kids to school. We have also bursary and scholarship programs. Feeding programs and we also give grant. We are about launching a new grant program because the last one we did, some people just collected the money and we didn’t hear about them again. This time around, we are looking for more strategic way to go about it. We are targeting between 2-5 thousand dollars for young people but we want to support them beyond just the grant to add structure and mentoring.
Do you think Nigeria could still be rescued or you share the opinion of those talking about balkanizing the country?
Whatever works is fine by me. Restructuring, disintegration or whatever. What is important is this. I don’t think policy is the problem of Nigeria. Of course it’s important to have new policies and structures, but UK does not have her own constitution and she is being governed well.
The truth is, we exaggerate these things without facing the real issue being that we as a people should be ready for change. I am not sure we are ready. We need to stop the culture of free money. Don’t expect people to give you money for doing nothing. It has to stop. People dole out money and you don’t ask where the money come from.
Now, I need to explain that I am not against giving money. For instance, we were with Pa Jimi Sholanke for his 80th birthday and I donated a million naira. We have done that for several people quietly and privately without asking for anything in return, but that’s a different thing.
If we celebrate our own, that’s tangible. It’s value for value. Until your Uncle says send your account number and you are like for what. What have I done to warrant you sending me money. Why would you want to send me money when I have not render a service to necessitate a payment. Until we get to that point, only then will corruption stop in Nigeria. Corruption is an issue in Nigeria.
