A former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Chief Adeboye Badejo, 75, in this interview recalls some interesting moments in his life
How do you spend your time in retirement?
As a matter of fact, I cannot tell you
how I’m spending my retirement because I have never thought of it. I’m
very busy even in what people call retirement because I was already used
to work. I am so lucky that I had a few establishments which need my
attention. So, this keeps me busy.
Can we describe you as a Lagos boy?
No way. I was born in Ijebu Igbo, Ogun
State and brought up in Kano. I went to school in Kano up to Class 4. I
did my Class Five in Methodist School in Okitipupa, Ondo State when I
left with an uncle who attended Wesley College. He spent just one year
there before he was transferred to Ilesha where I read Standard Six.
After that, I came back to Ijebu Igbo again to attend Molusi College
where I spent five years; five years that I cherish so much in my life
today. But I didn’t do well there. I struggled through Molusi College
and I barely made it; in fact, I didn’t make it.
Was it that you were too playful?
Too playful is an understatement. I can
tell you why I was too playful, for the two years that I was with my
uncle, I was very strictly monitored. So, I saw freedom when I got to
Molusi College and I became very playful. I had intelligence; even Tai
Solarin, our principal then, said so. He said, ‘Badejo, you are
intelligent but you apply your intelligence in the wrong direction.’ I
still have fond memory of those times; in fact I am still very close to
Molusi College today.
How was Molusi College at that time with Tai Solarin as principal?
It was the best thing that ever happened
to Ijebu Igbo because we were liberated religiously, in speech and we
expressed ourselves very confidently. We were taught music, arts but
science was Solarin’s priority even though he was not a science teacher.
He said that science would take us to the Promised Land and he didn’t
allow us to concentrate so much in arts, which was his turf. It was a
marvellous time we had.
Were students influenced by his views about religion?
No, he never taught us to be anything
more than what we were in terms of religious beliefs. He never asked
anybody to change their religion but the only thing he didn’t like was
all the taboos religions bestowed on us. Solarin would dismiss a student
for saying that he would not take chicken or a delicacy because of
religion. That did not say that he didn’t like your religion, he just
wanted you to be liberated, and those things taught us a lot of lessons.
I learnt a lot of things from Tai Solarin like being able to work hard
and stand on my own. Such has stood me in very good stead ever since. I
remember his famous quotation that I used to rely upon. ‘I can become
whatever I choose to be, no matter the condition that I find myself.
Nobody can sway me from achieving my height.’ That is not the exact
quotation but that is how I could paraphrase it. It gave us confidence
to be able to confront any challenge. Tai Solarin liberated all the
students in the school during my time and for doing that, some people
did not like him. They thought he was too radical. How could a student
come home and ask his father a question that was regarded as a taboo in
the family, like asking why the father was married to two wives. As a
liberated person, you can ask any question and that was Tai Solarin for
you.
You said you didn’t do well in the college. How then did you make up for it?
I didn’t do well in the sense that when I
wrote my final exams, I had just three passes. But that I am what I am
today is God’s doing. I thank Tai Solarin for it because of the
confidence he built in me to be able to confront whatever challenge that
comes my way. When I left school, I couldn’t get a job at the Western
Region with the result. But I saw my mates being employed or going to
the Nigeria College of Arts and Science. It then dawned on me that if I
was not careful, I could be left behind. So, I talked to myself that the
best thing for me was to relocate. I went back to Kano where I thought I
would be a champion because of the low level of civilisation. But I
could not be a champion because I had so many distractions in the
family. My cousins were making jest of me that even though I read ‘iwe
mewa’ (school certificate), I didn’t pass and could not get a job and
they could get even though they were doing what could be regarded as
menial jobs. They said that having gone through Molusi College, they
expected that I would come back shining. They even frustrated me by
saying that ‘awon to kawe mewa ti won o ri ise fise (those who read 10
books but could not get a job to do). In fact, I nearly committed
suicide as a result of their taunting (bursts into tears). That was
where my mother came into the show. My mother stood by me; she gave me
confidence that whatever I wanted, I would get. Even though I had no
work, my mother was ready to buy me a bicycle, Raleigh which was then
like a Mercedes Benz. She was ready to buy me gramophone because she got
to know that I was admiring people who had jobs. She wanted to put me
at par with those ones even though I had no job (weeps again). I had no
work but she wanted me to be comfortable. I had to relocate to Kaduna,
having failed to get a job in Kano because the people I relied upon
disappointed me. When I got to Kaduna, I was like a star. Through the
help of a man that liked me so much, I got a job with Barclays’ Bank
after passing their test. This was where my life started to take a turn
for change. Then, I had waited for seven months after school and
frustration had started setting in. When I started working, it was very
glaring that I was hungry for work. When they were checking, I lied that
I was awaiting result but because I worked so hard, they never
remembered to ask for my result again for the three years I worked
there. Within six months, they saw the potential in me and placed me for
higher services. For example, Kaduna used to be a civil servants’ city
and they were our customers. So, the manager called me and said,
‘Badejo, I know you are intelligent and I’m confident you are capable of
carrying out this assignment. Any civil servant you are sure his salary
would come at the end of the month, if he brings an IOU, approve it,
don’t bother to send it to me.’ That gave me some kind of ego and I was
becoming important in the bank. The civil servants too who now knew how
important I was to them, started inviting me to their homes. They would
give me beer and salad. I was on top of the world as a young boy of 17,
18 years. To eat salad and have a cold drink in those days was a luxury
only the top people could afford. I was doing this until I saw some of
my mates applying for passports to travel out of the country. I started
to consider travelling out of the country by writing an uncle in England
to ask whether I could come. I started to save money but I couldn’t
tell my parents about my plans because they probably would not allow me
to go. This is because if I was in Molusi College and I didn’t do well, I
could travel abroad and fail to bring back anything. That was how I
went abroad.
For the three years you spent working, was it not possible to re-sit the school certificate?
I do now know whether it was possible
but for someone who was not serious at school, to think of that would
have been a Herculean task. I would not even dream of it, because of so
many distractions, to sit down to read. Today, I sit down to work at
night. I allow afternoon distractions to ease off but when everybody has
gone, I would sleep a little, then sit up to work. It has become a part
of me till date.
What did you have in mind to do when you wanted to travel abroad?
I didn’t know what I was going to do but
my mum had been saying that I should be an accountant. She did not know
what accountancy was but she knew some people who were called
accountants simply because they were cashiers at John Holt, UTC and UAC.
As they were spending money lavishly, my mother said I must be an
accountant. I didn’t know what accountancy was either but I wanted to do
my mother’s wish. Immediately I got to England in 1961, I had a cousin
who mentored me to know what I was going to do. Being a banker back
home, I was already a student member of the Institute of Bankers in
England and I could take their exams, even with my three Ps.
The reason
why I didn’t go into banking was that at that time, the highest paid
banker in Barclay’s Bank then was earning £1,500 while at my level, I
was on £20 a month, which was £240 per annum. I considered it a tall
order and I didn’t see myself working towards that goal. By that time,
those who went to university would have come back and beat me to it. I
opted for leaving the bank to do something else. When I got to England,
some of my mentors wanted me to continue with banking but I said no, I
wanted something tougher that would enable me to set up something when I
returned to Nigeria. I told them I could not imagine myself setting up a
bank. The accountancy stuff came up but my three Ps were not adequate
for me to start. Fortunately in England, you could enrol for classes
even with the three Ps and I did that at Balham and Tooting College for
Accountancy. At the same time, I registered for my GCE and it paid off.
I worked so hard and I studied so hard. I went to work in the
afternoon, went to school at night, I would not sleep and it paid off.
Within six months, precisely June, 1962, I had already passed all the
subjects I needed for ACCA in brilliant colours. Having enrolled as ACCA
a student, I had options to go to school full-time or part-time and
work at a professional office or at a commercial office. But I was so
lucky to go through the professional office where I learnt on the job.
That was the best decision I took and that helped me in my profession.
Let me emphasise something, I tell you that I didn’t do well in school
to let young people know that failing in school certificate is not the
end of life. With determination, you can rise to the top of any
profession. Some people would tell you they were the best during their
days in school; I was one of the worst in class. The way we knew
ourselves was that Tai Solarin arranged our classes in order of results.
The best pupils would sit at the back while the rest would be at the
front. So, as a poor student, I was always in the front throughout the
time I was at Molusi College. I was so lucky that I never repeated any
class even though I was promoted on trial.
How then did you fare in England during your training?
I faced some challenges working in the
professional office as a black. With the help of a former teacher at
Molusi, I got a professional job where I was paid £4 a week whereas I
was paid £15 at a job I was doing before. Fortunately for me, my parents
were sending me £40 per month constantly and I was very prudent
throughout and I was able to pass my exams excellently well. Those of my
mates who had scholarship from government were in Leeds while I was in
London. They had thought I was an olodo (dullard) but they were
surprised that I was performing excellently, just as they were doing and
started wondering how I managed to do so. The professional experience
that I had, the determination to pass my exams and the financial support
I was getting from my parents back home helped a great deal in my
professional development. I finished ACCA in 1967 just like my mates who
had scholarships and the funny thing was that I had to come back home.
Those who had scholarships were eager to come back home to waiting jobs
but as God would have it, Peat Marwick snapped me up and brought me back
home. Those of my mates at Molusi College who trained as accountants
came back on £860 per annum and the highest of them was on £1500. I came
back on £2000 which was basic; I still had other allowances. Since that
time, those guys have not forgiven me for that and still envy me till
date.
How was it like coming back home?
The church we were attending could not
contain the number of people who came to meet me at the airport. In
those days, going to England and coming back with something was no mean
feat. My parents came from Kano while others came from Ijebu and they
had Aso Ebi to welcome me back to Nigeria. I have been in Lagos ever
since.
How many years did you spend with Peak Marwick before you left?
I spent three years. My sojourn anywhere
was three years. In Peak Marwick then, we had Tony Ani as one of the
Nigerian partners. We had other seniors like Alhaji Supo Adetona,
brother to the Awujale of Ijebuland, and we got on very well. At that
time, it was fashionable to develop indigenous partnerships. So, Mr
John Balogun, Mr. Ayanfalu and Alhaji Adetona came together to form
Adetona, Ayanfalu and Balogun and Co. But because of the craze to have a
good standing in the profession and the fact that foreign firms were
still popular, before Adetona joined them, Harmood Barner and Co.
snapped him up. But because Balogun still wanted him to have a stake,
Alhaji Adetona nominated me to replace him and I joined them. That was
April ,1 1971 which was the beginning of growth in the company.
For someone who struggled to shake off failure, did you close your eyes to marriage?
In a way, I wanted to but my mother
would not allow that to happen. When my mates were getting married, my
mother sent my girlfriend to me in England then as my wife. That helped
in a way but it was another kind of distraction but I never allowed that
to distract me. In fact, whenever my wife and I quarrelled was the time
I studied harder. I was very focussed and having left that slumber
period, I never allowed anything to distract me. Each time we
quarrelled, it was an opportunity for me to study more although the
marriage broke up at a time when we came back to Nigeria. but I have no
regret.
You said it was your mum that sent her to you in England. did the break-up have anything to do with that?
No, it didn’t have anything to do with
that. We were already in Nigeria before it happened. I came back in 1968
while she came back in 1970 and we stayed together till 1977 before we
parted ways due to Lagos trouble. But I got married again.
Did you leave Balogun and Ayanfalu and Co. to establish your own eventually?
No, I retired from there; the firm became Balogun, Badejo and Co. Out of the three musketeers, I’m the only one still alive.
You eventually became President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. Was it a dream or just to prove something?
Once you are doing well and going
higher, obviously you will want to go higher. Balogun became a council
member; I was just waiting that maybe one day, I could become a member.
When he became president of ICAN in 1980/81 and retired from the
council, my firm thought we needed to be in council and I was next to
him, so it was decided I should go to council. I stood for election and I
won. Eventually, I got to know that to get to the ICAN presidency was a
goal that could be achieved and I worked towards that.
Did you take to religion after all you went through?
When I left Molusi College and relocated
to Kano, it was like I was in the wilderness. So my father had a
reverend friend, Rev Ladejobi of the Church of the Lord, who normally
came to our house to pray for us. On one occasion when he prayed for me,
he suggested that I should have a prayer session for about a week. They
locked me up in a room and I was fed on fruits and my line of prayer
was ‘ogbon, oye and imo to gbooro.’ Those were the things I said for
seven days and it helped a great deal and it has been my guiding light
ever since.
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