Amb. YEMI FAROUNBI Reflects On Life @ 80

Nigeria’s former Ambassador to the Phillipines Ambassador Yemi Farounbi, is 80. He turned 80 recently and City People Magazine,  went to interview him in Ibadan. It was a Special 80th Birthday interview that was held at his Ibadan residence.

How does he feel as he turns 80? What’s on in his mind? What are his thoughts?

He smiled. “First of all, let me thank you in particular for finding time to come all the way from Lagos. People tell me I have succeeded, but I always laugh. You don’t know there are so many people behind the scene who have made this possible.”

“I am grateful to God today because I’m where I am by His Grace. He has put me at the right place at the right time.”

“So each time the door is opened, you’ll  find out that I’m the one by the door. But more importantly, God surrounded me with incredibly good and excellent people, either those that we worked together, in the various organizations that I worked, or we have interfared, as associates, as friends, or as colleagues.”

“And all of them, have created the brand that is known as Yemi Farounbi today. I tap from people, I learn from them, I gain from them. Sometimes I possess the ideas they have given me.”

“And when I use them, they see them as authentically mine. So, I feel happy as an individual.”

“Today, if anyone had told me I will reach this age I will argue. My father was a Priest of the Anglican Church. He barely couldn’t pay my fees in secondary school. When I left, Christ School Ado Ekiti I was owing some money, not to talk of paying my fees in the university. But somehow, I met somebody who assisted. And then, God took over from there.”

“I was able to get a University Scholarship. I didn’t think about Media, as what to do. As a matter of fact, I was more interested in Geology. As a young man, then, I thought that going into Geology was a way of making quick money. You do Geology, then you can go and  work in Shell.”

“There was no Chevron in Nigeria at the time. But then, I had the opportunity to do postgraduate work. I had fellowships, but I didn’t have a Passport. So, I began looking for work in Lagos or Ibadan, so that I can follow up with the Passport office in Lagos. You remember it was at Kakawa Street. That was the only Passport office in Nigeria. I saw the advert of WNTV, and I applied. They asked me to go and do Aptitude Test, along with many others. And they said I passed. They invited me for interview.”

“And I told them my story. I needed a Passport. I want to leave as soon as I get the passport. And I left the interview. But apparently, the aptitude test had shown the aptitudes that I have, that I myself didn’t know, like the ability to write plays, the ability to write stories, the ability to tell stories, the ability to package stories. Eventually, later I even started packaging films. I made Celluloid Films. I made about 12 Television programmes and drama series. Those were things I didn’t know. So, if I was not looking for a job, so that I can go and check about my Passport, I would not have known that I had this skill set. And I would not have interfaced with the Media. And strangely, I told them I would leave as soon as I got my Passport. I got my Passport in 6 months. 50 years plus I am still in the Media. So, it is a mixture of God’s Grace. I’m so grateful to my colleagues, my mentors like Engr. Teju Oyeleye who eventually gave me the job in UNTV Eng. Vincent Maduka who showed me so much love and respect. It’s a mixture. A lot of great people like Nelson Ipaye, Yomi Onabolu. And a lot of very young people like  Biodun Sotunbi, Laolu Oguniyi, Biodun Alade Komo.”

“They made broadcasting so exciting for me. So, I’m grateful to God and I’m grateful to all of you, my good friends.”

“And particularly you the young ones, who are a little bit younger than me.”

I thank people like Mr. Felix Adenaike, Clement Ige, Chief Tola Adeniyi. We became a Gang as it were, They made Broadcasting so exciting for me. I am grateful to God, all of you, particularly you young ones who interfaced with me. I had a lot of bilateral relationships with so many people who have made me today. And there are great men I never met who mentored me.”

One of them is Mahatma Ghandi I love his selflessness. I love the fact that without being a Prime Minister, without being a Councillor, without being anything he made such a great impact. That one taught me that you can change a society, you can add value to the society without necessarily being a President. Nelson Mandela is one of my mentors that I never succeeded in meeting. Mandela went to prison for 27 years and had the opportunity of becoming President and spent only 4 years. A typical African who spent 4 years to compensate for the 27 years in prison. I saw that kind of selflessness. Intellectually, I loved it.”

“Then I had the privilege of sitting with Baba Awolowo many times. I saw something in him. The fire that motivated him: How can I change this society? How can it become better? How can I improve on this? How can I give the greatest good to the greatest number of people? I saw that in him. I saw in him that for you to succeed, you must have a Vision of who you want to be.

When you came in this morning, the first thing I asked you, was how have you managed to stay afloat all these years with City People? I see your hard work. I see your hand almost everywhere. There’s no week I don’t see City People. That shows me you have a Vision for your life. So, from Awolowo I learnt that you must have a Vision. That Vision must not change.

But the techniques of achieving this Vision can changed. Technology has changed. Now we have online radio, online TV. Also, we use various social media platforms. These are changing techniques. But that Vision has not changed.”

“It was from Awo also that I found that when you have a Vision, you must develop the Competence that will allow you to deliver on the Vision. Otherwise, you’ll just be a dreamer. If you have a Vision of what you want to become and you have no Competency, you don’t have the knowledge, you don’t have the skill, you don’t have the expertise, you don’t have the networking or the relationship, then you’re going to be a failure.”

“So, I learned that. And the 3rd thing that I learned from him is that for you to succeed you must have a good Character. People must be able to speak up, be able to say. Yes, I Trust him. I can relate with him. If he tells me something, I can hold on to it. So, he’s one of my mentors that I met.

Of course, Bola Ige led me to him. And when I left NTA, Bola Ige insisted on starting a television station. I was not going to work again for anybody because I was tired of working with politicians.

I saw the shenanigans the NPN tried to do with NTA. They tried to mess up with me and I messed up with them. Eventually, I had to leave. But when he told me he wanted to start the best Television in Africa, I said, Why? He said my leader, Obafemi Awolowo, started the first. So, he wanted to do the best. And I think you can do this for me.”

“So, we started working together, trying to be what we call the maker of Television in Africa. A television station where it would be like a market. You  can buy what you can get what you want at the right time, at the right quality, at the right quantity. We hadn’t exactly finished that, when he had to leave, for second time. So, I had to assist him. Eventually, they said he didn’t win, even though the people said he won. So, he left. But in the course of that, he had led me into the Progressive governors and I met Solomon Lar Nwobodo, Bakare, Balarabe, all of them. So, he opened doors for me.”

“And of course, I met Nnamdi Azikwe. I met Aminu Kano. I met the Politics without bitterness man, Waziri Ibrahim. And Buhari came and put all of them in jail. They were released, some died. So, myself and a group of people there, Solati, Mohamed Solati, we were the young ones left. We had to visit Baba Awolowo with Sheikha Oluo. So, when I had regular contact, we were able to talk about these things. I was able to ask him impossible questions. Things like, Baba, they say you don’t forgive. And Baba will explain. Or Baba they say, you don’t really believe in God. And I found that he is very profound. It’s not what people say about him that I found.

“He’s a very humorous person, you know, but always learning. I remember one day, I went to him and told him something. I can’t remember now.”

“And he said, that sounds true. He said, where did you find that from? I said, I got it from you. He said, can you find me a copy of that? I was so excited. So, what did I do? I got it for N2.50 or something like that. So, I gave it to him. And he insisted on paying me back.

He said, because he didn’t ask me to come and give him. He said, I will find you a copy. And then, when I went back in another three weeks, he had read the book and he went into a lively discussion with me. He explained, why he liked it. So, I looked at it. At that age, he’s Prime Minister.

At that age, he was being taught Econometrics,. Mathematical economics. I mean, that was the man who had been head of government, not only in the West, but in Nigeria. He was the Prime Minister effectively. And the man who had led us through the Civil War, was still learning new things. So, I said, who am I? So, I gave that to him. I’m a man that God just loves.

–Seye Kehinde