I prepared £7,000 voucher for Balewa’s Rolls-Royce – 88-year-old retired accountant

The Lisa of Ondo Kingdom, High Chief Simeon Oguntimehin, 88, who is a retired chartered accountant and recipient of the national honour of the Officer of the Order of Niger, speaks to PETER DADA about his immediate post-independence experience, state of the nation now, his career and family life

What was growing up like for you?

I was born in this city, Ondo, 88 years ago, precisely on September 12, 1934. My family house is very close to the Lisa Court at Ayeferere, that was where I was born. I started school at the only infant school in the town then in Ondo, St. Stephen Infant School, in 1940; then went to St. Stephen Primary School at Odosida in 1943. I was there for only about two or three months when my father fell sick and passed away. I was eight years old at the time. By the grace of God, the struggle continued and my mother made sure that since my father had put me into school I must continue schooling. I was able to finish Standard Six. Then I proceeded to the only secondary school in Ondo axis then, the Ondo Boys High School, Ondo, which was founded in 1919. Admission into the school was very competitive then. About 850 of us took the entrance examination then because candidates came from as far as Kwara and Edo states. By the grace of God, I got in and I also got the Ondo Native Administration Scholarship.

I finished from Ondo Boys High School in 1954. I took Cambridge examination in Year Five. In fact, we were the last set that took Cambridge examination before the West African Senior School Certificate Examination was introduced. We vacated on December 16 (1954) and I went to Lagos that same day. It may interest you that by December 30 (1954), I had started work.

What kind of work did you do?

I moved to Lagos and served the Federal Government in what we called survey department then; from there, I moved to treasury. I was at the treasury for about two years before I left for England.

I started as an unconfirmed third-class clerk then, because in those days we had what they called confirmation test and you had to take it three years before your confirmation. I remember one specific case, the first Roll-Royce that the Nigerian Government bought for Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, I was the one who prepared the voucher, it was £7, 000 then.

I was still unconfirmed third-class clerk by the time I left for England.

What did you leave for England to do?

I had a cousin who asked me what I wanted to do after secondary school. The popular thing at that time was to go to the University of Ibadan, which was the only university then, to read Law. Not many people were familiar with accountancy. It was my cousin who told me about Akintola Williams, who was then the only qualified indigenous accountant in the country. I decided I wanted to become an accountant; so, I had to go study in England. It was just like a gamble because as of that time, one could count the number of indigenous accountants on the fingers of the hand. Majority of the accountants in the country then were white men.

How did you finance your studies in the UK?

It was too much of a risk but life is a risk itself. When I got the (admission) letter, they said, ‘Okay, we will take you in for six months, if you prove to be somebody that could be an accountant we will retain you and within that six months we are not going to give you money.’ I was the first Nigerian and black man to be articled in Oxford for accountancy. The results came and they said I passed. After the six months, they articled me and they were paying me £4 per week. Out of the £4, my rent was £2. Within a year I passed the intermediate examination. Even with that intermediate, if I had returned to Nigeria, I would be a senior civil servant, riding a car. Within a period of four years, I completed the course and I came back to Nigeria. In 1959, they sent some people from Nigeria to those of us in England. They said Nigeria was about gaining independence and there were no accountants, so, they wanted to give us scholarship, with a condition of five years bond. That was the normal thing then. I told my principal about the offer, but he said I was not a civil service type of person. So, I didn’t take the scholarship but by the grace of God I didn’t fail any of my exams. By 1961, I was done and was back in Nigeria.

What informed your decision to come back to Nigeria?

A year earlier, Nigeria got independence and we had high hopes and there were lots of opportunities. I arrived in Nigeria on a Sunday and by Monday I went to choose the colour of the car I wanted, a brand new car. The total amount, including insurance, was £1,036. It was an Opel Rekord, which was more prestigious than Peugeot.

Immediately I got my intermediate in England I knew I wasn’t return to Nigeria to work for government. I told you I was in the treasury (before leaving to study in England). Our boss, the principal accountant was an Englishman. The Accountant General was also a white man. He went on leave to Sierra Leone; maybe he fell sick and probably died. We got to know then that his salary was £1,500 per annum. My own salary was £150 per annum. I said this thing didn’t make sense and that was why I told myself I would never go back to work in the civil service.

I started to write applications to practising firms in Nigeria, just like I did when I was going to England. A particular man, Ososanya, who was based in Ibadan then, replied me. That is how my firm was Z.O. Ososanya & Co. And that was where I was for 33 solid years. Apart from Akintola Williams, our firm was the largest in Western Nigeria.

I made my contributions to my professional association – the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. For 10 years, I was the treasurer (of ICAN). I was made to serve in that position for 10 years; they said that I couldn’t go until I got promoted to vice president and then president in 1995.

You noted that you returned to Nigeria as a qualified accountant in 1961, a year after the country gained independence. As someone who has seen independent Nigerian through different phases, what are your thoughts about the current state of the nation?

I thank God for my life because the Nigeria we foresaw then is different from what we are seeing now. That is the painful aspect, because in 1961 after my qualification in the United Kingdom, Nigeria had just got independence and I just felt why would I stay back in England. So, I decided to come back home. Everything was alright until 1966 when soldiers seized power. And till day, we have never got over the impact of that as a nation. All the expectations and the hopes that heralded the independence have, unfortunately, become dashed for many Nigerians.

What kind of expectations did Nigerian have as of then?

At that time, it was only Ghana, which was Gold Coast before 1957, that had got its independence from the British rule. In 1957, 1958, they were having constitutional conference, hoping that Nigeria too would get independence. We had the hope that with what happed in Ghana, we were likely to get independence between 1959 and 1960 and things would turn around for the better.  We have to our advantage, population, land mass and mineral resources. Oil was discovered, I think, in 1956. With all that, we thought that the nation was headed for the moon. Things were going on well until there were some interventions not just by soldiers but also by the politicians because I believe that if the politicians hadn’t misbehaved, soldiers wouldn’t have had any grounds to suddenly step in.

You think that was when things began to derail for the country?

Yes. For instance, look at 1966 when the soldiers came in, before then we were operating a federal system, and things were going on well. When the soldiers came in, the first action unfortunately that (the late Maj. Gen. Johnson) Aguiyi-Ironsi took was that he cancelled federal system of government and introduced the unitary system and that created a problem, which we are still facing today. That was where our problem started. If we had followed the federal system religiously as laid down before the British people left, we would have definitely fared better.

Look at what happened as far back as 1955 in the regions, Awolowo and his government started free education. Immediately that was done in 1955, the East followed suit in 1956, and even northern Nigeria followed. There was healthy competition, the regions were flourishing.

Cocoa was what we relied upon here in the West. In the East, they had palm kernel and palm oil. In the North, they had cotton and groundnut. So, each of the regions was developing and doing well. Unfortunately, it was that the unitary system of government that Aguiyi-Ironsi introduced in 1966 that the soldiers followed and the current constitution is still more or less in the same pattern, everything being concentrated in the central government; it shouldn’t be so.

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Now it’s 62 years post-independence and, as you have pointed out, things have gone far worse than the beginning. Do you think the Nigerian situation can be remedied?

Yes, I believe it can. About two weeks ago, I heard the President saying he had given an order to law enforcement agencies to arrest civilians in illegal possession of Ak-47. But why did he wait till now to give the order? Don’t you see that as a political statement? Well, he’s a politician. All those people arrested in the past, from the killers of Bola Ige, how many of such has been addressed?

I feel sad because in those days, even in this Ondo, when I was young man in my 20s, I used to take our cocoa to Lagos by night travel and there was nothing to fear. I have traveled all over this country both day and night, security was not a problem. But today, you’re not even secured in your house. That is how sad the situation is.

Do you still have hope in the country?

I still have hope; it is only a question of leadership. I have hope in Nigeria because it has all it takes to be a great country. You are talking of population, we have it, you are talking of land mass, we have it, you are talking of water, we have it, you are talking of mineral resources, we have them; so, I still have hope. I have been to Israel so many times and I know how they are performing excellently in agriculture. So, there is still hope for this country. If we go back to where we started from, there is still hope for this country.

In my lifetime, I want to see Nigeria come back to what God has destined it to be. It is a great country and I want it to come back to that greatness.

As the Lisa of Ondo Kingdom, you are otherwise the kingdom’s Prime Minister. Did you always know from the very beginning that you would occupy this position?

No! And I never even nursed the ambition. Let me tell you, even my previous position as Gbogi, I was recommended for it without my consent. I never lobbied for it and the current position that I occupy is even more powerful than the previous one. It is surprising to me to find myself here; I am just a miracle boy. That is why I don’t take bribes from people. I have never lobbied for any position or done anything extraordinary in my life or to get anything and I am lucky for the person that I married and all the children God gave me.  Not only that, I have never been hospitalised in my life, I don’t get sick, so I am a miracle boy.

When this current position was vacant, I was called upon. I saw people contesting for the position, but I never joined the contest. The previous occupier was my close friend. We were primary school classmates and I was even instrumental in his being appointed as the Lisa. So, I couldn’t be struggling to take his position after his demise. But people insisted I must contest. And then I was chosen from among the contestants. And this is why I have poured my whole heart into this to ensure everything succeeds. I’ve never fought for any position, even the ICPC (Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission) appointment that I got during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.

What role did you play in the ICPC?

I was not even in Nigeria then and when I returned, somebody called me and said I should sent my CV to the then President Obasanjo and that I should not reject the offer. In the composition of the ICPC, there must be two members from each geographical zone and there is a provision that there must be a chartered accountant. My papers were sent to the National Assembly and I was screened and I filled that position. I was representing South-West and our chairman, Justice (Emmanuel) Ayoola, was also from the South-West. We thank God; we were able to make some impact.

How soon after you returned from England did you get married and how did you meet your wife?

I got married to my wife 60 years ago. She was my girlfriend from Ondo even before I left for Lagos. We were together for two to three years before I left Ondo. But one thing to her credit, throughout 1955, 1956 while I was in Lagos, she still remained faithful, even when I was in England. We have been married for 60 years now but we had known each other for 10 years before we got married.

When we were about getting married, the family said I should first make sure that she was pregnant before talking about marriage. But I said no, because there were no barren people in our families and I told them to leave me alone. We got married in August and our first child came a day after our first wedding anniversary. If she wanted to give birth to more children, she was capable but as an accountant, tax form permits only four children.

Did you have any girlfriend while you were in England?

Well, I had one and I told her that there was someone back home that I was also dating. My girlfriend in England was white and there was no way I could tell her lies.

When you became the Lisa, were you under any kind of pressure to marry another wife?

No; nobody told me that. If that was a criterion, I wouldn’t have taken the title.

I came to Ondo only nine years ago when I became the Lisa. Before then only visited for traditional activities. I was based in Ibadan before relocating to Ondo in January, 2014. I lived in Ibadan for 52 years. I have travelled to virtually everywhere in Nigeria. We were so fortunate when we were raising our children. My wife was only 40 when I asked her to resign from Union Bank, known as Barclay Bank then, in order to devote more time to raise the children. She left the bank in 1977. The children are doing very well.

Is there an accountant among them?

Yes, one qualified as a chartered accountant but he branched into so many things. I did not force him to study accountancy, others too are doing well.

Now at 88, when you look back, is there something you regret?

I don’t have any regrets. I just felt God created me specially. I have published a book titled: ‘My Destined Career’. I was destined to be an accountant. If not, there was no way I could have been one. I was destined for this profession. As I said to you earlier on, I was the first black man to be articled in Oxford and later the late Ben Okafor was articled. So I have no regrets, God intentionally created me and He knew I would become something. I never vied for any post. I’ve never taken bribes from anybody, because I know God would judge me if I do. I’ve neither taken it nor ever given it anyone.

(Punch)