When he was elected into the House of Representatives in 1999, Nze Chidi Duru was one of the shining stars of the National Assembly. As chairman of the House Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, he had his imprimatur on every transformational law enacted during that era.
Unfortunately, the invidious politics of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo forced him to beat a hasty retreat from politics, devoting, instead, his energy, time and resources to his businesses in the hospitality, real estate and fintech industries.
In this interview with Ikechukwu Amaechi, Nze Duru with razor-sharp precision dissects the problems confronting Nigeria and proffers solutions.
You were a pioneer lawmaker in this Fourth Republic House of Representatives. You held sway for two terms (1999 to 2007) and then disappeared, literally. What happened, what have you been doing since then?
From 2007 when I left the National Assembly, I focused more of my time, energy and resources to rebuilding my business. It is important that I mention here that before I went into politics full time in 1999, I already founded a company with interest in the environment, asset management, etc.
So, I went back to rebuild my business. Fortunately, in the course of my stay in the National Assembly, I had the singular privilege of founding a company in the pension industry called First Guarantee Pensions Limited (FGPL), which I was the Vice Chairman. So, a lot more time was devoted to it and my holding company, Grand Towers Limited.
Grand Towers Limited is more of a private equity investor that invests in identifiable opportunities in different sectors and one of the sectors we identified was the absence of shopping malls in Nigeria and our first investment was the Grand Towers Mall which is the first lifestyle shopping centre in Abuja. It was cited in the Apo District. The first Shoprite was in my mall in Abuja. Today, Shoprite is in about four other malls in Abuja. But I was the first person that had contact with Shoprite. I brought them to Abuja.
So, from 2007 like I said, I got more involved in rebuilding my business and then, of course, getting involved in the affairs of my community – inspiring the younger ones, sharing my time, and my experience with them and of course, mentoring, which is something I like to do. And I have done that over the years given the history of my family and where I come from.
You were an award-winning legislator, one of the shining stars of the House of Representatives and it was unusual for such a person to retreat from political limelight. What actually informed your decision to give politics a wide berth?
It was not a deliberate choice. That decision was forced on me and some others. In 1999 when we were elected for the first time into the House of Representatives, we set up a group called G14 with people like Nduka Irabor, Tony Anyanwu, Acho Obioma, Farouk Lawan, Suleiman Isiaku, etc., and our goal was to change the leadership paradigm.
We wanted to contribute our quota in determining how the country was run. And then, with our shared vision, see whether we can help to position Nigeria differently by running the best practices in governance as you will find anywhere in the world.
Between 1999 and 2000, I believe we succeeded largely because when we had the first Speaker, Salisu Buhari, a lot of us felt that he could neither represent us nor reflect the standing of most of us that were members of the House. Therefore a guided push was led by us to ensure that we removed him as the Speaker and ushered in Ghali Na’Abba. That principle guided us even when it became apparent that there was a deliberate effort by the government of the day to ensure that over 95 per cent of us did not return to the House in 2003.
And, in fact, 95 per cent of our colleagues didn’t come back. I only came back to the House in 2003 through the law courts. But the principle never left us. So, by 2007, it was very clear that having fought the battle of third term, having continued to hold true to what we believed in, which is, belief in Nigeria and the fact that we have something much more to offer than the normal ways of playing politics in the country, the government had taken a deliberate step to ensure that under no circumstances would somebody like Nze Chidi Duru come back to the National Assembly.
So, after that, I took a bow. It wasn’t deliberate, it was forced on me. There was no other way other than to exit the scene and face my commitment to my business and of course, my family.
As a person, you are private-sector minded with a focus on development, an orientation you took to the National Assembly. While there, you were instrumental for the Pension Reform Act of 2004. What motivated you?
By my training as a lawyer, I say it with every sense of conviction that Nigeria is not in want of laws. What we need in the country is enforcement of our laws. And I also believe that we need to begin to address the policy thrust and institutional reforms that are required to move Nigeria from where we are right now to where we would like the country to be – Nigeria competing with the rest of the world.
And one of the things that gave me joy was being offered the opportunity to serve as the chairman of the House Committee on Privatization and Commercialization. Earlier before then, I was invited to chair the House Committee on Appropriation and I felt that my talent and my ability will be better utilized in a committee such as privatization and commercialization. And people did not understand how one was given a Grade A committee and he was turning it down for what was thought to be a committee that people could not just understand what it meant.
I was also fortunate to work with a reform-minded Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mallam Nasiru el-Rufai, who was responsible for midwifing the privatization and commercialization efforts of the government under the chairmanship of the then Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.
Working together, we midwifed a number of reform-minded policy thrusts in Nigeria and birthed what we are now enjoying in the telecommunications space which is the Telecoms Reform Act that ushered in the mobile network operators in Nigeria. Today, we have four operators – MTN, Glo, Airtel and 9Mobile. The goal was very clear. We needed to enable Nigerians to communicate with ease. If you remember at that time, it was claimed that telephone was not for the poor. But we were very convinced that if we were able to put telephone lines in the hands of Nigerians, it would greatly transform not only our social lives but how we relate with each other. It would transform our economy because it will enable a lot of businesses to thrive.
Again, working with El-Rufai, we were able to look into the horizon and came to appreciate the fact that we needed to also reform the power sector and we were lucky to have passed that law. First, we attempted in 2003 but failed. In 2004, we started the process again and in 2005, it was passed and assented into law as an Act of Parliament. But unfortunately, the politics of that time did not allow the full liberalization and the investment that was required to see through the reform. If it was done then when the whole world, investors from all across the globe were looking towards Nigeria to invest, I can bet that the issue of power in Nigeria would have been long addressed.
The other thing we talked about but which unfortunately we couldn’t see through was the Anti-Trust Law which we championed but obviously because of the lack of understanding of the impact and import of dominant companies in the economy, it was very difficult to lead members to understand that unless we innovate the rules and regulations that inhibit anti-trust behaviour in the country, Nigeria will suffer. Unfortunately, it was one bill I was interested in but I couldn’t get it passed before I left parliament but I am happy that in 2019, it was eventually passed, of course, with some measure of confusion.
There is the confusion whether it is an anti-trust law or consumer law. What is obvious is that all emphasis is on the consumer aspect of the implementation of the act than on the anti-trust behaviour.
And of course, you mentioned the Pension Reform Act. There is no country in the world that has made progress without long term funding and it is the pension assets that provide long term funding that jumpstarts investment, development and in more ways than one, puts funds in the hands of private equity funders, venture capitalists to be able to take long term position in assets that they will like to acquire.
For example, South Africa has close to $500 to $700 billion pension assets and many countries in the world have pension assets size of well over $3 trillion to $5 trillion. And we felt that in Nigeria, with the pension gap, even without looking at the benefit of a reformed and restructured pension class in Nigeria, many of us are witnesses to the fact that it used to be the case that our parents, friends and brothers who worked in the civil service, would actually retire and die without accessing their pension because they were largely unfunded.
So, one of the strategic decisions that we took when I got involved in the pension industry was to ask, what is it that we can do to address the challenges that faced civil servant while they were working and when they retire. One of those things was the unfunded pension scheme. And we looked at Chile and many other countries that had been successful in running pension schemes and settled for the Chilean model which was to transform from an unfunded pension scheme to a funded model to the extent that you are certain that your contribution to your scheme while you are working is not only saved but it is secure, guaranteed, and when you retire, what you get as your pension can take care of your lifestyle for the rest of your life. That is the first benefit. The second one is to also have a pool of funds that should be targeted at long term investments and development.
Today, we have close to about N11 trillion in our pension assets and that in a way is good news even though in 2004 when we passed that bill, we had expected that by 2015, the assets and contributions in our pension scheme will be in the region of N30 trillion to N40 trillion. And then if we are talking of 2020, we should be discussing about N50 trillion to N60 trillion pension assets. So, imagine what that would have been if those assets class are targeted at road infrastructure, railways, airports, and a number of those assets class that can guarantee returns to the pensioners.
The country, no doubt, is in a bad shape. When people like you who have passion and the vision of what it would take to fix the country stay away from politics and public office office, how can the country be fixed?
Well, like I said, I didn’t leave politics. Politics left me. I was forced out but I give kudos to people like El-Rufai, who, in spite of all odds, have remained faithful, people like Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti State and others for their contributions.
Were they all members of the G14?
No, but they belonged to a larger group that we also belonged to with the Pat Utomis of this world. But in 2019, I tried my hand again in politics. But as appealing as the ticket was, unfortunately I come from a state that could not find a reason to justify my association with the All Progressives congress (APC). And regardless of their view as to the appropriateness of my ticket, and the fact that I will make effective representation, when it came to speaking with their votes, they decided otherwise.
So, in answer to your question, having taking that decision in 2019, it means that if given the opportunity, one will make himself available and then continue to contribute his quota. But outside of politics, one has done a lot in improving the life of my people in the community and people around me. But we could do a lot more given the space in the political arena to continue to change our country, and reposition Nigeria in a way that we can compete with the rest of the world. If you go to Ghana today, things have changed and it is no rocket science.
There are basic principles of what it takes to build a country. Once we begin to put things in place, I believe Nigeria will be a better place than it is currently.
Some Nigerians believe that the only way out of the country’s myriad problems is restructuring. But the idea seems to mean different things to different people. What are your views on restructuring?
I believe that institutional reform is very important. But I also believe that more important is that players in the political space must come to an understanding of the appreciation of the higher responsibility or the burden they bear by being elected into positions of authority and use their good offices in transforming Nigeria.
Our slip as a country goes far back to 1999 when out of God’s grace former Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo, was elected civilian president. And the wish of most of us and I believe the international community was that he would invest his time, energy and resources in helping to create a new Nigeria. He didn’t do that. I believe that what happened to us started when we left governance and began to play politics and that seed was sown between 2000 and 2001 when the president and his minders deliberately undermined the Constitution of Nigeria with respect to the election of the chairmen and councillors of local governments.
The Constitution was very clear that after two years, an election will be conducted and the chairmen and councillors of the 774 local governments of Nigeria will then be elected but because of politics, Obasanjo convened a National Council of State meeting where on the pretense that the voter register was not ready and having agreed with the then Alliance for Democracy governors, and some of the governors on the platform of APP, they came up with a system that enabled the governors to appoint chairmen and councillors of local governments. Nothing could have been more fundamentally disruptive than that singular act because the Constitution of a country is the grundnorm, the spirit that guides the country. So, if you can undermine the Constitution, you can undermine any other law.
So, it was very clear that the operators of the Constitution and people at the helm of affairs in Nigeria could willy-nilly undermine the very basic laws under which they came to power and the rest of the infractions as we saw from that time to 2007 and till date took roots in what happened in 2001.
The attempt to change the laws of Nigeria to enable a sitting president run for a third term was again a needless distraction that ought not to have happened. And the fact that people at the helm of affairs whether at the national or state levels were encouraged not to hand over to their deputies, at least to give them a trying chance to be elected. Because the basis of having a deputy governor or a vice president is that when you are exiting, having done your two terms, the vice president or deputy governors as the case may be who you have mentored over the years and learnt under your tutelage will be given the opportunity to offer themselves to the electorate to see whether they will be elected or not. But it happened that in the 36 states, it was only in one that the governor handed over to his deputy
At the federal level, the president ignored the vice president and went for Governor Umaru Yar’Adua who subsequently became the PDP candidate and ultimately president of Nigeria and of course, the rest is history.
So, institutional reform, restructuring by any word so-called, is so important. But more important is that people at the helm of affairs should realise that the weight of the burden and responsibility they carry by being elected on behalf of the people of a given constituency to run the affairs, to represent them and to discharge the responsibility to the benefit of their constituents is for me more overarching and more fundamental in addition to the institutional reforms that we are talking about.
Do I agree with restructuring? By all means I do. I see the need for it and I am one of the advocates who believe that Nigeria will be a lot better when we look at these things and address them holistically.
I don’t know if you are aware that the El-Rufai-led APC committee recommended restructuring as one of the signposts that APC as a party in government should champion but of course as we speak, I don’t think there has been any deliberate effort on the part of the government to do so.
Why do you think those opposed to restructuring always see it as an attempt to divide the country?
In our many engagements in our areas of influence, among colleagues and contemporaries, it is always a learning exercise, for us to understand what we actually mean by restructuring and how that affects us as a people and as a country. It does not mean separation or cessation, or parting of ways.
What it means is giving people more responsibility to be able to deliver more. Take the example of state police as one of the items that has been discussed and put on the table as a component of restructuring or true federalism. The fear of most people is that if you leave police in the hands of governors, or local governments it will lead to abuse. But the counterpoint to that logic is that the abuse still exists even today that they are in the Exclusive List.
The fears are not misplaced but a clear understanding will give each and every one of us comfort to understand that you are better policed and protected because one who comes from the locality understands the terrain, culture of the people and they are empowered in such a way that enables them be the best they can possibly be and they are also answerable to the people. And in doing that, it will also ensure that the law as we have it is not just for decoration, it is meant to be enforced and implemented to the extent that I cannot be seen to be breaching the law without sanctions.
On the matter of giving each state or region the control of the resources in their environment, again there is an argument for it because if you take ownership of what you produce, and then you can see the benefits that come from it, it will encourage you to do more because when you do, you make more money. And if you make more money, you are likely to protect it and if you protect it, the center will only take a certain percentage of what comes from your sweat. Not that you produce, and the resources accruing from your labour will be appropriated by others, so it becomes any man’s which is no man’s property.
Before crude oil, we had the groundnut pyramids in the north, palm kernels in the east and cocoa in the West and these were the resources that were used to develop the respective regions. And we now know that in each state in Nigeria, there are abundant, inherent mineral resources, which if well exploited, harnessed and managed could potentially contribute to the economy of the country.
So, it is an engagement that we need to do and it is an engagement that I believe that given the avalanche of discussions over the years, people are becoming more aware and conscious of the fact that we need to reform, we need to restructure, we need to come together and bring those things that will enable us as Nigerians tread the path of progress and development.
And when you travel out of the country, even to countries in West Africa, they have just done the basic things. And those basic things have placed them where they are today. We cannot be different.
This is the era of knowledge, the era of technology. Knowledge is power. It has nothing to do with the resources underneath the earth. One of Ali Baba’s companies, a payment platform, was listed on the Hong Kong exchange for $38 billion and that is just a small part of his business. These are the areas we should be looking at and the only way we can do that in my view is education, knowledge, empowerment, understanding the sense of oneness and believing that we are working together for the betterment of Nigeria and then the fact that I am successful will also mean that the other man needs to be successful for us to co-exist.
When Boko Haram happened, a few people felt that it was a political tool of the north to put pressure on the government of Goodluck Jonathan but people who were discerning also realised that that was bad politics because if one part of Nigeria was in trouble, before you know it, it will consume all of us. And that is the insecurity we are having in Nigeria today. Because Boko Haram festered for two, three, four years and we couldn’t stop it, the rogue elements took over and began to see the profit in the whole debacle, and extended their frontiers to other states in the north to the extent that most areas of the north are no longer safe. And now they have extended their frontiers beyond the north to the southern part of the country.
So, as a country, our wish and desire will be that we live together as one, protecting ourselves and working together with shared prosperity and values.
A school of thought believes that Nigeria’s democracy is too expensive and some insist that bicameral legislature is a luxury we can ill-afford. Others have gone beyond that to advocate for part-time lawmakers. What is your opinion?
I believe that as it is currently run, Nigeria’s parliament is part-time because it seats from Tuesday to Thursday. Mondays, Fridays, and weekends are used for what is called constituency visits or oversight. I am one of those who believe that what we need in Nigeria may not necessarily be part-time legislature or unicameral legislature but a potential return to the parliamentary system of government that enables people to spend more time in representing their constituency in the parliament and also if your party is in power, from the parliamentarians, ministers are picked.
So, you are performing a dual function – executive and legislative. And to ensure that those who get into parliament are men and women who have achieved and distinguished themselves in their various endeavours and who are going to the parliament to contribute their quota for the progress of Nigeria unlike what obtains now where those that are elected may not have distinguished themselves or have any reference to what they have done in their private life to warrant them to be in parliament to move those legislations and oversights that will help governance in Nigeria.
Unicameral legislature may be it if we insist on having presidential system of government. My preference, though would be a parliamentary system of government. But more importantly, we must have laws that will ensure that people don’t go to parliament as a means of livelihood but as a means of contributing their quota for the good of the country.
Your business interest covers the hospitality, real estate, technology industries. What informed your choice and how has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on your hospitality business?
As a person, my first business principle is to identify what I call disruptive businesses that impact on lifestyle and change how we live and more importantly earn us profit. When we got involved in the shopping mall, that was the underlining principle. A number of us travel beyond the shores of this country and when you are coming back, you see Nigerians logging multiple bags of things they have bought for themselves, family members and loved ones to the extent that most airlines make more money from excess luggage charges than from airfares.
And it is so because there are shopping malls in those countries with big time retailers that market a number of items that are not easily available in Nigeria. And the only shopping mall we had at that time in Nigeria was The Palms in Lagos. That got our attention and we needed to bring Shoprite. It took years of engagement. It got to a point that if we were not resilient and passionate about what we wanted to achieve, we would have given up. But finally in 2012/2013, we completed the Grand Towers Shopping Mall and Shoprite birthed and Abuja changed.
Again, our investment in the pension assets, First Guarantee Pensions Limited, was also life changing. Of course, in the emerging new world of technology, being able to make payments on your phone is the big deal, thus the idea of the Airvend company.
So, underlining our interests is always identifying a disruptive industry, that will enhance value, and lifestyle, and of course enable Nigerians to live the same lifestyle as their counterparts overseas. And we believe that once we are able to achieve that, the bottom-line as our businesses have always shown will look good.
On the hospitality industry, before COVID-19, we were confident that people will always travel and when they do, they will find a place to sleep and we felt that we needed to also get involved in that space. So Bon Hotels Grand Towers sprang up. We partnered with a global brand which was formerly called Protea but now Bon. They are now managing all our assets in the hospitality industry. We identified an opportunity in Ekiti. Ado Ekiti has the Ikogosi Warm Spring, which is more of a resort on its own and well managed could also help to build a destination in-country tourism and if that happens will boost the state economy. And Ekiti has about three universities and one outstanding one which is the Afe Babalola University, one of the best private universities in Nigeria and West Africa and which has also built one of the best medical facilities in Africa. And then, we have one coming up in Owerri. As you know, Owerri is land of tourism and hospitality and if not for COVID-19, Owerri was to be ready before the end of this year. But we are happy to say that before the end of next year, it will be up and running.
How worried are you about the possibility of Shoprite divesting from Nigeria?
It is very unfortunate in the sense that it took hard work and a lot of traversing between Nigeria and South Africa to encourage the promoters of Shoprite to come to Nigeria before they took the investment decision. We approached many other grocery chains in South Africa but it was Shoprite that decided to come.
Rather than pulling out, one would have wished to see through that investment, more departmental stores coming to Nigeria. Because of the economic situation we have found ourselves, it is no longer profitable for most of them to operate in our environment. I can mention to you a number of the stores that have come to Nigeria, shut down and gone back because of the difficult terrain this economy represents for them
For instance, in the last two months, Naira has depreciated so much. So, if your goods are import dependent, what you are doing is that you are no longer managing your business but currency. You are everyday on your laptop to check the exchange rate and the next second your people are changing the price. That creates brand damage because if you come to my shop today and this phone is sold N1,000 and as you leave, a friend calls you to buy the same phone for him and as you walk back, you are told it is no longer N1,000 but N1,200, that creates brand damage for a lot of corporates. So, this is why they are increasingly finding it difficult to operate in this environment.
It is regrettable that Shoprite is leaving as indeed it is for any other company that has taken that decision. Our government should take a step back and think through a number of economic policies that are affecting businesses in the country. There needs to be a shift in the economic paradigm that makes it difficult if not impossible for businesses to thrive in Nigeria. If they do that, this country, with its sheer size, our population, will be in a position to attract the best of corporates to operate in our environment.
It is fascinating that you made some of these achievements quite early in life. How were you able to accomplish so much at such a young age? Juxtapose it with what we have today. What changed?
For me, it is basically more due to background. I was privileged to come from a background that was business oriented and I also learnt under the best of human beings who is my father – disciplined, a man of integrity, an apostle of hard work. He believed very strongly in hard work and the God factor. He espouses the view that when you work hard, help will always come your way and that what you are given is neither because of you nor for the development of just yourself and family but the community where you find yourself. And in doing that you must be truthful. These are the bedrock for success which he impacted on all of us and we took that and moved on to the larger society. And one of the restraints he imposed on his children is not to ever get involved in government business.
The only salary I have ever earned working for government was while I was at the National Assembly. Outside of that, it is a family principle that you don’t accept any government job or contract and he has a reason for that.
But again, in our time, there was also a sense of the state reaching out for you. If for nothing else, most of us attended public schools. It is unlikely that people of our age went to private schools. It cost little to nothing to attend public schools. Now, if you benchmark it to what is happening today, I am sure that if our kids are not in private schools, it is because you have made a deliberate effort for them to attend public school and in that public school, you probably have to work through it and work with a number of people to actually determine the quality of education.
So, that engagement is not there and yet, our youths are the bedrock of the society. And these are ordinarily people we call leaders of tomorrow, I call them leaders of today because well managed, groomed and nurtured, these are people that will help to transform the society.
If the government can create programmes to engage them, mentor them motivate them, Nigeria will be a better place. And fortunately for the youths and I also want to say fortunately for the government, the world has become a global village, what is happening in Ghana or U.S., these kids can relate with it and our youths have attended schools all over the world and through their smart phones, it is easier for them to relate with the best practices all over the world.
And that is why they find it intolerable and cannot understand even when we are busy making excuses why things are the way they are in Nigeria and it is a legitimate agitation. So, what do we need to do?
#EndSARS in my view is a wake-up call. It is the youths telling us that they are fed up with the way that Nigeria is being governed. It is a statement to the government saying let us transform, let us reform, let us go back to the basics of what we need to do to be a great nation.
And we cannot pretend and play the ostrich that these are not legitimate demands because they are. And I hope that we will listen to these demands and hearken to what they have told us or those in power and that government will henceforth constructively begin to adjust.
