Personality interview
In so many ways, Chief
Eleazar Chukwuemeka Anyaoku, 78, ranks among the eminent Nigerians who have
done the nation proud. As Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations
between 1989 and 1998, he succeeded in writing his name in gold because of his
sterling performance.
In this exclusive interview with Kingsley
Momoh, the highly regarded diplomat emeritus, who talks about his childhood,
his love life and his inspiring diplomatic career, also takes a swipe at the
corrupt people in the corridors of power in the country
Could you briefly tell me about your
growing up?
I was born in a town called Obosi in
Anambra State. I grew up there until I was about eight years old when I went to
CMS School in Boji Boji, Agbor, Delta State.
I, however, went back to my home town for
my secondary school education at Merchants of Light School in Oba, where I sat
for the West African School Certificate Examinations, WASCE. I was fortunate to
have set a record in the school in the Senior Cambridge School Certificate.
I later took up a teaching
appointment at Emmanuel College, Owerri for 15 months before I moved on to what
was then known as the University College, Ibadan, where I graduated
in Classics. Then, I joined the Commonwealth Development
Corporation, CDC, from where I went to the Nigerian diplomatic service.
After serving three years in New York at the permanent mission of Nigeria to
the United Nations under one of our most distinguished ambassadors, Chief
Simeon Adebo who was very much my mentor, I was seconded by the Nigerian
government to the Commonwealth Secretariat in London in April, 1966. I was
there till 2000, except for the three months when I came home to serve as a
foreign affairs minister in the second administration of former President Shehu
Shagari. After three months, the soldiers kicked us out of government. But I
was fortunate to return to my former job in London. I was then the deputy
Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. I was there until 1989 when the heads of
government elected me the third Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. I occupied
the position from 1990 till 2000 when I returned to Nigeria.
Did you ever dream of becoming a diplomat?
When I was in the university, I had the
ambition of working abroad in the international community. And when the CDC
came to recruit, they wanted to recruit one candidate from West Africa. So,
they interviewed graduating students from Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria and what
was then known as Western Cameroon. Luckily, I was the only person chosen; so,
I went to the CDC which had offices across the world. At the beginning of 1962
when the CDC chairman visited Nigeria, I accompanied him and the regional
controller to a meeting with our then Prime Minister, the late Sir Abubakar
Tafawa Balewa. It happened that Tafawa Balewa asked a number of questions
which the chairman asked me to respond to and I did. And as we were leaving at
the end of the meeting, Tafawa Balewa called me back and said, “The British
Government has a number of experts, so why don’t you come and work for your
national government and you will be very good at the Nigerian diplomatic
service?” So, I said, “Well, Sir, thank you for the honour.” And that was how I
ended up in the Nigerian diplomatic service.
Could you tell me a little about your
family?
My wife is a very good Egba woman; she is
from Ake in Abeokuta. We have been married for 49 years and the marriage
is blessed with four children, three males and a female who are all doing well
in their individual chosen profession. My daughter is a director of a CDC
subsidiary; my first son is a senior special assistant to President Goodluck
Jonathan; my second son works in HSBC Bank, London; and my third son, the
youngest of them all, works for the United Nations in the Democratic Republic
of Congo.
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| Chief Emeka Anyaoku And Kingsley Momoh, During The Interview |
How did you meet your wife?
My wife went to a boarding school in
England. She went there when she was 13 and was there till 1961. I myself was
in England with the CDC from 1959 to early 1961. But surprisingly, we
never met in England. We met in Lagos at the bachelor’s eve party of Prof. Akin
Euba whose wife is my wife’s first cousin. My wife had returned to
Nigeria three weeks earlier, so she was able to attend the party. Luckily, the
party was held in my house due to my relationship with Akin Euba. So, I met my
wife at the party.
Was it love at first sight?
It was something close to that. I spotted
her and I went to ask her for a dance. So, that was the beginning of the
association that eventually led to marriage 11 months after.
Was there any opposition from any quarter?
Oh! There was strong opposition from both
families. At that time, inter-tribal marriages were not common and my family
was concerned about my getting married to a Yoruba woman. In the same vein, her
family was concerned that she wanted to marry a kobokobo as they
called the Igbo. Funnily, my people also used to call the Yoruba ngbatingbati
(general laugher).
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| Chief Emeka Anyaoku & Kingsley Momoh |
But fortunately, the first Chief Justice
of Nigeria, the late Sir Adetokunbo Ademola who was my wife’s mother’s cousin
and my second Uncle, the late Bishop Nkem, knew each other; so, it was the two
of them that broke the impasse between the two families. And then, my mother
in-law, who understandably had objection to the relationship initially,
eventually became my mother because my biological mother had died. The bond
between her and me till her death was the strongest possible. In fact, at her
funeral, my wife, in her address, said she ended up being her mother’s daughter
in-law and I her mother’s son.
So, what are you into at the moment?
At the moment, I have a number of
commitments that still take me abroad. I still do things I now have to do for
pleasure. I have been the international president of the World Wide Fund for
Nature; I succeeded His Royal Highness, Prince Phillip the Duke of Edinburgh,
the husband to the Queen of the United Kingdom. I did that for eight years
until last year-it is now called Vice President emeritus of the WWF and Prince
Phillip is the president emeritus. Also, I am a trustee of the British Museum-
in fact, it is the first time the British Museum has had an African trustee.
Indeed, talking about the way the British
Museum trustees are appointed, the Queen appoints one and the Prime minister
appoints 15.
Five years ago, the Queen asked me to
succeed her cousin, the Duke of Lester, as her appointee; so, I am a trustee of
the British Museum. I still travel abroad. I recently came back from China
where I had gone in my capacity as the Vice President emeritus of the WWF to
give an address at a conference organised by the WWF and the Chinese
authorities. I am also on the advisory board of the democracy project, which is
based in Washington.
Do you listen to music and what kind of
music do you listen to?
I do listen to music, and I love classical
music. Apart from this, I love both Juju and Ibo music. I am a great fan of
King Sunny Ade and I wish I could sing one of his songs. I am also a great fan
of the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. I remember I went to a concert in London where
Fela performed some years ago. It was a hugely successful concert with
lots of people in attendance. They were quite ecstatic by his performance.
Until 1999, Nigeria’s attempt at democracy
had failed at different times, a situation that had hampered our development in
some ways. What would you describe as the challenges hampering Nigeria’s
development?
The issues or problems that retard
Nigeria’s development are many, but if I am to single out two or three
of them, I would mention corruption. The level of corruption in this country is
the greatest impediment to our development. Here is a country with huge
resources, but in terms of human capacity, natural resources and agriculture,
we have not been able to tap into these to the success of the country. And
then, there is the question of the nature of our politics that is not yet
rooted in public service. Our politics still retains the character of politics
of individuals wanting self-aggrandisement. This is one country where you have
major electricity failure, major accidents on our roads and major failures in
the education sector. For instance, the performances of Nigerian students in
both the NECO and WAEC exams are very poor. But nobody ever resigns. In many
other countries, the ministers or chief executives responsible in these areas
would have resigned. So, corruption, the nature of our politics, impunity and
lack of personal responsibility for conduct are the three major impediments to
Nigeria’s development.
