Fola Tayo, a professor of pharmacology who recently retired from the University of Lagos, Akoka, is the president of the West Africa Postgraduate College of Pharmacists. He tells ADEOLA BALOGUN how he has been able to lead the life of being an outspoken academic that he says has cost him so much.
After reading a poem you wrote to mark the 50th anniversary of Nigeria, I began to wonder how a professor of pharmacology could write such a protest poem. Did you at a time dabble into literary studies?
Let me make a correction. Actually, I was misquoted. Somebody wrote that poem and posted it to me on the Internet and I posted it to others. Later on, I saw that my name was written as the author when it was published in the papers. And there was no way I could correct it. But having said that, I could write the same thing because of the way I feel about Nigeria. I'm very passionate about this country; I'm not pleased at all with the governance. I wrote a book in 1986 when I joined the Ogun State University, Ago-Iwoye directly from the United States. Before then, I was in Ibadan; my intention was to leave because I was fed up. I received most of my education in the United Kingdom and I lived most of my adult life away from here. I think the cause of my anger is what I term the deliberate deceit of our leaders: they know what is right they don't want to do it. My family live in the UK; we have a house there and most of these people who are ruling and misruling this country have homes in the UK and America; they know what is right, they see the good things and good life over there, but they come here and mess up. It is unpardonable. I travel a lot, sometimes you feel ashamed to call yourself a Nigerian, but being a patriot, you just own up to it and your colleagues over there abuse you, they just insult you seeing what is going on here. When I was a student in the UK in the '60s, most of the names that have been prominent in the governance of Nigeria, we were students together in the UK. Some of them were students union leaders, some of them were young political activists, yet they came back here and messed up. There is nothing they are leaving behind for the younger generation. In the book I was talking about, I discussed agriculture and the economy of the country. You would suck oranges, the seeds you throw them out. You don't need to water them, they germinate, even in the north, I worked in the Ahmadu Bello University. In my backyard at ABU, the thing would grow. Your wife would go to the market, buy tomatoes, and pepper, wash the seed and throw it away and you harvest tomatoes. Nobody plants pawpaw in this country, it is the birds in the air that drop the seeds; same thing with mangoes. This is a fertile country, yet hunger is in the face of everybody. Talk of minerals, we're incredibly blessed, what are we doing with the oil wealth? It is supposed to be oil boom, it has become oil doom. I've been to the Niger Delta: there is nothing to write home about in that place. You can't grow anything there, it is destroyed completely. Nigerians are a special people, they take their long suffering with philosophical calm and our leaders are deliberately exploiting this good virtue of Nigerians. If you read the papers on a daily basis, you will be very angry. Governors cannot pay N18,000 a month, yet the take- home pay of our so-called legislators is something else; those who are not doing anything, a bunch of rascals. It takes the grace of God to live in a place like this, more so when you have options to live in other countries. I retired recently from the University of Lagos after 35 years in Nigerian universities; I had given them notice over a year ago and when I came back last week, I thought everything would have been sorted out; I was told that I have to go somewhere to meet some officials from Abuja and I have to be there 5 am and may be there till 8 pm. Can you imagine that? Simple things that could be done online. I had some time in the US, they credited me with some pension, they have been writing me through email, to ask me the bank I want, they don't need to see me.
With the experience you had in the Nigerian universities in the '60s and what you just left behind recently, how would you compare the two periods?
Let me express my sorrow again. When I joined the Nigerian university system at ABU in 1975, there was still some sanity. There was decency; there was pride in being an academic. You knew that to be promoted, you needed to work hard. You didn't have to know anybody. I moved to Ibadan in 1977: I must say this, Ibadan still stands tall because it hasn't been totally possible for the Nigerian system to destroy the British legacy left behind in Ibadan. Ibadan still excels, no matter what people say about the Nigerian university system. When I left Ibadan and went to the US from where I was invited to Ogun State University, which was just starting, I think that was a colossal mistake I made. That place, we spent all our lives building it, yet a few rascals got there and messed it up. The place is good for nothing now: it is like a dirty towel, it stinks. It's a pity that it's still called a university. They've destroyed it and all the people that built it, they threw them out. I came to UNILAG, it was okay up till some time and when decadence started setting in, some of us rose. We were called the G10 in those days and at the risk of our lives, the registrar of the university was chased like a criminal by the vice-chancellor, who is now late and who thought he was God. Unfortunately, in the university system, because people wanted to be promoted, our colleagues kowtowed and supported somebody who was lawless, a lawyer but he was supported even in the Senate by some so-called distinguished academics. Of course, we lost everything; we were persecuted but if you are standing for the truth, that is the price you pay. Thank God, we stood up and eventually, we prevailed and we thought things would be better but the rest is history. Even those who followed, they were not significantly better than the man who destroyed the place. All sorts of professorships were made in UNILAG. There was a VC who, within the spate of a few years, created about 100 or more professors than anybody. That is very unacademic. Integrity was compromised, standard was compromised and many things. I can write a Bible on the Nigerian university system. If I was made the education minister today, I will descend heavily on our universities and people who have retired; some of them will have to spend time in prison for corruption, fraud, all sorts of things. I believe those in government know, but they too lack moral justification to raise any finger.
But the impression people have is that the rot in the sector was caused by government's neglect of education.
Well, in terms of funding, yes, the universities are not well funded, but even the little money that was pumped in, I doubt if those that are there use it judiciously. My concern for this country is for the coming generation; I have always said something: anybody who was born in Nigeria after 1963 has never known decency because to start primary school, his parents must bribe or lobby. To start secondary school, they must do something and pay somebody; to get the JAMB, it is the highest bidder. You cannot grow a nation on unrighteousness and expect righteousness to be the fruit; it is not possible. Until we change our ways, we're in for doom. How can you make progress and development when there is no power? I know how much I have spent on diesel since I returned to the country a few days ago. These are some of the reasons some people who ordinarily would not want to be corrupt are pushed into corruption. The environment does not enable integrity and righteousness. But I don't have any aspiration of acquisition, it is the hallmark of the foolish man and most of our leaders are foolish people. They accumulate all sorts of things and yet they get nothing. Look at (James) Ibori, with all his acquired money, he is locked up; his wife is locked up, a girlfriend is locked up. These people are stupid, what is going to happen to their children? They don't think of their children and it is a shame.
It's a pity such lofty dreams are no longer with the youths, but in your own days, you probably desired to study medicine and eventually went for pharmacy, what really happened?
When I was in school, we didn't have science in my set. I left them in Form Four and went to England. I had a stint of two years at the old Cable and Wireless just to make some money. I completed my O-levels, did my A-levels without any support from home and I had a British scholarship to enter the university. I actually left Nigeria to go and read law, but I looked at the future and said I would not want to bother anybody about my education because I would still have to come home and go to Law School. To worsen it, some of my friends in the UK then were making fun of me that I was busy reading Latin, economics, that I couldn't do science. So, I decided to take up science and I read O-level chemistry, biology, physics in my room with Rapid Results Correspondence and God helped me. I went for a crash programme for my A-levels and applied to the university to either to read medicine, pharmacy or biochemistry. I was qualified and interviewed for the three. I vowed that any offer that came first from UCCA then would be my choice. As luck would have it, pharmacy that I knew nothing about came in first; medicine that I wanted came in two days later, but I said I would follow my vow and stuck with pharmacy and I didn't regret it. I have always been very outspoken, the British professors and my teachers at the school of pharmacy, they didn't find me funny at all, you couldn't cheat me or cheat any black man, I would speak up and I spoke up vehemently. I wrote protest letters against the faculty and at one point, it seemed they would throw me out because I was cheated. But I told people if they threw me out, no problem; I knew myself that I would excel elsewhere; so, I wasn't begging anybody to do me any favour. In those days in the '60s, if you were black, you were not a human being in the UK; nobody would plead your cause but God was with me and as He would have it, we had an external examiner who came. He was a professor in Glasgow, he had been to Nigeria to examine students and when he saw me, I was asked to see him to examine me and he asked me some questions and I answered. He said, 'Where are you from?' and I said, 'Nigeria.' He said, 'Your papers are very good, what will you do when you finish?' I said, 'Sir, let me get this degree first' because at that time, I was married and I was raising a family. I needed money to look after my family. He said, 'Okay, when you graduate, contact me in Glasgow, and he arranged to have me.
Why did you have to come back to Nigeria after graduation?
I remember I was to go to Belgium, but I turned it down because I couldn't speak French. I was to stay in England, in fact, there was pressure but I had a disappointment at a research laboratory and I said no. I said I would come to my home country and needed to help my people. There was that nationalistic fervour in me. I had an offer to go to the US, I turned it down. So, I went to ABU, the university system was okay, but I found that I didn't fit into the tradition of my department then. I was trained to be outspoken and in those days, if you were outspoken in that environment, you were inviting trouble and you became an enemy. When I was leaving, I didn't know that my departure generated bad blood, all sorts of things were written on my record and till today, I lost my two years there; it was not transferred anywhere but it doesn't mean anything to me and I have forgiven those people that were involved. I'm just talking about it for people to learn how to handle the young ones because they may come back and get you. When I got to Ibadan, I was well received and I still have fond memories of Ibadan with me. I rose quickly; I went to the US, I won a fellowship to Los Angeles (UCLA) and I excelled there. I became very well known being invited to give talks everywhere, but there was still the pull to come back home. I came back and I was shuttling between the US and Nigeria to get some work done. I had to go back again in 1984 as an associate professor of pharmacology. Then, the temptation was enormous, but thank God for Prof. Kayode Dada, who invited me to the Ogun State University. I had a better position in the US and when I was coming, I was going down several hundred folds in salary believing that I was going to help my own people. You won't believe it, for the period I was there, my personal car was the departmental car. We virtually built the place. Thank God for people like Prof. Jide Ajayi, who led us to recognition. That is why when I look back, I see those people in that university as very unfair to the founding fathers of that institution. The way they threw out some people out there lately is a disgrace; it is unpardonable.
How would you describe the growth of pharmacology in Nigeria?
The first crop of pharmacologists we had in Nigeria, grew from medicine and pharmacy. Our great baba, Prof. Agolochi, who rose to become the VC of Jos, was an eminent pharmacologist; he was a medical man; Prof. Lateef Salako is still around. He is a medical man, a renowned pharmacologist. Prof. Gabriel Osidin, who is retired, is a pharmacist, David Opako, a professor, he is also retired; is a pharmacist. The late Prof. Marquis in Ife in those days was also a pharmacist. Later on, these people started a degree in pharmacology, we started it in Ibadan too in my own time. Later on, we scrapped it when we started pharmacy. I was actually one of the proponents because of the limitation of pharmacology in employment in Nigeria because we noticed that they were all going to secondary schools to teach, there was no industry. So, I mooted the idea that anybody who wanted to be a pharmacologist, let him come and read pharmacy or medicine or even dentistry or veterinary medicine first, then, you can specialise in pharmacology. But there are still some institutions doing it. Pharmacology should have grown but unlike biochemistry or chemistry or even microbiology that people can actually place in industries, the industry that could absorb the skill of a pharmacologist is not available in Nigeria. Most of what the drug firms are doing is packaging but that is not to say that it will not happen in the future though.
Some of your former students describe you as a strict teacher. Do you agree?
It depends on the definition of being strict. I see myself as compassionate and they said it. Yes, strict because I cannot stand laziness; I cannot stand people who lack integrity, they cannot come near me. I cannot relate with people who I can't place, that is why quite a number of our people in this country, I don't think much of them. I may be strict when they are not doing their work. In fact, some of them would not greet me at some point but later on in life, they would come back and say, 'Prof, we're sorry, we didn't understand.' One just called me, highly-placed, a dean. He said, 'Prof, I thank you for my life. Now that I've left the deanship, I want to thank you for all you have told me.' I told him before, 'You don't need all these positions.' It's a man who is not sure of himself that will be scrambling for recognition.
As president of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists, some people may not understand the activities of such an institution.
We have West African Health Organisation with headquarters in Burkina Faso: it incorporates Francophone and Anglophone countries. But before then, there was the West African Health Community, which Nigeria belonged to and the francophone counterpart; they fused to become WAHO, which is a specialised agency of the Economic Community of West African States. In WAHO, the professional education section has West African College of Surgeons, West African College of Physicians, the West African College of Pharmacists and the West African College of Nurses. Those are the four components but we all come under the umbrella of the old West African Post Graduate Medical College and we have several things in common. When I became the second vice-president five years ago, I had it in mind that, God willing, my presidency is going to be revolutionary. Last march, I became president at our conference in Abuja as the most senior Nigerian and immediately, I set in motion various committees to work out ways of impacting on our community. All these are in the works but we believe that during the two-year tenure, there would be things that would be done. Last week, we had a training workshop in research and pharmacy practice and about 99 people attended. All we are doing is for the advancement of pharmacy practice and education in the sub-region. Even now, WAHO has embarked on a process of harmonising pharmacy education in the region so that it will be possible for a Nigerian trained pharmacist to go to Guinea or Senegal and fit in to the system. It is a lofty idea but it is still in its period. When we get our acts together, incident of drug faking which, is common everywhere, will be tackled.
Again, apart from being very outspoken, you are also a pastor. Is it in a quest to be a perfect man?
What people see in me and describe me as a bold person or somebody of integrity is just the power of the Holy Spirit. I'm not different from the ordinary person. I'm a weakling, very shy person but when I have to say the thing the way it is, I say it and damn the consequence. It has deprived me of many things. I've lost many juicy positions because of my forthrightness, even in pharmacy. I remember a few years back, I was contacted by the president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria that they were considering me to be chairman of the pharmacist council. I was already in bed with my wife. He spent about an hour speaking with me and I told him, 'Are you sure? I would advise you to look for someone else because if I'm chairman of the pharmacist council, I will revolutionise the place. There will be people I will send packing; there will be people I will hand over to the police and they will confiscate their ill-gotten wealth if they cannot account for it.' He said okay, he would get back to me and they went back to their executive committee to discuss. That is me. I'm not a perfect man, I still make mistake but when I make it, I always go back to God for forgiveness.
You left Nigeria even before you could complete your secondary education; what happened? Did you run away?
No, I didn't run away. My dad took ill; he lost his sight. It was a very pitiful situation and there was nobody that could help me and I had a kid brother who, I made up my mind, must have secondary education. So, I picked up a job at Cables and Wires. I was able to maintain him before I left the country and the plan was that I would be sending him money but he went to join the army later on. He was in the army for some time; then they killed him during the Biafran War. Even while I was still at Cable and Wires, I was studying after work. Lagos was very good then security wise. I would be on my bicycle from Marina about 9 pm when the library would close and ride to Yaba; nobody would stop or attack you. By the time I got to the UK, I was fairly confident that I would make something out of the situation.
Is any of your children a phamacist?
No. There is a lawyer who later turned to become a human resources consultant; the only boy who read computer science, then electronics. He did a master's in financial mathematics and statistics. Of course, our last one read a degree in arts and she is with the British Broadcasting Corporation. She was with Al Jazeera in Doha for some time. You often see her in Hard Talk. For some years, she was an assistant editor for Hard Talk and that is where she interviewed with the (Odimegwu) Ojukwus of this world, the (Olusegun) Obasanjos. She is Sola Tayo. I believe she has retained daddy's bluntness.
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