Segun Agbetuyi: The Venerable Archdeacon

CELEBRATING VENERABLE SEGUN AGBETUYI AT 70

By, Seye Adetunmbi 30/6/23

In various professions and vocations, we have people who standout by virtue of being brilliant and good on the job. Also, the values which they stand for in their calling always make such profession admirable or desirable for the aspiring professionals in the sector. One of the distinguished influencers in the history of banking in Nigeria who falls into this category of successful bankers is Venerable Segun Agbetuyi. His rise through the ranks to the pinnacle of his professional banking career, complemented by the speed at which he qualified as a chartered banker attests to the fact that he is naturally brilliant, focused and hardworking. His success as a career banker and a venerable archdeacon in the Church of Nigeria, Anglican communion are manifestations of dedication, devotion and diligence.

    Archdeacon Segun Agbetuyi was born into the Christian family of Mr. Agboola and Mrs Eunice Agbetuyi in Usi-Ekiti on the 30th of June, 1953. He is a product of Ekiti Parapo College, Ido-Ekiti; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Manchester Business School; Harvard University Business School and Lagos Business School. He started his banking career in the 1970s as a trainee in Arab Bank (later Nigeria-Arab Bank) and worked with the Bank of America (later Savannah Bank). Subsequent to being qualified as a professional banker, he worked as the Credit and Marketing Manager and as the Area Credit Manager for the northern region of IBWA (later Afribank PLC). He was among the pioneer senior executives of the Nigerian-American Merchant Bank in 1980. He worked as the Vice-President Bank of Boston between 1984 and1986; the Country Risk Manager, the General Manager, Credit and Business Strategy for the Nigerian-American Merchant Bank, Lagos from 1987 to 1989 and was the Deputy Managing Director between 1989 and 1993. 

    A gold fish has no hiding place. When Ondo-State needed a crack professional who would be result oriented for the then state owned Owena Bank PLC, he was headhunted and was appointed the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer in 1993. He nurtured the bank through the transformation to profitability and change of name to Omega Bank PLC. His Christian upbringing and personal disposition later led him to attend a seminary college and he was ordained a priest in the Anglican Communion in June 2001. His excellence in the banking earned him the recognition of a noteworthy banker by Marquis Who is Who.

My first close meeting with Venerable Agbetuyi was when he visited my brother's steel fabrication company in Lagos in the year 2001 as the CEO of our banker, to check how the bank's customer was doing and he prayed for us. When there was an opportunity for me to explore working in the banking sector, Omega Bank gave me the opportunity. I was charged with the responsibility of establishing Niche Securities Limited as a dealing member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and I pioneered the take-off and consolidation of the subsidiary of the bank. He was a very disciplined boss and a courageous banker who was committed to best practices. I must mention the remarkable manner he responded to an attempt to malign me in a soft-sell tabloid sponsored by an inveterate ignoble Ekiti fellow at the peak of the friction between the then state governor and the bank. As an intuitive person and an upright senior colleague/boss, he saw the intrigue at play by the ill-bred who lied against me and could imagine the mission of the lowlife elements behind the deceptive publication. When I got to his office to inform him about the irresponsible publication, he said that I should go and be doing my work and ignore those who wanted to cause problem for me with my employer. I am using this opportunity to formally say thank you to him. His honourable action remains indelible in my mind. He has always been supportive of  my modest various endeavours. Virtually all the books I  have written are in his library. He joined his fellow indigenes of repute in Ekitipanupo Forum which I convened in 2005. One other thing I like about him is his writing skills. I was so delighted that he wrote a preface to my book on Christianity and Anglicanism in 2020.

    Considering his wealth of experience in his working career, he was called to serve in various capacities. He served in the Governing Council of the Financial Institutions Training Centre in 1990 to 1992, in Ekiti State Economic Advisory Council and as the Chairman of Springbank PLC in 2006. He is a member of the Institute of Directors, England and Nigeria; a member of American Management Association; a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, London and Nigeria; a member of the Institute of Management Specialists, England; a member of the Institute of Management Consultants, Nigeria. He was the President of Rotary Club Victoria Island in 1989 to 1990 and Patron of Jaycees International, Ikoyi Chapter. In 2001, he bagged the Doctor of Science in Economics (Honoris Causa) form the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti. Also, holds the Merit Award of Ondo-State in October 1995 and that of Ekiti-State in 1997.

He is happily married to his beloved wife, Mrs Titilayo Adeyemi Agbetuyi and the union is blessed with fruitful children. Oga has dedicated part of his time to bring those who worked with him in Omega bank together as one big family in an interactive online platform and he continues to encourage us to support one another. My prayer is that God will grant him more years in good health and bless his ministry in Jesus Christ's name, amen. Happy 70th birthday to you sir. 

Plausible Purpose Driven Governance and Premium Leadership

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION THEN AND NOW

By, Seye Adetunmbi 

The debate on the "arguments against financial autonomy of local governments" prompted me to comment under the above caption. I won't be saying anything new but just rejigging our consciousness to enable those interested to put the issues in proper perspective. Local government autonomy under the current prevailing political structure is bound or prone to fail, just as most of the state governments have failed the governed in the recent past years till date.

The present local government administration setting is kind of skewed to suit manipulation in the politics of federal and state government dichotomy. Also, it is more of a platform to pilfer the commonwealth by local government officials and for the state governments to fraudulently access more money than to facilitate bringing development to the grassroots. The progressive African political leaders of old like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nkrumah and Nyerere were more committed, visionary and sincere unlike what we have this days.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo 

Come with me in this recall. The local government administration system was a creation of the colonial masters. They put the structure in place to make the job of their colonial administration easier down the hierarchy. That was the era of the DO (Divisional Officers) who were trained oyinbo technocrats. When the colonial masters were winding down, indigenes who understudied them and trained over the years took over. That was how Baba, Chief Arokaodare of Ijero-Ekiti was the one who succeeded the white man in Ekiti and the likes of Chief Augustus Adebayo of Igbara-Oke served as a DO in some parts of the old western region at some points before rising to the prestigious position of Head of Service in the old western state. Hope I got the history right.

Until the era of pedestrian partisan politics crept in, which had now relegated the noble and efficient local government administration system of the past to the background, competent and responsible tested technocrats were in charge of the local government administration in Nigeria. Most of them will do better jobs than the calibre of governors that the Nigerian democracy has produced in the recent past to date. What obtains predominantly today is kakistocracy, whereby the government at all tiers are being administered by the least suitable or competent citizens of the state. The more scandalous and terrifying trend is the incursion of the people of questionable characters having a field day in the political arena.

For an example, the legendary principal of the Methodist Boys High School, Lagos in the 1960s and 1970s was a councilor in his Ifaki Ward and my beloved father who was a national leader of NUT in the early 1970s served as a councilor in his Ifaki Ward too in the late 1950s and early 1960s. These were career teachers gainfully employed. It was the time when communities put their best feet forward. When political job took them out of their career duty, they came back to the classroom after they were done.

What do we have today? Partisan politics is now a "profession" in Nigeria. Communities hardly choose their representatives anymore. The political political system has incapacitated them by limiting the options opened to them. It is the person that the godfather and political chieftains throw at them that they settle for because the general election is also unreliable. 

Compare the profile of the present set of councillors to the Awolowo era. Put the resume of Adeyemi Lawson when he was the Mayor of the City Hall - Lagos Island Council and that of High Chief Alex Olu Ajayi as the Chairman of Ado LGA beside any of the LCDA boss of today and you expect the same level of performance, quality administration and good leadership!

In the first instance, election to all tiers of government to various offices in Nigeria is no longer a call to service. It is no more considered an honour but a jackpot! It is not about a ward putting their best foot forward. The majority of the contestants are unemployed and desperate for where they can make a living and have their own bite out of the appropriated national cake. 

Tell me, when someone who lacks integrity or conscience knows that there are better and more qualified hands to represent the community and the godfather gave him or her the slot. Who is the fellow going to be loyal to? The masses that didn't elect him/her or the benefactor and self-serving caucus that put the beneficiary there?

The qualification for local government appointments or most political positions these days is now a reward for inclination to do the bidding of the clique in control of the political structure. Many of the beneficiaries don't have a second veritable vocational address or contented means of survival when the political employment contract is over. Accountability is near zero in most of the local government offices. If you give those calibre of people an autonomy over local government affairs, then forget about progressive development completely. "Won kan gbe eran din-din ti ologbo ni". 

Before autonomy can be ceded to the local government, the bar of quality representation from the councillor to the chairman must be raised. Capacity building is essential for all cadres of the rustic current LGA kleptocratic civil servants. Good quality governance at all tiers is a serious business. In all, the quality of governance at the state level will determine the quality of staffing at the local government levels, too. When you have a very corrupt and incompetent person as the governor or head of the government, then forget about best practices at the local government level. If the head is rotten, what do you expect of the lower parts of the body. 

The bigger the pie, the better for the governor who is interested in who is in charge of the local government funds. With the hugely monetised electoral process, cornering funds for the next election starts immediately when a new governor comes on board. They can't allow anyone who will not play ball to get positions at the local government level. In essence and in the final analysis, there would be no autonomy in the real sense of it at the local government administration level. The harmless poor masses shall continue yo be shortchanged. "Malu ti ko ni iru ni won."

Restructuring of Nigeria, the fundamental political and governing structures, becomes inevitable if we really want to get things right as a progressive nation. Anything short of this amounts to motion without any movement. The country will just continue to roll like the person sitting on the spinned chair of a barber. May God help Nigeria🙏🏾