Chief Olasubomi Balogun is the chairman, First City Group Limited. He is an accomplished entrepreneur and a distinguished philanthropist. In this interview, he speaks about his successes as he clocks 85. KEHINDE OYETIMI presents excerpts.
At 85, how would you assess your journey so far in life?
Assessment is of God. All I can say is to thank my maker who has made me remain agile, meticulous and articulate. The whole essence of my celebration is to give thanks to my maker and I will ask Him to endow me with the wherewithal to continue to be appreciative for all He has done in my life.
Is there anything in your background that prepared for you for what you have achieved in life?
I can’t hide that I come from a notable family in Ijebu. There used to be three Balogun families in Ijebu: the Kukus, the Odunugas and there were the Saromis. I am from the illustrious Balogun family. Beyond that, I happened to be a primus inter pares among royalties. I am a direct descendant of the Awujale who had the courtesy of receiving in 1892, the representatives of the British queen and he allowed them to preach Christianity, which was unheard of at the time. My own progenitor allowed that to be done. He gave them the site on which the first church in Ijebu land was built. But he wasn’t partial. He also gave Muslims the site on which the first mosque was built. It was in commemoration of going to thank the Awujale that the idea of Ojude Oba was started.
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Maybe my parents had the opportunity of putting me on the right track. I had good education. I went to one of the most illustrious secondary schools in Nigeria, Igbobi College. I came out with a very good grade. I went to Britain to study law. In those days, you were either a lawyer or a doctor or an engineer. I qualified at a very young age of 25, being one of the youngest in my part of the Western Region. It is the answers to those prayers that have made me what I am today. In 1959, I was called to the English bar and the then government of the Western Region trained me as the first parliamentary draughtsman. When the British were passing the Nigerian independence act, I was the first black face to be seen in the official box.
You refer to God frequently. What encounter in life precipitated this?
My parents were Muslims. When I was young I wanted to worship their own way. But as soon as I got to secondary school, in a modest way, I was happy to be a chapel monitor. Progressively close to my God, I was able to build a personal and special relationship with him.
My parents were humble people even though they were affluent. I relate with my staff with so much familiarity. But that is a gift of God. I don’t carry airs. The only two things I have weakness for are my white dresses and my white cars. Then I attend church every Sunday. If I’m not in the service, them I am in a service somewhere else or worshiping.
Some 26 years ago, while I was just living my life without trying to be seen, I didn’t know I was being noticed. There was a tradition of selecting the head of all Christians in Ijebu land. One day, the people, evangelists, pastors, bishops and religious officials from all over the land came to my house. Some of the pastors and bishops were kneeling down. Someone I knew, 30 or 40 years older than me, knelt down and presented me a letter. I was utterly amazed to find out that I had been selected as the Asiwaju of Christians in Ijebu land. It was a call to succeed the great legend, Papa Odutola. I was in tears when I was presented at the Awujale’s palace and my hand was held up. I felt so undeserving to fill Papa Odutola’s shoes. That was a measure of not just my amazement but the humility that the Almighty God gave me. I was unaware that further laurels would still come my way.
The fact that I mention God a lot is a testament to the magnitude of what He has done in my life. I have friends who are my age group but they have one issue or another. Just yesterday, I went boating with my wife and people were surprised to see me in slacks. I don’t know what I have done to God to deserve this.
When I was setting up the First City Monument Bank (FCMB), I wanted it to have a solid character: permanent, respected and assuring. So I went with the idea of columns. So our bank is distinguishable by its columns anywhere you see it.
At 85, what would you say is your greatest achievement?
My greatest achievement is that with all that I’ve done in life, I don’t carry airs. I don’t see anything exceptional. I am still the same simple Subomi Balogun. That is the greatest thing. I would still want to see my former classmates and friends, even if they are crawling on the ground, lame and can’t walk. I would still want to go there and recognise them and say “It’s Subomi saying hello to you.”
What period or moment in life would you describe as your lowest? What were the challenges that occasioned it and how did you overcome such?
When I have challenges, I pity the people plotting against me. I even dance. There was a particular event in the history of FCMB. Someone called to say she was going to Alaba market. I had never met her before. We learnt that the woman said all the money she collected from the traders at that market was deposited in FCMB. I was out of Lagos. They got some people to carry banners around reading “FCMB, give us our money”. There was a friend of mine, who just died, Jonathan Long, an expatriate I brought into the country over 40 years ago. He said City Securities had a customer who collected money from them and claimed that the money was put in FCMB. They came. My younger sister was the chairperson of City Securities. My eldest son, Bolaji, was the head of stock broking. While we were at Kano, these people brought placards, “FCMB let us have our money”, “Chief Balogun, let us have our money”. I didn’t know anything.
Do you know that I saw the scruffy letter? It was given to me by the then director of stock exchange, Ndi. They said they should chase me, my first son and my sister away and that we should never be allowed into the finance industry again. Someone asked me if I had seen the note that was being passed around. I read it and I smiled. I phoned a few friends and we went to the chapel and I prayed. The following day or three days later, in a magazine called The News, there was a picture of me in a smart suit putting my hands up, and there was the caption “A banker has fallen”. I was sixty plus then. I am 85 now and I am not falling. The man who did it (one Onanuga) happened to be from my son. If he sees me today, he would be scared. There was a lot of news around, including those suggesting that Obasanjo was going to remove me. But I stayed there till 70 and I am still very much part of the place, I still go to the office at least three times in a week. It is the grace of God, not my power. I think that is the major one I ever had. People have duped us, people have impersonated me. I am not Jesus and I don’t want you to compare me with Jesus but I have such a consuming appreciation of what He has done for me. I am unruffled.
What is your advice for the younger generation of entrepreneurs?
They should have faith in the Lord and pray well. They should put all their objectives before God but they should not just be doing this without making effort. In everything, they should be focused in doing what they should do.
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