I Don’t Apologise For My Background.-Princess Funke Adedoyin

Princess Funke Adedoyin, a two-time minister in the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007, is a reporter's delight. But getting her to agree to an interview is an herculean task. It took close to one year of practically chasing after her before she told us what can be termed the story of her life. Excerpts:

A lot of Nigerians know you as a former minister who served in two ministries and a close political associate of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. But who really are you?

My name is Funke Adedoyin. I was born in Lagos. I went to about four primary schools. The schools got better as my father got better financially. I ended up at the American International School at that time in Bonny Camp. I later went to Aunty Ayo Girls Comprehensive Secondary School for my Ordinary Levels and then went off to England for my Advanced Levels. At 16, I was ready to go into the university but no university would take me. I ended up at what is called Brownell University. I got a first degree in Social Studies but majored in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. I had a Masters Degree in Management Science. I did Management Science basically because of my dad who was a manufacturer. I did that so that I could come back and add some value to his business. But really, I was not fulfilled. So after I had done his own Masters, I did mine. I did a Second one in International Trade and Development, which is basically Politics and Economics again.

After that, I started my PhD but because I was tired and needed a break. Also, my grandma kept saying that women who are educated up to PhD level are not likely to get married easily. I am the second child of both my parents. I have one older sister who is probably my closest friend. My dad had 13 kids. I am the second. My dad had five girls in a row. We were not raised with any consciousness. May be because we were all girls when we were younger. We did not know what being male or female meant. I was the one that was always climbing trees and falling out of trees. I was either reading or finding things and falling out of them most of the time. My parents just let all of us be who we were and by the time the boys started to come along, they had to fall in line in the sense that for my mum if you did not help in the kitchen you won't eat; male or female.

In England, nobody told me I was not acting like a girl but every time I mixed with Nigerians they will be like 'why don't you behave like a woman.' And I will be like 'how is a girl supposed to be.' I thought I was normal. But I keep getting this impression that I don't act like a girl. I always tell them to ask my boyfriend whether I act like a girl or not. Apart from that, I like to cook, I am very home proud. I actually like to entertain. I'm simple and I'm cool. I came back and did my NYSC at NIBB, after which I joined Doyin Group. Then, we were assembling electronics and electrical but former President Ibrahim Babangida killed that in one day by one decree. I ended up at the pharmaceutical factory as the Chairman of the Management Board. Basically, I was a manufacturer. I designed and supervised new products. I was in the manufacturing industry for 15 years until a close friend and mentor, who is probably my biggest encourager, kept insisting that I could not sit and hide myself in the manufacturing industry. He said I have paid my dues to my dad because my dad and I had a very unique relationship and I felt a large sense of gratitude and owing a debt to him because the older I grew the more I realised how I have had quite an amazing childhood. Anything that I wanted to do that was legal, my dad would approve. My dad never said you can't do this or that and I have met so many people whose parents have told them they can't do this or that. He has never said this is too big for you to achieve. My dad would tell you that if there was a president for the world, Funke would be perfect for the job. So I did not realise what such amazing gift I have got until I started to be with so many women who were not able to achieve what they wanted because people have told them they could not achieve one thing or the other. So I felt a sense of gratitude to my dad.

But when my friend came up to say that I ought to have my agenda, that I cannot spend the whole of my life fulfilling my dad's vision, I decided to go to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) and I had a week's notice to attend. We got there and it was quite amazing that they were supposed to do elections within a week to elect the management of the students' union. I ran for the office of the Deputy Monitor General and I won and emerged as the first female deputy monitor general in the history of NIPSS. Again, I was the youngest. They didn't know and that was because I started very early. You were supposed to have minimum of 15 years working experience, minimum qualification, minimum this or that. I qualified on every other point but did not meet the criteria of age. I mean you were supposed to be a minimum of 40 years. But I was not.

You did not talk about your mum. Why?

Oh! That is amazing. My mum is a politician unlike my dad that is a businessman. Somebody should pay my mum because she has a room full of all the newspapers from the days of the Action Group, NCNC. She has all the newspapers and West Africa magazines. She took part in every election in those days. My mum is a Muslim and Dad is a Christian and I am a Christian. My parents met when my dad was 22 years and my mum was 18 years. They fell in love and they got married contrary to every form of parental opposition. The reason why I don't like to talk about my mum so much is because when we were growing up, my mum was the bad cop and my dad was the good one. We were frightened speechless of my mother. She frightened the hell out of everybody. My mum used to do some funny strange things then. Like if she sees you sitting down reading a newspaper, she will just say, oh, it is because you don't have a job that is why you are sitting down. Then she would tell you to go and be washing all the doors in the house and I would say to myself: what is the matter with this woman? Why can't she let me be? At least I am not disturbing anything. When we were growing up, she tried to reduce that. I later realised that she was fighting a battle because my dad on the other hand was like you can do it, go ahead. At some point, I was convinced that my mum could not be my mum because she was so strict and I didn't understand why somebody had to be like that.

Like I said earlier, if you were not in the kitchen when the cooking was going on, you won't eat; male or female. All our boys know how to slice okro and chop vegetables. We didn't really become friends until I was an adult, a grown up woman and a mother. I have a son contrary to everything you have read in the newspapers. When I went to the Senate, I got a petition that I had five children by five different men and I wondered how I managed to do that. He is 15 now. He is my heart. He is my everything. He is why I wake up in the morning and the reason why I go to bed at night.

What influenced her choice of study in the university and career?

“In the UK, you can do amazing combination of degrees. I did a degree in Social Science. There’s what we call PPE — Politics Philosophy and Economics — because that’s what I liked. I’ve always been political. It’s either I was a class monitor, a prefect etc. I always play a part in structures that govern me,” she says.

“Political, I don’t understand why anyone will not be interested in the structures that govern him or her. Since I was a child, I was always the one that will say, ‘daddy, why do we have to do it like this’. And I remember, there was a coup, I really can’t say which. I said to my dad after the coup, why is it always men wearing caps that says to us, ‘they are now the head of state?’ and my dad looked at me and said, go and be wearing cap,” she laughs.

“I’m always very aware. I love newspapers and magazines. I love reading. So, I was always up to date with what was happening with governance. And, I think it just naturally progressed from there. There were just those things that interested me. Philosophy interested me because I wanted to know why.  Economics interested me because I grew up in an environment where you made money, and so, I needed to understand it. Politics interested me because I'm just a political animal. That was what I did for my first degree. And I felt I needed to do something for my dad, so that I could come home and work with him. So, I did my first Post Graduate in Management Science and then after that I felt I needed to please myself. Then I started a Ph. D in International Trade and Development. As you grow older, your focus narrows, I think. And I began to look at the question of underdevelopment and Africa. I almost became a racist. I was very African centric and black conscious. And I wanted to understand the issues of underdevelopment in Africa. That was why I started the Ph. D but unfortunately, I couldn’t finish. Everyone worried I’ll be unmarriageable.  It wasn’t about age, but qualifications. Then, they knew every Ph. D holder who had no husband. I was young enough to be persuaded. Not that I wanted to marry. So, I came back home.”

Being a rich kid in the UK, How Do You Cope with the Running of a Pub?

She smiles. “Learning is a gift,” she says, drawing my attention to a poster on the wall about leadership. “The leadership skill has always been in me, thanks to my dad. And I don’t like the definition of rich kids – in this season where people are becoming rich through hardwork. Like us, we saw the money grow. We knew the entire depot, all the shops, and all the managers. So, I don’t know whether this rich thing should be applied.

“Well, maybe, how a person was reared. I think this environment is unkind to people who are well to do. I really don’t like the word ‘rich’ because I don’t believe rich is about money. I say to people, if the president’s son is a drug addict, everybody hears. But, if a driver’s son is a drug addict, who cares.

“Everything, even the Bible says Life and Chance happen towards all. There's nothing that’s peculiar to any particular class. It’s just that the cause of prominence of one class is more obvious. So, I say to people, I don’t apologise for my background. It just so happened that was my background. Even it has nothing to do with me. It wasn’t because I was clever or lucky. That is just where I was born. Wonderful opportunities. I thank God all the time, but I guess whatever situation one finds oneself, you do all you can to change that. So, it just happened I am opportune, no apologies.”

Is she such a religious woman?

Funke has a very intimate relationship with God. According to the former minister, who is now into real estate and construction, “in our house, everybody comes for morning prayers. Even when we were old enough to sneak out and go clubbing or to parties, everybody will be running home because there’s no excuse to miss morning prayers at 6am.”

She says, “it’s just not negotiable except you’re physically in hospital. If you’re in that house, you must be at morning prayers. And we went to church every Sunday. So, we all grew up with the understanding that there’s a God who answers prayers. My dad had a peculiar way of praying. He always talk to God as if God was his friend and he’ll say stuffs like, ‘you know, this my house that I want to build o, God help me to build it’. He would come to prayers at 6am and say, ‘God, the six flats in Surulere, I want to let them out for N300,000 though everybody says I can’t get it, Lord I want you to help me’ and he will. So, we all grew up with this concept of God whom you will ask and who will give.”

Her countenance relaxes, as she sips from the mineral water by her side. “All my dad’s kids are Christians, but mum is a Muslim and she never took any of us to the mosque. One of my sisters, Bimbola, is a pastor. She’s equally married to a pastor, Sola Fola Alade. She and I were always close. So, when I was leaving home, I took her with me… even to England where she eventually schooled, but she married in Nigeria to a medical doctor. She’s a lawyer. And they both run the biggest Redeem Parish Church in the UK. Even our first son is in pastoral school,” the lady sings.

“We still do everything that normal people do. We just have that sense of normal relationship with God. My mum is what I call a closet Christian. When you go to her room, you see her listening to Adeboye’s preaching tapes, listening to Christian songs and watching him on video. She can’t come out to admit she’s a Christian. She doesn’t want it to look like we’ve converted her,” Funke laughs out loud.

Her Achievement As A Minister?

She says they are there to be seen and read. The first priority for her as Minister of Youth Development was to put youth on the agenda in Nigeria. At the time, she became a minister of youth; a 40-year-old man was still a youth as far as they were concerned. So for her, the critical thing was first to define whom a young person was, then have a National Youth Policy, which her administration did.

There was a National Youth Action Plan in the national policy. Fresh elections for the National Youth Council of Nigeria were held and young persons were put in charge.

She also took the issue of the youth to the National Economic Summit for the first time, and youth as an economic factor was on the agenda. She ensured that the youth were seen as a segment different from women. They were seen as a people who had different needs and issues.

So, Tell Me Something About Funke Adedoyin.

“I like to cook, I am very home proud. I actually like to entertain. I'm simple and I'm cool,” she says confidently.

March 25, 2013