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DADDY, I'LL BE A PILOT!' AND HE WAS ONLY 4 YEARS OLD



FEMI ADESINA

Be careful what you dream about, it may well come to pass. Oluwatobi is my firstborn, "my might, and the beginning of my strength." One day, when he was just four years old, we were all in the living room; myself, his mom, and his sister, when he exclaimed:"Daddy, I'll be a pilot!"
I looked at him, looked at his mother, and said casually: "What does he know about piloting?" For by then, Oluwatobi had not gone near an airport, not to talk of entering an airplane.
But somehow, what he said refused to leave my mind. Just like the biblical Mary, after the angel told her of the virgin conception, I "kept all those things, and pondered them" in my heart.
'Tobi (as we call him) began to live his dreams. He needed to see only the picture of an airplane in a newspaper or magazine, and he would cut it, file it away, or paste on the wall of his bedroom. When he was old enough to manipulate a computer, he always went to sites where he could read about aircraft.
I had thought he would outgrow the passion. But the older he grew, the firmer and clearer the dream became. "Daddy, I'll be a pilot!"
As a growing journalist with growing means, I got to the point I could go on vacation with my family once a year. We started with Ghana. Then South Africa. And London... Tobi was in secondary school, and talked about nothing save flying a plane. Each time we travelled, it was like nirvana. While I kept looking at my wristwatch, expecting the time we would land, my son, and his sister, Tosin, felt completely at home in the sky.
I had expected two people to baulk, and talk Tobi out of his dreams. His mother, and my own mother (Tobi's grandma, whom he was particularly close to). But the two women surprisingly did not dissuade the boy. They submitted to the perfect will of the Almighty. Underneath are the Everlasting Arms.
Never underestimate the power of dreams. At 18, my son packed his baggage, and was on the way to Aeronav Academy, in South Africa. The fees were staggering, but by then, I was Deputy Managing Director/ Deputy Editor-in-Chief of The Sun Newspapers. The pay was good enough, and with some belt tightening and lots of sacrifice, I could afford the fees.
Tobi got to Johannesburg at the peak of winter. "A cold coming we had of it, just the worst time of the year. For a journey, and such a long journey, the ways deep and the weather sharp, the very dead of winter." (T.S Eliot, The Journey of the Magi). I remember the first email he sent to me:"Daddy, it's so cold, I had to sleep with my shoes on." Lol. My heart went out to him, but he that would eat honey from the rock must never consider the blade of his axe.
By the end of his first year, he got the private pilot license. Second year, he got the commercial license. I was breathing like a hog under the financial burden, but didn't Jesus promise that his yoke was easy, "and my burden is light?" I kept trudging on, and one day, at age 21, my son was back, a fully licensed pilot.
But there was still one more river to cross. And when he told me about it, I almost bolted (just as our President almost did, when he saw the state of the treasury after inauguration into office). Tobi told me of the need to proceed to Sweden, for a type rating license, in which he would specialize on the Boeing 737. A boy of 21 years, planning to fly a whole house in the sky? The money, in dollars, sent my heart racing, and my head spinning. But by then, I was already Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Sun. The publisher was a welfarist, and he took good care of his staff. If the family would take garri, instead of corn flakes, well, we could send Tobi to Sweden. And off he went, coming back months later with a type rating license. Arik Airline gracefully gave him a job.
For almost two years, the young pilot has been plying his trade, but he never flew me. The closest we got was one Saturday morning, about a year ago. I had just landed in Lagos, and who did I meet on the tarmac? Tobi and the crew that was taking over the airplane for the next flight. Safe skies, I told him, after we had taken some pictures, along with Captain Mohammed, an Arik veteran.
Then D-day came. And it was Monday this week. I had gone to Lagos to be part of Fathers Day celebration in my church, Foursquare Gospel Church, which held on Sunday. Return journey was 7 a.m Monday, aboard Arik.
On Sunday night, Tobi told me: "Daddy, you'll be on my flight back to Abuja tomorrow." Great expectations.
I approached the aircraft with Mr Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State, and an old friend. An airline staff collected my hand luggage, and took it onboard. I then offered to relieve the former governor of the burden of his own luggage. Trust the ever self-effacing man. He hid the bag behind his back, as I made for it. We laughed.
I was on Seat 1D. The former governor was directly behind me. I told him my son was the co-pilot, and he was so very happy and excited at the news. And then, who came in, and took Seat 1F, right beside me? Another gentleman and friend, Mr Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. We began to chat about the economy, and the risks falling oil prices in the international market could pose to the steadying exchange rate of the dollar to the naira. That was when Tobi struck. He came out from the cockpit, and said the Captain had consented that I should be their guest throughout the flight.
I first declined. Flying in the air was tough enough, who wants to go and frighten himself to death in a cockpit?
"Daddy, come and see what you paid for. Come and see where your money went," my son said. I introduced him to the CBN governor, and excused myself from the cabin. The co-pilot to the co-pilot had come. Father and son were in the cockpit.
Captain Carretero Alberto hails from Spain. And what a genial man he turned out to be throughout the 55 minutes flight. I got to know about his family, his professional background, and many others. He had kind words to say about Tobi, and, indeed gave him the thumbs up sign many times, as the young pilot flew the plane, and made what he considered smart moves.
Preparing to lift into the air was a whole set of ceremony. Many things to check. Engines, lights, wings, doors, everything.As Tobi handled the joystick, the joy kiln was kindled in the heart of a proud father.
Communication with the control tower was continuous, and lasted almost throughout the flight. As the plane lifted, and soared into the deep, azure sky, I could not see a thing. Not the foggiest thing. How do pilots do it? But there was a forest of buttons and knobs. They kept touching and pressing them. Is this what they call instrumentation? At a point, the sun streamed in powerfully, in all its brightness. And they fixed their sun visors.
"This is why pilots wear sunglasses," Tobi told me.
As the journey progressed, memories flooded in. The plane was moving forward, but I was going back in time. I remembered that June 25, when unto me a child was born, and unto the Adesinas a son was given. When I got to the hospital, and he was brought out for me to have a look, I remember the yell he gave. Now, the tot of that day is flying a Boeing 737. What will he fly next, a 747 or Dreamliner? The wonders of our God.
Then I chuckled. What did I remember? When Tosin, my daughter was born. Tobi was already three. He had not seen as much soft drinks as on the naming ceremony day. He drank Coke, Fanta, Pepsi, Sprite, everything. Then later, he came to meet me: "Daddy, my tomach (that was how he called it) is paining me. " I laughed, and asked why his tomach would not pain him, as I had seen him, mixing the drinks? Now, the boy is flying a plane.
I chuckled again. What is it this time? The time he was going to secondary school. A day before resumption, I had taken him to Ikeja, where we bought a pair of boots, which would be part of the school uniform. We barely got home before Tobi slipped into the boots, and for the rest of the evening, he strutted round the house in the jackboot. It was yeoman's effort to get him to remove it at bedtime. Even then, he put the boots daintily on his bed, throughout the night.
And then, the winter night he slept with his shoes on, in Johannesburg. Lol.
Soon, the plane swung right. And Tobi pointed the runway of the Abuja airport to me. We had begun to descend earlier, and would land in eight minutes. At the dot of that time, he brought the big bird gently onto the runway. What an experience for a father!
Since that Monday, when I posted the pictures of father and son on Facebook, the thanksgiving on our behalf has been overwhelming. I thank everyone who commented, and prayed for us. May your day of joy not be postponed. Amen.
My friend and brother, Onochie Anibeze, editor of Saturday Vanguard, asked for this write up exclusively for his newspaper. I was glad to oblige. Gloating is not one of the reasons I went public about my joy. Far from it. Rather, it is out of thankfulness to God. "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony." Glad to talk about the wonders of our God.
This is my story, this is my song. May every father have cause to rejoice in his son. And on the day of that joy, may the fathers not have toothache.
I can hear the amen. Oh, glory to God.

Femi Adesina is Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity


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Osinbajo: It’s Costly To Recover Stolen Funds




Preventing corruption is better than curing it as recovering stolen funds is costly, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has said.



”You need to engage forensic consultants and hire other experts; even then, you will only have some hope of recovering some of what has been lost,’’ Osinbajo said on Thursday night.

He made the observation in Lagos the 5th Annual Christopher Kolade Lecture on Business Integrity.

The lecture was entitled: “Prevention is Better than Cure Even on the Issue of Corruption’’.

It was organised by the Integrity Organisation Ltd., an anti-corruption, research and advocacy organisation.

Dr Christopher Kolade is a former Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

“Many countries are reluctant to return proceeds of corruption by introducing legal obstacles of different kinds to ensure that we do not get back the money.

”There is a long list of “what if’’ – what if we were able to do something or invest even half of that money in economic or infrastructure
projects before it disappeared?

”If some of that money went into boosting our reserves, our exchange rate will not be where it is today; so there lies evidence that corruption is cheaper to prevent than to cure,’’ he said.

The acting president said that the negative impact of corruption on human lives and development could never be fully reversible.

”In our investigations into Defence spending, we discovered 15 billion dollars unaccounted for, with no guarantee that we will ever be able to recover it.

“You can imagine the damage done by that corrupt act,’’ he said.

Osinbajo urged Nigerians neither to condone corruption nor celebrate those indulging in it.

“Corruption is the robbery of the wealth of the nation, and thieves exist in every tribe or religion,’’ he said.

Osinbajo said that the Federal Government would continually seek ways to make it harder for government funds to be stolen or diverted.

”President Muhammadu Buhari issued an order mandating immediate compliance to the Treasury Single Account system to simplify government accounting to provide a clear picture of what is coming in and going out.

“ Over 20, 000 bank accounts have been closed since the presidential order.

”Another example is the bank verification numbers which modified application to the federal payroll; we have been able to uncover more than 60,000 cases of ghost workers.

”Another important measure is getting all our armed forces personnel on the electronic human resource payroll to prevent scams in the service,’’ he said.

The acting president added that the whistleblower policy was also aimed tackling corruption.

”The solution really is to ensure stiffer control to prevent fraud and corruption,” he said.

Osinbajo said that the presidency would ensure close working relationship with the judiciary and ensure that the judiciary itself was free of corruption to successfully prevent corruption.

”We will not succeed in preventing corruption to a significant extent unless the acts of corruption are met with appropriate levels of sanctions and deterrence,” he said.

The acting president described Kolade as an outstanding man in both the public and private sectors.

He said that Kolade had integrity.

Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State said that corruption had collapsed businesses and societies.

Ambode, represented by his deputy, Dr Idiat Adebule, said that more measures should be put in place to prevent corruption.

The governor described Kolade as a man who had not compromised standards, saying that the lecture in his honour would contribute to value reorientation for sustainable prosperity.

In his remarks, Kolade said: ”It is sad that we have made integrity our enemy which is why this administration is trying to fight corruption, but preventing it is better than curing it.

”My prayer for this country is that we will actually get to a point where we intensify our energies to apply prevention rather than looking for a cure that we ourselves dilute by our own behaviour.

”We all need to continue to build the good name of this country by securing a firm place for integrity as our way of life and norm in our communities.’’

In his keynote address, Mr Nick Leeson, an international speaker, said that integrity and good name would attract investors, development and growth to any business.

”It is very easy to get another job but not easy to get another reputation.

“We, therefore, need to be careful and prevent anything that can soil good name or integrity,” Leeson said.

Dr Kehinde Bolaji, Team Leader, United Nations Development Programme, also said that preventing corruption was easier than addressing its consequences.

”Corruption steals resources, hinders development and threatens democracy and the rule of law.

”In Nigeria, the level of corruption calls for concern, which is why our organisation is working closely with the government in its anti-corruption crusade to promote transparency, integrity and good governance,” Bolaji said.

Mr Opeyemi Agbaje, Chairman, Governing Board of Integrity Organisation, said that Kolade was an inspiration to young minds.

Agbaje said that the lecture was aimed at supporting anti-corruption actions and promote ethics and transparency.