By Emmanuel Aziken

Engr.Azibaola Robert, Chairman, Kakatar Group Limited and Zeetin EngineeringLimited, is a man of many parts – a lawyer, an environmentalist, inventor,builder, sports enthusiast and an engineer.

In thisinterview, Robert speaks of how he has used his experience from the professionsand his passions towards building a legacy of entrepreneurship he envisionswill elevate the capacities of many younger Nigerians.

Robertwho has recently built his new house in the Maitama area of Abuja basks in the joy that it was a project done by him as a Do It Yourself (DIY) project without external engineers

Along theway, Robert opened up on how he had to ballot with his mother before he studiedlaw which he said has helped him to navigate the delicate balances of legalissues involved in his passion of engineering, sports and business.

Youhave been preoccupied with the engineering construction of your mansion inAbuja. Why did you decide to handle the engineering work by yourself?

 It hasalways been my passion to show good examples and to also show that it ispossible with Africans and Nigerians; it is possible with the black race andthat there is a possibility that things could be done to perfection and afterthe perfection, that there is the possibility that things could as well bemaintained to the highest possible standard.

Engineering boils down to the use of templates and once you are a master of the use oftemplates; you can do anything to the perfect size and perfect fitting. So, inNigeria, and with most of the artisans here, they use what they call eye gauge.They are used to doing it without the use of templates. Templates give you theability to replicate things and make them the same twin products that they areundistinguishable.  

As atrained lawyer and an environmentalist now turned engineer, what kind offulfilment does this edifice give you?

Seriously,it is one of the greatest gifts that I can pass on to the next generation. Itis not about me. I am proud to say that it is fully built, 100 percent fullybuilt by Nigerians, including me, and that I used a lot of local materials tomix it up to show that it is possible to take local materials and make it verybeautiful without necessarily importing. The next thing is that yes, this is anedifice. The building might look mighty, but it has its functionalities and thefunctionalities are what people will see when eventually it is finished.

Thisbuilding, for me,  is like a workshop. Itis a tourist centre. I have been able to take kids, young engineers from theuniversity round to show them how things are done.

Where do you derive the motivation or passion from to be involved in multiple endeavours at the same time?

This is the way my DNA is made. My DNA is made to learn and to impart knowledge, not in a formal setting like a university or a school.

Not in a classroom?

Not in aclassroom. My way of imparting knowledge is a practical way of imparting knowledge. It is do it yourself.

DIY? Something like that. DIY. But I am more a scientist. A scientist is somebody who does experiments; someone who is prepared to waste resources to get result. And ifthe result doesn’t come, it should not be an obstacle for trying the nextendeavour. So, as this building is, I don’t care if I destroy it and startafresh. Anything that is destroyable to get a better result, I am in for it. Idon’t have like sentimental attachment that it must be there. No! And that isthe bedrock of science.

In science, any country or people or entity that is not prepared to destroy is not preparedto develop.

Fromyour list of activities, law, environment, sports, engineering, which do youfind more fulfilling?

I find engineering more fulfilling.

So, why did you go into law?

Well, I went into law because my mum wanted me to be a lawyer.

But ab initio, your passion was engineering…

My passion has always been engineering and that was why I was very good in the sciences when I was in the secondary school. I was the best in sciences actually when I was in the secondary school and I could say that mathematics was my best subject and I did all the science subjects before I left secondary school.

But by the time I left, I had obstacles of gaining admission immediately and the only option that I could get admission to the university at that time, that my credits could combine to get me admission was law. And somehow, at that point, I did a ballot with my Mum. I said “ok, mum, you want me to go to the university, I have three courses that I have interest, so please, I want to write them in three papers, wrap them and then, you pick one.”

I wrote engineering, I wrote law and I wrote medicine and I dropped them and my mum prayerfully chose law. So, I had to obey. But while doing that, I still had my passion.

Don’t you think your first love, law, has suffered greatly as a result of your entrepreneurial spirit?

No. Unfortunately, it hasn’t. It only made me so versatile. It made me so versatile that I know the law and I know how not to transgress the law. I know how to navigate myself around the law and it has kept me out of trouble.

Have you ever practised and gone to court?

Yes. Initially when I left the law school, I went to court. I defended the Ogoni 19, not Ogoni nine. Ogoni 19 were the ones that were left behind after they killed Ken Saro-Wiwa. So, they were the Ogoni 19 and those Ogoni 19 were almost abandoned and I was the one who was defending them, on account of which I went to detention several times.

We were the field generals. You know Ken and I were very close. Ken and I were very close and I know that some of the leaflets that they used to prosecute Ken in court were printed by me under his authorisation.

What is happening to your idea of producing the first ever wholly made in Nigeria car?

Yes, it isstill in the works.. not in the pipeline because in Nigeria, when you say inthe pipeline, people will go and break it and remove that thing. But it isstill my life-long dream. I have somehow indirectly explained some aspects ofit. No single person makes half of the parts of a car. No single person. And Ihave looked at this country and I know that we have the talents to produce…Eachperson coming has the talent to produce half or more than half of the parts ofthe car, using somebody who is the dreamer to fulfil that goal.

I want to beable to find out across the length and breadth of Nigeria, who is able to makewhat in a car. For instance, in Zeetin, they don’t have the capacity to makethe seats of a car. If you want to set up, making the seats of a car, that is awhole factory of its own. But there are people in Aba, in Onitsha, in Lagos whoare good at upholstery making. How do we harness their talents and improve thequality of their products to be able to put the European or American car sideby side and you are unable to choose which one comes from outside Nigeria andwhich one comes from within Nigeria.

Where is your entrepreneurial spirit leading you to next?

That is what I have just said that I want to be fulfilled by galvanising the entire country into a single bunch.

How?

Galvanising all those who are making bits and pieces to a single bunch so that we will beable to know who and who is doing what because the most important thing in the making of a car is the engine and the body. Every other thing, any other person can make and bring. So, we need to know who can make what and who has not been able and bring them together. And that is one of the biggest things that I can do for Nigeria as a legacy.