By Franklin Alli & Richard Nzubechukwu
Mr. Olusola Obadimu is the Director General, Nigerian- British Chamber of Commerce. He speaks exclusively with VANGUARD, on his office as a DG. He also proffers how to make the chambers of commerce movement in the country vibrant like their counterparts in London, USA.

Olusola Obadimu

He insists that the President of the Federation needs to take the advocacy issues raised by the OPS into serious consideration both in drafting budget and along the way throughout the year in progression.

Can we meet you please?
Educationally, I attended the Abeokuta Grammar school and had my degree at the University of Lagos. I have quite some degrees. I have degrees in Engineering, Business and Economics. I have a broad educational background. Career-wise, this is the third Chamber of Commerce I’d work in.

I was a consultant specialist at the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry between 1996 and 1999 under a partnership agreement with the German Agency for Technical Corporation. I was employed as consultants to the Lagos State Chamber of Commerce and Industry and GTZ was paying me.

After that I moved to to Insititute of Directors(IoD) Nigeria  as Acting Director General.  That was my first experience as a DG. I left in September 2000 to resume in October 2000 to start the Nigerian South Africa Chamber of Commerce as the Director General. I spent ten years with the Chamber. In November 2010 I joined the Nigerian British Chamber of Commerce, as the Director General.

You are coming from a familiar background in terms of bilateral chamber of commerce. How do you intend to bring your experience to bear on the NBCC?

Well, I am coming from a bilateral Chamber, now it is the just the countries that has been substituted. All along for ten years,  we have been doing business along the Nigerian – South African axis. I remember as at 2009, total trade figure between Nigeria and South Africa stood at $2billion, but I can confidently say that as at last year, between Nigeria and Britain, trade figure is about £3billion. Of course, South Africa is an emerging market, while Britain is an old market.

Before 1960, most of the foreign companies in Nigeria were British in one form or the other. It’s like our heritage and we can not deny it. So the relationship is still there, not as a master – servant relationship anymore but you will agree with me that a lot of things take place in Britain that cuts across all sectors of life and economic.

The business traffic is heavy, very heavy and our mandate is to help sustain while improving on just along trade and commerce lines but any other issue that will foster the relationship between Nigeria and Britain

What does it takes to head a Chamber  of Commerce such as NBCC?

You see a Chamber of Commerce is different from a normal commercial organisation. For a normal commercial organisation, the board gives you a target and you chase that. There is a an annual general meeting  once a year, the board meets quarterly and you have more latitude to do things your own way provided you get the target that the board has mandated you to chase. But here, it is a bit more complex.

The President in a Chambers of Commerce is more powerful than the Chairman of a PLC.
He is executive to a level, but the Director General is the head of the Secretariat, he manages the Board and the excos that manage the Chamber on a daily basis, the staff and general membership. For instance, we have over 450 members in this Chamber and any one can come in here at any time to make a peculiar request and we have got to make sure that it is achieved one way or the other.

We have to make sure it happens, because he subscribes and we don’t want to loses a member . The work here at the Chamber is a little sensitive as a result of the diverse people of diverse background we come in contact with.

We have to be more tactful, more diplomatic in relating with people because they have different ideas an values. So it requires a lot more wisdom than just business where you chase profit and that will be your sole determinant. So you have to make money and still get along with people of different idiosyncracies and beliefs.

Going personal now, what is your average day like?

Well, I am really IT reliant. So the first thing I do when I come in the morning is to read the papers, check my email and do justice to the urgent ones and delegate the rest as the case maybe. Theeafter, I consult with my principal managers in the officer to see what we have to get done in the week and daily.

I think I have a passion for Business Development. I like to chase Income, money. I think I like it. But then I do not like emotional selling, I intend to position the Chamber in a way that investors themselves will be drawn to it and they feel and get value for their money.

If not, they join this year and next year they don’t sustain their membership. That is not what we ness luncheons, and we participate in the annual Lagos International Trade Fair.

What do you propose for a more vibrant chambers of commerce movement in Nigeria?

I like that question. These are my personal opinion. The chamber movement can do a lot more than it is doing now. We are all under the umbrella of NACCIMA. We can not talk about the general movement in Nigeria without talking about them. NACCIMA can do a lot more in representing all chambers of commerce. I can see a gap.

There is a visible gap in private sector advocacy and this has led to a healthy extent the emergence of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, and other private sector groups like NASME, NASSI, etc.  Well you see, a very vibrant voice from NACCIMA can supplant all these voices. I am not saying that they are not doing any thing, they are.

The American Chamber of Commerce, when they speak, the American government listens. The manufacturing Association tells the President where they will be having their meeting and he comes there.

In Nigeria, when NACCIMA is holding a function and invites the President of the county, he does not come, the governor does not come, maybe a commissioner will be in attendance. I don’t think that is enough respect, with all due respect to the parties involved.

For instance, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group that tries to get the President to attend takes its activities to Abuja, but we know that Abuja is not the commercial nerve center of the country. And we know what happens, even in the Obasanjo times, they wait until the government gives them date before they fix their programmes.

He gave them date twice and he never showed up and he was in Abuja. What I am saying is that the government is not giving due respect to the private sector generally. So what I am saying is that the Organised Private Sctor(OPS) should lift our voices and ensure that the government listens.

We are even lucky that the current President is trying, he has been showing up at events and he is in support. The President of the Federation needs to take the advocacy issues raised by the OPS into serious consideration both in drafting budget and along the way throughout the year in progression.