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Sam Nda-Isaiah is one of Nigeria’s
brightest minds. He is rock solid intellectually. He brims with unique
ideas and has the depth of knowledge of public policy. He has the colour
and panache which great leaders often flaunt. He also presides over a
big empire which is into so many things, one of which is publishing. Sam
is the founder of Leadership Newspapers Group and currently a
presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress
(APC).
His Monday column in Leadership
under the combined titles of “Last Word” and “Earshot”, which he started
in Daily Trust before the establishment of Leadership, is one of the
most popular columns in Nigeria. Through this column, he has firmly
established himself as a pro-good governance exponent. Early versions of
his articles, now distilled into a book entitled “Nigeria: Full
Disclosure”, are a compelling narrative on the audacity of the Nigerian
paradox. His articles usually dwell on Politics, the Economy and Global
Affairs. Many consider him a pundit on statecraft and geopolitics
because he has advocated a new direction to governance that can move
Nigeria from a 3rd world country to a 1st world nation.
Born in Minna on May 1, 1962, he
attended Christ Church School, Katsina Road, Kaduna, between 1968 and
1974; Government College, Kaduna, 1974–1979; and the University of Ife,
now Obafemi Awolowo University, 1979-1983. While at Government College,
Kaduna, he led the school to win the Kaduna State Schools Challenge – a
quiz competition among all secondary schools in the then Kaduna State
(now comprising Kaduna and Katsina states). At the University of Ife, he
was the National Editor-In-Chief of the “Student Pharmacist”, the
official publication of all the Pharmacy Schools in Nigeria. On
graduating as a pharmacist, Sam worked at Minna General Hospital, after a
stint at the Kano Specialist Hospital. He did his NYSC at General
Hospital, Ilawe Ekiti, and the State Hospital, Ikere Ekiti, both in
Ekiti State, in 1984. In 1985, he joined Pfizer Products Limited where
he worked until 1989. He resigned and launched into serial
entrepreneurship.
Sam was a member of Daily Trust
Editorial Board as well as a member of the committee appointed by Kano
Government to revive The Triumph, the state-owned newspaper. His
entrepreneurial spirit led him to establish the Leadership Group in 2003
with less than N1 million. He started with Leadership Confidential, a
subscription-only authoritative and elitist newsletter. It was
successful. A year later, he started Leadership, first as a weekly
newspaper, after launching “Nigeria: Full Disclosure”, a compilation of
his articles. The launch raised about N17 million, a sum that was not
nearly enough to rent a good office in Abuja much less start a
newspaper, but he forged ahead to start Leadership. Sam has often said
that his credo is “Know your limits, then ignore it”. That must have
guided his actions in starting a national newspaper with that kind of
amount. Today, the Leadership Group is made up of Leadership, Leadership
Friday, Leadership Weekend, Leadership Sunday, Leadership Hausa,
Government and Leadership.NG. Until recently, he was also the Chairman
of Leadership Holdings Ltd, Lease Praxis Ltd, Oakhouse Forte Ltd, Banana
Republic Ltd, Allan Woods Ltd (an education company modeled after the
Washington Post Company), Free Press Ltd, Clayfields and Harrow Ltd, The
Outsource Company Ltd, Integrat Mobile Aggregation Services Limited (a
subsidiary of Integrat South Africa), Grayston 77 Limited, PPSG Group,
Robertsham Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa; and Leadership House Ltd,
the investment company. He was a director of MAP Plc, Empire Securities
Ltd, Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON) as well as a member of
the Board of Trustees of Nupe Foundation.
The shift of global economic power
from the West to the East has engaged Sam’s interest. He is a member of
the Asian think-tank, the Global Institute for Tomorrow (GIFT) based in
Hong Kong, an association that has taken him to numerous brainstorming
sessions in Singapore, China, India and Hong Kong in search of solutions
to today’s global problems and the promise for tomorrow. Sam is an
alumnus of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National
University of Singapore and also of the School of International and
Public Affairs of Columbia University, New York. He is also a member of
the Institute of Directors, a member of the Vienna-based International
Press Institute, a member of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN)
and an executive member of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of
Nigeria (NPAN). He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Edusoko
University, Bida, and of the newly reconstituted Heritage University in
Kaduna.
In 2002, he and a few others of like
minds and tendencies formed The Buhari Organisation (TBO) to promote
General Muhammadu Buhari’s aspiration to the presidency and he was
appointed deputy director-general. Sam fondly refers to General Buhari
as his model and political leader. The TBO was an organization within
the ANPP then. He was also a foundation member of the CPC before the
fusion into APC. Sam has always belonged to the progressive tendency
that has been in opposition since 1999. He was the first to start
advocating publicly that Nigerian opposition parties must fuse in order
to form a common front to wrest power from the PDP in the interest of
the nation. Sam believes in rallying a national alliance for political
outreach; that is why, as a chieftain of the APC, he has consistently
advocated the unity of the nation as a precursor of development. As a
presidential aspirant in the 2015 election, he campaigns on the platform
of unifying the nation, security and safety for its citizens and Big
Ideas that would change the course of the nation’s history.
In 2011, he was conferred with the
traditional title of Kaakaki Nupe by Etsu Nupe His Highness Dr. Yahaya
Abubakar, CFR. At the turbaning ceremony, the Sultan of Sokoto sent him a
special gift of a horse. This was a rare honour. He was the only one of
the 11 title recipients that received the Sultan’s gift on that day. He
is also the Jakadan Potiskum, a title conferred on him by the Mai
Potiskum, Alhaji Umar Ibn Bubaram. In 2013, he was conferred with
Ugwumba Ndigbo by the Igbo community in Abuja. He has received the Nupe
Kingdom Lifetime Achievement Award for Entrepreneurship. Sam Nda-Isaiah
is a senior member of the International Praise Cathedral and he was a
founder of the Praise Business Fellowship. In 1995, he delivered the
first keynote address at the launch of the School of Church Growth and
Practical Ministry (SOCAP) of the International Praise Cathedral,
Kaduna. In 2013, he presented the Review of the Synod Presidential
Address delivered by Bishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon at the 19th Synod of the
Anglican Communion in Kaduna. He also delivered the Professor Marquis
Annual Lecture at the Obafemi Awolowo University in May 2013 and was
conferred with the Grand Commander of Great Ife, the highest honour
conferred by the Ife Alumni on its members; There are fewer than 20 such
recipients in the world today. He is a fellow of the Pharmaceutical
Society of Nigeria (PSN) and is married to Zainab and they are blessed
with four children.
Last Thursday, City People spent
some quality time with him at his Abuja home. He has a rich library
filled with books on Leadership, Growth and Development, across both the
1st and 3rd world nations. He also has a very rare collection of
biographies and autobiographies of great leaders who have transformed
their countries. Sam told City People that Nigeria which is in a
terrible state now, can be fixed. “What we need are big ideas”, he says.
Why is Sam Nda-Isaiah running for President? ”I have been in the
public space for a long time. I have been involved in some form of
politics or the other. Not many people know that I studied Pharmacy at
University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University. I have always had
flair for writing and expressing myself very strongly, I have always had
interest in governance issues, I have always been a student of nations.
For a long time I have been writing and seeing how easy is it with the
kind of resources that we have to change Nigeria. I have actually seen
how easy it is for Nigeria to become part of the 1st world. I say this
with all sense of responsibility. I actually mean it is easy to make
Nigeria work. I am serious”
What made him come to that conclusion?
“Because I have travelled far and wide. For God sake, I have travelled
to Singapore a lot. I have studied the growth model of Singapore. I have
travelled to China a lot. I have also studied the story of how China
made it. Do you know the story of how China lifted 500 million people
out of poverty in record time. And I mean it. It is easy if you look at
our human, material and natural resources, can you compare it to
Singapore that has nothing and one Prime Minister was just determined?
He just said it, “that this is what I want to achieve I want to move my
people from a backward nation state to the 1st world”. Before then,
people did not even know where Singapore was. I studied the growth of
Singapore. I went for a Governance Programme in Singapore about 3 years
ago. In the class, some of them, Singaporeans, were saying that at the
time of their independence in 1965 they wanted to be like Nigeria and
the Philippines. Can you imagine? Now, it is we that go there every time
to spend money, and holidays and we want to be like them”.
What are the lessons he has learnt from the Singaporean example?
“I have seen and come to the conclusion that our problem has always been leadership. The problem is not with the Nigerian people, not at all. It worries me that Nigeria is this divided. I feel sad. On why he threw his hat in the ring, he expalined that.
“I have seen and come to the conclusion that our problem has always been leadership. The problem is not with the Nigerian people, not at all. It worries me that Nigeria is this divided. I feel sad. On why he threw his hat in the ring, he expalined that.
I tell people I want to be President for 3 reasons. One, to unite this
country. From day one, we can do that. You don’t need any budget to
unite Nigerians. You don’t need money. All you need to do is to be
sincere about it. You should be fair to all.
The President should see the nation as his constituency and all those in
it as his children. He is the father of all. If you are sincere about
it, it is very easy to achieve. Nigeria is terribly divided today. There
is no country that is this divided that can make any meaningful
progress. You can now.
Two, I want to provide security for
Nigerians. Simple. Of course we know that the most elementary job of any
President is to provide security for the people, and safety. This
country has never been like this before. The security situation in
Nigeria is sad.
Now, we are afraid to go to the Church. We are afraid to go to the
Mosque. We are afraid to go to the markets, or malls. And we are afraid
to send our children to school, even in the nations capital.
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