Not a selfishly rich and powerful life
I am a sucker for powerful and successful women – women who have broken the proverbial glass ceiling and are holding their heads high in different walks of life- especially the professions. That even gets more interesting when, in spite of their power and success, they add humility to it, not arrogance. It is for the reason, I dare say, that I love the CNN programme, Leading Women.
There’s always this twinkle in my eyes whenever the anchor of the programme asks an interview subject: “So what happens when you walk into a meeting in a room made up entirely of men?” Sometimes, this question is thrown to Leading Women who have found their way to the top of executive management in male-dominated professions. I pay special attention to the answers that they often give because it’s often interesting how they respond, each in her own peculiar way. But what really stands out for me is that there is always a smile on the faces of the women, whenever they answer, as if they all have an unspoken expectation that they would be asked.
My natural, caveman’s inclination to chauvinism disappears whenever Istand face-to-face with powerful and successful women. Mine is not thetype to begrudge any woman for the successes that they have achieved.
Feeling threatened is the remotest thing that comes to my mind, because it is not any of part of me to so be inclined to think or feel. As a matter of fact, the success attained is one of the strongest reasons to draw close and find out what makes them tick. I get a buzz from it and this is as long as from when I was growing up! I look back and realised much later that it’s why my ‘eye-marking’ of women was particularly different from my buddies back in high school.
I guess by now my fellow indulgees are beginning to ask questions: “What is the chief indulgee going on about today?” “What has this got to do with having a selfishly rich and powerful life?” You are asking all sorts of questions, and I can hear even the chauvinists amongst you saying to yourselves: “So our chief has a soft side?” Well, like they say, ultimately in life, we all get to find out how truly human we are. Those who do not discover that they were created human, first of all, before becoming the animals they turned themselves into, are losers in the end.
But it is because of a woman I met again on Tuesday that this issue has come up for our Square Table discussion this weekend.
As an intern journalist in the early-to-mid 1990s, my first beat was as a capital market reporter. I was assigned by Vanguard Business Editor at the time, Lanre Alabi, to shadow one of the best journalists who covered the capital market at the time, Peter Addison. He operated like a spy on espionage duties, the way he got his scoops! But this is not about Peter.
It is about the woman I met again on Tueday. At the time, covering the market meant following the companies and there was once a company called Tate and Lyle Nigeria Plc and it was quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The Exchange used to be a funny place then. It had a system called ‘Call Over Session” and I remember those “Call Over” chairmen, who would call out the stocks and a frenzy Onitsha market-like atmosphere will ensue. At the time, one of the most powerful women in Corporate Nigeria was Mrs. Margaret Adeleke. She was the Managing Director/CEO of Tate and
Lyle Plc. She was a great subject of my personal admiration. For her success and the power she commanded.
On Tuesday, it was this same powerful woman that came to our office with a new mission. I had seen her from the hall way, outside, when she came into the compound, but I had not recognised her. It was only when her card was brought to my office and I saw the name that I screamed – could this be the same powerful woman of Tate and Lyle? She was, indeed. She had come with a new mission. She is the convener of the group, Committee
Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (cecp). She doesn’t have to do this, not at her age and after all that she has achieved. For her to be doing this means it must be something for which she truly, truly feels strongly about. But here’s the real story.
This October is Cancer Month in Nigeria. Adeleke’s Committee is trying to raise awareness for the scourge, Cancer. It is a disease we once thought was of foreign origin and could never find its way to our shores. Things have since changed and life is no longer the same. Nigeria is being ravaged by cancer and other such ‘far away’ diseases or illnesses that we once thought were the white man’s problem. Adeleke and her team believe that many of the cancer cases are preventable. They say the problem is because the facilities for early detection are not available, hence, those who suffer from it and eventually die from it often find out at stages where the disease can no longer be dealt with. They would like to populate
Nigeria with Mobile Cancer Units such that screenings can be made available to Nigerians and therefore, early detection and treatment can happen. A mobile Cancer Unit would cost as low as N95 million.
It is sad that it has to take an old woman like Adeleke to be going round trying to mobilise corporate philanthropy to raise money to provide something that is good for Nigerians. This brings me back to the topic of this write up. Cancer has come to Nigeria to stay and we need to fight it.
We are finding out that a lot of people who are rich are beginning to die of cancer. The irony of it all is that they are all going abroad, where they think that they can obtain treatment – but they find that they eventually die anyway. On Wednesday, I drove along Gerrard Road in Ikoyi Lagos. As I drove along I could see tens of giant fume pipes coming out of walls all of them spewing generator fumes into the atmosphere. There are people who have gone to hospitals abroad and have been told that they have peculiar cancers that are traceable to smoke from diesels. That’s the life that we have brought upon ourselves. The rich hide themselves away in those highbrow locations and houses thinking that because they have money and can fly to Western countries and India for treatment that they can deal with this. But this is serious folly on their part. As soon as they come out they inhale this fumes and they cannot run away from the strange diseases that now ravage the land.
The real irony of this whole thing is that if you take a headcount of all the prominent people who have fallen to cancer in Nigeria in the last few years, they are people who have been in position to do something but failed to. When we were growing up they said prevention was better than cure. What is wrong with us as a people? Why would someone be buying two cars for N255 million when one Mobile Cancer Unit that can save the lives of hundreds, thousands and millions of people costs only N95 million. Why is government in our country so wrong-headed? It is the reason why all hands must join together to do something.
Adeleke’s group wants all of us to come on board, make our little donations so that it can work to put Mobile Cancer Units in different parts of the country. It is not too much to ask. The rich must give to this noble cause. The poor who can do something must also give. So should those who are powerful; because a cancer detected early has a very good chance of being cured or have the life of the person prolonged!
By: PHILLIP ISAKPA