Mr Akin S Akinyemi may not ring a bell in Nigeria political cycle, but he does back in the united state where he has been residing for more than two decades. In a chat with Sahara weekly, he informed us on why he is back to Nigeria and other sundry issue.
Can we meet you?
My name is Akin Akinyemi ,I am an Architect. I attended the University of Lagos before I moved to America for my graduate studies and of course I got married. Then I decided to stay there and practice. But my heart has always been back home (Nigeria). Every now and then, I come home on a mission to accomplish some goals and go back.
When did you relocate to the states?
When I was 21 years old, I have been in the state for 31years, but I come home more often for humanitarian project.
No doubt you came from a privilege background tell us about your family?
One thing with me and what my dad taught me is that I see all human beings as the same, I never consider myself privilege, I will rather use the word comfortable ,I grow up in Ebuta meta. we were well known; am lucky to have a supporting family while growing up.
Are your parents still alive?
My father died a long time ago when I was just seventeen years old and my mum died January this year.
What exactly do you do in America?
I Am an architect by profession, I work in a very big firm in Atlanta for four years. After my higher degree
I started my own business in the states which was rear at that time; I have been doing it for over twenty five years. Then I went into politics, I was the first elected African to a local government in the states. It’s really a blessing to be able to do those things. What am going to talk about is my current mission, while am at home (Nigeria) this time. Right now I am teaching and also doing my doctorate degree in urban planning, the main reason while am doing that is because I have a vision in Nigeria.
I will show it to you; I have been working on it for seven years, I have met with officials here, I have presented the ideals, but you often find out that academic research is a gateway to solve another
Problem and so when I talk and write, am doing an index study.
What is your mission in Nigeria?
Am on a quest to improve Nigeria, and there are many ways to improve a country and a community; there are medical need, agricultural need etc but as for me, am focusing on my area of discipline which is Architecture, planning and building the environment. When I met with a lot of senior government officials and corporate leaders, one of the points they have with it is the fact that it’s a government job to do those things which am proposing that people should do for themselves, and why I did not disagree with them is that, the government collect revenue and taxes they need to use it wisely, and at the same time we cannot continue to wallow and suffer. We all know the condition of some Nigeria roads. We know the environmental issue with the gutter system. Why we will continue to tell the government to play their part, we also should play ours too. Thus, what am trying to do is to get people together to form an association and then approach their government and say look, this is deplorable, we can raise some money and help to improve this condition. We just need their authorization to do that and maybe give them little token of maybe 10 percent of the cost. That’s all and then each community will have their own different approach raising the money. I have a very unique one that I will unravel with time but I felt that is do able, its controversial, its not easy but people can really do it to raise money. And again you won’t want to impose your own ideal on people even if it were a great ideal. So what am going to do is to do a research to see how people will feel by this type of thing.
What really prompted you to come up with this initiative?
The environmental hazards, unnecessary challenges and stress, unbearable atmosphere, bad roads and difficulty in locating places easily, among other challenges of our geographical settings, places or streets people encounter on daily basis, spurred me to make a research in providing a solution. Though it is the government’s responsibility, we should not fold our arms if the government is not forthcoming, but rather look for an alternative. A lot of streets and places have suffered setbacks because of absolute neglect and lack of maintenance. The interesting thing is that it doesn’t take much to make a transformation; only the will to say ‘yes we can’.
My life is testimony to that, because as a Nigerian, going abroad to establish a business; the first and only African-American minority business in North Florida and also to run for a public office in the U.S appeared impossible. But they happened. I don’t think there is a limitation to what we can do if the will is in place.
Nigeria has encountered series of challenges through environmental hazards, building dilapidation and bad roads. How will this initiative contribute to the solution of these major problems?
I am familiar with these challenges and what I discovered is that many things are missing, especially in building construction. A cement block is supposed to have the strength to carry about five-storey building, but because the quality has been diluted and there is no regulation to ensure standard, this led to the increase in building dilapidation. It is time we improved on our quality control so as to avoid further accidents. More so, there are other materials such as efun, which is also good for building constructions. This is on our shores in this country. Efun is what is used to make shield rock in the U.S. I just came from Ghana; it’s used over there but we don’t feel like using it here. In fact, this will also minimise the cost of constructions. The initiative is not based on building alone, but my diverse knowledge could proffer solutions to this too. Nigerians needs to improve on our environment, because it tells a lot about us, especially on our health and the way we are perceived. This initiative is based on how to ensure every nook and cranny look good, neat and accessible through a collective effort in improving the quality of life without any constraints.
As a politician, how do perceive the Nigerian politics, especially with the new government?
I am so proud of Nigerian politics, though it is not perfect. Politics is not perfect in the U.S. too. I was growing up here in the 70s when our first democracy was overthrown. Our military also did a good job, even when Muritala Muhammad was assassinated. It is a welcome development that we eventually sustained our democracy till now. The political system in Nigeria is encouraging compared to other countries where one party dominates. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, we had a change of government from one political party to another. But people don’t understand how huge that maturity is when it comes to a democratic society.
How soon are you kicking off?
Like I said I have no time table for the actual project till when am done with the research in few months.
No doubt you will want to benefit from it?
Absolutely, even I personally will be proud to say I made things happen in a positive way for Nigeria; my services will be highly rewarded.
This project you are about to embark on is it a team work or just you?
Right now it is my brain child but it’s going to be run by a citizen board, each community will form an association.
Which political party do you belong to in the states?
I am a democrat.