Celebrating Mr. Telecoms

Ken Ike

27 June 2011

opinion

At his sixth birthday in June 2677, Toni Kan classical philosopher once advised that every worthy man should ensure that he leaves behind at least one tree planted by himself, a child, and a book.

Following this advice, many men, and women, have sought to tell their own stories, or have others tell their stories, usually in the twilight of their earthly sojourn. A few of these autobiographies and biographies have been driven by vanity; many have sought to rewrite history so that they would be viewed in more favourable light; yet there are those who seek to document the truth of their earth life – their birth, education, career, and relationships, as well as personal experiences of these. Chief Patrick Sunny Kentebe’s recent biography, The Journey of Selfless Telecoms Service, falls into the last category.

Beyond just documenting his truth, as he sees it, the story of the 76-year-old telecommunications engineer is a valuable gallery of institutional memory. In a nation where many civil servants and public officials retire without passing on valuable lessons gained over several decades, or leaving, in print, their stories for posterity to benefit from, Kentebe’s biography is a welcome departure from the trend.

Reading much of the 230-page book, the reader is transported to the pre-independence days of Post & Telecommunication (P&T) then, developmentally, up to the current digital communications era, as seen through the eyes of one man.

We learn, through Kentebe’s career and experiences, about the transformation of Nigeria’s telecoms sector from the manual to analogue system, to the digital fixed line system and to the current global system of mobile communication. We learn, and see pictures, of early telephone models in Nigeria, such as the Manual, Crank Magneto, Strowger, Cross Bar, Cross Point telephones; the ITT Pentaconta system, the Hybrid and full digital systems.

Kentebe’s story is one of full involvement in Nigeria’s telecommunications transformation over 50 years through all the above telephone models and systems, plus participation in: Step 11 & 111 Project implementation for P&T; provision of rural telephony to Ijaw riverine, oil-producing communities; development of 247 P&T locations and telephone exchanges; establishment of NITEL; award of the controversial telecoms contract to MKO Abiola’s ITT; digitisation of NITEL networks; connection of NITEL to the international Direct Dialling (IDD) global system; and, auctioning of GSM licenses in Nigeria. It is no wonder that he is hailed as Mr. Telecoms!

This is rich Nigeria history, albeit in the telecoms sector. But it is thanks to Kentebe, and the author, that we have a slice of it in print. It will not be surprising if researchers scour through our official archives and do not find anything as rich as this, with or without the Freedom of Information Act!

So poor are we at building and keeping institutional memory that it would not be surprising if many Nigerians have forgotten that a certain agency known as P&T ever existed in our shores. Even if official records exist in some antiquated file cabinets, the experiences of those who passed through the agency, their joys and sorrows, pains and gains, friends and foes, hopes and aspirations, would surely not be recorded in the bureaucratic “officialspeak” and memoranda. It is stories, such as Kentebe’s, that brings such institutions alive for many of us latter-day generations.

Written in fine prose by Uzor Ngoladi, a journalist and publisher, The Journey of Selfless Telecoms Service is published by Strategia Blast International. The book is divided into three parts with more than ten subsections in each part. Part I describes the Patrick Kentebe’s birth and childhood in Lagos, parental background and early Lagosian lifestyle; the loss of his mother; and his father’s patriarchal influence. We get a peep of his recollections of his early education at the Holy Cross Catholic School, Lagos and St. Gregory’s College Obalende. Then, there were no private schools and the value of public education was high, much higher than today’s, according to Kentebe.

Growing up with a strict but kind father who had three wives and seventeen children, young Patrick imbibed the virtues of generosity from his father Maxwell. Patrick’s children, in their testimonials at the end of the book, eulogise their father for this same virtue, which often meant that their home was open sesame to any indigent Ijaw person in Lagos.

Part II recounts Patrick’s first marriage, his scholarship and admission to McGill University in Montreal Canada, his return home after becoming an engineer and his rise through the service of P&T.

Part III dwells on his career and professional years and the numerous contributions he made to the growth and transformation of Nigeria’s telecommunications. This section also contains a peep into his life after forced retirement from NITEL, the fall and decay of NITEL, his later appointment to the board of the Nigerian Communications Commission, the secret of his longevity, and the author’s interviews with some of Kentebe’s children, Christopher, Derrick, Edwina and Gibson.

Naturally, no man would have been this involved without courting controversies. Kentebe, fearlessly, gives his views about major telecoms controversies such as the much-talked-about contract to Abiola’s International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT) which became the famous subject of Fela’s musical parody – International Thief Thief.

Kentebe headed the evaluation committee that recommended the contract be awarded to ITT. He asserts that Abiola did NOT compromise any member of the committee to award the contract to ITT. According to Kentebe, “it was only ITT that had the capability to deliver at the time.” To avoid a monopoly, the contract was split and the eastern Nigeria part given to LM Erickson.

Kentebe also accuses retired. Col. Tanko Ayuba, Minister of Communications in 1986 of masterminding his forced retirement from NITEL because of Kentebe’s refusal to doctor a report on NITEL digitisation for Ayuba’s gain. He recounts little-known stories of the roots of NITEL’s decay and lays blames fearlessly.

He courts controversy with his adherence to polygamy and open acceptance of his love of women. He would equal his father’s record of wives and children.

But perhaps the biggest gem in Kentebe’s story is the history of GSM licensing in Nigeria, following his appointment in 2000 to the board of Nigerian Communications Commission. The many anecdotes, including how Adenuga’s CIL would have been one of the first GSM companies, since he was the first to pay money into the federal government account in New York, but for some “mischievous” fellows who scuttled it.

Chief Patrick Sunny Kentebe’s, The Journey of Selfless Telecoms Service is a fine read; could have been compelling had it been structured better. The arrangement of the information and inclusion of many extraneous materials such as NCC newsletters mar the free flow of the book.

For example, Part 1 not only has the story of Kentebe’s childhood and early education, it also contains chapters on Kentebe’s views of the recent mass failures in secondary school exams. This is repeated throughout all the parts; his current views could have been excised and used to form another part or chapter towards the end of the book.

One does not also know where to place the profiles of Nigeria’s past leaders whom Kentebe worked with – are the profiles Kentebe’s views or regular semi-official profiles, in which case placing them properly in an appendix would have served a better referencing purpose. The NCC report on the GSM auction and its newsletters which fill up nearly 100 pages of the book could also have safely gone into an appendix for referencing purposes.

Despite these editorial flaws, which can be corrected in a subsequent edition, the biography of High Chief and telecoms engineer, Patrick Sunny Kentebe is recommended to Nigerians and those interested in how we moved from a nation of 400, 000 fixed lines to 90m lines in a generation.

Or perhaps you should read it to know how a regular young man, without means and without his mother, and coming from the backwaters of a neglected creek, grew to become part of the telephone history of modern Nigeria. It is that worthy!

Ike is the SlamMaster of the Abuja Literary Society.

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