How would you describe yourself as a child?
I was a very slow person.  I started school after age  seven;  my peers had already started schooling by then. Though not radical,  I was neither too quiet. There were times I was carried away by youthful exuberance which gave some people a false impression about me. As a  child,  I ran away from breaking rules because I feared  being punished. I hated being caned or spoken harshly to.

How much of fun  did you have as a youth?
As a child,  I  enjoyed the  cultural entertainment available  in our days. There was the egungun festival. We ran after the elderly ones, following  masqurades.  At christmas, we  played with fireworks.  As  a child in a Catholic school, we played    around the  church premises, eating jollof rice  during  bazaar at  harvest. Again, I enjoyed  playing football and table tennis with  my mates. We, sometimes, went back home late to meet  the  wrath  of our parents who would give us   strokes of  the cane for coming home late.

Tell us about your family?
It was quite large.  My father had  four wives. My mother was the third, but she eventually became the first after the demise of the first two.

How  was the relationship among  the three wives?
they got along well. they were like sisters. We ate from a common pot. It was difficult to know which  wife a child belonged to. We enjoyed  it then.

Did your mother have enough attention and affection from your dad?
The second wife was  given  more attention  than my mother  because she was younger and fresh in  the family. My mother was a business woman who travelled to the Gold Coast(Ghana), Sierra Leone and other neighbouring  countries  to transact her business and so, wasn’t around on many occasions.

What position  do you hold in your family?
I’m number six from my mother and 13 from my father.

Can you describe your  relationship with  your  mother?
I was close to her and was fond of confiding in her.  She was the financial manager of the family, being wealthy. She was actually more wealthy than my father. she provided me with  everything I needed. i had her  attention whenever she was around.

Being the wealthiest in the family, were her mates not envious of her?
Not really, but you know women will always  be women.

Tell us more about her?
she had the entrepreneurial skill; she was  strong-willed,  bold, generous and caring. As a young child, I didn’t like the idea of her not being around due to her business  activities, but I acquired the skill from her as I grew up.

And your dad?
My father was a trader. He   was  strict with us  while we were young. He encouraged me to use the money I made early  in business to build my first house. That was at age 30. We became friends as I grew older.

At what point did you stop confiding in your mother?
I wàs  confiding in her till   she died  two years ago. I took her along in all  the steps I was taking.   anytime I was in a fix, I sought  her opinion. She was wise and full of native intelligence.

How old were you when you had  your first girlfriend?
I was between age 21 and 22. My mates had already started dating by then.

Did your mother play a significant  role  in  your  attempt at getting married?
she  made an  attempt  at match-making,  but it  didn’t work. She wanted  a daughter  in-law who is entreprenuerial and  plays  a  good role in running the home. She didn’t like a dull  person, but  preferred a beautiful  woman; a  socialite like her whom she could take to outings. She  was very particular about  my making a choice of someone from a respected family.

Did  she  find these in your choice?
Sure.

How well did both get on?
Very fine.

Are you saying  there had never been misunderstanding between them?
There had been not much to talk about.

In what ways did your mother differ from your spouse?
Both are  different personalities  with different bacgrounds.  our mothers were too much attached to their husbands like our wives  do today.  their cooking ability differs. My wife cooks well, but not the same way like my mother. My mother used natural condiments for her cooking which gave her dishes a  rich  taste.

Who is closer to your heart, your mum or wife?
The two of them are different. What I would discuss with my wife is quite different from that of my mother. The interest of  both  differ on issues.

How have you been   able to keep  your home?
I believe it’s best to be open to  one’s partner in all areas so that she won’t have a wrong impression about issues. And when you confide  in her all the time, there won’t be reason for any friction  in the  relationship.