My worries about Nigeria – Chief Berkhout

Now a Nigerian citizen, he’s the founder of a well-respected publishing company, the Spectrum Books Limited, which he has sold. But Chief Berkhout was not done with publishing. At a time when he thought he would retire from the publishing business, he was compelled by circumstances to set up another publishing outfit called Safari Books […]

Now a Nigerian citizen, he’s the founder of a well-respected publishing company, the Spectrum Books Limited, which he has sold. But Chief Berkhout was not done with publishing. At a time when he thought he would retire from the publishing business, he was compelled by circumstances to set up another publishing outfit called Safari Books Ltd, based in Ibadan. At the age of 83 and in his years in Nigeria, Chief Berkhout is popular for publishing books by and on prominent Nigerians. He’s published books by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the late Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the late Sheikh Gumi, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, and recently Malam Nasir el-Rufai’s work entitled: The Accidental Public Servant. In this interview, Chief Berkhout spoke on his experience as a publisher in Nigeria, and his impressions about the country.

You came into this country in 1966, shortly before the Civil War broke out. Why did you leave Zambia for a war zone?
I worked in Zambia for the Oxford University Press as the manager for Zambia and Malawi. Then, I was posted to Oxford in England to work on the European continent. But I had a young family which I had to take care of, so I opted to stay in Africa.
Then Evans Books publishers came to see me in Zambia, saying they wanted to open an office in Nigeria. This country was always intriguing to me, because when I was a bookseller in Dar es Salaam, we met Nigerians who were very keen about reading.
Especially in Igbo land, there was high literary rate, and they were very keen about reading. Therefore, there was a book market there. At that time, the population of Nigeria was only about 45 million.
So, it was obvious Nigeria was intriguing for our business, because the people bought books. When we came to Nigeria, the Civil War had not started. There was trouble in the West. Then, there was the Civil War. Evans lost a high percentage of its market, which was in the East. So we had to begin to develop the West and the North. We said, ‘let’s go to the North.’ I had no idea what the North was.
We had to go to Kaduna and Kano. In those days, there were no asphalt roads, but asphalt strips. If you were travelling to Kaduna on the road, you’re alone. If any other vehicle came from the opposite direction, you had to come down from the road with two wheels on the tarred road and the other two wheels on the un-tarred part of it.
Kaduna was a nice town. I stayed in old-fashioned rest houses, paying 2 shilling 50 pence per night. Then I developed the North. I went to all the Native Authorities. They had never seen a publisher before. I went to every nook and cranny.
You could walk and drive in the night. I went to the Western and Eastern parts of the North. There were very good schools in North. They were not very many, but they were all good. There were a lot of mission schools, and they bought books. They knew exactly the number of teachers there were, the number of students. They had good records. I enjoyed the North.
Together with my family, we stayed in Funtua. There were few bookshops. I travelled a lot. And it pains me today that I cannot travel anywhere by road. The North was the most peaceful place. You could stop anywhere and buy things.

Was that why you naturalised as an indigene of Katsina State?
Well, no. When I got my Nigerian citizenship in Lagos, for the sake of national character, they changed the venue of the ceremony every time. That year, they went to Katsina for the ceremony. It was far away, and Chief Gabriel Igbinedion gave me an aircraft of Okada Airline, to take me and my guests from Lagos to Kano. Then we travelled by road from Kano to Katsina. The late Ojukwu was on the flight. It was a fantastic time we had in Katsina, where I was given my citizenship. A lot of people were there.

Where do you feel at home now?
Here (in Nigeria). My first son is in London. My children are all over the place. But, to me, this is home. You know what would happen to me if I were in Europe at my age at 83? I would be in a caring home, where one would sit a whole day in a chair until one drops dead.  
That is not life. In life you have to take interest in one thing. When you get up in the morning at 7.00am and you don’t know what to do for the day, it is a disaster! It is impossible for me. I would just die! I am very worried for those who are unemployed.
They get up in the morning and they have no mission; they don’t know what to do. You can educate yourself. My son is a professor, and he said the whole concept of education in the world has changed. Students educate themselves by acquiring information. Often lecturers now learn more from their students today.
But, here, in Nigeria, you still have a blackboard where you scribble some things, and those information could be wrong. And, if a student says ‘sir, this cannot be right,’ a Nigerian professor could get very angry about that, and say ‘who are you?’ Sometimes, the students may be right because they have more information than the lecturer, because some lecturers are still computer illiterate.

You mentioned Ojukwu. You published two of his books, and it seems you have some interesting relationships with him?
During the Civil War I didn’t like him because I was on the federal side. When he came back, I became associated with him through Frederick Forsyth. Forsyth asked if I would publish a book written on Ojukwu, called Emeka.  I said, ‘why not? A book is a book. Though I didn’t like him, but he had come back. When Ojukwu was allowed to return to Nigeria in 1982, he gave a condition, that he would come back only if Frederick Forsyth was allowed to accompany him. Forsyth had been declared a persona non-grata in Nigeria because he was on the Biafra side during the war. Shagari had to lift the ban of Frederick Forsyth.
So they came, and Forsyth invited me to Nnewi. There I met Ojukwu for the first time. So Forsyth was there and asked me to publish his book. I gave him a cheque for 25,000 pounds. That cheque he gave to Ojukwu. We published the book, printed the first 250,000 copies. Then the late Nnamdi Azikiwe sued me immediately for 1,000,000 pounds because in the book there was a controversial issue about Ojukwu’s father and Zik. We had to destroy the 250,000 copies because Ojukwu could not provide the cheque his father was said to have issued to Zik.
He had only a photocopy of it. A very intriguing story. At that time things were possible. I went to see Zik and even published his book. Ojukwu was an incredibly intelligent man. Then we became friends. I used to tell him my story, my experience during the Civil War. I went to Nsukka where I stayed for one night. Theophilus Danjuma was the commander there. He told me I was still lucky that I was still alive. In the morning he gave me an escort to drive to Enugu, a short distance. Then, to see a Peugeot 404 with a white man in it was an issue.
I wanted to go to Ogoja and was frisked by soldiers on the federal troop. But five kilometres on each side of the road between Enugu and Abakiliki,  there were the Biafrans there. There were road blocks, and every time we got to one, I opened the door and they would check me.
At one checkpoint, a soldier said to me, ‘Father, can you hear my confessions?’ Having been brought up as a Catholic, I was able to pretend I was a missionary. So, I prayed for him and said, ‘you return in peace.’ So in the evening, I arrived in Ogoja, and I had to stay with a Reverend Father, and I narrated the story to him. He said, if that soldier died that day, the good God would hear his confession and forgive him.
But he said, I should not do it again, and I agreed. Then, I told the story to Ojukwu and he said, ‘If I were there, I would have shot you because there is no difference between a missionary and a mercenary.’ (laughter..).
I must say I have an interesting life story, and often people have asked me to write my own book. Nigeria is a fantastic country and I’m totally in love with the people. So, when I see what is happening today, I say this is not Nigeria.
Today, there is insecurity and you find security men everywhere. Things have changed, not for the better, I must confess. It’s sad.

How come you convince prominent Nigerians to publish their book in your company? You published Ojukwu, Obasanjo, Gumi, el-Rufai, etc?
The one on Sheik Gumi I got through Dr Ismaila Tsiga, who is my good friend. Sheikh Gumi was detested in the South, but we became very good friends. I liked him. I used to go to him in Kaduna, and we used to go to the mosque.
He christened me a chrislam. Sheikh Gumi was not the person they painted of him. He’s a very simple, upright man. Of course, he’s a very strong believer in his religion, but he practised according to the rules and regulations. He’s simply dressed. When we published his book, it was a big story.
We were supposed to launch it, but when I went to see him, he said he had a problem with his knees, so he needed to see his doctor. He would ask me to come back in 10 days time to enable us talk about the presentation. But unfortunately, he died. When I came back to see his son, he said he would meet former Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki to discuss the book.
But Dasuki wanted to take over the project because the Sheikh had gone and his children didn’t really know what to do. We published the book and it sold very very well. Sheikh Gumi was a perfect man. There’s one thing about this country: if you show great integrity and you’re genuine with the people, in the North and in any other part of the country, you will be appreciated.   

What about Obasanjo? What was your relationship with him?
Obasanjo I knew as a military Head of State. He did a book by Nzeogwu. I was given the book to publish. Then he did a book about his detention. He took down notes on pieces of papers while in prison. That was very intriguing to me. He is so much about Nigerianship, not about where you come from. He and Nzeogwu were very good close friends and Obasanjo wrote about him.
Together we launched the book. Together with Obasanjo, we went to the village in the then Mid-Western State, and with the proceed from the book, he built a house for Mrs Nzeogwu. Nzeogwu was in jail and he and Obasanjo wrote letters to each other. In the army, there is still this unity among themselves. Few years ago in Enugu, Gowon went to Ojukwu’s house. He knew Ojukwu was ill. His wife opened the door and Gowon said, ‘I’m Gowon. I want to see Emeka.’ She rushed upstairs and told Ojukwu that Gowon was downstairs.
Ojukwu said, ‘don’t fool me.’ She insisted, saying ‘he’s there.’ So Gowon went upstairs and they embraced. The loyalty within the army was still there. When I opened the Spectrum House in Bodija, Ibadan, Gowon was the chairman of the opening of the house. Ojukwu and Gowon made fun of themselves, and they embraced each other.
Though they were enemies during the Civil War, in the end they still respected the fact that they were members of a single army.  So Obasanjo did the Nzeogwu book. I used to go to him when he was a farmer. When he was detained in Yola prison, I went to see him, and when he came out of prison he asked me to see him again, and we’ve been good friends always. He’s a good man.
You may not agree with people on every issue, but basically he’s a good man. We’ve got a lot of intellects in this country. But what worries me after all these years, and I can speak with authority, is that the lack of discipline is our major problem.
If you’re not disciplined, and if you do things outside the rule, as long as politics is the means of making money, there will be a problem. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, is on a salary. If suddenly he builds a big house, the tax man would go there and say, ‘hey, where did you get the money from? We know how much you earn!’
Here, it is not like that. If we want to be great, we should stop this indiscipline. Abiola made his money by trading. Dangote is a big businessman. If one is a politician or a member of the National Assembly, you know his salary.
If he lives in affluence or in big houses, then, government has the right to ask the question: ‘the income you declared last year is so much. Your house is N200 million. Where did you get the money from?’ The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should do this, but they don’t!

In the book publishing industry, you’re seen as a brilliant businessman. We understand you could pressurise a potential author for two years in order to get a marketable book published. How true is that?
You don’t pressurise. When you talk to people, you tell them about their lives, saying ‘don’t die. Just write your story down. Don’t die without telling your story.’ A lot of people who should write have not written their books. I think Nigeria is very much under-written.

How did you get the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Nasir el-Rufai, to publish with you?
Nasir el-Rufai I got to know when he was the Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE). I did printing jobs for the organisation. For some reasons, our chemistry clicked and I liked him. Very smart, very intelligent, young, dynamic.
When he became a minister, I met him a few times and we remained friends since then. When he returned to the country after staying away for some time, we met. I said, ‘are you back? I had been trying to make contacts with you but your telephone number was not going through. You should write your story.’ He got the point and agreed.

So it was an accidental deal?
Yes, many things in life are accidental. The book has been successful, except for pirates who have done a lot of damages to the market?

How many copies have you sold?
That is a publisher’s secret!

But you must have made a tidy sum?
We didn’t do badly. I think it came with a very good name. People may not agree exactly with some issues. Let me tell you something, when we launched the book, somebody stole my phone from the high table. The book is well-researched.
El-Rufai is extremely rugged. His command of English is superb. There were arguments; we had so many meetings.
Then when I saw things that were not too kind to Obasanjo, we argued about it, and he would say, ‘I know you’re his friend, but we still have to go ahead…’ He’s a very good writer. We had many meetings, and we argued about a comma, full-stop, this and that. He said, ‘I don’t care.
If anybody feels to the contrary, let him write! If I say that is green and you say that is white that is the way I see it.’ There are things mentioned in the book (I don’t want to mention them), which nobody can argue about, but they are true.

He has some papers from the cabinet meetings?
He has 46 notebooks! Every discussion he had with somebody, as soon as he entered his car, he made a note on it. I asked him: ‘listen, how do you remember all these things?’ He said, ‘I don’t remember.
Each meeting I had with anybody in government, I made notes in my book.’ So, his next book we’re going to publish is called “The Ministerial Notebook.” All his handwritten notes is what we’re going to use.

It could be a bombshell?
That’s good. I like bombshells.
 
Why did you sell Spectrum Books to start Safari, another publishing company?
 That’s an interesting question. I sold Spectrum when I was 78 years old because my children said if anything happened to me they wouldn’t manage the company. There was no family succession plan. They asked me to sell the company and take a break, a rest. None of them wants to come to Nigeria.
My son is a professor in a university in England. I have four children – three boys and one girl. My children are not interested in coming to Nigeria. So, what would I do? I sold Spectrum.  For two or three days, I took a kind of holiday.
Then, somebody came and said he had the biography of Justice Belgore, and that Belgore said it must be published by me. I told him I was no longer a publisher. He said, please publish it. That was how Safari was born.

You seem to be more in political books. Why don’t you pay much attention to educational book?
I do more of biographies. You know the books that attract more readerships are controversial ones. We did some educational books.
But biographies are more interesting. When El-Rufai’s book was being published, there were previews in the newspapers. You people (journalists) were sniffing around, and there you had interviews with him that you flashed on the front page of your newspapers.
I think I’ve made some contributions, no matter what people say – whether positive or negative – but nothing is totally negative; nothing is totally positive. There’s always a balance.

Which book from among all the ones you’ve published has given you more excitement?
Every book gives me excitement.

Apart from “The Ministerial Notes” by el-Rufai, which other one are you working on?
At the moment, we’re working on the digest of the Supreme Court judgements from 1969 to 2012, which is in press. It is a major book of about 2,000 pages. We’re presenting it in December. It’s a major book, because the author worked on it for five years to get all the judgements together. It’s a major contribution to legal practice.
I went to Abu Dhabi last week to meet the printer to discuss it. That book could have a lifespan of between 50 years and 90 years. It will be there. Lawyers now make reference to cases decided in courts in England in 1800 to prove a case. That’s the kind of lifespan that the book would have.

Why are you not publishing it in Nigeria?
We’re publishing it in Nigeria, but we’re printing it in Dubai because of the binding quality, which you can’t get in Nigeria. It’s cheaper and better.
(To be continued next Sunday)