Q: What is your name Sir?
A: My name is Muniru Alade Adebowale Bankole. I started my aviation career in the 70s in Nigeria Airways where I was a commercial cadet and I rose to the position of country manager in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia overseeing the Arab work. I worked in West African Countries and in Nigeria in various stations. I had a lot of foreign trainings, and being a cadet afforded me the opportunity to know virtually all the aspects of Aviation.
These aspects are mainly commercial cargo, traffic and camp coordination viz-a-viz supervising management etc. That has defined my future even in engineering. Getting into the Nigeria Airways and after the liquidation of Nigerian Airways in 2003 by the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, it came to my mind to start something related to aviation.
I started a travelling agency in the year 2000 called Medview Travels and Cargo. What I was doing at that time was to gather people or do consultancy for Umurah and arrange accommodation for Lagos State pilgrims during the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I was their consultant for most part of his tenure.
What I did is to organize and bring people together. I did the same for Kwara State, Borno State, Yobe State, and some other states in Nigeria where I would organize the visas, transportation and bring everybody together. That was run consecutively between five (5) years to seven (7) years. I started the travelling agency in September 2000 precisely. I registered the company in 2006 and after that, I started thinking of what I would do.
I ventured into air-lifting to Haj that means that I have to have concrete arrangement with airline to partner with them. So, I started my relationship with Air Atlanta, which is based in Iceland and I also had a good partnership with Euro Atlantis which is based in Portugal.
Q: How did you raise the fund?
A: Every year I have this partnership, I sign agreements to provide me with two (2) to three (3) aircrafts to airlift pilgrims. I applied to the government and I bided, fortunately I was selected as one of the chosen carriers.
The first day I applied in 2006 for Airlifting, I was asked to pay one million non-refundable fee which I borrowed and in 2007, I made the second venture which I had to use my Asset, (property) to get fund from the bank. Nobody at that time could say how the journey would be. I thank Alhaji Muritala and my wife, for their supports at that period. There was a time we needed to trade the document of some important properties to the bank to get the loan. Our thought then was that if everything goes on well, we will owe it to God and if it goes the other way, we will still owe it to God.
Q: How do you recruit your staff?
A: Since I started my career in the Aviation, I have had the opportunity to have a relationships with various people and that has informed my ability to know who is who both in the aviation sector and in Nigeria as a whole. Also, in 2012, I went into domestic operation and this has enlarged the scope of the company because today we have more than 387 staff and I have worldwide station both domestic and international. I have fourteen (14) daily operating stations where I operate too. It is like looking for your friends and close partners who know the language, understand the tricks and knows their onions and today I wasn’t wrong to choose those working for me.
Q: Do you have people (directors) who put money in your Airline business either as partners or shareholders?
A: For now, no. The only thing I had was a partner in Saudi Arabia, who has been very helpful to me his name is Desolo Muniru. We had a meeting together in Newton Hotel, where he told me to float an Airline business, and I said Airline is not for a child or baby, that it’s for those who have gotten to the peak, those who have money, and those who has a passion for it. But thank God and thank him for his own commitment and his encouragement. So, he was the first chosen person that I worked with when I started the business. Alayeluwa, Oba Rilwan Akinolu, Oba of Lagos, when I needed to fund two Aircraft and I had difficulty in getting the loan from First bank, because of the issue of collateral, then Eleko, was there for me and he said fine, go and take my house in Beckley and the man, (bank manager) said who will take the property of the Oba but Oba Akiolu stood his ground and surprisingly, the bank gave me the loan with no interest, but thank God I paid the money back in short time.
Those are the two major people that saw me through. I met very reliable people who have started showing commitment because we are going on IPO and people are showing interest. My colleagues and staff especially are paying into the company and it has become enlarged and that is why it is now called Medview Airline Plc.
Q: What motivated you to go into West African routes because I know you ply only Saudi Arabia?
A: I am even going international very soon and Dubai too. Dubai has already been settled, we already have an office there. For one to keep running in this industry, your operations must transcend domestic routes. What we did was to start with the local run and give Nigerians sample to see the difference. When we came into domestic operations, some of our colleagues were selling food on board, we came to create a new service driven approach which is what we call zero tolerance or no time departure, this is what beat everyone out of the market. When we say our departure time is 7pm is for a particular flight and we don’t compromise that. We also don’t compromise safety and we also give full meal on Airline.
Also when we realized that there was virtually no Nigerian airline that runs some parts of Africa for the Haj operation, particularly the ECOWAS coastland, about 11 to 13 countries of them, we ventured into that project by extending our Haj service to these countries because we discovered that people (pilgrims) there need our help. This year alone, I airlifted about 2000 pilgrims from those countries such as Guinea Bisau and Mali to hajj and we have started bringing them back to their respective countries.
Q: You have business in Nigeria, Africa, London and other parts of the world. How do you monitor them to know how much your profit is?
A: Once you are committed to a business and once you believe in the sincerity of your wealth, where your source of money is coming from, you need to trust people, so that they too can do the same for you. The guy in London is accountable.
Q: How do you monitor the business?
A: I give it to Allah to monitor for me, I give my profit too to Him to account for it. If I give someone my account to hold for me, I leave the person to it, I don’t live my life in doubt of the person because God did not hold me in doubt. One thing is that I have zero tolerance for stealing, you steal, you go to jail, so it makes my work very easy.
Q: Am I right to say that your public relations with people is the key to your success?
A: One good thing for every human being is to keep to character that makes you relate with people. Once you worship God and you are humble, you must accept people the way you see them. I came from zero level, my father was a civil servant, with Jinadu’s father and Momoh. They were civil servant in the ministry. They were Wole-Wole (Health Inspectors), and my mother was a pepper seller. I understand the background, where I come from and my mother taught me well.
Q: Why is your fare to London very cheap compared to other Airlines and how much is the rate now?
A: In aviation what we do is sector fare and I do tell people, that you are free to do your costing. We have what is called cost analysis, you look at the aircraft, cost of insurance and look at the flight permit, and you look at the welfare of the crew because you have to pay them.
Q: What is the fare for the flight going to London now?
A: If you are going with Economy, it is about three to four hundred thousand Naira.
Q: How do you cope with the dollar now?
A: The Nigeria situation is unfortunate. For us here in this country, naira was formerly forty naira (N40) to one (1) riyal, but today it is one hundred and twenty naira to one riyal. We just pray to Allah to help us.
Q: What is your solution?
A: My solution is an appeal to the government that they should look into their plans and see where aviation could be one of their selling points; because without this industry, (Aviation) our economy cannot grow. Also, without us you can’t bring people to Haj. Though on the foreign exchange, the government did very well this year for the pilgrims. They should also extend such favor to the Airlines, because we do the payment for the Airline in dollar, we do the payment for insurance in dollar, we do the payment for fuel in dollar, the maintenance of our Aircraft which is done overseas, it is done in dollars. We are crying and I hope they are listening.
Q: In the last ten (10) years, have you had any cause to feel sad or regret over this Airline business?
A: My feeling is always focused on Almighty God. I give the problem to God because He always has the solution. So I don’t have any reason to bother myself over my problems and I give thanks to Him in good and bad times. God is not a man, just come to Him and tell Him the problem and He will solve it. Once you can spend your time and wealth to support His cause, which I have done for thirty three (33) years, he will be there for you. I use the token I have to support his religion (Islam), here in Saudi Arabia. I have a villa here, I live here with my family and we are living in a very comfortable house, so there is nothing to bother myself about because that is the hope of God that I have been praying for.
Q: What is the secret of your Good Health?
A: Humbleness, quietness and less stress. I don’t think of troubles that I cannot solve. Make your life simple, be blunt and tell people the real story and the truth. Don’t promise anything you cannot do.
Q: What is your hobby?
A: I play table tennis.
Q: How do you get time for it?
A: I do get time. Secondly I do what is called farm ramping, when you know about farm ramping you can do a lot of business on it, you can even do it in your backyard.
Q: How do you cope with all these things?
A: I do runs on Saturdays and Sundays. I don’t do aviation business on Saturdays and Sundays, I stay with animals. Everybody know that. Monsuru my childhood friend in Ikorodu knows that, Bode Oloyede in Epe and other friends knows my location on weekends. When they want to see me, they know how to track me. I have a very beautiful farm at Agbowa in Ikorodu, and in Okeogun Epe. So, Saturdays and Sundays, I am a normal person, but the week days are always hectic, because I resume, 9a.m and I close, by 10p.m every day, and I don’t keep paper till the following day. I sign off because only God knows tomorrow.
Q: How much do you spend on clothes, can you estimate it?
A: I wear normal clothes, nothing more than that and they are not so expensive. It depends on my personal taste. I go for two things, my body, for my heart is clean and also my body needs something clean and my stomach needs something clean, so once everything goes well, the brain will work well. I don’t have a specific dress, I just dress normal to soothe my taste, because when you keep your soul and body clean. God will appreciate you. I thank God for those who ensure I dress well every time. One of them is my wife and the guy who do the laundry for me. He does it well and fortunately, he is a good guy.
Q: Lagos State is one of your biggest client during Haj, what advice do you have for them and the governor for the patronage?
A: First, I will tell those from Epe, Eti-Osa and the rest of us close to Ikorodu that I am single handedly commending his Excellency, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for a job well done both for Haj and his government in the state. I have seen his silent but great achievements from Ikorodu to Epe. Everywhere I go, I see his work and I can assure you that he is working.
Q: Advice to Lagos Pilgrims?
A: Everything, they are going to do here (Saudi Arabia) should go by the rule of the state. Pray for yourself, pray for the state and pray for the country. There should be a special prayer for Lagos state because of what is happening there now particularly when one considers the fact that people can now walk in the night without fear because there is light everywhere.
Light up Lagos is a wonderful thing, it makes me leave my office as late as 9pm to 10pm for Lekki and it is light all the way. I can see a lot of clubs now on Awolowo way. People can park cars and start playing music. I think we are coming back there. We should pray for the state governor who is committed to make the state better. We should also pray for our father, the president of Nigeria for God to guide him.
Q: Do you think that your fluency in Arabic and Saudi Arabia language helps your business?
A: It doesn’t. I went to the university here and I was the oldest student in the College of business social administration, I graduated with 4.5 grade at the age of 50. My children are here, they also went to school here. When you give your children education, you remove 60 percent of stress from your future because they will be self-sufficient and able to do things on their own.
Q: What is your best food?
A: It is only my wife who knows that because she knows my taste, so she provides me with what is good. We have a lot of opportunities to have Nigerian meals here 24/7.
Q: As a successful man, do you have girl friend or keep ladies?
A: No way because they only want to share in your success and glory. When you are okay, people want to come around you, but it is better to grow with them as friends and colleagues.
Q: We noticed that you are not the type that lies?
A: That is the secret of my success story, bluntness. Just give your issues to Him (God), you don’t need to lie.
Q: In your business, do you plan successors? , and if you do, are your children your successors?
A: They are already in the business. As you can see, my daughter is running the Haj and Umurah while the others are working on the other side too, and fortunately, my in-laws are in the business as well.
Q: Who and who are your mentors?
A: Allah first, also my father Eleko, (Oba Rilwan) who has been very wonderful to my growth. He is someone that people might not like but I personally like him because, he will tell you the way it is. Although we do quarrel sometimes, but once I tell him it is not like that, he accept and believe me.
Q: What level do you want your business to go?
A: For Nigeria of today, it is very sad to say that a country of 180 million population has no national airline but the government of today is spear-heading the challenge to create a national airline which I am in support of and also ready to contribute to help the country in that regard so that we can go back to the old good days because what makes the economy grow is the aviation business. So, if we have our own Airlines and we are patriotic enough, we will get it right in the aviation business and at the same time we would get money back into the economy.
Q: Is it still possible for us to have Airlines and what about those who will run it?
A: We can still have it. It is possible but we will have to create enough time to sit down and discuss it very well. It is no more a national cake like it used to be. If we as entrepreneurs could start up the business and make profit, definitely the country can also survive if a National Airline is established. So, if we have the right personnel, the necessary driving force and also involve financial institutions, a global entity, a manufacturer of aircrafts, MRO and get everybody on board, things are going to work fine by the grace of Allah.
The business of aviation is not by sentiment and it is not just a window to siphon money and bring in contracts, to the government. It is not just a money making venture through the government because it could be run down with such approach. If you run a private Aviation business the way it should, then you are good to go.
Q: What other advice do you have for the people of Nigeria and the pilgrims?
A: My advice to the people is that, they should remember that whatever we do and wherever we are, whatever we do, we are going to be accountable for it at the end. As parents, some of us have neglected our responsibilities and as a result there is so much problem in the society today and it is affecting the economy. There are lot of youths in the country but there are no jobs for them. The government should be more committed to bringing out the policies that will bring positive change to the country. Particularly, the youth, create environment where people can have something doing like what the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) is doing now. They made it agriculturally driven for the corpers throughout their one year service. We should all support the government to enable Nigeria get back to the track of truth and sincerity because we are not trusted outside due to so many negative things we have passed through, which I believe the present president is working very hard to change for the better
Q: What is your opinion about Buhari and his government?
A: I am not a politician and I don’t intend to comment on political issues but when you talk of humans, I think God loves him, (President Buhari) because he had tried to become the president for Three (3) times consecutively and he continued to come and Nigerians decided to sympathize with him and gave him this opportunity to serve. I hope he will use this opportunity to do the best for this country.
Q: Some people said he is the only president that has entered Kaaba. Is there no other government official that has done that?
A: I have no record of that but I will tell you his sincerity afforded him that privilege. When he came to this Holy land, we stayed in this palace together and were well fed and when we wanted to leave, the whole road was closed. This can only be done for their king and the person next to their king is the president. I was with him (President Buhari) when he was taken to the Kaaba, we were kneeling everywhere together and I had a one-on-one meeting with him. I pray that God will give him long life, strength and power to do something great for Nigeria, which I believe he will do.