Moses Amiebenomo was primed to be a medical doctor. His father, a renowned lawyer from Auchi, Edo State, told him without mincing words he must either study medicine or risk being thrown out of the family.
But Moses chose to study Chemistry, a course he believed aligned with his passion.
When his father heard his decision, he was devastated.
“I decided to fall back on something that I was really good at because honestly, in secondary school, Chemistry was a subject I always excelled at. I was in my second year at the University of Maiduguri when my dad found out that I wasn’t studying medicine and he cut me off totally. He had initially told me to come back home and sit the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
“When the UTME result came out, I scored 280. My dad was happy that I would return to school to study medicine, so he was able to forgive me. But when I went back, I returned to my department with vigour.
“When my dad found out, he cut me off and told everybody in the house to shun me that when hunger teaches me a lesson, I would return home and comply with his wishes,” Moses recalled the beginning of his ordeal.
Disowned, Moses vowed to succeed against all odds.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, he said that what kept him going during the period was his resolve to never give up.
However, being cut off from financial support from his family, he resorted to menial jobs while in school to afford his basic needs.
He said, “As of then, I began to listen to Kanye West and I had this never-give-up mentality. I told myself that no matter what happened, I would pull through.
“So, I went back to school and I became almost everything. If you have issues with your gadgets, if you have issues with your table or whatever it is, just come to me.
“I was like a school hustler because one way or another, I had to eat and save for my school fees. Interestingly, my problem improved my academic performance because the easiest way to make money on campus is to become a tutor, and in teaching people, you have to know, so I spent most of my nights reading so that the next morning, I would teach my class and they would give me money.
“That time I was living inside a room that was four by five feet and I am 6’1, if I sleep, my feet would be outside and the room was a small storage behind the garage because I couldn’t afford accommodation. I had to squat with different people for three years.
“Eventually, when I graduated from the university, my dad chased me away and said I should go back and re-sit UTME. At the time, I was going for NYSC and I decided to go.”
The waltz of confusion
After youth service, Moses suddenly became confused about what to do with his life.
“I tried starting a record label, signed two music artistes, and made an album, then took the album to Alaba market to sell. I recall speaking with the Don Jazzy team, hoping to make a beat with them but that didn’t work.
“Then, I decided to return to school. I applied to the University of Abuja to study Physical Chemistry. I got admitted but I didn’t show up because I was conflicted. After a while, I went back to the streets and became a middleman tailor and was also helping cars with problems to find automobile mechanics.
“I was just all over the place without a clear direction. After a while, I got into Nasarawa State University, but this time to study Industrial Chemistry because I felt Physical Chemistry wouldn’t have given me the picture I wanted.
“When (former president) Goodluck Jonathan was always talking about industrialisation and transition, I told myself, ‘If I get a master’s degree in Industrial Chemistry, I could come up with an idea for industrial production,” he added.
Although he started the master’s programme with much enthusiasm, Moses’ zeal for the course fizzled out like a damp squib when he found out that the programme was nothing more than rote learning of theories.
He recalled, “Midway through my programme, I realised for the first time ever that our educational sector is just a literature review. I had this lecturer who literally walked out of the class because she was teaching us about precursors and I was telling her specifically about the use of precursors in industrial production.
“Then, she referred me to my bachelor’s programme and I tried to let her understand that I was not an absent-minded person during my bachelor’s degree. After that class, I asked a best-graduating student who also had a master’s degree and was a lecturer about precursors, yet he didn’t know it.
“It was then I realised that what they had been giving us was just garbage in garbage out; just theories! I had to accept that I wasted all my years in this whole thing and I knew I had to find my spark in something else.”
But what Moses did not know was that his knowledge of Chemistry would later open doors for him.
Foray into carpentry
Describing his foray into carpentry, Moses said he had worked on a small carpentry project and he realised he was good at it.
However, with the apprenticeship system that undergirds carpentry, he was confronted with the challenge of accessing the training that would imbue him with the requisite knowledge.
He said, “Initially, I tried to get artisans to show me how it was or obtain a carpentry master’s in Nigeria, but you know how it is in this country. They have no coordinated training system; what they have is mostly an apprenticeship system and they often hoard the knowledge for like four years, and on the fifth year when you are about to leave, they will just show you one or two things and it is left for you to actually steal the knowledge from them because they will not give it to you even though you are under their tutelage.”
At this point, Moses turned to a country that he knew had a strong tradition in carpentry designs: Italy.
“I went on Google to find out what the Italians have on carpentry, so I found this company that still does some traditional carpentry because most of them were becoming very corporate and they were open to apprenticeship, so I contacted the company, got an acceptance letter and applied for a visa.
“My visa was denied the first time, but I kept sending the consulate email after email and re-submitted my visa application until I was granted a visa to be trained in carpentry in Italy,” he added.
Hard lessons in Italy
After arriving in Italy, Moses found out to his chagrin that there was a communication gap between the administrator (assistant) and the real owner of the company (master).
The former had given a nod to his training, while the latter had made it clear that he was not taking in any more apprentices.
“On arriving in Italy, I found out that there was a disjointed communication between the assistant and the master. The master was no longer taking even his family members as apprentices much less a man from Africa. So, that was how I was rejected.
“I went back to the hotel for two or three days without money. Something told me, ‘Never give up!’ So, I went to the assistant’s house with all my things and I started staying in his paddle. It was a good thing I didn’t freeze to death because the weather was minus four degrees for two days,” he noted.
After an appeal by the assistant, who vouched for his character, Moses was brought into the basement, but the owner refused to take him to the factory.
Help, however, came when the Nigerian had the opportunity to teach Chemistry to the master’s son, who was not doing well in the course.
“His son was a lanky, tall man and was a fresher in the university, studying Chemistry but he had been having problems with the course and was considering dropping out of school. But Chemistry was a subject that comes easily to me; I began to teach him the course at every opportunity I got.
“Apart from the man’s first daughter, who was the company’s managing director, most of his children didn’t go to college. Italy at the time was already bearing the brunt of the global economic recession and only the university-educated were able to find their feet. So, it was a big flex for him when his son improved academically. This was what made him take me to his carpentry design room to be trained.
“That was the heartbeat of any Italian furniture production and these are people that produce furniture for monarchs. That was where my ideas for competitive design were born. My master not only paid me during the training, but gave me more than what I should normally get,” he added.
Reconciling with family
When Moses returned to Nigeria, he frittered his savings in two years while seeking government contracts.
He said, “I frittered all my savings moving with some young men in Abuja who promised me government contracts. It was when I became flat broke that reality dawned on me.
“I went to the market and purchased red mahogany, cut it into sizes and I started sandpapering and polishing it. I went to some big offices to show them what I could do and gave them flyers and told everybody I was an Italian-trained carpenter.
“One man, Alhaji Yusuf from Katsina State, took a chance on us and decided to give us a trial. He gave me a contract and paid me N1.6m. I was shocked. That was when people started patronising us and I started working and training artisans. As of January this year, we have had 10 different companies that have my mentorship and they are employing other people.”
Moses founded his company, Sagesse De Dieu Limited.
In spite of his success, Moses’ parents still rejected the gifts he sent home.
“My fulfilment wasn’t complete. You will send money or even foodstuffs to them during Christmas and they will reject them. I went to see my dad in December but I was sent back. The family was divided and members were choosing sides – the daddy’s faction and the Moses’ faction.
“So, I went to a human rights radio station which I know my dad would listen to. I reached out to him and asked for his forgiveness.
“All of a sudden, the Nigerian Bar Association called him, top government officials and monarchs called him and then he sent a message to me that he would like to see me.
“I lay on the ground and asked for his forgiveness. I told him that I was still fulfilling his purpose for me to save lives, which was why he wanted me to study medicine. I train youths, including cult and Yahoo guys, in carpentry, which has made their lives useful and this has saved the lives of people.”
As a gesture of his goodwill and forgiveness, Moses’ father visited his factory in Abuja.
“When he came here, he looked around and said, ‘Why is that guy not wearing a helmet?’ and other stuffs. I was a bit tense when he started saying this, but when we came out of the building, he held my hand and said, ‘I am very proud of you.’
“That was the greatest thing anybody has ever said to me in my life and I was happy,” Moses said in an emotional tone.
