How has your training as lawyer and practice as a barrister helped you in your public relations practice?

Some of the beautiful elective course I read in the University were philosophy, the arts and humanities. That , I still consider the most beautiful part of my university career. The study of philosophy and the humanities is what I basically use in my work. We studied Descartes, Pythagoras and all those great philosophers. In our line of work, what is most important is enlarging of the mind. In the practice of law itself which I did for about three years, the discipline, office administration, business administration I learnt from law. Till today, our briefs look like lawyers' briefs because we run a consultancy which is retainership based. We do contract jobs. But the discipline which is of the mind, of purpose, analytical ability, ability to channel your arguments in a logical and cohensive manner I learnt all that from the law.

Are there statutes regulating the practise of Public Relations in Nigeria? If there are, are they strictly adhered to? We have the impression that the practise of Public Relations in Nigeria is an all-comers affair.

It is regulated. You have the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and there are Decrees and Statutes establishing that Institute. You also have the Advertising Practitioners' Council of Nigeria and there are Decrees and Statutes regulating that also.

Because our work bestrides many chasms, we find that we are members of the NIPR and our staff are also registered with APCON. Our staff who are doing media practice actually took APCON exams. But remember that anything that is relationship based or marketing based, or humanity based is almost like the work of a pastor. Everybody thinks that because they have access to a Bible therefore they can be pastors. It is the same thing. Because of that interactive nature of the work and it's a job that liberates ideas you are going to have that.

The critical thing is that there must be standards within the organisation. The higher the standards, the more difficult it will be for those who are not professionals to practice public relations. So, I am advocating not just the enforcement of the regulations themselves because that will not solve the problem. There is a need to raise the work standards. That is the major key.

Nigeria is going through a very crucial period in her political evolution. There is an unprecedented number of registered political parties. This has thrown up a lot of candidates at all levels. What challenge does this pose for public relations practitioners in terms of political campaingns?

If anything, I think it has created more opportunities and possibilities. In the sense that if you look at the field of the candidates today, if you do a cross analysis of the candidates, you will find a lot of gaps. We are advising three or so campaigns. Two gubernatorial and one presidential candidates.

For a lot of these candidates, there is no ideaology. For a lot of them, there is no message. There is no theme. There is no platform. So, the job of the communication specialist or strategist is to define these things for the candidate and build a thematic platform upon which they can pontificate and market themselves. Again, like I said, this poses a lot of opportunities.

Elections are getting more sophisticated in Nigeria. We are moving more and more towards America now than what it used to be. Gone are the days when its just enough to come from any part of the country and automatically win. The people are now more discerning. They are demanding more from the government. Therefore, you've got to be able to articulate your message and to articulate yourself to the populace.

As a follow up to that, how would you package a presidential candidate for instance? Would you concentrate on the speech, the dress or his public image?

In fact, those are the last things. The first thing you have to do is to sit down with the candidate and strateges. Who are you? What do you stand for? What are you saying? Once you are able to define all those things, the next thing is to device a communication channel. So that message gets out to the public.

But before you can do that, you have to do demographic studies. Also you determine what is called the enterprise constituency of the candidate. All sorts of permutations first go into it.

We did a short analysis of all the presidential candidates. I can't show you the details now, but the attributes we considered are the message, the history and legacy, the machinery on ground, the associates and alliances, the financial muscle, relevance, focus, vision, energy level, ideas, followership, ethnic affinities, communication, media support, ideology, achievements. Once you strategise properly and do your demographic studies, you then channel these information that are relevant. Most of the messages that are out there are not captivating and inspiring. Again there is that gap. Most of the candidates are weak on ideology. Most of the them are weak on message, vision, purpose and so on.

The gaps are there. So, whoever can define these things, fill them and go to the Nigerian people and give them the answers to these things, they will vote for.

We are developing, but we'll get there. But let me assure you that elections are going to get tougher and tougher in this country.

I asked that question because it's common knowledge that many of the candidates for the various offices have some dirty past, ranging from false educational qualitions to records of conviction. How would you clean up the image of such candidates?

No, we don't clean up a candidate. We first determine whether these allegations are true. You see, facts are facts. If your opponent gets hold of your dirty past, he is going to finish you. Therefore, the job of a communications strategist is to sit down with the candidate and have a confessional session. "What are the things that are likely to impair you? What are the things that are going to cause fear, accusations and doubts? What are your strengths, and weaknesses?"

When you look at all these, you now begin to ask, what are the sellable things?

The best way to handle a bad situation is to go to the Nigerian people and say, 'This is the truth, but that does not deter from the fact that I have the capability to run because what you are looking for is a leader who can do A,B,C, D.' The more you try to hide and build lies upon lies, the worse the situation becomes. It's not going to go away. Even if you win and assume office, it will task your credibility. History will remember you more for your controversy than your achievements in office.

When you started your Consulting firm, did you envisage that you'll go into all these diverse areas that you are into now, like public relations, advertising, brand packaging, marketing and all that?

First of all, let me clarify what we do. We are image consultants. You must remember that there are three types of image. Reflective image, mental image and biological image. Now, we don't define ourselves in terms of advertising, public relations, branding and all that. Those are mere tools. The most important thing is that we progress ideas in form and function.

But sometimes you need advertising. But you don't advertise until you are ready to meet the market. We consult for banks. For instance, we worked with Bond Bank for two years before they even got the licence. We didn't advertise for them untill two years after. Advertising is a mere tool.

Only 10% of our income comes from advertising. We are image consultants, period!

Your Brand Report on Banks seems to have been accepted as a reference tool for banks. Why banks? Given our kind of economy, one would have thought that you'll think of Oil and Gas, or even the agricultural sector.

First, you find that the banking industry as a sector is organised and therefore cost efficient and highly productive to attack that sector first. It is regulated, organise and vibrant. That was just the starting point. This year, we've actually spread it to the oil and gas industry. We are going to do consumer research.

We are doing all that to provide the intelligence for the practioners. So that they can be more productive and have a more efficient asset base. That is why we did the Alder brand Report.

Again, before now, there was no industry standard in terms of branding. Nobody was ready to take on that challenge because its very expensive to do. It takes about one year to collate the information. The materials involved have to be of a standard, international class.

The research cost us millions of Naira. But we did it because it's the right thing.

I want to assume that most of the data you got in preparing the report came from the banks themselves. How do you guarantee that the imformation you recieved is not falsefied? We are aware that a lot of banks are into round-tripping and other malpractices?

Most of the information did not come from the banks, but some came from the banks. The report is actually in many parts. You have the employees of the banks, the customers of the banks, then the press. So, there are no vested interest, purely unbiased information. We also go to the analysts, the stock brokers, the accountants, management consultants and so on.

Then we also went to banking practitioners themselves. If you look at the report. A lot of the banks that are in trouble today is predictable. So, this report not only provides the intelligence to the Practitioner, it's also a signal system. For the first time, the banks came face to face with what the consumers want. Therefore, they can package their strategies. Their marketing budgets and all the things that they do to meet the expectations of the customers.

You are a lawyer, a public relations practitioner, a church minister, an artist, a magazine columnist and a motivational speaker. How would you for instance introduce yourself at a gathering?

I am an image consultant, simple! Leke Alder, image consultant.

But you seem to be wearing a lot of caps?

No, it's because in our society people are defined more in terms of roles rather than capabilities. I tell people that no organisation is interested in adverstising for the sake of advertising.

The same way, what we have in Alder is about 23 to 30 determined young people in this organistion.

We have no titles. We have what we call a 'competent basket' system, where everything that you have you keep into that basket system.

When a bank comes to us and say, 'we have this kind of problem," we go into that competent basket system, mix things together and give them. Everything we have we put into that basket. So, I remember that I am just one out of so many people in this organisation. We have psychologists, economists, lawyers, micro biologists, agric-economists in this company. they all bring in their competence.

For instance, we have been able to solve a lot of the efficiency problems in banks just by studying the way hold-ups build up in Lagos. We have a model that we use to help organistions solve their efficiency problems.

You once preached a sermon in church where you said you had a dream that a Concord aricraft landed at the Murtala Mohammed Airport a fortnight later, a Concord aircraft actually landed at the Murtala Mohammed airport for the first time in the history of aviation in Nigeria. Would you say you have a gift of prophesy?

Remember that like any other person, I occupy dual roles. I am a multidimensional human being like everybody. I have my business life, my family life and my religious life. What I try to do is to separate them so that they don't mix. I keep my family very private because my wife is a very quiet person and I want my children to grow up normally.

In terms of what you call prophesy, prophesy in itself is not futurology. The gap between the unseen and the seen is such a thin divide. I really don't know how these things operate.

Maybe you have to ask a pastor. I know that I speak from my heart. I do not see myself as a futurologist. Honestly, I am just a simple person as you see you, that is who I am.

What is the level of your involvement in House of Nigeria Fresh, and Justice Party in terms of your relationship with its presidential candidate, Pastor Kris Okotie?

I am not a member of the Justice Party or House of Nigeria Fresh. I consult for them as a communications strategist. But Rev. Kris Okotie is a friend. I owe him the loyalty of a friend. Beyond that, I owe him generational affinity. I owe him an achiever's propinquity. I see somebody who has a heart for the people, therefore I must support him. But Alder Consulting itself avoids political jobs. We don't really do politics. We have been approached many times but we have been able to avoid it so far.

The latin maxim 'Corgito ergo sum is now more associated with you which translates to 'I think, therefore I am.' How did you come by it?

It's the way we work in this organisation. For instance, you can't do anything here without doing research. We don't play with our commitments to organisations. We don't play with their future. Therefore we make sure that whatever we give them is going to drive their business forward because they are going to rely on our advice.

We instil in our people the discipline to think. We are open to ideas. We, have what you call 'Alder University' in this place once a week. What we do is have a round table, pontificate, review and come up with theories. That way, we are at the cutting edge of knowledge.

Reading is compulsory here. For instance, the least a cleaner can read in this office is TIME magazine.

All our consultants have to be very versatile. They up date themselves with journals, periodicals as at when they come out. We are a left wing and a right wing organisation. You must be competent in both. That is why you see it in all my write-ups.

The Nigerian economy has come under serious criticism in the past few years. Now your group is publishing another report, The Wealth Of Other Nations. What should people look forward to in this report in relation to Nigeria's economy?

You must realise that there are three types of wealth. Geographic wealth, anthropus wealth and abstract wealth. Geographic wealth has to do with minerals, oil e.t.c., anthropus wealth is the one that is resident in the people themselves and abstract wealth is the manipulation of these to commend habitual behaviour in terms of comsumption pattern. That has to do with branding and all that.

The bulk of Nigeria's wealth and indeed all developing economies has to do with geographic wealth. But if you compare that with wealth of developed economics, 90% of their wealth comes from abstract wealth.

We have products, they have brands. Brands command higher valuation than products.

The wealth of the nations is resident in those brands that are in those nations. There is no way you can ever catch up by depending on geographical wealth. if you don't understand the value of building brands as against just churning out consumer commodities were are going to keep loosing money. MTN came to this country based on the money that is derived from abstract wealth.

It is not geographic wealth. It is not as if South Africans are more intelligent than Nigerians. It is fact that they have been able to channel their resources into the building of brands. Modern colonisation is the new thing. As long as we concentrate on agriculture alone, there is what is called economic dispensations.

All third world economics are in geographical wealth dispensations.

All third world economics are in geographical wealth dispensations. The developing economics, most of them are in what we call Adam Smith's first chapter, which is industrialisation.

There is a second chapter of that dispensation. Nigeria is nowhere near any of these.

Government has to have a brand policy with a view to building brands in Nigeria.

Let us go out there and begin to colonise other nations.

So, The Wealth Of Other Nations is a policy document from our company elucidating and giving government a direction.

That is if we have a listening government?

They will listen!

Can we have the last word from you to the business community and to Nigerians in general?

The future of any country lies in the imagination and the possibilities of the people. What we need is an enabling environment for these ideas and potentials to be realised. That will release a lot of the pent up anger and agitations that around now in this country.