I am black. An African and a Christian. Yet, he offered me a job on the spot, even though I didn't apply for a job or tell him that I was available for a job. And that's the spirit of the making of Dubai - race, geography, and religious neutrality.
As most Nigerians were doing at the time, I was a full-time student but was driving a Taxi on weekends, starting from Friday night. And that was how we met. I offered him a ride in my rented Cab at Logan Airport in Boston on his way to a hotel in Cambridge around Harvard Yard. As it's always the convention, passengers would always want to know about you, where you come from, how long you've been in America, your background, etc. And that is how the discussion started and how we came to know much about each other.
As we were approaching his final destination, he summarised in one long sentence what I'd told him about myself in a discussion that lasted for about 45 minutes. You are a Lawyer in Nigeria who came to America a few years ago, went to a Computer school and trained to become a Certified System Engineer, worked in the IT industry for a few years, and are presently a graduate student at Harvard, studying for Administration and Management, and driving a Taxi on weekends. Am I correct? You are very correct, I responded.
And he paused for a moment. Like a bolt from the blue, he asked, "Do you want to work in the Middle East after your graduation?" I replied with a choreographed NO, adding, "I am going back to my country after my studies." Come on, Alex, you will enjoy it, he added. (We'd already introduced ourselves the moment he entered my Taxi).
I have met a lot of guys and family members like him in the past, but he looks unusual. They normally travel in a huge arsenal of luggage. But he had with him only his briefcase and one suitcase. I said to him you travel light, you don't look like the usual tourist. He laughed and told me that he was on assignment on behalf of his King. And he went on to explain to me about his country and why he is in the US.
According to him, his King gave him three blank cheques to build (1) a University in the style and strength of Harvard University, (2) a Medical Center that is about ten times the size of what you guys have around the Longwood area of Boston, and (3) a brand new city the world has never seen before.
Hearing that, I asked him if he was an Engineer. He said no. How are you going to accomplish all that? That's why I am here to meet with consultants in your school. He replied in a tone of a man on a mission.
I will never forget the answer he gave me when I raised the issue of how he was going to staff the medical centres. He said, you guys [Nigerians] are very smart, we will get Medical Doctors from your country and from all over the world. When I dropped him off at the Cambridge Hilton, he told me to meet him tomorrow morning if I changed my mind. And I thank him for his kindness.
The year was around 2002. The rest is now a reality, still evolving and still being defined because the world has yet to see the finish line of the making of the Great Kingdom of Dubai.
Thanks to a king who could dream big dreams and did not allow race and ethnic biases to cloud his sense of judgment in picking and trusting a young man who would play a big role in ensuring the culmination of his humongous dreams.
Dr Akinola Aguda, may his soul rest in peace, was the chair of the group that selected the present Abuja as the location of our new federal capital. Since the creation of the FCT, no Southerner is yet good enough to be the Chairman of the new city. That was not how they built and building Dubai.
