Dr Obiora Anthony Chukwuka, Executive Chairman of Greenlife Pharmaceuticals, and an active player in Nigeria’s Pharmaceuticals Industry, turned 60 on July 18, 2023. He walked through the wilderness to get to the top of the leading pharmaceutical company where he sits.
Chukwuka was born the last of seven and the only male child of his parents. He grew up among women with his father as the only male he was near until he started primary school in 1970 at the end of the Civil War. His classmates were all older than him as they were returnee students whose education was interrupted by the war.
After his secondary education in 1980, Chukwuka became an apprentice trader in ladies’ shoes due to a lack of funds for his university education. On completion of his apprenticeship in 1983, he received N5000 worth of goods, a shop, and a packing store as his settlement. However, just as he started business, his shop at Balogun Market was demolished during the Major General Muhammadu Buhari/Brigadier General Tunde Idiagbon regime’s war Against Indiscipline (WAI).
This temporary setback did not deter Chukwuka. He pulled himself up, sold off what was left of the shoe business for N10,000 and went into pharmaceutical products merchandising. From merchandising pharmaceuticals, he registered Leton Pharmacy, which metamorphosed into the market leader Greenlife Pharmaceuticals Limited over time.
Chukwuka returned to school 22 years after completing secondary school and obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Lagos and a Master’s Degree in Corporate Governance from Leeds Metropolitan University, England, United Kingdom. He has also become an Honorary Doctorate Degree awardee from Commonwealth University, Belize in collaboration with London Graduate School. He also earned an Honorary Pharmacy Award (Hon. PSN) given by the Pharmaceuticals Council of Nigeria (PCN) in collaboration with the Pharmaceuticals Society of Nigeria (PSN).
Chukwuka tells his life story from age zero to 60 for the first time in this exclusive interview.
You just turned 60 years old. What lessons has life taught you?
I feel great turning 60 years. When I was a child, I saw people in their 60s as next to God. I never knew I would one day be 60 years old. I thank God for attaining the age of 60 because it is not a joke. I thank God for all I have achieved in these 60 years; I plan to step aside from the job now that I am 60. That does not, however, mean that I will completely retire. I will still be involved, but not as actively as I am now. I will come to work perhaps two or three times a week and go on holiday more.
How was your growing up? Were there things that happened to you that made you doubt what life had in store for you?
Certain things happened in my life that appeared strange. My father was a seminarian; he wanted to be a priest of the Catholic Church, but he couldn’t continue because, firstly there was no money to continue his studies and secondly, he came from Nnokwa in present Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State. He was also the head of the Obi, and if he went into the priesthood, the implication was that it would signal the end of his lineage. My father later left the seminary, married, and wedded in 1945. He however still believed in and had a strong faith in the doctrine of the Catholic Church.
His first three children were all female, followed by a set of female twins. And then another girl made it six female children. My parents had agreed that they would have seven children, and when they had the seventh child, it was again a girl. At this time, there was pressure on my father to take a second wife and have male children by her. My father refused because of his Catholic faith. When the seventh female child died, they decided to have another child to keep the number of children seven as they agreed. That was how I was born in 1963 because my parents wouldn’t settle for six children; they insisted on having seven as they agreed.
All this time my father had a brother from his own father’s second wife, but the tradition/ dynasty of Nri from where Nnokwa originates is that the son of the second wife cannot be head of the Obi.
How was life growing up as an only male child?
I was under the close watch of my parents. I was the heir apparent and was not allowed to go out much. That explains why perhaps, I don’t know how to play football. I couldn’t go out and I can’t play with girls. My father raised me in the Christian faith.
Being the only son, I was highly focused and very careful and reserved, which gave me a direction in life. I am also an excellent cook. The disadvantage is however that I am not a sports enthusiast. I don’t have an interest in sports, like football.
How did you spend your leisure then since you weren’t allowed to go out?
I sometimes played with my sisters. There was this game, ‘swell’ that we played. You clap hands. We also used coconut shells to ‘cook’ sand. On one occasion as we were cooking at the nearby compound, I was asked to bring a coconut shell. But as I picked up the shell, a big black snake fell out of it and pursued me. I must have been about five years old, and I was screaming as I ran and my scream attracted people from inside the house. Two dogs from the house came out too. One of the dogs attacked the snake and killed it. Unfortunately the dog also died in my presence from the venom of the snake which bit it while they fought. After that near incident of losing their only son, my parents never let me out of their sight again.
We understand that you almost died in 1968. What happened?
It was during the civil war. I suffered from Hepatitis, which incidentally is the reason I went into the pharmaceutical business. My parents were giving me all sorts of concoctions to cure me, but I only got worse. If not for the Red Cross personnel who did their best to save me, I could have died. It was then that I vowed to join the Red Cross when I grew up. I vowed that because the Red Cross saved my life, I would join them in saving the lives of other people. I rose to become the head of the society in my secondary school.
What would you say are the pros and cons of growing up as an only son?
My father was a teacher. He was the first person in my town that passed Standard Six and he was very passionate about education and enrolled me in school as soon as the war ended. I was one of the youngest in my class; my classmates were older than me because they were people who came back to school after the interregnum caused by the war. I was a fresh registrant. Going to school was an exposure; my father was the only man I knew growing up. I did not interact with other boys until I started primary school. I finished my primary education in July 1975. I attended Oraukwu High School because of its proximity to Nnokwa, my hometown.
How did you get into business?
After my secondary education, my father wanted me to become an auxiliary teacher because he couldn’t afford to pay for a university education. I have six sisters, some of them were married at that time, and I knew that the only way I could afford to be a good uncle to more than 30 nephews and nieces was if I went into business; I told my mother I wanted to go into business; so she went to her sister who was married in Alor and told her. Her sister had a son who was a trader in Lagos. My mother told her that I wanted to do business and asked if I could become an apprentice to her son. My cousin accepted and told my mother that he had been training other people’s children in the business and would not reject his blood. That was how I followed my cousin to Lagos in 1980 and lived with him in Ajegunle. I did not know the kind of business he was into, but I wanted to learn the business. He was into selling ladies’ shoes, and I stayed with him and served him for three years. He fulfilled the first stage of my settlement with N5000. The amount was not in cash but in goods and a shop. I also went into the same line of business.
Unfortunately, when Major General Muhammadu Buhari / Brigadier General Tunde Idiagbon came with their War Against Indiscipline (WAI), my shop at Balogun Market was demolished. Air Commodore Gbolahan Mudashiru was then the military administrator, but luckily, I had only samples of my goods in the shop. The main products were in the packing store. My Oga told me to look for another shop at nearby markets, but I told him I was leaving the ladies’ shoe business, and wanted to go into an organised business. I sold the shoe business for N10,000 and went into pharmaceuticals merchandising.
Was that the only reason for leaving the ladies’ shoe business?
While we were selling the ladies’ shoes, I noticed that some of these women would come and be touching you anyhow. I was a handsome boy and everybody was admiring me. I didn’t know it was a crime to be a handsome man selling ladies shoes. I was 17 years old.
Some of these older ladies would come and be touching you anyhow as you try to help them wear the shoe; I was not comfortable with all the touching. Some others would take shoes and want you to follow them to a place called Ishaga Inn close to Balogun to collect money. Boys that went were lured to bed by the women. I was the only person with a secondary school certificate; others were primary school and secondary school dropouts. I kept praying that God would take me out of the business, so it was like the demolition of the shops was God answering my prayers. While others were thinking about looking for a shop where they would continue the shoe business, I was thinking about what I did in Red Cross, so I sold what was left of my shoe business and opened Leton Pharmacy. My Oga’s name is Leonard and I am Anthony, thus the name Leton.
You went back to school 22 years after you left secondary school. Why did you not study Pharmacy considering that you always had your eye on pharmaceuticals?
I always had a mind for business. I wanted to learn how to manage what I had. Like I said, I have six sisters and each of them has at least five children, so there were always nephews and nieces whom I had to shower with gifts. They have only one uncle.
I matriculated at the age of 40 at the University of Lagos (UNILAG). I studied hard and I graduated with a Second-Class Lower degree in Business Administration. I also obtained a Master’s degree in Corporate Governance from Leeds Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom. This was even more difficult because it was a correspondence course. I matriculated for the course at 47 years old. I had to go to the UK at regular intervals, I am a businessman and I have six children. But, to the glory of God, I submitted my project in December 2010 and had to go to the UK for the project defence in 2011. I passed with flying colours. I needed an academic title, not just Chief. So I wanted to go for a Doctorate but on July 18, 2011, my birthday, I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree by Commonwealth University, Belize in collaboration with London Graduate School.
How did you meet your wife? Did growing up surrounded by girls make it easier for you to woo her?
As an only son, I had to marry early in life because I wanted my father to see the continuation of the lineage. In 1987 after I received the second settlement of N10,000 from my Oga, I wanted to marry the daughter of one lady that was close to my mother, but it turned out she was engaged. I was searching and several ladies, especially in the church, were on my neck. I didn’t want to look at any of them, so I left the project for my mother and sisters. One day, my mother called me that she had found the perfect wife. I went home and discovered that I knew the parents, but we didn’t know each other. I told her that I had come for her whether she would marry me. I stood up and asked her to look at me very well, whether I was good enough to be her husband. Two days later, my mother told me that God had answered her prayers, that the family said yes. I paid her bride price on June 24, 1989. On December 23, 1989, we did the traditional marriage and on May 19, 1990, we wedded in the church. That was how I met my wife, Obiageli, and since then God has done great things in my life.
I started from Ajegunle and married her when I was at Coker. We had our first four children – two boys and two girls – there at Coker. I decided that I wouldn’t have more children, but my mother refused; she said that as an only son, I could not have only four children.
Greenlife Pharmaceuticals Limited has been in business for 28 years now. How has the journey been? And how did the name come about?
I will say that Greenlife has rather been in business for closer to 38 to 40 years because it metamorphosed from the shoe business of 1983 to the pharmaceutical products merchandising, then into the highly structured pharmaceutical organisation delivering effective and efficient services which Greenlife Pharmaceuticals represents today.
The pharmaceutical products merchandising business was named Leton, which was coined from my Oga’s name Leonard and my name Anthony. Later around 1996, four of us opened a drug store together. I insisted that we must register it with the Pharmaceuticals Society of Nigeria (PSN) to avoid problems with the law. PSN gave us conditions, which included that we must employ a qualified pharmacist. After we registered, we were thinking of a name since we couldn’t register four names.
Our pharmacy store was called Caleb Pharmacy, a name we felt has a Biblical connotation. In the Bible, Caleb was known for great exploits. The name was registered in October 2007. Later around 2009, PSN came with a task force and arrested some people who operated without a licence. We were spared because we had registered.
PSN gave you the condition that a trained pharmacist must be involved in your business and you are not one. What are some of the challenges you faced in establishing Greenlife Pharmaceuticals?
The Pharmaceuticals Council of Nigeria (PCN) requirement is that if you want to register a pharmacy company, you must bring in a pharmacist who will take 52 per cent equity and you the investor will take 48 per cent. I brought in a young pharmacist. I even paid for his professional examination; but along the line, he started behaving funny. He kept postponing the signing of the agreement, so I had to report it to the police and they advised me to lock the shop. I did, but he broke the locks, took away the draft agreement and some expensive drugs and locked up the shop again with another set of locks. I went to the court to reclaim what was mine.
You are a philanthropist. What other activities and corporate social responsibilities (CSR) are Greenlife Pharmaceuticals Limited into?
I learnt the importance of CSR and the importance of giving back to society at the university. My life started from left to right. I came to this life for a purpose. I don’t know why; only God knows why he created me, but I know it is for a purpose. After I was born, people advised my father to have more children so that more boys could come that way, but my father told them that God gave me to him out of prayer and that what I would do, a thousand people would not be able to achieve. That is what is happening in my life today. Greenlife has about 11 subsidiaries in different sectors, including hotels which employ many young Nigerians. Greenlife Pharmaceuticals has over 2,000 people in its employ.
I have learned that it is good to give back to society and I do it every year. I have tarred roads in various communities as CSR and built hostels in various schools. My philosophy is that your wealth is better appreciated when it is spent on the less privileged.
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