By Ngozi Nwanko
Renowned entrepreneur and business executive, Lawal Garba, has urged students of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, to make integrity, excellence and resilience the foundation of their pursuit of success.
Garba, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Trobell International Nigeria Ltd., gave the advice while speaking at the second edition of the university’s “Lunch with the Vice-Chancellor” programme held at the Yusufu Bala Usman Hall, Main Campus, Samaru, Zaria.
The programme, introduced in 2025, provides a platform for students to interact with the Vice-Chancellor and accomplished personalities who share experiences and lessons aimed at preparing students for their academic and professional careers.
Delivering the keynote lecture, titled, “The Lawal Garba Way: Building Enterprises, Creating Opportunities, Transforming Lives,” Garba said his journey from a Quantity Surveying graduate to a successful entrepreneur was driven by persistence, discipline, hard work and faith rather than privilege.
The businessman, who made his mark as a Quantity Surveyor, became the first graduate of the discipline to establish a property cost-control function in Nigeria’s banking sector.
He recalled that his success was not achieved overnight, noting that his career was characterised by missed opportunities, setbacks and difficult decisions, including instances where he rejected short-term gains that conflicted with his long-term principles.
Garba said Trobell Nigeria Ltd. started on a modest scale and gradually built its reputation through competence, credibility and trust.
He recalled an early project in which his firm was selected because of the client’s confidence in its commitment to delivering results, rather than its size.
According to him, the experience reinforced his belief that credibility and trust could be more valuable than the size of a company.
Garba identified integrity, excellence, continuous learning, relationships and resilience as five key principles students should embrace if they want to achieve sustainable success.
“Integrity is everything,” he said, stressing that some multimillion-naira contracts he witnessed were awarded largely because of trust established over several years.
He urged the students to pursue excellence even in seemingly insignificant tasks and continually update their knowledge to remain relevant in a rapidly changing world.
“The day you stop learning is the day you start becoming irrelevant,” Garba said, citing the experiences of professionals who failed to adapt to digital technology and modern project-management systems.
The entrepreneur also underscored the importance of building meaningful relationships, saying some of the opportunities that shaped his career came through personal connections rather than conventional applications.
“Treat everyone with dignity. Maintain relationships. One conversation can change your life forever,” he advised.
On resilience, Garba urged the students not to regard failure as the opposite of success but as an important part of the journey towards achieving their goals.
He described Nigeria as a country with enormous opportunities in agriculture, technology, mining, energy, manufacturing, infrastructure, the digital economy and creative industries.
Garba therefore encouraged the students to acquire marketable skills and broaden their knowledge beyond their academic disciplines, recalling how he complemented his Quantity Surveying education with business and management knowledge.
He further challenged the students to view leadership as service, stressing that the greatest reward of success lies in creating opportunities for others and contributing to the development of communities.
Garba expressed appreciation to ABU for inviting him to share his experiences with students and urged the university to continue producing leaders, innovators and nation-builders capable of driving Nigeria’s and Africa’s transformation.
