Opinion

Joyce Ugochukwu: Celebrating virtue and character at 70

Published

2 years ago

April 3, 2023

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By Tunde Olusunle

Evening Wednesday March 22, 2023, the Abuja home of Onyema Ugochukwu, the iconic economist, journalist, administrator, publicist and statesman hosted the landmark birthday celebration of the mother of the family and Ugochukwu’s wife, Joyce.

Events commemorating the milestone began in the earlier hours of the evening with a thanksgiving service at the Methodist Cathedral of Unity, Wuse, Abuja, where the Ugochukwu family has regularly worshipped for the better part of the past three decades. If the programme at the cathedral was presumably capacity-stretched in honour of a woman who has done so very well for the Church of God, more was coming thereafter. The Americans will tell you “you ain’t seen nothing yet!”

Back home on the well manicured lawns of the Ugochukwu family abode, friends, associates, admirers and members of the Ugochukwu extended family, congregated in streaming numbers. They came to honour the amiable, archetypal woman of the purest virtues, of depth and substance, of startling inner strength and of unmatchable multitasking capabilities. They did so as she joined the treasured league of septuagenarians. Yes, rolled into this unassuming epitome of grit and goodness, is a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, auntie, mentor, counsellor, and more. Her husband’s patented style of addressing her, confers an additional e to her first name, representing it as Joycee.

Ever recurring and recognisable names in the nation’s sociopolitics who graced the occasion, included: Ahmadu Ali, GCON, former chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP) and his wife, Marian; Enyinnaya Abaribe, former minority leader of the Senate and ABC Nwosu, Emeritus professor and former Health minister. Austin Akobundu, immediate past national organising secretary of the PDP; Ochi Achinivu retired permanent secretary and former special adviser to the president and his wife, Chinyere who is younger sister to Onyema Ugochukwu, as well as the director-general of the national council for arts and culture, Segun Runsewe, OON, and his wife, Wumi, honoured the event.

Johnny Chukwu, former permanent secretary of the ministry of federal capital territory, (MFCT) and Uba Agadaga, a former member of the national assembly service commission, (NASC), were present. Tivlumun Nyitse, chief of staff to the governor of Benue State, added colour to the programme, as did Eboh Ihekwereme Okorie, two-time commissioner in Abia and his wife, Lizzy. Benson Ezem, Chairman, Cosmo Base Consortium graced the event with his family, in the same way as Julius Rone, an Onyema Ugochukwu protege, and Chairman, UTM Oil and Gas Ltd. For a social event hosted at the heart of a new week, this was very impressive.

The extended Ugochukwu clan came from as many destinations as imaginable. Matriarch of the family, Eleonu Ugochukwu, 84, widow of Onyema Ugochukwu’s elder brother, Ndubuisi; and Ngozi Ugochukwu, wife of Ugochukwu’s younger brother, Ude (of blessed memory), were in attendance. Anosike and Ndubueze Ugochukwu, accompanied their mother to the function. Oluchi Nwosu, cousin to Onyema Ugochukwu; Obi Ugochukwu, nephew of chief host Ugochukwu, and his family, as well as Chukwuemeka Ugochukwu, (we call him “General”), son of Onyema and Joyce Ugochukwu, attended the event with his family. Chuks (as we abbreviate his name) simultaneously represented his siblings who are mostly in diaspora, even as information technology facilitated real-time joiners from across the world. Chidozie Ugochukwu and his sister Uzor, both children of the Ugochukwus, as well as Okechukwu Iroamachi, Onyema Ugochukwu’s nephew, all joined via zoom from the United States.

The “Grant” family of Warri, birthplace of the celebrant, was represented by Olude, Bernie and Tumi Grant, brother and nephews of Mrs Ugochukwu. Such is the strikingly rich pan-Nigerian sociocultural interconnectedness of the Ugochukwu family. Attendance at the event was as diverse, colourful, sombre and dignifying. The event planner did a good job of the decoration of the event arena, even as good music from a one-man band and a savvy deejay, competent catering and a rich and responsive bar, answered to the desires of attendees. Glowing tributes and expletives flowed from speaker after speaker. It was a most fitting testimonial to the life and endeavours of a lady who has impacted many in her journey through life.

Veteran medic and entrepreneur, volunteer public servant, activist in the vineyard of God, exceptional wife, ever doting mother, unblinking grandmother, Joyce Ugochukwu was born March 22, 1953, to the “Egbejule” family of Warri in the primordial Western Region. Warri has severally fallen under the jurisdictions of the Midwestern; Bendel, and (post-1999), Delta states. Between 1967 and 1971, she attended the Anglican Girls Grammar School, Benin City, where she wrote the West African School Certificate Examination, (WASCE), ordinary level. She proceeded to Edo College, also in Benin City, from 1972 to 1974 for her Higher School Certificate Examination, (HSC), advanced level. She thereafter attended the medical school of the University of Lagos, where she earned the MBBS in 1979. She would subsequently be wedded to her husband, Onyema, on September 8 of the same year.

She served as an intern at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, (LUTH), from 1979 to 1980, and underwent the mandatory one year National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC), at the Federal Housing Authority, (FHA) Clinic, Lagos, between 1980 and 1981. Between 1981 and 1983, she was a medical officer at the Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA), Lagos, and thereafter studied at the Royal College of Hygiene and Public Health, where she obtained a diploma in public health in 1987. She joined the services of the Holy Trinity Hospital, Ikeja, where she worked from 1987 to 1990. With the bouquet of experiences she garnered in her years of service in various medical concerns, she established the Hugo Medical Centre in Lagos in 1990, and remains the Chief Medical Director.

Dr Ugochukwu was one of the earliest physicians earnestly sought by the National Programme on Immunisation, (NPI), in 1999. She served as coordinator of the programme in Abia, Benue, Imo, Kano and Nasarawa states. She remained on this brief until 2001, while also offering medical consultancy to the World Health Organisation, (WHO). Her maternal, humanist instincts culminated in the establishment of the Eje Foundation so christened in memory of her mother-in-law. The foundation which became operational in 2003, was conceived to cater for the needs of the underprivileged in our rural countryside. The foundation has served thousands of people in Abia, Bayelsa, Rivers and Lagos states, with specific focus on the poor, motherless and widowed.

Mrs Ugochukwu’s passion and commitment to her profession and authentic humanitarianism caught the eyes of former First Lady, Stella Obasanjo, (of blessed memory). She was appointed “Home Committee Member of the Child Care Trust,” a non-governmental organisation, (NGO), established by the erstwhile First Lady. The specific references of the Trust is to cater for the hearing-impaired, physically challenged and mentally incapacitated, under the age of 15. She remains one of the flagbearers of the initiative, years after the unfortunate exit of the visioner. Since 2001, Dr (Mrs) Ugochukwu has been a diligent member of the Methodist Cathedral of Unity, Abuja. She has trained as an evangelist of the church, graduating in 2010. She is matron to: “Trinity Band Society,” “Christ Ambassador Society” and the “Cathedral Circuit Youth Fellowship” of the church, and was decorated with the “Susan Wesley Award” in 2011, for meritorious service to God and humanity. She is presently, “Church Steward” and “Vice President of the Women’s Fellowship” in the Abuja Methodist Cathedral. She is very active in church activities which entails occasional travels to various states and locations.

Her husband’s professional endeavours, has necessitated quite some mobility for the family. At various times, the family has resided in Lagos, London, Abuja and for a bit part in Port Harcourt, among others. Those of us who have come some distance with Onyema Ugochukwu beginning from our Daily Times years in Lagos, have been serially treated to her warmth and hospitality. During Chief Ugochukwu’s more politically active times especially in his quest for the governorship of Abia State which kept him back home in Abia for weeks and months, Mrs Ugochukwu was ever so adaptable and supportive of the entire Ugochukwu political family.

The Ugochukwu project which was named the Campaign for Abia Rebirth, (CARE), ran a very systematised, robust, issue-based electioneering which was enthusiastically received by the generality of the people of the south eastern state. Electoral irregularities which unfortunately have become beatified by individuals and institutions in our pseudo-democracy, robbed Ugochukwu of his gubernatorial mandate in 2007. Through the attendant gloom in our political family, the Ugochukwu camp, through the Election Petitions Tribunal and onwards to the Court of Appeal, Mrs Ugochukwu remained rock solid support for her spouse. Her strength of character and positivism, indeed infected the rest of us.

Mrs Ugochukwu is a unique breed of technocrat. Her elitism is not about unsettling you. No. She is your disarming host, a very earthy, African woman, not of the Fela Anikulapo-Kuti construction in his everglades hit tune, Lady, though. Mrs Ugochukwu engages you with regular detours into pidgin English of the archetypal Warri flavouring, to make you feel at home. Her professional and maternal instincts, engender notable psychoanalytic capabilites. When she’s dealing with people therefore, she’s in strong position to distil their thoughts, and to offer pointed counsel and guidance. The union between Onyema Ugochukwu, Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, (FNGE) and Commander of the Order of the Niger, (CON), and Dr Joyce Ugochukwu is blessed with four children and many grandchildren. Like her husband, Dr Joyce Ugochukwu is very well travelled across the globe.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, poet, journalist, scholar and author, is a Member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, (NGE)

Opinion

BENUE 2027:The Apa/Agatu Quest for Equity

Published

4 days ago

January 14, 2025

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By Tunde Olusunle

It may be well over two years to the next cycle of general elections in Nigeria. For the people of Apa/Agatu federal constituency in *Benue South, however, the measure of their participation and integration into the governance scheme will be defined in the run-up to the general polls that year. Nine local government areas make up the predominantly Idoma country of Benue State also labelled Zone C in the senatorial tripod of the geo-polity. The zone is also home to the Igede ethnic stock and the Etulo. Local government areas in “Benue Zone C” include: Apa, Agatu, Oju, Obi, Ado, Ogbadibo, Okpokwu, Otukpo and Ohimini. The other zones, Benue North East and Benue North West, are wholly dominated by the Tiv nationality, striding across 14 local government areas. They are christened Zone A and Zone B in the local political scheme of the state. Federal constituencies in Benue South are: Apa/Agatu, Oju/Obi; Ado/Ogbadibo/Opokwu and Otukpo/Ohimini.

The subjugation of groups and ethnicities considered demographically smaller, by the larger groups which has dominated Nigeria’s politics over time, has not been any different for the Idoma of Benue State. Until the circumstantial emergence of a Yahaya Bello from the Ebira ethnicity in Kogi State in 2015, the Igala had the relay baton of governorship of Kogi State, in rounds and succession. The Ebiras and the Okun-Yoruba zones in the state could only aspire to be serial deputies or Secretaries to the State Government. This political template was virtually cast in stone. The Ilorin people of Kwara State have similarly wholly warehoused the gubernatorial office, sparingly conceding the position to other sociocultural groups in the state. The only exception was the concession of the seat to a candidate from Kwara South, in the person of Abdulfatah Ahmed, by his predecessor, Bukola Saraki in 2011. Even at that, there were murmurs and dissent from those who believed Ahmed came from a community too close to the Ilorin emirate to be of genuine Igbomina stock, which prides itself as the pure Yoruba species in Kwara State.
Twenty-six years into the Fourth Republic, the maximum proximity of the Idoma to Government House, Makurdi, has been by the customary allocation of the Deputy Governor’s slot to its people. Ogirri Ajene from Oju/Obi, the charismatic blue-blood of blessed memory, was deputy to George Akume, incumbent Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), from 1999 to 2007. Akume it was reported, genuinely desired to be succeeded by Ajene who exhibited competence and loyalty and could build on their legacies. The Tiv nation we understand, shot down the proposal. Gabriel Suswam succeeded Akume and had the urbane multipreneur, Stephen Lawani from Ogbadibo as deputy. Samuel Ortom, a Minister in the Goodluck Jonathan presidency who took over from Suswam opted for Benson Abounu, an engineer from Otukpo as running mate, while Hyacinth Alia, the Catholic priest who succeeded Ortom, also chose as deputy, Samuel Ode, who was also a Minister in the Jonathan government, from Otukpo. Arising from this precedence, Apa/Agatu has not for once, been considered for a place in Government House, Makurdi.
In similar fashion, the position of Senator representing Benue South, has repeatedly precluded Apa/Agatu federal constituency. David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark a former army General from Otukpo, took the first shot at the office in 1999. He was to remain in the position for five consecutive times, a distinctive record by Nigerian standards. Mark would subsequently become President of the Senate and the third most senior political office holder in the nation’s governance scheme for a string of two terms between 2007 and 2015. He was replaced by Patrick Abba Moro, who hails from Okpokwu and was a former teacher, in 2019. Abba Moro who previously served as Minister of Interior in the Jonathan government from 2011 to 2015, won a second term at the 2023 general elections and remains substantive Senator for “Benue Zone C.” He is indeed incumbent Minority Leader of the Senate, and thus a principal officer in the leadership scheme of the “red chambers.”
While Moro is barely two years into his second term, there are suggestions that he is interested in a third term which should run from 2027 to 2031! This is the core issue which has dominated contemporary political discourse in Benue South, especially from the Apa/Agatu bloc. For Apa/Agatu, it is bad enough that they are repeatedly bypassed in the nomination of deputy governors in the scheme of state politics. It is worse that they are equally subjugated by their own kinsmen within the context of politics in *Idoma and Igede land.* This is particularly worrying when both local government areas constituting the Apa/Agatu federal constituency, Apa and Agatu, are not in anyway deficient in human resources to represent Benue South. Names like John Elaigwu Odogbo, the incumbent *Och’Idoma* and respected clergy; Isa Innocent Ekoja, renowned Professor and Librarian; Sonny Togo Echono, FNIA, OON, Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, (TETFUND), and John Mgbede, Emeritus State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Benue State, readily come to mind.
Major General R.I. Adoba, (rtd), a former Chief Training and Operations in the Nigerian Army; Professor Emmanuel Adanu, former Director of the Kaduna-based National Water Resources Institute, (NWRI) and the US-based specialist in internal medicine, Dr Raymond Audu, are eminent Apa/Agatu constituents. There are also Ada Egahi, long-serving technocrat who retired from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, (NPHDA), and Super Eagles forward, Moses Simon, (why not, hasn’t the retired soccer star, George Opong Weah just completed his term as President of Liberia)? The Member Representing Apa/Agatu in the House of Representatives, Godday Samuel Odagboyi, an office previously held by Solomon Agidani, as well as Adamu Ochepo Entonu, is, like his predecessors, a prominent figure from the resourceful Apa/Agatu federal constituency.
The Olofu brothers, Tony Adejoh, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, (AIG), and David, PhD, a renowned management and financial strategist, who is also an Emeritus Member of the Benue State Executive Council during the Ortom dispensation, are from the same federal constituency. So is Abu Umoru, a serial entrepreneur who represents Apa State Constituency in the Benue State House of Assembly. The continuing intra-zonal alienation of Apa-Agatu from the politics of Benue Zone C, remains a sore thumb which must be clinically diagnosed and intentionally treated in the run-up to 2027.
If previous top level political office holders from Idomaland in general and Apa/Agatu in particular, had diligently applied themselves to tangible, multisectoral development of the zone and constituency, the present clamour for inclusiveness would probably been less vociferous. *River Agatu* which flows from Kogi State, and runs through Agatu before emptying into *River Benue,* is a potential game changer in the socioeconomy of Apa/Agatu, Benue South and Benue State in general. Properly harnessed, it can revolutionise agriculture and aquaculture in the state, beyond subsistence levels which are the primary vocations of the indigenous people. Rice, yam, guinea corn, millet and similar grains, thrive in the fertile soils of the area. These can support “first level” processing of produce and guarantee value addition beneficial to the primary producers, before being shipped to other markets. River Agatu can indeed be dammed to provide hydro-electricity to power the entire gamut of Idomaland.
The infrastructure deficit in Benue South with specific reference to Apa/Agatu is equally very concerning. A notable pattern in Nigerian politics is its self-centeredness, the penchant for political players to prioritise their personal wellbeing and the development of their immediate space. This has accentuated the ever recurring desire of people to ascend the political pedestals of their predecessors if that is the principal window by which they can also privilege their own primary constituents. Motorable roads are non-existent, seamless travel between communities therefore encumbered. Expectedly this has been a major impediment to subsistent trade and social engagements between constituents and their kinsmen. Primary health facilities are almost non-existent, compelling people to flock to Otukpo, headquarters of Benue South, for the minutest of medical advice and treatment.
Apa/Agatu pitiably bleeds from the relentless and condemnable activities of vagrants and bandits who have reduced the constituency into a killing field. Reports suggest that in the past 15 years, no less than 2500 lives were lost to the vicious attacks of marauders and trespassers in the area under reference. This unnerving situation has compelled engagements between concerned Apa/Agatu leaders, and the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force, (NPF). The prayer is for the swift establishment of a mobile police outpost in the troubled sub-zone to contain bloodletting. The proposal, anchored by AIG Tony Olofu, NPOM, (rtd), and Echono, has received the blessings of the police high command. At the last update, a commander for the outfit had been named, while the deployment of personnel had begun in earnest.
It is very clear that in the march towards 2027, Apa/Agatu will refuse, very vehemently, to be sidelined and trampled upon in the political scheme of their senatorial zone. Abba Moro may desire a third term in the Senate, but the people of Apa/Agatu are quick to remind him that his curriculum vitae as a politician is sufficiently sumptuous for him to yield the seat in the “red chambers” and sit back like an elder statesman. They remind you that for a man who began his working life modestly as a lecturer in the Federal Polytechnic, Ugbokolo in 1991, Abba Moro has done extremely well for himself in Nigerian politics. For reminders, Abba Moro was elected Chairman of Okpokwu local government in the state as far back as 1998. Ever since, he has remained a permanent fixture in Nigeria’s national politics.
The people of Apa/Agatu will put up a determined fight for the Benue South senatorial seat in 2027, and no one should begrudge them. They are the proverbial ram which was pushed to the wall, which must of necessity push back with angered horns to liberate itself. They are already engaging with their kith across “Benue Zone C” to ensure that intra-zonal equity, fairness and justice, prevails in communal politics.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA), teaches Creative Writing at the University of Abuja

Opinion

The Prince Adebayo prescriptions for ease of doing Business: 15 Take-Aways

Published

5 days ago

January 14, 2025

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By Dr. Ag Zaki

On Thursday, 9 January 2025, Prince Adewole Adebayo presented a keynote address at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos. The occasion was the annual conference of a group of professionals, business executives and experts codenamed J9C for January 9 Collective. The theme of the Conference was “Business and Policy Strategy: Examining the Role of Reform in enhancing the ease of doing business in Nigeria.” Prince Adebayo is a versatile cerebral man of many parts, a lawyer, a multimedia practitioner, a real estate investor, a large-scale miner, a philanthropist, a community developer, and the 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The organisers of the J9C conference introduced him as an intercontinental lawyer because he currently practices law in over sixteen countries.

The full speech of Prince Adebayo at the occasion is available online and can be accessed by clicking at this url: https://youtu.be/SsHkcJbVNRg?si=ebvoOVqGh0zVOsnt or by scanning the QR code above. However, we are presenting the salient take-aways from this most incisive keynote address below for the convenience of interested persons and for the public good.

THE TAKE-AWAYS
Preamble
1. Not every change of policy or programme is a reform. A reform is a fundamental change in the activities, programmes, and policies structured to cause improvement. Genuine government reforms are people oriented and so citizens can interject, comment or contribute.
2. Reform may be internally motivated, externally forced or imposed, or technological driven.
3. The government of Nigeria must first reform itself to be able to implement development-oriented reforms to improve the country’s economic performance.

In general terms
4. Fiscal and monetary reforms are critical and are urgently required in Nigeria. While government can freely control its fiscal reforms, it must be bound by market forces for realistic and realisable monetary reforms.
5. Economic reforms must positively affect developmental policies, programmes and projects to engender economic growth, increase in efficiency, and lead to stability. Economic and political reforms must be implemented pari-passu for untainted policies and programmes.
6. Urgent structural reforms are required in areas of legal reforms, laws on banking controls and regulations, lending and borrowing as well as land matters.

In specific terms
7. Reforms which are aimed at targeting ease of doing business must be aligned with the Malam Aminu Kano maxim that “all civil servants should abstain from contracts or business”.
8. Nigeria must break the current odious and unwholesome conspiracies between policy makers, civil servants, and contractors, which can lead to irreversible endemic corruption, long foreseen by the revered Malam Aminu Kano, and which can permanently damage the economy.
9. Structural reforms must ensure that land laws open up maximum benefits and potentials of the land, encourage labour productivity and efficient and transparent entrepreneurship rules including registration, capital and lending matters.
10. Tax reforms should be broad-based, not about sharing of revenue but promoting productivity and competitiveness in all aspects of endeavours and infrastructure reforms should make transportation of people and goods safe and cost effective.
11. Monitoring economic crimes must be thorough and should go beyond arresting of “Yahoo boys” and those spraying Naira notes, but those devaluing the Naira and abusing economic rules and regulations.

Warnings
12. Adebayo left some stern terse warnings for the business sector and for the government of Nigeria.
13. Business executives and professionals should not ask or encourage government for specific reforms but for general broad-based reforms as firm-specific reforms can enhance operations of specific firms or business in the short term but will ultimately kill the industry.
14. Government should not meddle into business or be guided by partisan businessmen; government should meet business only at the junction of regulatory framework.
15. Government should be selfless and honest in carrying out reforms, incorporate measurable performance indices and ensure that reforms are implemented in a way not to inflict pains or punishment on the people.

# DrZaki25, 903 Tafawa Balewa Way, Abuja

Opinion

Governor Monday Okpebholo: A Blessing to Edo State

Published

6 days ago

January 13, 2025

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Monday Okpebholo

By Eigbefo Felix

His Excellency, Senator Monday Okpebholo, the Executive Governor of Edo State, has demonstrated that he is a blessing to the state through his policies, appointments, initiation of road construction across the three senatorial districts, and his deep love for the people of Edo State.

Governor Monday Okpebholo has begun fulfilling the five-point agenda he promised the good people of the state since his inauguration.

In the area of security, he has shown total commitment. He assured the people of Edo State that he would ensure their safety, and true to his word, the state remains peaceful, which has brought joy to its residents. He has provided the necessary support to security personnel.

The governor increased the subvention for Ambrose Alli University (AAU) from ₦40 million to ₦500 million. He also promised to address the issues facing AAU medical students. Additionally, he has started renovating primary and secondary schools across the state, underscoring his understanding of the importance of education.

The agricultural sector has taken a positive turn as Governor Okpebholo has allocated ₦70 billion to the sector. Recognizing agriculture’s importance to both the state and the nation, he is positioning Edo State to become the food basket of the nation with his investments in the sector.

During the electioneering period, Senator Okpebholo promised to create 5,000 jobs within his first 100 days in office. He has already begun the process, and soon, the people of Edo State will benefit from these employment opportunities. Unlike in the past, he will not rely on MOUs before making appointments. Furthermore, he has started appointing Edo State indigenes, rather than outsiders, to various positions.

Governor Okpebholo has commenced road projects across the state, from Edo South to Edo Central and Edo North. He believes that when roads are motorable, the prices of goods in the market will automatically reduce.

He has also begun investing in the health sector, understanding its critical importance to the people of Edo State.

Governor Monday Okpebholo’s initiatives and actions affirm his dedication to transforming Edo State for the better.