By Frank-Hanachor Emmanuel and Frank-Hanachor Cyan
The standard of education has continued to plummet with each administration’s quick fixes that only serve to make the situation worse. My teacher with his life, taught that the training of a child and teacher is never complete. It is a lifelong preoccupation. A personal commitment to strive for excellence, to forge a path and construct that would build ranks of professionalism, dedication and quality education for the teeming Nigerian students.
Chief Omoz Oarhe, President, Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, had been one of four delegates in the over 300 teacher-educators at the 1972 World Assembly of The International Council on Education for Teaching, ICET, held in London, England. The ICET, was an international member of the World Confederation of Organizations of the Teaching Profession, WCOTP, with close links to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Now what is sensibility? My first inkling of the labour union, funny enough was not with Omozuanvbo Oarhe… the self-deprecating gentleman never breathed a word to anyone. Truth be told, it would be years after his death for us to be aware that the long hours outside the home were spent in active participation at a conventional career pushing the rights of the proletariat and his primary constituency – teachers.
He never let on that his primary job commitment was as a “teacher’s trainer” par excellence and of necessity, a fount of knowledge. If he had a passion it was for an exclusive career : the schematics of trade unionism, the intrique of politics and courting what was in the sheaves of books. The Andrian prodigiously pursued reading, garnering knowledge and books as others did wealth and apparel. Education and academic proficiency sat like a mantle atop his shoulders.
His career trajectory did not lead to economic and non-pecuniary returns but several years later I hail the diligence and hard work of the simple-minded professional who chose to build on the cobblestone of a union that has grown stagnant and mediocre.
He chose a distinct path, refused to pursue grandeur and yet beckoned with the profundity of his knowledge of education, politics, unionism and administration. It proved the quality and depth to the educator who taught with a life so rich and imbued with learning, you learned in the swathes of intelligence that trailed his speeches and he gave several.
Time stood still as with his characteristic strength of conviction, passion and dignity, Omoz Oarhe eulogized the late Dr. Alvan Ikoku, O.B.E :
“We therefore, gather here today to mourn the passing away of a great man, a soldier in the field of education, until his death,a defender of the cultural heritage of his fatherland ,Nigeria, as a pearl of great value to be implanted into the educational pattern, policy and programme of the land.
We gather here to mourn the passing of one of the greatest builders of the independence and sovereignty of Nigeria, a great politician, ye, a great statesman. We gather here today to mourn him,who inspite of his greatness did not lose the common touch throughout his life. We gather around his grave to mourn the loss of an illustrious son of Nigeria, Dr. Alvan Ikoku, affectionately known to many of us his junior brothers and sons in the teaching profession as ‘Sir Alvan’.”
An ebullient teacher would stride through the doorway of his home talking rapidly; always with a warm hug and diffidence. Mr Egbekhunkhaye was a confidant more than a colleague. He had been Oarhe’s secretary at the Nigeria Union of Teacher, NUT, office at inception working out from No.90, Ekewan Road, Benin City, his rented private residence at that time.
The Esan gentleman had grown through the ranks to make National President. In retirement, he would often stop by to intimate Oarhe about the recent developments in the union. He had hinted at some intrique and insisting on maintaining status quo, requested for a portrait to be hung in the “Omoz-Oarhe Hall” at the “Teacher’s House.”
Contrary to the new Nigerian spirit of self-aggrandizement, under the able and focused leadership of the late Omoz Oarhe, the foundation of what is today the “Teacher’s House” in Edo State was laid during his tenure as the NUT’s 1st Vice President. He diplomatically and seamlessly worked with the military government of the day to achieve what has severally being alluded to as a joint undertaking by “former teachers and NUT members in high places”.
Smyke J.R. and Storer C.D. (1974), NUT: An Official History. Ibadan: Oxford University Press, 272-273; “A large measure of the NUT’s success in the Mid-West is due to Chief Omoz Oarhe, a distinguished and capable leader; …cut from the same cloth as Kuti and Ikoku.” The WCOTP, volunteered the services of its architectural consultant. The legislature in 1969, put into law a compulsory check-off system for all teachers. The Mid-West military government under the legendary (leastway for those of us from Edo Sate) Brig. Gen. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia also granted the NUT, a plot of land and the partial cost of a teachers’ building.
At the 37th Annual Conference in Benin City from the 6th- 8th May 1970, the first since the end of the civil war, the detribalized Oarhe was confirmed as National President. Felicitations were received from the then Col. S.O. Ogbemudia, Mr. E.K. Clark , the Commissioner for Education and Chief Anthony Enahoro, Federal Commissioner for Labour.
The 38th NUT Annual Conference in 1971 coincided with the 40th anniversary of the NUT and was the largest since inception and a precursor of the future. In the plethora of speeches, the decisive National President gave a “hard- hitting yet clear and balanced “ speech. The authors (pg. 280) remarked on the technical virtuosity of the celebrated orator : “Chief Oarhe achieved his point by understatement rendered with firmness,” devoid of previous “wordy obfuscations covering every possible contingency.”
With forthrightness and unbiased support, a strongly worded protest and issuance of an ultimatum at the instance of a dynamic, proactive leadership to redress the conditions of service of the Nigerian teacher at a press conference by the NUT at the Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt, Rivers State spiralled into a nationwide protest and an unprecedented victory for press freedom in the military era.
Widely referred to as the “Amakiri Affair “, reactions to the Nigerian Observer’s Chief Correspondent in Port Harcourt, Mr Minere Amakiri’s report of the event on July 30,1973 spiked public interest and snowballed into a national call to arms against the tyrannical and insufferable highhandedness of the military establishment in what stands as one of the finest hours for Nigeria and Nigerians.
Joined in the denunciation of the highly contemptible action, in another special conference in Lagos State on the 14th of August,1973, a tightly-worded concise statement by the National President, Chief Omoz Oarhe pilloried the act of intimidation and abuse of office. He never did anything by halves. Compassionate as always, in the midst of the nationwide outcry at the dehumanizing treatment, the 300,000 member-strong union offered financial assistance to the gentleman of the fourth estate of the realm to secure legal representation.
On the 2nd of October, 1973, the Nigerian press, finally retained the services of the late Gani Fawehinmi who took the landmark case to court.
The student of history painstakingly built a beautiful library at home: books, magazines, newspapers, official papers meticulously filed away in ever-increasing stacks. In his primary identity, the erudite speaker, versatile writer, indefatigable unionist, educator, politician, distinguished statesman quoted off the cuff, pertinent facts and statements from different timelines the world over. His dialogue, of excellent governance and the possibility of achieving a utopian for democracy made interesting by his familiarity with the subject-matter.
A cultured, rare even in these times, principal of the Holy Trinity Grammar School, Sabongidda-Ora, a Mr Amune , would invite Oarhe to speak with the students. The teacher had a way with words. Simple words strung with a mastery that belied the import of the message : “ Eli,Eli, lama sabachthani?…; “(Matthew 27,46). Each delivered in ten different ways and always you would be carried away with the excellent string of thoughts. The students especially welcomed him and would say he always brought a new interpretation to each message. In retirement, it must have been wonderful for Omoz to have an opportunity to vocalize his thoughts, exercise his intellect and imagination on the young minds.
Quietly without ceremony, he donated a large portion of his library to the once prestigious school. Again we glimpsed another aspect to the nobility of character and humanity of this excellent educator who taught a lesson in everything he did.
Reticent on only the most mundane issues, Omoz had a healthy sense of humour and a quick wit, laughing always at his foibles. The grass-root politician enjoyed the intrique of local and party politics. He would rehash the craftiness of some players in the caucus political meetings convened to propagate the progressive agenda. With a dead-pan expression on his craggy face he would drop a one-liner and poker-faced watch as you convulsed in laughter.
A conversationalist of the old school, he had little use for frivolity and viewed any kind of ceremony through world-weary, cynical eyes as “fari” or ostentatious living. An extrovert, raising his voice to emphasize a point, he spoke English fluently; nary an inflection even when he spoke his beloved language. He used both languages indiscriminately at home and vociferously insisted on the inclusion of indigenous language pedagogy and methodology years before the existing curriculum of education.
Oarhe was proud of his Ora ancestry. He had a great fondness for the simple rustic life that carried through all his life. His maternal grandmother, Okpoemi, had been a deciding factor in his education. The Iziokhai’s of Uhonmora-Ora, Owan West Local Government Area, Edo State, had closed their warm hands around him during the early years of his childhood.
An unrepentant Evbiobe and he never let you forget it. He had a rich hoard of idioms ,each coloured with the home-grown wisdom of the Ora simple folk. Ora phraseology was threaded with steel, spiked with an earthy flavor. Each spoke aptly to your consciousness in the barest sense. It stopped you in your tracks and showed just how powerful and unnerving it was to be caught up in profligacy fraught with a total disregard for the consequences of one’s actions.
His anger was never fierce. In stentorian tones, he would scornfully hurl: “kna sobe khea vbu khun-mo!” when he wanted to make you retrace your steps. Then he spoke with force and intensity.
He was passionate in parenting his boisterous, yet, well–behaved kids ,who fell in line more out of respect and love than fear. A strict parent, they had a healthy respect for the father who hugged them close to his shoulders and dangled his mildly-worded instructions, never looking back, confident that he had instilled a healthy respect for discipline, hard work and pride. He insisted that the foundation of education not be left to the teachers; his methodology , more broad-based and rounded than in school.
My teacher was well versed in his vocation and diligent enough to selflessly lend his time to mentor everyone he met on his especial philosophy of life. He advocated an assiduous pursuit of knowledge, hardwork and discipline.
Omoz Oarhe was a disciplinarian who adhered to a strict code of honour. It is instructive that he hardly socialized outside his professional life. He demanded respect for his code of ethics, few could comply and they fell away. Thus he was able to winnow the number of confidants he had. He remained indifferent to the of necessity, solitary lifestyle but in time I had cause to appreciate the principles that guided him.
I remembered this at his funeral. Though he had retired from public life for a good number of years, his burial was strangely quiet. It was solemn and fitting for the upright man sidelined by each successive government policy that wrestled with his dignity and integrity for the better part of his retirement.
Chief Omozuanvbo Oarhe was born on the 30th of September,1920 and died on the 27th of September,1999, three days to his 79th birthday. He was quietly interred in the cemetery of the St. John’s Anglican Church, Sabongidda-Ora, Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State on the 13th of November,1999.
