The Rev Chidozie Nwakire, a civil engineer and lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, is also an Anglican priest serving in Our Saviour’s Church, Awka, Anambra State. In this interview with EMMA ELEKWA, the cleric relives his challenges that characterised his early years, occasioned by his parents’ early demise and his chequered academic journey, among others. Excerpts:
My life today is simply a glory to God. I am the fourth child of my parents though both are late now. They died very early when I was just four, amidst some hostile paternal uncles and neighbours. It took my paternal grandparents to take the five of us to be with them. But staying with them was not that easy. My grandfather was a tailor while his wife was a trader. It was difficult for them to keep all of us with them for long.
They had to send us out, the three of us in the middle, but retained only me with them. I lived with my grandmother for three years before I was brought back. So I would not say I had a rich background. My parents were teachers. I had to toil with my grandparent both in the farm and shop. It wasn’t easy.
Education despite parents’ early demise
I could remember vividly that I was already in nursery school before my mum’s death. She would always take me to school. But I couldn’t remember which class now. But soon after her demise, I was meant to finish the one they call ‘ota akara’ with my small brother.
With time, I got enrolled in primary school where my mum was teaching primary 1 before I was taken away to be with my mum’s uncle. There, everything changed. Within three years, it was as if my head blocked completely. I didn’t know anything again. Even the few things I knew while at the kindergarten class wiped off.
I may not blame the people I was living with, but the environment was the major contributing factor. There was no much attention to my academics at that tender age. Nobody was interested, all they knew was whether or not you’ve done your domestic chores, sometimes help them in hawking and watching TV if you care.
It got so bad that I began to fail. I was practically the poorest pupil in my class if not in the entire school because I couldn’t make any sentence, not to talk of the normal multiplication timetables they chanted every day. Sometimes, I’ll leave for school, but would not enter my class because of shame. Nothing there interested me any longer.
Coincidentally, the teacher that taught me in primary 4 was bearing my surname, Mrs Nwakire and would always be quick to tell anyone that mistakenly wanted to identify me with her that she is not related to me in any way. Even the drawing I knew before, I couldn’t draw again. I was that bad that I refused taking my report card home. At the end of each term, I already knew my position.
It was at the third term of primary 4, when I did not bring back my report card that those I was living with had to go back to the school to find out why. It was when they were told I was to repeat primary 4 that it dawned on them for the first time that I didn’t know anything.
As God would have it, they had to report to my grandmother who brought me there, advising her not to allow me to be promoted to five. The teachers were of the opinion that I should be demoted. After a long meeting with my uncle, my grandmother resolved that I was not going back there again, but to stay with her at home.
That decision was the beginning of my breakthrough. When I started primary 4 again at Osumenyi, my grandmother took it upon herself that I must be brushed up even when others had given up hope. She mandated my uncle, who is now a consultant gynaecologist to put me through. He actually tried but it was not easy. I was restricted from play, it was reading, reading and reading. Yet, nothing was working. All he was doing was to ensure I wrote two-letter words: an, as, is. He would end up beating me very well if I could not write.
It was indeed a very unique night because I never believed I could write something that could look like ‘was’ since it has been difficult to write a two-letter word. It was like a miracle or will I say magic. My brother had just given me an assignment to write the letter ‘was’ and left as usual. As I struggled to write the letter ‘was’, I was just writing and cancelling, filling the paper with lots of rubbish.
He came back and roared, “Why is it difficult for you to write ordinary was?” I reluctantly left the last thing I wrote on the paper, telling him I’ve written. He looked at the paper and started beating me as usual because once he gives me an assignment and I failed it the next thing was to beat me. The same thing he did this time, not knowing I got it.
As I was crying as usual, my sister, who was already in JSS1, came to see what I actually wrote. As she looked, she quickly beckoned on my brother, “Chijioke, why not look at what he wrote very well. Is it not was?” she asked. That was when my brother looked and discovered that I really got it.
As others finally retired to bed, I couldn’t sleep. I was just sobbing, “so I could write that ‘was’ even when he didn’t teach me? So it was me that got it?” It was a whole of change, change of mindset, understanding. From that night, I began to appreciate my abilities.
From then, I was just looking for books, and anyone I laid my hands on, I’ll flip through it and would just be looking for the word, ‘was’. Once I identified ‘was’, I would be happy. From identifying ‘was’, I graduated to other words. I kept on improving that for the first time in that term, I didn’t fail. From 20th position to 6th, till I got to primary six. When I sat for the common entrance examination, I was the second best in the entire school. That of course, won me a scholarship. This God is wonderful.
How did the scholarship come about?
My secondary school and Master’s degree were on scholarship. There is this club in my town, Osumenyi Sports Club. They decided to offer scholarships to some of the indigenes as part of their social responsibility. They wrote letters to the four primary schools in the community then, including mine, to give them five of their best set for secondary school. That was the first of its kind. They didn’t do it again afterwards.
But it was difficult to get the best five due to lots of sentiments among the teachers. So they had to write another letter, this time, specifically indicating that the critera was the best five pupils in common entrance exam. That reduced the chaos. That was how I came to number two. They still subjected us to another different exam where they got the best three.
For me, even my exceptional performance in the common entrance was a surprise to me. So I didn’t believe I would get the scholarship. My target was just to get up to 10th position.
Finally, the day of the exam came and twenty of us gathered. Surprisingly, one of the two teachers they brought was Mrs Nwakire, the teacher that thought me in primary 4. After few words of encouragement, the results were announced. My name was called at the third position.
The scholarship was a full-package, including books, uniforms and cash sum. In fact, I used to send some money from the scholarship fees to my grandmother at every end of the term in appreciation for her efforts.
I later changed to a special science school because of my brilliant performance and interest in the sciences. But that school was so competitive that I was not coming topmost again, though was above average. At SS3, I wrote both WAEC and NECO. I cleared all my papers in NECO but had D7 in Chemistry in WAEC. I had to write GCE same year and got it.
What informed your choice of Civil Engineering as a course of study?
I desired to be a medical doctor because my uncle was a doctor and he wanted me to become one. But I couldn’t get it but later shifted to Engineering. Even in Engineering faculty, I had Electronics and Computer in mind, because I didn’t like Civil, but somehow I saw myself in it and was encouraged to settle down for that course. My immediate elder brother who was into business, was the one sponsoring us.
One piece of advice that motivated me was the one my General Studies lecturers gave us
during our first lectures with her. She said, “We should not go for very good where excellent is obtainable”. That advice did not leave my brain until I graduated. I didn’t fail any course throughout my year one. My CGPA was 4.45. That result made me believe that one can perform excellently in Civil Engineering, contrary to the negative impression I had.
I put in all those efforts in fear of failure. My second year was the best. I almost got As in all the courses. I later set three goals for myself – first, to be the topmost in my class. Secondly, to have at least six As in each semester and thirdly, to have a CGPA of not less than 4.5. By God’s grace, those three objectives were achieved except that there was a semester I didn’t get As in all the courses.
That was how I continued till I finally graduated as the first 1st class student of the department since 1992 the department was created till 2010. Nobody believed I could do it though they knew I was doing very well, but they least expected it to be 1st class.
What were the secrets behind the success in that difficult department?
It was only my classmates that I had issues with. After seeing my first and second year results, many of them were struggling to stay close to me to copy during exams. But as a child of God, I
refused to cheat. Though some saw it as wickedness, but they later discovered that I was not really being wicked, but just being original, just being me.
From my third year, I apparently became the class teacher and that contributed immensely to both my success and that of many of my classmates. Being aware I would teach, I had to study early and harder so as to be properly equipped.
Did you encounter any challenges during your studies?
My elder brother who was my major financier had lots of financial obligations. Taking care of three of us who were in university at the same time and other family responsibilities were not easy for him. We had to manage with the meagre amount he gave us. One may not have all the required textbooks. So we were depending more on the ones in the library.
Another issue I may consider a challenge was the wrong perception my course mates had about me due to my zero tolerance for exam malpractices, though that didn’t affect me my performance. God just took everyone, both students and lecturers unawares because nobody believed I could get 1st class in Civil Engineering.
Did you ever contemplate ending up as a class teacher while growing up?
Not really. It was in my fourth year that it became obvious to me that I will end up in the classroom after I had a dream where I got 1st class I kept it to myself except my elder brother. My interest in lecturing developed after seeing my result. I hadn’t placed my career in any field, but people around me, including my then HOD encouraged me to consider the lecturing job. Almost all the lecturers picked interest in me.
What are your plans in next five years?
I’m believing God for my PhD scholarship which I hope to secure in less than five years’ time.
Mining: Ebonyi to end deaths, environmental degradation
Ebonyi State is blessed with so many mineral resources, some of which are limestone, zinc, chalcopyrite, and oxide, among others. These minerals are scattered across various communities in the state.
The fact that many of the mining companies get their licences from the federal government and not the state government has led to a lot of conflicts and challenges.
Many of these companies do not pay attention to the environment before, during and after their mining activities. Many don’t have Environmental Impact Assessment or EIA certificate before embarking on mining exercise.
They also do not follow international best practices in their operations leading to degradation of the environment and loss of lives.
Also illegal miners have sprung up across the state because of the inability of the federal ministry of Solid Minerals and Mines to properly regulate the industry.
To tackle these challenges, the Federal Ministry of Mines and Solid Minerals recently created the Mineral Resources and Environmental Management Committee, MIREMCO across the states of the federation.
MIREMCO in Ebonyi State is chaired by Mrs Jacintha Nworie, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Solid Minerals.
The Committee after its recent inauguration did not waste time to swing into action as it has held numerous meetings, trainings and workshops for miners and other stakeholders in the state to sensitize them on the need to be professional in their activities.
One of such sensitization meeting held at the Cabinet office Abakaliki and had in attendance, the leadership of the miners, officials of the Minsitry of Agriculture, Ministry of Industry and Solid Minerals and Federal Miniing Office.
Mrs Nworie in her speech harped on the need for miners to embrace underground mining also known as shaft mining instead of the surface mining presently being used by many of them.
According to her, the shaft mining is safer for both the miners, the community and the environment.
“While shaft mining is going on, agricultural activities will also be going on at the surface. But this open surface mining has a lot of risk involved. Some villagers go to pick remnants of the minerals and sometimes the excavator used in the mining crushes them crushes them to death”.
She further lamented the loss of lives recorded in the state as a result of open mining as many people get drowned in the open pits during the rainy season and urged the miners to always reclaim the mining site to avoid such dates.
She warned that her committee will not hesitate to blacklist any mining company that fails to carry out the necessary reclamation exercise on their sites after mining.
“Some of the mine sites in my own place, Okposi in Ezza North have claimed the lives of so many children as a result of open pit. When rain falls a lot of water will store there and people will go there to swim and in the process get drowned”.
“This meeting is to create awareness about our functionality in the state as a committee representing the state in federal mining. This meeting is to create awareness to let the public know that we have come to be in Ebonyi state. Ebonyi state is endowed with numerous minerals such as led, zinc, chalcopyrite, oxide etc. And our objective in MIREMCO is to serve as an interface between the ministry, state, local government, mineral title holders and host communities, to ensure development and exploitation of mineral resources in a sustainable and orderly manner; to promote harmonious working relationship between the mining companies and the host communities”, she added.
On the relationship between the state government and the miners Mrs Nwakego said that “Ebonyi state and Miners association are relating very well except some few chaps drawn by the opposition in the state who are everywhere instigating and fermenting trouble”.
“We called this meeting to let them know that the state government is ready to work in harmony with them but what we need is there cooperation. We cannot close our eyes and allow the environment of the state degraded and devastated, she vowed.
“We are also concerned about the health of the citizens. After you have mined who will reclaim the land? The licence or title is issued by the federal government. After you have collected your title, the Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, must be in place. Some of the mine sites in my own place have claimed the lives of so many children as a result of open pit. When rain falls a lot of water will store there and people will go there to swim and in the process get drowned”.
“So our meeting today is to see how we can work together to do proper mining in Ebonyi state. The state government is relating with federal and international bodies to come and see how to introduce underground mining also known as shaft mining. While shaft mining is going on, agricultural activities will also be going on at the surface. But this open surface mining has a lot of risk involved. Some villagers go to pick remnants sometimes excavator crushes them to death”.
She said the Committee is also looking at how to bring illegal mining in the state to an end.
“We have given the miners training and helped them to become professional in their activities”.
Some of the miners who spoke at the event, including Mr James Iboko and Augustine Oke thanked the state government and the committee for holding such workshop which they described as eye opener on the modern trends in mining.
They also promised to put into practice what they have been thought at the training in their various sites. The miners also pledged their unalloyed support to the Governor David Umahi led government.
END
Mrs. Nwakaego with some government officials and leaders of the Miners Association after the sensitisation