Gloria Ofunim, popularly known as Gloria Johnson, who earlier in the year survived a ghastly auto accident, is back to work, and speaks on her experience.
“One of my most blessed and favourite years is 2015,” she said. “I’m grateful to Almighty God who gave me a second chance to live and made me to appreciate life more.”
According to the actress, although she had not been working for a while because the accident kept her bed ridden for several months, she was gifted with a Toyota jeep with which she intends to start a new life.
“God has a reason for everything that happens to you. Trust me, there’s a reason He turns things around for good. ‘I’m talking from experience. Look at me today; I got another Toyota jeep months after the accident. He provided more for me than I ever had. I wasn’t even working.”
Gloria who now calls herself a miracle child revealed that she had wept and wished she could die during the trauma that arose from the accident, but stressed that she sees life differently now.
Warri Wolves striker Gbolahan Salami has said missing out on a place in the Super Eagles World Cup squad against Swaziland was a blessing in disguise as he achieved a bigger individual honour with his club.
The bulky striker scored a brace against FC Taraba in a rescheduled league match on Monday to finish the 2015 season as the highest goal scorer.
Salami has seen fewer chances with the Super Eagles under the new coaches but the 24-year-old is not worried as he had time to improve his league form.
‘I am glad that d I was left out of the squad, because it enabled me help my club to win our last game of the season and get a brace to push me up the ladder as the top scorer in the league.
‘I know timing is divine and only God knows why it happened that way but I am happy it turned out well for the team and myself,’ Gbolahan told footballlive.ng.
When the filthy rich do not enrich the filthy poor, they make themselves filthy and impoverished. It cannot be enough to enrich the imagination of the poor by a display of the possibilities of prosperity without offering the enrichment that can make them prosper.
The death of Chief Antonio Oladeinde Fernandez in Brussels, Belgium, on September 1, prompted reflections on not only the burden of blessing but also the burden of the blessed. Fernandez enjoyed the awesome distinction of a billionaire brand, and less generous descriptions painted him as a multi-millionaire. Whether he was a billionaire or a multi-millionaire, there was no question that he was one of the richest Africans before the great leveller struck. His daughter, Mrs. Teju Phillips, a former Lagos State commissioner for commerce, said he was 86, contrary to media reports that he died at 79.
It is food for thought that Fernandez’s life exemplified an interesting definition highlighted by “The Richest Man in Babylon”, a bestseller by George Samuel Clason: “Money is the medium by which earthly success is measured.” What is the medium by which earthly failure is measured? The poor can provide an answer. There is no doubt about Money’s success-projecting capacity, but it need not be restricted to personal and personalised success. Making a success of earthly life has broader social implications; it is also about making a success of earthly lives.
In other words, personal earthly success is a blessing that comes with a social burden. Perhaps the most enlightening demonstration of this important implication is the thinking that produced the idea for The Giving Pledge launched in June 2010 by the world’s richest man Bill Gates and wife Melinda in association with superrich Warren Buffet. It is a remarkably ethical “effort to invite the wealthiest individuals and families in the world to commit to giving the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.” The donation can be made either during the lifetime or after the death of the donor.
The beauty of the pledge is that it represents no more than a moral commitment and it is volitional. By April 2011, 69 billionaires had reportedly joined the campaign and pledged to give 50% or more of their wealth to support philanthropic causes. A year later, the campaign had attracted more of the elite rich and a report said “81 billionaires committed to giving at least half of their fortunes to charity”. According to the latest news, “As of August 2015, 137 billionaire or former billionaire individuals or couples have signed the pledge; a significant majority are, like Buffett and Gates, American citizens.”
Considering America’s rich status, it is noteworthy and speaks volumes for the enduring relevance of a giving philosophy driven by social responsibility that the original promoters of the pledge were prosperous Americans.
It is popular to argue for speaking truth to power. What about speaking truth to the power of money? The Giving Pledge is built on the socially influenced and socially influential logic of giving back to society. It suggests that demanding measurable social responsibility from the superrich is not necessarily inspired by a sense of entitlement; but there is a sense in which it is a social entitlement. It does not need to be imposed because it is properly self-imposing.
Nigeria’s superrich men and women ought to learn a thing or two from the foreign initiative. Two striking members of the country’s money club are Aliko Dangote and Folorunsho Alakija. Aliko Dangote is ranked by Forbes as Africa’s richest man and he is 67th on the magazine’s list of The 500 Richest People in the World 2015; in 2014 he was 23rd on the list. Folorunsho Alakija is ranked as the second richest African woman and also the third richest woman of African descent in the world.
Fernandez dazzled the world with his fabulous wealth which could be imagined from the flashes provided by, for instance, his reported six private jets, “ocean-going yacht”andisland home in New York, United States. Described as “a business magnate and diplomat”, Fernandez was born in Lagos into a family with a South American background. His diplomatic decorations include: “Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Permanent Representative of Central African Republic (CAR) at the United Nations, special adviser to the President of Mozambique on international economic matters, Ambassador-at-Large for the Republics of Togo and Angola, in 1966 consul for the then Republic of Dahomey (now Benin Republic), economic adviser to the Angolan government, aside from long-time adviser to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos (who has ruled Angola since 1975); and deputy minister of finance, Swaziland.”
For a Nigerian, it was a remarkable path. No less remarkable were his business interests : “Aside from Petro Inett, which did oil exploration in Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, his business interests spanned bauxite exports, gold mines and diamond pits, in these countries, mainly in central and southern Africa.”
Probably more remarkable was his immense inactivity in response to the needs of the social space, which was to the detriment of social development in his land of origin. It is no excuse that he was based in foreign lands. Regrettably, it may be said that Fernandez demonstrably operated far below his capacity as far as social giving was concerned, which is putting it diplomatically.
By an instructive coincidence, Fernandez died four days before the world marked the UN-endorsed International Day of Charity on September 5. It is relevant to quote Hungarian Csaba Korosi in a speech he gave at the UN on benevolent giving in the social context: “Charity can alleviate the worst effects of humanitarian crises, supplement public services in health care delivery, education, housing, and child protection. It assists the advancement of culture, science, sports, and natural heritage.”
To engage in fantasy, what would Nigeria look like if its superrich citizens appreciated the burden of blessing and the implications for social giving and social development? Fernandez may well be poorly remembered in the narrow context of his riches and opulent lifestyle, which is the tragedy of socially purposeless wealth. His life and death are open lessons for the country’s living legends of luxury. It is a blessing to be blessed and to be a blessing is blessed.
Free education is common at primary and secondary levels. Surprisingly, it has been in practice at Imo State University (IMSU) in the past two years. How has the government been coping, considering the huge cost of funding university education? OKODILI NDIDI reports.
When Governor Rochas Okorocha announced on February 14, 2012 that he was introducing free education from primary to tertiary levels in Imo State, many thumped their noses at him. It sounded too good to be true to many when he made the promise at the Imo Freedom Square in Owerri, the state capital.
He also promised indigenous students N100,000 scholarship every session. Some politicians condemned the policy, saying it is unsustainable. But, for two years now, students of Imo State origin have been enjoying free education. They get N100,000 each – 70 per cent of which represents bursary, and the remaining, a loan/grant from the government which they will offset when they start working.
National Diploma (ND) students at Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo get N60,000, (N40,000 bursary; N20,000 loan); their Higher National Diploma (HND) counterparts get N80,000 (N60,000 bursary; and N20,000 loan). When it was introduced, critics said the policy favoured the few indigenes enrolled at IMSU and not in other schools. Today, the indigenes and non-indigenes enjoy 100 per cent tuition-free tertiary education. The non-indigenes became beneficiaries from the 2014/2015 academic session.
•Candidates for the 2015 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) waiting for their print outs containing details about the venue and date of the examination at the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) office in Benin on Tuesday.
Before the introduction of free education, the university management was planning to review tuition fees from N100,000 to N150, 000. The plan was dropped when the policy came into being.
Before they became beneficiaries, the non-indigenes paid N50, 000 per session, representing a 50 per cent reduction in fees.
The only fees the students pay cover medical, accommodation and sundry charges.
For the students and their parents, the policy is a blessing. At the beginning of every session, the students get N100, 000, which they pick up at the palaces of their traditional rulers and pay to the university as tuition fee.
The students are praying that the policy would be sustained, after Okorocha’s tenure.
Chidiebube Kingsley, a 200Level student of Fine and Applied Arts, said he never believed it until he got his cheque.
“At first I was in doubt about the workability of the programme until I collected my cheque from the secretariat of the Community Government Council in my community, Umuta in Ngo-Okpala Local Government Area and paid it into the bank as my tuition fee. That was when I believed it was for real”.
For Ifeyinwa Udoaru, a 100-Level Mass Communication student, being in school with three other siblings at the same time has been made possible by the policy.
“I am lucky to be a beneficiary of the free education programme. It has helped many families in the state. For instance, four of us are in this university: I and three of my sisters. It would have been too much for my parents,” she said.
Another indigenous student, Kingsley Ibeh, said critics have no case as the university is not lacking in funding and infrastructure despite the policy.
“Those criticising the free education programme are doing so for political reasons. We the students are grateful to the Governor for introducing the programme. Talking about the facilities in the university now and the quality of learning, even when we were paying school fees, it was not this good.
“For instance since the programme started the school has not gone on strike for one day; the students are graduating in record time; and the university is one of the most sought after among state-owned universities,” he said
As a non-indigene, Paulinus Yaro, a 200-Level Law student from Rivers State, said the students appreciate the governor’s gesture.
“When it was announced, we thought it was one of the many tricks by politicians but so far so good it has worked and we are grateful,” he said.
He, however, appealed to the management and the government to reduce the cost of accommodation, which is between N90,000 and N100,000.
“The only challenge we are facing as students is the high cost of accommodation and we are appealing to the authorities to do something in that direction to assist the students,” he said.
Jude Njoaguani, a 100-Level student of Business Administration and Management from Delta State, called for a law to back the policy to guarantee its sustenance.
“It is not just enough to introduce the programme but should be hinged on a strong legislative framework that will ensure that it is sustained beyond the present administration. The programme is a huge relief for both indigenous and non-indigenous students and we pray that it is not truncated by politicians. We hope that the free education programme does not affect the intake of non-indigenes,” he said.
Their parents are also hailing the policy.
Nze Njoku, a retired civil servant whose two children are in the university, described critics of the programme as “enemies of the common people”.
“It would have been impossible for me to cater for two of my children in the university at a time as a pensioner. When my eldest child was in the university, then I was still working, I knew how tough it was for me, not to talk of now that I am no more working. The free education programme has made it possible for many parents like me to send our children to the university,” he said.
Mrs. Agnes Agbakuru, a widowed petty trader, described the policy as “God’s gift to Imo State”.
“My two daughters are currently studying in two different state-owned tertiary institutions and I don’t pay any tuition fee except for minor sundry charges and I am grateful to the state government,” she said.
Imo State Commissioner for Education Mrs. Mma Nzeribe told The Nation that the prudent management of resources and the priority placed on qualitative education.
She said: “We have been able to achieve a total free education because the governor in his wisdom blocked all avenues that previous administrations were using to siphon public funds and ploughed the resources back into education in fulfilment of his campaign promises. Today, it is a huge success and those criticising it are also beneficiaries as they have their children in state-owned tertiary institutions.”
Besides, from free tuition, the government raised the university’s monthly subvention from N57 million to N257 million.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ukachukwu Awuzie, said the university has thrived under the policy because of management’s judicious use of its funds.
Ukachukwu, immediate past president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said: “Free education at the university level is possible in Nigeria, it depends on how you apply the resources. All it takes is honesty, transparency, accountability and passion. When these are applied free education is possible. In Imo State we have free education because the governor is committed to ensuring that every Imo child has access to university education irrespective of their social background. It is this passion and the prudent application of resources that has made it possible.”
The VC noted that contrary to expectation, there has been an upsourge in students’ population has even increased.
“On the contrary, the number of indigenous students admitted in the university has sharply increased since the introduction of free education because every family wants to benefit from the programme. For instance in the 2014/2015 session, we matriculated a total number of 5,215 students, out of which 4618 are from Imo State,” he said.
Awuzie said the quality of learning has not been compromised because of the policy.
“Talking about the quality of teaching and learning, it is the quality of leadership that determines the standard of the institution and not free education,” he said.
He said the university has become a model for other states from where people have been coming to see things for themselves.
“The free education of the Imo State university is a huge success. As we speak Commissioners of Education from other states have been coming to the University to study how we managed the programme so that they can introduce it in their states,” he said.
The Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ralph Njoku Obi, said efforts are being made to boost the university’s internally-generated revenue (IGR).
“In the effort by the university to increase its revenue generation the management has revamped the poultry and feed mill and plans are also on to establish a printing press among other projects,” he said.
A lecturer, who pleaded anonymity, praised the government and the management for making the policy worthwhile.
He said: “The free education programme, contrary to the earlier fear that it will compromise the standard of education, has fared very well. The success can be attributed to the commitment of the state government but largely to the sterling leadership provided by the VC, Prof Ukachukwu Awuzie.
“Most members of the university community may not be at liberty to comment on the programme because of political persuasions but we have never had any cause to complain since the programme was introduced. We have received our salaries and other entitlements as when due and the current facility upgrade going on in the uiversity has impacted positively on the quality of teaching and learning.”
SIR: Rochas Okorocha is a blessing to the people of Imo State. His administration has done what Napoleon could not do, so to speak, in terms of redeeming the people of Imo State from the shackles of abject poverty, kidnapping, armed robbery, and the notorious “419” saga that took centre-stage during the 12 years reign of Achike Udenwa and Ikedi Ohakim, both of the PDP.
If you go to Imo State today, the difference is clear. When you compare or correlate the state of affairs in Imo State during the 12 years of Achike Udenwa, and Ohakim combined, with the current state of affairs in Imo State today, every sensible and right thinking person would not hesitate to say that Rochas Okorocha is a blessing to the people of Imo State and as such deserves to be given another chance.
Okorocha has given Imo State a new lease under four years in office. Security, protection of people’s lives and property is the bedrock of economic growth, and he has brought that to Imo State. The problem of kidnapping and armed robbery that became the order of the day in Imo State during the 12 year reign of Achike Udenwa and Ohakim has been grossly decimated. In Imo State today, you can go to bed with your door wide open, and wake up peacefully! Owerri the state capital has been transformed from a sub-standard (dirty) city to a clean-mega city. You could recall that the only two major roads in Owerri were Douglas and Whethral. Go to Owerri today, you would be surprised at what you will see!
Prior to the advent of the Okorocha administration, Owerri was the only urban city in Imo State. Today, Okorocha is on the path of transforming Orlu and Okigwe to a standard urban area that could attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). have no doubt that urbanization of Owerri will extend to other vibrant areas within the Owerri senatorial zone, such as Mbaise and Okpala. Before we talk about industrialising Imo State, we should not lose sight of the fact that the necessary infrastructure and enabling environment must first of all be created for industrialization to flourish. Apparently, that is exactly what Rochas Okorocha was busy consolidating during his first term in office. I strongly believe he should be given the chance to actualize his vision for the state in the second term. There is every hope that he would do more!
Tayo Ayinde is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and one of the aspirants that took part in the governorship primary of the party in Lagos. In this interview with Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI, he talks about the primary, chances of the APC and the implication of insecurity on the forthcoming general elections.
How true is the allegation that some aggrieved Lagos governorship aspirants stormed out of the primary venue angrily?
Let me say this loud and clear, the APC governorship primary in Lagos was conducted among individual aspirants and not as a group. We arrived at the venue of the election separately and left the same way. We never had a joint nomination form. We contested and campaigned individually. Those peddling the rumour that we stormed out angrily as a group are only being mischievous. We met ourselves at the venue and did not leave the venue together. In every election, there is always a winner and losers.
With the emergence of Jimi Agbaje, can you evaluate the chances of the APC and the PDP in the election?
The PDP has always contested and lost elections in Lagos. The coming election will not be an exception. The giant strides and laudable achievements of the APC-led government in Lagos is our unique selling point. Today, Lagos State is a reference point to other states. Lagosians are happy with our party and they have always voted for the APC because they know that the party belongs to them. They will do it again in the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
Some observers are apprehensive about the influence of Tinubu in the Lagos Chapter of the APC. What’s your view on this?
First of all, the influence of our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is a positive one. The APC is a national party and no one individual can claim to have undue influence on the party. From the way it conducted its primaries recently, the APC has demonstrated that it is the more democratic than parties, particularly the PDP. Otherwise, the party would not have deemed it necessary to conduct primaries for different elective positions. Asiwaju Tinubu would have just come up with a list of party candidates to be presented to INEC. All aspirants were given a level-playing ground to test their popularity and acceptability among our members. Things have always worked out for us because our party’s democratic tendencies. We have party structures and each is saddled with different responsibilities. We are very organized. That is why we were able to grow from a one party state, to zonal, regional and now a national party. The APC has become the most preferred alternative and that is the reason why God-fearing and progressives-minded individuals and groups have come together to work for a common goal of providing a better platform for Nigerians to effect their desired change at the national level. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is a blessing, not only for our party, but to Nigerians in general.
Considering the problems facing the country, what are President Jonathan’s chances of returning?
It is unfortunate that Nigeria is beset with a mountain of problems at this point in time. He has not succeeded in tackling any of the problems successfully. It is painful that many African countries are overtaking Nigeria socially and economically. President Jonathan has not come out to tell us how he intends to give us relief in this austerity period. As a result of insecurity, lack of regular electricity, unemployment, bad roads and other social vices, some Nigerians now prefer a country like Ghana to this great country. Some Nigerians spend their Christmas and New Year holidays in South Africa and Ghana. It is a shame. It has never been this bad. I am happy for one thing. Nigerians are wiser now. We have had enough of this retrogressive government of the PDP. An average Nigerian cannot eat one meal a day. To pay school fees of children is a problem. There is serious poverty in our land. God has answered our prayers in this country with the emergence of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (GMB) and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as APC candidates for the February 14 election. With these God fearing men, Nigeria will be totally out of the poverty that President Jonathan has inflicted on us over the last six years. I watched the flagging off of PDP campaign in Lagos on TV. I was expecting that President Jonathan would reveal what he intends to do in the next dispensation. But, I was not disappointed; he did not mention a single thing. He was only condemning past Presidents and Heads of State, forgetting that he would leave Aso Rock one day too.
What is your perception of the situation in the Northeast?
January 14 was exactly nine months since about 230 school girls were abducted in the village of Chibok, in Borno State. As we speak, the President has not visited the families of the abducted girls. It is also very sad that he has no clue of the whereabouts of the girls. Thousands of lives have been lost, while properties worth billions of naira have been destroyed due to the insurgency in that part of the country. The President has not found any solution to the problem. The country has become a laughing stock within the international community.
Iheanacho’s talents remind one of the glorious moment at the Hampden Park Stadium in Glasgow on Monday night when Nigeria’s speedster, Blessing Okagbare, ran a terrific race in the women’s 100 metres to fetch the country the prestigious gold medal. Okagbare also set a new Commonwealth Games record of 10.85 seconds to become the fastest woman in the Commonwealth this year. On Friday night, she clinched the gold medal in the 200 metres for women, the fourth person in the Commonwealth Games’ history. What a feat. What a moment for the girl with a humble beginning bolstered by the financial support of her state governor Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, who was in Glasgow to watch the worthy girl justify the trust placed in her to develop into the world class star that she is.
Uduaghan has been there for Okagbare through thick and thin. He lifted her spirits two years ago after Okagbare failed to sparkle at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Okagbare’s exploits in Glasgow underscores the essence of investing in our kids, who most times need financial assistance to raise their game to the heights where our national anthem would be sung at international competitions, such as the Commonwealth Games.
Uduaghan’s monitoring of Okagbare’s growth should serve as a wake-up call for companies and public spirited Nigerians to invest in potential greats such as Okagbare, if we truly want sports to be the business that it is in other climes. Uduaghan left pressing official duties in Delta to identify with his young kinsmen and women, who he had provided state-of-the-art facilities to train.
Uduaghan said in Scotland: “The important thing is that they are serving Nigeria. And I’m happy that they are from my state and all efforts in building these facilities are not in vain. In Delta, we appreciate and reward all our athletes who bring honour to the state. You can see the marvelous job they are doing for Nigeria and Delta. It is in our character to welcome them home as heroes and heroines.”
Well said, Uduaghan. One only hopes that other governors will emulate Uduaghan by using sports to reunite the people and create jobs for the youths. Sports can be used to rebuild Nigeria, only if those in charge can deploy the cash to develop the industry and not their pockets.
The government would continue to bankroll sports, if it doesn’t provide reliefs that would encourage corporate firms to invest in the industry. It is about time brand ambassadors are made of budding talents, such as Okagbare. Had Uduaghan not stood by her as she developed, what happened on Sunday night in Glasgow wouldn’t have occurred.
Okagbare has been through the worst and best of times in her career. But she has this irrevocable belief in her talents. She easily puts behind any bad tournament and plans for the next. She accepts that she is prone to mistakes. She accepts corrections, hence her steady rise to the top.
Many would want to ask who Okagbare is? She told her story to the BBC in 2011, before the London 2012 Olympic Games. There were plenty of interesting twists, including the fact that she spent over nine months in her mother’s womb.
Many had given up on her birth and expected the worst, but the family trusted God for a miracle. When eventually her mother gave birth on October 9, 1988 in Sapele, Delta State, her father aptly named her Blessing.
Blessing, daughter of Margaret and Francis Okagbare, has lived up to the meaning of her name so much so that she has grown to become one of Nigeria’s gold medal prospects at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
She told the BBC: “I asked my daddy why I was called Blessing and he said that I spent over nine months in my mother’s womb. When I was delivered, he named me Blessing. Since that time, I have brought joy, hope and aspiration to the Okagbare family. I have seven step brothers and seven step sisters. My family is behind me and keeps track of what I am doing. I would have loved to have them in London during the Olympics. But in Nigeria, such luxuries don’t form part of government’s obligation to athletes. I agree with the sense that they could distract me, but I will remain focused.”
With seven step brothers, Okagbare’s first contact with sports was football. She played with boys and later soccer clubs. But it isn’t in soccer that she is writing the name of Nigeria in gold and making her parents proud.
Let’s move away from the sport whose actors are treated like gods. Yet they cause us more pains when we bank on them to shine. Let’s consider athletes who bring us glory through their exploits in sports that we often derisively tag lesser sport. Let’s acknowledge these athletes who toil to make others perceive Nigeria from the prism of endless stream of producing world champions and not a polity of jesters.
For us as a nation, soccer is it. Other sports can hit the roof with their exploits, we cannot be perturbed.
It is extremely unfair to reward Okagbare with $7,000 for her feat in the 100 metres when soccer players are paid more than that to motivate them when they draw matches.
A national honour, $100,000, a house and a car are what Okagbare deserves. After all, don’t our fumbling soccer coaches and players have unrestricted access to the President? Again, this is the best time to give Okagbare training grants for the 2016 Olympic Games. Nigeria returned from the London 2012 Olympic Games without any medal. Okagbare’s feats in Glasgow, show that she can win a medal at the 2016 Olympics in brazil, if she starts her preparation now. Take a bow Okagbare. All hail Uduaghan for believing in her. Oba Khato Okpere, Ise.
One of the most beautiful questions ever asked by a mortal is the one, which William Shakespeare made a character called Juliet to ask in his play Romeo and Juliet. She asked: “What is in a name?”
Most times I try to ponder on this question and as I reflect on it, I try to imagine what parents would have had in mind while christening their new born babies or anything they cherish.
In a traditional Igbo setting as well as other cultures, names are mainly given based on life experiences, period of baby’s birth, victory in war, delay in child birth, and survival from certain mysterious circumstances among other things.
Igbo names such as Chinwemmeri (victory belongs to God), Amarachi (God’s favour), Ugochi (God’s special eagle), Uchenna (the will of the father) and Tiv names such as Terna (God gives), Dooshima (beautiful lady) among others clearly bring to the front burner the passion attached to names in all cultures.
A name given to a child is one thing and the influence the name has on the bearer is another thing. In as much as it has been established that we do not determine our names at birth – our parents and relatives do, unless one grows up to think otherwise – most times, if not eternally, we grow up to appreciate those names and try to live up to the meaning and standard of the name.
And when such things happen we have no option than to believe that our parents and relatives spoke the mind of God when they give us names. For, it will be an embarrassment both in heaven and on earth for someone who bears Nwachukwu (God’s child), for instance, to go to hell.
In the Nigerian political arena, every Dick, Tom and Harry has a reason to believe that the name “Goodluck” has positively affected President Goodluck Jonathan, going by the way he climbed the rung of the political ladder without ‘sweat’ and struggle unlike many, who struggled through the eye of the needle to get elected for a seat in the local government.
As an individual with a very good name, I have also heard and called several other names and have also associated myself with those bearing the names. One of such names is Ngozi.
I have met a number of people, who bear the name but I can’t recall if any of them has influenced my life as much as the late Ngozi Agbo (nee Nwozor), the late Editor of CAMPUSLIFE.
Ngozi is an Igbo name that means blessing. The subject of this piece is someone who lived up to her name in her life time.
As a child, I had dreamt of becoming a writer. And whatever it is that I had written did not find its way beyond the notebook in which it was written. To me, it was like a fairy tale to know that I would one day be published in a widely read national newspaper just by writing and submitting.
But Ngozi made me realise that whatever one believes in will definitely work for him only if he is on the right track. Through Ngozi, I saw my articles published in The Nation newspaper. To me, it was a dream come true and Ngozi Nwozor made it possible.
Aunty Ngozi, as we all fondly called her, was a blessing to my generation. Whatever was in the mind of her parents that made them to christen her Ngozi may not have been clear to us but one thing her family should forever be grateful for is that Aunty Ngozi lived up to her name. While she was alive, she remained an endless blessing to my generation.
As the Editor and Co-ordinator of CAMPUSLIFE, she gave many youths in our nation the map to discover their God-given talents. She believed so much in the youth and their ability to effect positive changes in Nigeria.
Her demise at the age of 36 is heart-rending but we are consoled by the fact that her 36 years on earth were loaded with blessings, which she did not keep to herself and her family members. She spread the blessings to whoever she came in contact with.
A philosopher once said “age is compulsory but wisdom is optional”. At 36, Aunty Ngozi possessed the agility of a seven-year-old and the wisdom of a 70-year- old. History has recorded that most men and women whose names still glow like a candle light lived and achieved notable things tagged with their names in a short time they lived on earth.
For instance, Jesus Christ, our saviour, did not have to live to eternity to save us; he gave us salvation in his early 30s. Alexander the Great, with all the glory his name bears, achieved all he did in 33 years, three years younger than our own Aunty Ngozi.
St. Theresa, whose name Aunty Ngozi also answered, lived a short life. The few years she lived were spent rendering selfless service and doing unforgettable things for Jesus Christ and for humanity.
To all of us, her students, Aunty Ngozi left us quite early, but to heaven, she may have done the will of her Creator; so we cannot question heaven. If we want to ask God any question about her death, we should first ask ourselves if we had a hand in Aunty Ngozi’s creation in the first instance.
We can only take solace in the fact that her way of life and philosophy made light to reflect in the lives of many youths, who would have gone astray and lost focus of their destinies. Aunty Ngozi, even in death, remains a blessing to the country.
As we continue to remember her and her good works, we can’t help but thank God that her life was a paradigm to be followed by all of us. Physically, she is not with us but Aunty Ngozi lives on.
