LAGOS — ELDER statesman and President of Ndigbo
Lagos, Professor Anya O. Anya, yesterday, declared
that Nigeria is not yet a nation but that a nation will
emerge out of her soon.
Anya made the statement at Sam Ohuabunwa’s
Outreach, in Lagos, to mark the 65th birthday of
Ohuabunwa, former chairman of Neimeth
Pharmaceuticals.
BOOK LAUNCH: From left, Dr Christopher Kolade;
Prof Anya.O. Anya, chairman of occasion; Mazi Sam
Ohuabunwa, author of the books; Mrs Stella
Ohuabunwa, wife of author; Bishop of Lagos West,
Anglican Communion, Rt Rev James Odedeji and Sir
Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State,
during the book presentation and 65th birthday of
Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, in Lagos, yesterday. Photo:
Kehinde Gbadamosi
By Prisca Sam-Duru
LAGOS — ELDER statesman and President of Ndigbo
Lagos, Professor Anya O. Anya, yesterday, declared
that Nigeria is not yet a nation but that a nation will
emerge out of her soon.
Anya made the statement at Sam Ohuabunwa’s
Outreach, in Lagos, to mark the 65th birthday of
Ohuabunwa, former chairman of Neimeth
Pharmaceuticals.
The event was also to launch Ohuabunwa’s books,
Sam Ohuabunwa’s Paradigm: Thoughts on
Contemporary National Issues and The Port Harcourt
Volunteer.
The professor, who chaired the occasion, said it was
sad that Nigerians are not learning from history,
averring that the much-criticized immediate past
administration of Dr Goodluck Jonathan was better
than that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He said Ohuabunwa is one personality that embodies
true stewardship and recognizes the values of a
Christian, saying the country will be a better place if
we learn the importance of true stewardship from
people like the celebrant.
His words: “Sam has done an important thing by
writing the books. I was privileged to write the
foreword of Sam’s previous books. But the unique
thing about today is that one of the books we are
launching captures his experience during a particular
time in our nation’s history.
“Unfortunately, we don’t write books enough and
because of this, our nation does not have the
opportunity to reflect on what has happened in the
past and learn lessons from it. It is out of a people’s
experience that you can write history. A nation that
cannot learn from history cannot make the kind of
progress that we expect.
“Once upon a time, history was a very important
subject in the Nigerian education system, it got to a
point when history is no longer there. If we don’t
learn to stand on the shoulders of those who went
before us, we cannot build as an individual, you
cannot build as a community and as a nation.
“When you listen to our people, especially the
politicians, it is as if we have learned nothing. God
has been very kind to this country. It is not easy to
see whether there is any common value that
Nigerian leaders have which is why today you hear
one thing and the next day, you hear the opposite.
We don’t have a nation
“The problem now is that we are now trying to build a
nation. We don’t have a nation but whether we like it
or not, a nation is going to emerge out of Nigeria.
And it is going to be from the contributions of Sam
and all of us putting our individual experiences on
the table and drawing lessons and teaching the
lessons to others.
“When people put down their experiences, it keeps
others informed and when you collect them, it gives
you an idea of the society’s experience and from
there, you can write the history of that nation. A
nation without a history cannot learn lessons and
build on those lessons, and the nation will be in
trouble.
“This is what is happening to Nigeria today. A great
nation is built by succession of generation of giants.
Each generation of giants stand on the shoulders of
past giants and the nation moves forward.
“Unfortunately in Nigeria, we are all in a haste to
pronounce opinion and we take opinion as if it is the
truth. The past government has been heavily
criticized but this past government was not worse
than the government before it. In fact, the
immediate past government was better than the one
before it. Sadly, those criticizing past government are
those who were in Obasanjo’s government.”
The review
In his review of The Port Harcourt Volunteer, Prof
Jemie Onwuchekwa said the “book encapsulates the
two and half years story of horror, told by a teenage
soldier on the Biafran side. When we see pictures of
child soldiers with machine guns, in war-torn
countries in the continent, we usually think of Sudan,
Sierra Loene etc, we fail to remember that it also
happened right here in Nigeria. The author was a
teenage soldier that witnessed all the gun fires,
starvation and explosions that consumed over two
million people but survived and toiled through to
living a very successful life.”
He described the book as a material that is hard to
put down, adding that “the author believes that the
war could have been avoided if Gowon had stood
firm on the Aburi Accord, which could have
dismantled Aguiyi Ironsi’s military command…”
Prof Ayo Olukotun while reviewing Sam Ohuabunwa’s
Paradigm: Thoughts on Contemporary National
Issues, said that the book collates 55 chapters of
weekly interventions published in newspapers by the
author, which brings us to the author’s dream of a
reinvented Nigeria. He congratulated him for serving
Nigerians and posterity.
Former Governor of Anambra State, Sir Peter Obi,
described the author as “someone who has lived a
life worthy of emulation and contributed in building a
better society.
He said: “The problem with Nigeria is that those who
have not created wealth manage the wealth of the
people who created it. If you have to allow some
people to manage public resources, then we ought to
know whether they have been able to manage their
own resources. It is a global thing. People who
manage resources must have created or managed
their own otherwise there will be problem.’’
I write to send a message—Author
Responding, Ohuabunwa said: “I write because God
gives me the inspiration to do so and I write to send
a message. Every book I write has an audience.
“The Port Harcourt Volunteer is about my experience
during the Biafran war and I thought that I should
write on this because with the way the nation is
going, it looks like we have forgotten about the war.
And so much mistakes have been made.
“So, this is to remind ourselves that we have passed
through this path, lost almost three million people,
national wealth and we do not want to walk through
that road again. We need to speak about what to do
to strengthen Nigeria’s unity.
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