By Sammie Echi Agbo
A hero makes the difference no matter the length of time he stays on the stage. He sees beyond the moment and is often dreaded by noisy mongers. A hero however is like a ferocious animal that needs no entourage.
This is a story of how Senator Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo, former governor of old Anambra State; former senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and former minister of sports, laid the foundation of university of technology education in Igbo land when he was the governor of the old Anambra State. Chief Nwobodo, popularly called Jim, held sway as the governor from 1979 to 1983, just one tenure, before the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari truncated that Second Republic. Jim’s tenure of four years has remained a reference point since it elapsed in 1983. It has become so because of his administration’s trail-blazing achievements and policies, especially being the first civilian government shortly after the infamous Biafran Civil War that left Ndigbo shattered, down and cast and almost with a bleak future.
God in His infinite wisdom would always send His helpers in many forms to salvage mankind at their most excruciating moments. They come as prophets and leaders with unique qualities. Jim Nwobodo, as governor of old Anambra State, came with a leadership inspired by the needs of the time. A humble leader par excellence, Jim Nwobodo never fails to acknowledge that the first president of Nigeria and Zik of Africa, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, remains his nurturer and mentor.
Jim, being a man who saw tomorrow, was abreast of the need to establish a state university of technology to provide pragmatic education for his people and beyond. This led to the establishment of Anambra State University of Technology, ASUTECH, which came to fruition in 1980. It had multi-campuses in Enugu, Awka and Abakaliki, and modelled after the world-class University of Massachussetts in the United States of America. The Enugu campus focused on engineering; Abakaliki campus was entrusted with agriculture while the Awka campus concentrated on humanities and law.
There are many takeaways in this initiative. ASUTECH is the first state-owned university of technology in West Africa. No wonder doubters doubted how the pioneer state university of technology would be able to compete with sophisticated federal universities, such as the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and the University of Lagos.
But not for Jim Nwobodo, driven by his ability to see tomorrow. He doggedly finished the university and unveiled it in the presence of some foremost nationalists, including Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, in 1980. ASUTECH, with Prof Kenneth Dike as vice chancellor, squarely competed with pioneer federal universities, and made the difference in the academia. Prof Dike, a dynamic and astute academic, was the vice chancellor of the University of Ibadan at the time Jim Nwobodo was a student of that premier university.
What became ASUTECH buttresses Jim Nwobodo’s oracle status. The equitable distribution of the campuses of ASUTECH shows a man with the spirit of fairness and a transcendental vision. When Enugu State was created, it readily acquired the Enugu campus of ASUTECH, which would become Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT. Anambra left with the Awka campus of Anambra State University Technology, which has been renamed Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University. Ebonyi inherited the ASUTECH campus in Abakaliki, and renamed it Ebonyi State University. All these universities are top notch, and also have multi-campuses. In fact, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, is an offshoot of ASUTECH. It was acquired by the federal government by Decree No. 34 on July 15, 1992.
The philosophy for the birthing of ASUTECH underscores the visionary and administrative savvy of Senator Jim Nwobodo. According to him, it was the antidote to the discrimination meted to the people in the old Anambra State due to the poverty status of the Wawa people who could not afford university education, particularly after the Nigerian Civil War. Jim Nwobodo also provided the enablement for the cash-trapped old Anambra State students shortly after the war. He initiated bursaries for all of them after realising their difficulties in pursuit of tertiary education. The idea was so noble that the then Imo State governor, Chief Sam Mbakwe, borrowed a leaf from Jim’s exemplar and offered the same to Imo State students. This is indeed the foundation that filled the academic lacuna in the Southeast despite the ravages of the Biafran War!
Senator Nwobodo explained that as a governor, he was inundated by the difficulties of students of the then old Anambra State. In his words, “Our students then were also sad at a time. Then I had become governor. They said they were sad because of the cost of schooling. I demanded to know how much it cost to pay their school fees, buy dresses and make them happy. They worked it out. It was less than N500. I then gave every Anambra student automatic bursary of that amount. All the students, when I was governor, had an automatic bursary. That returned their spirit. The truth is that I came out of the war boldly, and with self-confidence. I inspired many, and earned their trust.”
Lessons to be learnt from the exemplary leadership of Senator Jim Nwobodo are the crux of this piece. Most Nigerian political office-holders seem to occupy elective offices unprepared of the daunting tasks ahead. Some would procrastinate that they would be become result-oriented during their second term in office, which may become stillborn. Jim Nwobodo does not interrogate leadership in this regard. As a governor, Jim Nwobodo knew he was elected to serve, and he began the marathon from the Day One. He understood the psyche of Ndigbo then, having freshly survived the dreaded Biafran War with the trauma therein. Jim understood the power of education, and ensured that it was brought to their doorstep. He therefore contributed in eradicating illiteracy in Igbo land. He inspired students’ morale and re-launched the Igbo resilience and egalitarianism after the Biafran war.
In his words, “During our time as governors, we focussed on the people. Our interest was that we made promises to them, and we tried to fulfil those promises. We didn’t make them for the fun of it. We meant what we said. Again, it was the end of the Biafran war. It was the first civilian government after the war, and our people were down and cast. People felt defeated and humiliated, but I didn’t feel that way. I felt that I had the duty to show our people that nothing had been lost really.”
There is therefore a clarion call for the sustenance of these legacies in all ramifications. Specifically, many students are still languishing in abject poverty. Such ones need bursaries to outwit their academic challenges. Ndigbo need leaders that they can trust, the same way Jim Nwobodo is trusted almost 41 years after exiting the elusive position as governor of the old Anambra State. Our contemporary leaders should emulate the Jim examples and initiate legacy programmes and projects that would outlive them because man is as good as he is defined after leaving the stage.
Agbo writes from Enugu: +2348033736333