At exactly 3pm, WAT, friends, family members, compatriots and enthusiasts of real development gathered at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja to listen to Yakubu Aboki Ochefu, a professor of economic history and development studies, who is delivering a lecture titled, “FORMATION OR NATION BUILDING: Nigeria’s Troubled Quest for a Modern Federal Republic”, in honour of Onumah who turned 60 today.
The lecture will be followed by a discourse by a panellists of Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, former Minister of Education and former Vice President for Africa at the World Bank; Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, one of Nigeria’s most consequential lawyers and defender of human rights and freedom; Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa; Ebenezer Wikina, founder of Policy Shapers; and Faridha Salihu-Lukman, a strategic communication professional functioning at the intersection of policy and public discourse.
This commemoration of Dr. Onumah’s birthday, hosted by the man I call ‘Mwalimu’, Dapo Olorunyomi, Publisher and CEO of Premium Times and CEO Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), is intentional and in the words of Olorunyomi, organised to celebrate Dr. Onumah, who “refused to be silent when indeed people needed to speak out for the people of Nigeria”. Olorunyomi and Onumah have been co-travellers for decades working for Nigeria’s best interests, even when the former was the policy director and chief of staff to Nuhu Ribadu when Ribadu was the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The occasion, chaired by Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has as Special Guest of Honour, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser. Fayemi recalled his first meeting with Dr. Onumah as subaltern, working underground in Ghana back in the days and emphasised that Onumah has been consistent all the way.
Prof. Ochefu, the lecturer who keynoted the event, said Nigeria which started as a business enterprise is marked by paradoxes – political, economic and all sorts – but our duty is to make it work as a nation serving the interest of all its people, a thought Fayemi reiterated and emphasising that we should start to organise so that electoral principles can transform to real democracy.
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The panelists spoke with candour noting that we need institutions because Nigeria has been captured and bureaucracy consists of departments and agencies not institutions which are required for real democracy and development. They spoke against impunity which seem to have taken over and we all need to work together hopefully “if we still have a country by next election” as one of the panellists puts it. Leadership, systems and accountability must be signposts of our system and the only way Nigeria will flourish is if we work together, keep the rules and respect people’s rights in a secure geographical space.
“If we decide that we have had enough of ‘anyhowness’ then we can reclaim Nigeria”, Ezekwesili, stated emphasising that no region has fared well in Nigeria. We must own our problem, face the truth and agree that the migratory politicians moving from one party to another cannot be referred to as elites. Ezekwesili said, noting that all educated elites, selfish middle class, who can still pay school fees of their children and board planes to travel and keeping quiet at the rot in our system are also as culpable as the politicians.
Yiaga helmsman, Itodo, insist that we should not give up but step forward, register and ensure that no one manipulates the process. It is inappropriate to say the INEC, Legislature, Judiciary have been captured or say the result of next year election have been written or submit to the sloganeering that the opposition has been emasculated. Itodo stated. Indeed all panellists were unanimous in calling of us out to play our part if we want Nigeria to be great.
“Journalist, author, rights activist and social mobilise in different countries around the world”, Dr. Onumah has been present and acted (still acting) at every theatre of rational, scientific struggle to remake Nigeria.
Co-founder of the Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue (MILID) Foundation, he is also the coordinator of the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL). AFRICMIL focuses on many aspects of social action and entrepreneurship particularly promotion of “whistleblowing, and whistleblower protection through its accountability and good governance project, Corruption Anonymous (CORA). Dr. Onumah is the Chair of the Board of the Scotland-Based Whistleblowing International Network (WIN).
Coordinator of Socialist Library and Archives (SOLAR), Onumah co-founded Ikengaonline in 2022 and he is on the Editorial Board of Premium Times. From 1996 to 2000, he was Associate Editor of The Insight newspapers, a radical, progressive and left-leaning publication in Accra, Ghana. He was also Director for Africa at Panos Institute, Washington, USA. In that role he helped journalists in West Africa and the Caribbean understood underreporting and misrepresentations about HIV/AIDS, environment, ethnic and religious issues.
Dr. Onumah studied philosophy at the University of Calabar where he came under the influence of the inimitable Prof. Eskor Toyo, earned MA in Journalism from Western University, Ontario, Canada, and PhD in communication and Journalism from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.
He edited and authored many books, and he is a recipient of many awards. He is married and has children.
