There may be so many bad stories coming out of Nigeria but so are the flashes of success stories here and there. In this parade, for instance, is an inspiring picture of the Nigerian delegation at the on-going Global Forum on Assets Recovery taking place in Washington DC, USA since December 4th, 2017. It ends tomorrow. (L-R) are Dr.Otive Igbuzor, the Executive Director of the Centre for Leadership and Strategy, Abuja; Hon.Kayode Oladele, Chairman of the House Of Representatives Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Barrister Adesina Oke, Legal Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, (CISLAC), Mallam Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Executive Director of CISLAC, Dr. Kole Shettima, the Africa Director of MacArthur Foundation and Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, Executive Director of HEDA Resource Centre. If the Nigerian argument does not carry the day at the forum with this team, then there must be a problem somewhere!
Dignity of Labour, Like Fame, is Also A Shy Girl
Mr & Mrs Basil Nwancha
Mr Adagbo Onoja, a member of Intervention‘s Editorial Committee who personally brought this picture to the newsroom accompanied it with a story. The lady and the man in the picture are husband and wife and work in Veritas University. According to Mr Onoja, the lady runs a business center on the campus, meaning that she is permanently under deadline pressure from staff and students, including staff such as Mr Onoja who normally piled the most pressure. And the lady always obliged.
Onoja was, therefore, shocked to find the lady decked in the university’s academic gown at the Convocation. When asked what she read, it turned out to be MA in Literature. Her story, for Mr Onoja, confirms the wisdom of the elders to never ask anyone ‘who are you’. People could be more powerful than they look. Secondly, it also confirms the saying that dignity of labour, like fame, is a shy girl. It doesn’t shout. But, more than anything else, good education in the liberal arts could be a great source of creativity for those who possess it. The late John Munonye, the author of The Only Son among other novels in the African Writers Series argued endlessly that what we need in Nigeria is not skills as such but good liberal education. He said any such graduate could be very adequate even in creating jobs. Mrs Cordelia Nwancha whose picture appears above speaks to that in what she is doing with her MA in Literature. Thousand others might be doing similar things out there in terms of functioning in multiple capacities with good liberal education. This is though without prejudice to teaching of skills but another way of a flashback to John Munonye. Congratulations Madam!
Meanwhile, here are a few pictures of the spectacle the 10th Anniversary of an ambitious Nigerian university, Veritas University, Abuja turned out to be. To celebrate the anniversary which coincided with its annual convocation ceremony and its turn for accreditation, the university got almost the Catholic establishment into the campus, including Francis Cardinal Arinze from The Vatican. The Cardinal is someone most students and even staff of the university only knew in name but not physically. He not only delivered the Convocation Lecture, he also celebrated the mass preceding the convocation.
“Hold this place well”, one of the Bishops seems to be telling Prof Mike Kwanashie, VC of Veritas University with Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, Visitor to the university and President of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, (CBCN) keenly and approvingly smiling at that before moving with the VC to the next Bishop.
“Thank you for all the stress for Veritas University’s sake. Here is our token of appreciation for all that” is what Intervention thought it heard VC Kwanashie telling Cardinal Arinze in this picture which captured that moment followed by when cameras clicked, preserving that moment when all the Bishops, Archbishops, the two cardinals present stood for a group photograph. It was definitely a spectacle to have the topmost leaders of the Catholic Church in one place as it was at Veritas University, Abuja Tuesday, December 5th, 2017. Aside from His Eminence Francis Cardinal Arinze, those who are familiar with them can identify Archbishop John Cardinal Onaiyekan of Abuja Diocese; Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria and the Visitor to the university, the Most Reverend Dr Anthony Obinna, among others. They were not only at the Holy Mass but also at the Convocation
Picture Credit: Adaora Odunukwe
