joshuaAPPOINTMENT OF EDO-BORN BENSON OJEIKERE AS ABIA STATE HEAD OF SERVICE: GOVERNOR OTTI LIVING THE TRUE MEANING OF ONE NIGERIA
By Chinonyerem Cleverson
“As long as you live, work and pay your tax in Abia, you are from Abia. Where you were born is an accident of history.” Gov. Alex Otti, OFR,
Reading the news of the appointment of Mr. Benson Ojeikere from Edo State in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria, I remembered the famous “I Have a Dream” speech by America’s foremost civil rights crusader Martin Luther King Jr. where he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.”
I also remembered one of the sayings of Nigeria’s former Senate President Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, “If you are emotionally attached to your tribe, religion, and political leanings to the point that truth and justice become secondary considerations, your education is useless. Your exposure is useless. If you cannot reason beyond Petty sentiments, you are a liability to mankind.”
In different parts of Nigeria today, where you come from is a major consideration before you are allowed to access certain opportunities or given certain privileges.
I am not sure that Mr. Benson Ojeikere had ever imagined two or more decades ago when he came to Abia State for his mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), that he would be retained, one day become a permanent Secretary in the State’s Civil service and then the Head of Service; making him the number one Civil Servant in the State.
Whoever retained or recommended Mr. Ojeikere to be retained after his NYSC must also be given kudos because he is the one who laid the foundation of the story being told here. If that had not been done, Governor Otti and Ojeikere would not have crossed part to discover how good, diligent, and brilliant he has been in the discharge of his civil service duties to the State.
What makes the story of Benson Ojeikere unique is that his emergence as Permanent Secretary in the Abia State Civil Service where he was posted to the Government House, and his eventual elevation to the position of the Head of Service of the State, were all made possible by the Governor Otti’s policy of competence and merit-based promotion and appointments in the State’s Civil and Public Service.
Mr. Benson’s career progression from Director to Permanent Secretary to Head of Service happened in less than a year and six months under the administration of Governor Otti.
I am always saddened whenever I remember how some years back my immediate elder brother Mr. Ikenna Christian Nwahiwe, having meritoriously scaled through the screening to join the NSA, from interviews to all-round background security checks, was denied that opportunity because the head of the Agency was changed and the one that succeeded him then, decided to do his own thing. That was how a dream in which reality was insight never materialized.
I stand to be corrected; the appointment of Mr. Benson Ojeikere as the Head of Service of Abia State by Governor Otti is the first in the history of Nigeria that a State Governor will appoint a non indigene from another geopolitical zone as the State’s Head of Service. By this appointment, Governor Otti has not just set a record on national integration; he has practically demonstrated beyond doubt that the CORD that binds us together as a NATION is thicker than the languages, cultural differences, and geographical landscapes that unpatriotic citizens hide under to disunite and under develop Nigeria.
The appointment of Edo-born Mr. Ojeikere as the Abia State Head of Service by Governor Otti should serve as a lesson to ethnic bigots who will settle for less in the pursuit of ethnic agenda to the detriment of a merit-based system that brought the developed world where they are today. It should also serve as a lesson to politicians and electoral officers that put ethnic agenda first before national agenda that our electoral processes can produce the best among our politicians to bring progress and prosperity to every part of Nigeria.
Governor Otti has demonstrated that as a public officeholder, you must not surround yourself with your kinsmen to succeed even when they are not competent enough to drive your vision. All you just need to do is to set up a system that throws up the best, engage the best and close your ears to the noise of the merchants of parochial interest and clannishness.
Political leaders and citizens still wearing their ethnic caps should learn from Governor Otti. As Martin Luther King Jr. posited, “In a multiracial society, no group succeeds alone.” We need each other to succeed. That success can only happen when Nigerians, wherever they find themselves, have the assurance and self-conviction that where they come from will not be a barrier to acceptance, career progression, business success, electoral victories, and so on.
Living the true meaning of one Nigeria means that you don’t need to know anybody or bribe your way as a Nigerian in any part of the country that you find yourself to get what you merit or truly deserve. It means that the system is set up in such a way that it favors everyone, and no one is shortchanged because of where he comes from.
In the NEW ABIA ably led by Governor Alex Otti, OFR, the state of origin does not matter; what matters is merit and contributing to the development of the State. With that, you are entitled to every benefit other citizens of the State enjoy.
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