Elder, Obed Okike is a Veterinary Doctor by training. His sojourn in the field of cargo business was not accidental but rather divine on the premise that its God that charts the course of every man, what to do, and how to do it. The Ebonyi State born veterinarian but turned administrator is the current Chairman of Ndi Igbo Fright Forwarders Association, Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), chapter. Since he became, he has continued to preach oneness amongst the Igbos operating in the area, and also reaching out to other tribes, in all to deepen professionalism and love for one another. Having clocked two years on the saddle, elder Okike took Upright Magazine editors to memory lane chronicling what he has done but not without challenges for the association during the period and what he hopes to achieve in the remaining periods of his tenure. Hear him:
LET’S MEET YOU
I am elder Obed Okike, from Ebonyi State and member of the Igbo State Freight Forwarders. As a matter of fact in the year 2019, I was invited to be a member of the constitution drafting committee or review committee and on that assignment we agreed that we should be rotating the chairmanship of the association. We considered the records that Anambra, Imo and Abia had taken their turns leaving only Ebonyi and Enugu yet to take the Chairmanship position. At that point they asked a question, who should come next between Eugugu and Ebonyi, and alphabetically speaking it should be Ebonyi but I considered other factors and I told them in that committee to please lets give chance to Enugu State; because Enugu had contested the election with Abia and they lost of which they have been feeling really bad about it. So I said for them to come back in their full spirit let us give them a chance first and then Ebonyi would come in which everybody agreed. So by the grace of God I am the newly elected Chairman of Ndi Igbo Freight Forwarders Association.
THE SITUATION YOU MET ON GROUND
I met the association not fully stable in the sense that as we speak Abia as a state has been divided, we have Abia one and Abia two. These are Abia Freight Forwarders and Abia Obodo Chineke and in the cause of my campaign I made a promise that if given the mandate, I will make sure that Abia will come together and become one again. Lest I forget I contested the Chairmanship with another brother of mine Godwin Ukpabi from Ebonyi State. When I made this promise it was like lets give this man a chance and see what he can do about this situation after seven years of having that impasse. As God would have it and within this time frame, I have been able to organize election for Abia and they now have one stable government, we now have Abia Indigenes Freight Forwarders Association. Also when we came into office we could not find what I considered a comfortable Board of Trustee (BoT) Group. The past constitution gave provision for nine persons randomly appointed as members of the BoT, the new constitution provides that each state should have a representation of one person on the BoT and because of how they made the first constitution that the BoT is a life position which the second new did not accept they gave a six year term, however the former Chairman could not implement it but as God would have it I made a campaign promise that I will have a functional BoT when elected into office. As it is today, in this month of March its going to be one of my assignment because the two years I have served and the four years of the former administration had served makes it six years that anybody in the BoT has served their tenure and I will dissolve the BoT and form a new one and make it a stable one.
STEWARDSHIP THUS FAR
Well I don’t intend to blow my trumpet but I will say that Ndigbo as nation we have issues and issue is that the average Igbo man is cat with nine lives, he does not fit in, he stands out. But there is one issue with them and it is that they are so selfish and always interested in their own personal gain and not the general gain. Anytime anyone comes out from this Indigbo, he will rather compromise with the Yoruba because of what he stands to gain personally because going by every assessment that is why we are suffering what we suffering now. We have three Yoruba’s as Chairmen here for the past 10 years; anytime we try to fight for our own, one person either from Anambra or from Imo or Abia or Ebonyi will align with the Yoruba and say ‘just give me the position of the Vice Chairman’ a sellout that has been our bane. I have been crying over this. I have called them several times and told them, lets all join hands together and be our brothers keeper. We have a slogan here that says ‘Indigbo – Onyeaghala Nwanneya’ but it is not in practice just in principle. Part of my mission is how we can bring this understanding within us. Could you believe I went to under the bridge to one of the factions from Abia and I knelt down before them, young men some of whom are not up to the age of my first son and I was begging to please collapse it, I went there not once not twice but these guys refused. So taking up this assignment, I know that we are a complex people and I discovered that no matter how strong we think we are, united we are stronger. I have always told them that our uniqueness is in our diversity. I came to this place with a mission and that mission is to build understanding between any Igbo person either man or woman and that’s just my mission. I designed a form which as an Igbo person you get registered from your local government in you state so that we will know those who are Indigbo.
OTHER PLAN
I discovered that when you are young you have the strength to cover a lot and live on your active income but there will be a time your strength will fail you and you will now live on leverage income so I am trying to put something on ground so that when you are done with this assignment, when your strength can no more carry you, you’ll now live on that leverage income by way of insurance; I’m arranging something like that so that’s my mission, I’m pursuing an insurance policy for them. We are working with First Bank Insurance to achieve this but personally I’m going to set up a committee this month of March to going into it and make sure that anyone who is a member of this association will be part of that insurance.
WHERE YOU SEE THIS ASSOCIATION UNDER YOUR LEADERSHIP IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS
Just like I said earlier my first target is to bring that understanding within Ndigbo that in oneness we are better off, that our unity is our strength. Having said that and having been working towards that, I am going to leverage on what I see now that already the five states are coming together and propose that those things they’ve not done before I want to do them. One they’ve not Almanac, I want to bring in the five state governors of the Eastern zone and also principal officers of the Federal House of Representatives into that Almanac whereby we can raise enough money by launching them, because this insurance thing I want to carry everybody along; and I know that from the look of things not everybody would have the money to be part of it and you know to deal with or get the interest of any insurance company you have to promise them that you are going to pay in bulk, so that we would have better interest by making sure that the money is paid and on time. So if from this assignment (almanac launch) we are able to raise enough money, then we will carry everybody along. Another thing is this, you know that in the whole eastern states there is no functional seaport and that is why all of us clustered here and becoming second class citizens in this nation called Nigeria. Already we are forming another one called AISMPIN for all Igbo speaking tribe within Nigeria, in Rivers some speak Igbo, Calabar some of them speak Igbo, Benue some speak Igbo so we are bringing all this people together and all of us are under the umbrella called AISMPIN (All Igbo Speaking Maritime Practitioners In Nigeria) which is already in existence for almost six years with its head office in Apapa. So I’m trying to sell this idea to this larger house and if they buy into it, then with our combined financial strength, nominal role we can talk to Abia, Imo, Delta, Ebonyi they have good body water regarding having seaport if anyone of them has interest. We are aware there they want to develop Oransi which would include Uguta Lake if it comes into being, It will good because I’m all for anything that will bring make our people think home, that is my desire and aspiration. As far as this place is concerned you can see that we have three Yoruba Chairman fighting for positions.
BROADER PLAN
Right now we are trying to this ASIMPIN open to every Igbo person and not just those maritime, but as long as you are Igbo whether you are trading, in business, anything you are doing within this area as far as you are Igbo, it is for you. We are going digital soon and anyone importing anything into Nigeria, will know there is an Igbo organization such that if anyone clearing that goods is not a member, the importer will know that he or she is at risk but if they deal with a member they are assured of the security of their goods.
NUMERICAL STRENGTH OF MEMBERSHIP
We have 400 plus members. However active membership is determined by financial commitment which I have discovered that due to the past lingering problems we’ve had a lot of people stopped paying because they felt they did not know where their payment went into. So I am working on that and some have reached out showing interest to commit financially. Therefore with the renewed interest I can say that in the next five months I should have a clear figure of actual active members.
MEMBERS RECEPTION TO YOUR LEADERSHIP
I can tell you that the hardest and most difficult people to lead are Indigbo because everybody feel they are too intelligent. However with my pragmatic approach most of them at the beginning say that this old man seem to be a no nonsense man, as i insist on going by constitution. If anything happens to any member such as death, if you are not a member there is nothing we can do. However we will not leave it at that as there is going to be free will support.As a leader when you know where you are going and how to get there don’t expect that every one will follow you, its not possible. But we have to forge ahead despite the fact that there are issues, for sure there will always be issue. The most important thing is to stand on truth and I am ever optimistic about anything that I do. I am not here because I am the best but I am here to make the best and that is why I am bringing people because any day you stop learning you start dying.
MESSAGE TO INDIGBO
To Indigbo, we are unique, we are very sensitive people. So to those hearing my voice and those who will hear it later, please believe in yourself, believe in unity and in the Almighty God that has made us.
