Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, have mourned the former managing director of Nigerian Maritime Authority (NMA), now Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Ferdinand Agu, who died last Friday.
Governor Mbah, in a message he personally signed, said the deceased was a boardroom guru and technocrat, who gave his best for the growth and development of Enugu State and Nigeria.
“I received with deep grief the sudden death of my brother, Ferdinand Agu, a development I have been struggling to come to terms with.
“Agu was an illustrious son of Enugu State, a fine gentleman, brilliant mind, savvy administrator, political engineer, consummate technocrat, and a quite achiever, who gave his best in service to Nigeria.
“As a former director general of the defunct NMA, now NIMASA, as well as former senior special assistant to the president between 2011 and 2015, he contributed immensely to the development of our nation and state. Therefore, he will always remain in our thoughts.
“I send heartfelt condolences to his immediate family, the people of Enugu State, and, indeed, to his friends and associates across the country and beyond.”
Ohanaeze, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alex Ogbonnia, said the organisation “received with a rude shock, the sad news of the tragic passing of yet another Igbo prodigy, Agu.”
He described Agu as “an exceptional moral edifice, an outstanding man among men, a vivacious exemplar, orator and mobile encyclopaedia”.
He said Agu was former secretary, Ohanaeze committee on planning and strategy; former member, Ohanaeze Committee on Diaspora; former senior special assistant to the president; former chairman of the governing council and pro-chancellor of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Oturkpo.
“Ferdy, as he was fondly called by his peers, was a thoroughbred Igbo, with immense patriotic zeal for a restructured Nigeria.
“He worked closely with former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Charles Soludo, to produce the Ohanaeze document for the restructuring of the Nigerian federation, which was presented to the public on May 21, 2018 at the Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka.
“When it mattered most, the Ferdy social skill was sought in conducting the election that produced the late George Obiozor as the president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo at Owerri.”
Ogbonnia said in the clamour to develop the Igboland, Agu worked closely with a renowned economist, Osita Ogbu, to develop a template that, if implemented, would transform Igboland to a self-sustaining economy.
Ogbonnia said the likes of Agu, an architect, “are very scarce to find, owing to his amazing public relations; character comeliness; marital exemplariness; oratorical skill; political sagacity and dispositional humility.”
He added that the group’s President General, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, “could not withhold his sorrow when he heard the sad news.”
He also said Iwuanyanwu was devastated “over the loss of another Igbo genius.”