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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
On December 30, 2022, the people of Item Okpi ancient kingdom in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, their friends and well-wishers from far and near gathered at the Umunnato Central School, Amaeke, Item, for the annual Item Day.
Item Day celebration, which started 15 years ago and has grown into an annual event, is said to be a platform for the “exploration and development, and sustenance of bond of unity between Item people, their neighbours and all men of goodwill.”
The day’s event, as had been in previous years, started with praise and worship songs as well as prayers, during which Itemland and people were handed over to God.
Speaking at the event, president-general of Item Development Association (IDA), Chief Kingsley Ogba Nwokoro (Ofiaukwu Item), going down memory lane, said it was in 2007 that December 30 was chosen as Item Day.
Speaking on the theme of the event, “Role of the people in ensuring good governance,” Nwokoro said: “Each Item Day thematically enjoys uniqueness and peculiarities.”
This, he said, was as a result of the socio-cultural and political setting of the people, which is constantly in motion, ensuring each Item Day enjoys a special theme that is “thematically sensitive to the contemporary issues of the time.”
Having weaven the Item day theme around contemporary developments, the IDA President General said it was as a result of this and for the general elections in the country, which was weeks away, that last year’s theme was tied around representative democracy and good governance.
Nwokoro said: “It is our conviction that with good governance, the dividends of democracy will get down to the majority of the people and the society will be better.
“Over the years, those elected into prominent positions to cater for the electorate, who were instrumental to their climbing the political ladder, refuse to work for the people. Each year’s theme is didactic. It is expected that we draw lessons from the year’s theme as we prepare for the coming general election.”
Item land, according to Nwokoro, is the largest clan in Bende and as such, he vowed that IDA would always ensure it gets her due in whatever is being shared among the 13 clans in Bende.
The IDA PG reeled out some of the achievements the present executive made: establishing a good and robust relationship with the political leaders which has made it possible for the area to get its equal due from government.
Others include IDA’s executive reconciliation with the traditional rulers in the area, establishment of a vigilance group to maintain peace in Item, banning of the buyers of disused household items from Item and resuscitation of the Microfinance Bank in Item, among others.
Nwokoro commended the Senator representing Abia North Senatotrial District, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, and other lawmakers from the area whose quality representation, he noted, have impacted positively on Item homeland.
“We celebrate everybody. But we must thank very specially, our most distinguished Senator, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, Hon Benjamin Kalu, Hon Chukwu Chijioke and all our political leaders. We cannot thank you enough.”
He encouraged Item people to go out in their numbers to vote in the coming elections, adding that it was by so doing they would have entrenched the democracy of their dream.
Prof Emmanuel Agbaeze, chairman, organizing committee of the 2022 Item Day, described it as the fulcrum on which the unity of Item stands.
Agbaeze commended the facilitators and financiers of the second free eye surgery in Item, Prof Ulu Ogbonnaya and Prof Chimdia Ulu Ogbonnaya, and others for their efforts in bringing healthcare closer to the people.
He urged other well to do in the community to emulate the Ogbonnayas in making life better for the people of Item.
Chief Emmanuel Aja, secretary organizing committee, 2022 Item Day, disclosed that the current executive of the community envisioned the essence of the need to bring Item women further together by proposing for IDA national women council.
Reasoning that women are catalysts that can be used for unity and development, Aja said the council would be an amalgam of women wings of development unions of the nine ancient villages of Item.
Speaking at the event, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia State, Prof Greg Ibe, said he came to support the good things the people have been doing.
Represented by his wife, Ibe said Abia is in serious jeopardy and needs someone like him for redemption, adding that nobody in Abia can do what he has been doing all year round.
The APGA governoship candidate commended IDA for the able way it has been piloting the affairs of Item land over the years and promised to support them.
Ibe’s wife, who later made a cash donation to IDA, urged the people to vote for her husband during the election as he was poised to turn things around for good in the state if elected.
In a lecture titled, ‘Role of the people in ensuring good governance’, Prof Onyukwu E. Onyukwu of the Institute for Development Studies, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC), described good governance as the manner in which governments use established systems and principles to run the affairs of a country on providing the needs of the people.
Prof Onyukwu said governance could be good or bad, depending on the quality of its processes. In this wise, he opined that when those in government conduct public affairs and manage public resources in a manner that promotes the rule of law and the realization of human rights, it is said to be good governance.
Onyukwu made it clear that people (the governed) are the primary stakeholders and critical actors in the quest for good governance. He said in advanced climes where the governed are not docile, they become central to the drive to good governance.
Highlight of the event was the giving of awards to four Item deserving sons and daughter. They include Prof. Ukpabi Joseph Ukpabi, Executive director/CEO of NRCRI, Umudike; Dr. Onyecherelam Ogele, CMD, Blessed Specialist Hospital; Dr. Acho Elendu, registrar, Abia State University, Uturu (ABSU), and Prof. Chimdia Ogbonnaya, former HOD, Department of Ophthalmology, Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital (EBSUTH), Abakaliki.
The next Item Day is billed for December 30, 2023.
