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Each time I come across the name Woodrow Wilson, who was the 28th president of the United States of America (USA) from 1913 to 1921 and died on February 3, 1924, his immortal words of caution and encouragement always flash through my mind. In one of his finest moments in encouraging Americans, and humankind, to work and live for others, he said: “You are not here merely to make a living.
You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”
Those fantastic words of exhortation came flashing through my mind again, last Sunday, when Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, the chairman of United Nigeria Airlines and its chief promoter, was called up for recognition by the entire membership of the apex Igbo think tank, Aka Ikenga, for his work and worth to Nigeria and more specifically, to Igboland.
On that Sunday, standing before eminent Igbo men and women, leaders, administrators, scholars, captains of industry, and great entrepreneurs, Okonkwo was adorned with garlands as “the enabler of Ndigbo vision, strength and resilience”. For me, it is one recognition that summarises Okonkwo’s life.
This came just a few days after he had led officials of the airline to a grand entry into Sokoto and Kano in an inaugural flight that attracted the support of the Sultanate, the Kano royalty, and the political leadership of both states.
To those who witnessed the twin event, it was more than just an inaugural flight. It was a bridge-building event which was strategically connecting the southeast and the north of Nigeria. It was an event that opened the doors of the Sultanate and those of the Kano Emirate to the southeast creating more opportunities for leisure and business interactions.
Indeed, it was an event that translated the true meanings of the airlines’ mantra -flying to unite- into practical deeds. Looking at it more deeply, it was an event that brought to life, Wilson’s exhortation as stated above, as Okonkwo showed that he was no longer ‘here merely to make a living’, but to ‘enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement.’ Progressively, Okonkwo is showing that he is ‘here to enrich the world (Nigeria)” by creating new opportunities and possibilities for national unity and bringing different people, different cultures and different persuasions together by offering air transport services that embody the true vision of Nigeria’s forebears.
This is where the Aka Ikenga recognition makes greater meaning. As an “enabler of Ndigbo vision”, Okonkwo practically demonstrated the “strength” of the Igbo in opening their arms to embrace all Nigerians irrespective of their social status, and religious and political affiliations. He also demonstrates the resilient spirit of the Igbo in thriving against all odds and in constructing bridges and opening up new roads where none existed.
It has always been a spirit that reaches out for the other; one the cares actually. In doing these, Okonkwo, who also teaches business studies at the University of Abuja Business School, and is also a visiting professor of entrepreneurship at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, lives out his philosophy which says “Don’t tell me about the storm, deliver the cargo”.
This personal philosophy is difficult for the unprepared. How, for instance, does anyone expect anyone to deliver a cargo when the tide is high and the storm so dangerous? But for him, there must be a way to get everything done. It is about a life that abhors excuses. It is about a mindset that sees opportunities where others see dead ends.
This is why he believes that a Kano-Sokoto linkage by air is a possibility just as an air link between Asaba, Enugu, Owerri, or Anambra and Kano or Sokoto hold untapped potential for business and leisure much in the same way as direct flight from either Lagos, Enugu, Port Harcourt, to Texas in the United States of America have huge potentials for direct economic links with huge mutual benefits.
This is the vision of an entrepreneur, who, as an enabler of vision, enhances the dreams of other people to get the better part of life by also adding value to humanity by growing to also become enablers of the regeneration of the life of their communities and immediate environments.
This is the hope that both the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, and the Emir of Kano, HRH Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero expressed when Okonkwo led his team to their palaces in Sokoto and Kano after the inaugural flights landed in the two cities.
Like the Sultan, the Emir of Kano was equally elated that Okonkwo brought his vision of unity to the north. This singular action will, no doubt, open more doors as air connectivity with Sokoto and Kano got more boost with the entrance of United Nigeria Airlines.
Before hitting the skies for Sokoto and Kano, Okonkwo had led his team into Benin City, the Edo state capital where he also opened the air link from both Lagos and Abuja for United Nigeria Airlines. This is a significant step in United Nigeria Airlines’ quest to expand its services and unite more Nigerian cities.
Through this, the airline expands its mantra of flying to unite as well as enabling more opportunities for Nigerians. Appreciating the expanding opportunities that United Nigeria Airlines was bringing to Edo state, a highly elated Governor Godwin Obaseki, expressed his vision for expanded air operations that would enable United Nigeria Airlines to drive air connectivity between Benin and Italy.
Nothing could be more inviting! Benin-Italy (Milan) holds a lot of promises for business and leisure. A direct connecting flight will, therefore, be a major boost to the economic relations between Nigeria and Italy.
With Prof. Okonkwo in the driving seat, and wearing a crown as the enabler of Ndigbo vision, strength, and resilience, Igbo business may just be witnessing a renaissance that will recreate and reposition it for political advantages, especially with the expected expansion of opportunities that the creation of a second national economic corridor, which has a south-north linkage, offers.
I guess this is an enablement that the Igbo nation needs for its collective future.
