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It was November 2017, and on a visit to an orphanage in Kano, I heard stories about how a certain Dr. Mike Ezeaju was quitely impacting on thousands of lives without craving for publicity.
The man had probably up to that time never even set his feet in Kano, but had been a major sustainer to orphanages, schools, police stations, hospitals, etcetera, saving lives and playing a key role in reducing the unwieldy number of Nigeria’s out-of-school children, now over 20 million, according to the latest figures released last month by UNICEF.
I am from the northern part of Nigeria and can attest to the fact that there is no ethnic group that has produced more philanthropic Nigerians than the Igbo. The list is endless. But perhaps the difference is that, for Dr. Ezeaju, he does his thing quietly, not in the least craving for publicity. And his generosity goes far and wide.
Like some illustrious Igbo sons and daughters that I am privileged to know, Dr. Ezeaju, chairman and chief executive of Swisstrade Nigeria Limited, has, by extending scholarships to indigent children spread all over Nigeria, been removing pitches of darkness and replacing them with light; providing hope to the hopeless and thereby making it more difficult for the enemies of Nigeria to recruit those otherwise idle children and deploy them to criminal causes.
Boko Haram and banditry thrive more in northern Nigeria because its privileged sons and daughters do not seem to care about helping the less privileged in their midst. That has bred the highest number of out-of-school children known to the world, with the result being the most productive part of the population being engaged in decimating and destroying that part of the country.
And while by no means justifying the widespread acts of criminality, it is to be noted that the rich and the privileged in the North can hardly sleep with two eyes closed because the children of the nobodies that they abandoned are busy possessing and fouling the entire space that used to be seen as a haven of peace.
There are Nigerians who have somehow been contributing to the economic adversity of the country by taking bank loans in several billions all over the place and refusing to pay up. They then use such loans to engage not in productive activities but rather in all sorts of things, ensuring the media is swayed to their side. Those are the ones we know as the generous ones, at least through the eyes of the media
In the case of Dr. Ezeaju, he is one of a very few Nigerian rich men who have never taken a bank loan, and he is rather contributing to the economic wellbeing of the nation by providing jobs to thousands of Nigerians, directly as members of his staff, or through distributorship and franchise that he grants to uncountable young men and women.
The man has gone from importing all his products, to the production of the same right here in Nigeria, thereby saving the country a lot of foreign exchange.
And you know what? Dr. Mike has recorded all these wonderful achievements for himself and for Nigeria all within a space of five decades of existence on planet earth.
He is a living personification of decency and humility, two rare virtues he has in great store. His unassuming mien makes many customers at his Swisstrade headquarters in Lekki, Lagos, mistake him for an ordinary staff and some have related with him for months or years only to realise much later that the man they have known for so long is the chief executive of the frontline company.
Dr. Ezeaju has impacted so heavily on the socio-economic fabric of Nigeria that many of his friends have since renamed him Mr. Nigeria.
Mike’s milk of human kindness has seen him stretching his company’s corporate social responsibility to many parts of the country, from his native Anambra State, where he built high quality roads and is sponsoring the education of hundreds of indigent children, to Kano, Sokoto and other places where he is serving as a major beacon of hope to the downtrodden.
What makes Mike’s case even more impressive is the fact that he is one businessman who does not have any baggage and has since made adherence to law and order his unimpeachable trademark.
This column has chosen to celebrate this rare Nigerian because, by his acts of genuine compassion and generosity, he is helping in his own way towards a safer Nigeria. When you give hope to the hopeless and you educate the son or daughter of a pauper, you are taking idle minds off the street, getting them to play positive roles towards a better nation for all of us.
Nigeria has some of the richest people known to the whole world. Yet, it has been described as the poverty capital of the world. The reason is not limited to government’s missapplication of resources but also significantly the fact that the nation’s privileged sons and daughters are more often than not limiting benefit of their stupendous resources only to themselves and immediate families.
When the topic is about building legitimate wealth, there are major lessons to be learnt from the example of Dr. Ezeaju. It is definitely never a cup of tea. And dedication and resilience are key. For example, he had to sacrifice social life for years to be able to build the wealth he is now sharing with indigent Nigerians.
As they say, behind every successful man, there is a woman. And for Mike, he is privileged to have right by his side Madam Amaka, a woman of great virtue and his wife of decades, who is also the mother of his beloved children. Amaka, a deeply religious woman with the fear of God, is playing her part in the growth of the businesses and in ensuring her husband plays bigger roles in philanthrophy and compassion.
It is amazing that less compassionate Nigerians receive national honors and awards year in, year out, while those contributing in no small measure to its growth across the board are being ignored. Is it because Dr. Ezeaju does not crave publicity? Whatever the case, this nation has a duty to fully recognise and thereby encourage those in its shores making a positive difference.
And it is the reason BRASS TACKS is celebrating Dr. Mike Ezeaju, trusting he will continue to up the ante in his chosen task of bringing smiles to the sad faces of more and more distressed Nigerians.
