Dr. Chido Onumah @ 60: Celebrating a Nigerian Patriot

In a moment, friends, family members, compatriots and enthusiasts of real development will be listening to Yakubu Aboki Ochefu, a professor of economic history and development studies, who is delivering a lecture titled, FORMATION OR NATION BUILDING: Nigeria’s Troubled Quest for a Modern Federal Republic, in honour of Onumah who turned 60 today.

The lecture will be followed by a discourse by a panellists of Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, former Minister of Education and former Vice President for Africa at the World Bank; Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, one of Nigeria’smost consequential lawyer and defender of human rights and freedom; Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa; Ebenezer Wikina, founder of Policy Shapers; and Faridha Salihu-Lukman, a strategic communication professional functioning at the intersection of policy and public discourse.

This commemoration of Dr. Onumah, hosted by the man I call ‘Mwalimu’, Dapo Olorunyomi, Publisher and CEO of Premium Times and CEO Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), is intentional and in the words of Olorunyomi, organised to celebrate Dr. Onumah, who “refused to be silent when indeed people needed to speak out for the people of Nigeria”. Olorunyomi and Onumah have been co-travellers for decades working for Nigeria’s best interests, even when the former was the policy director and chief of staff to Nuhu Ribadu when Ribadu was the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The occasion, chaired by Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has as Special Guest of Honour, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser. Fayemi recalled his first meeting with Dr. Onumah as subaltern, working underground in Ghana back in the days and emphasised that Onumah has been consistent.

Prof. Ochefu, the lecturer who keynoted the event, said Nigeria which started a s a business enterprise is riddled with paradoxes, political, economic and all sorts but our duty is to make it work as a nation serving the interest of all its people, a notion Fayemi reiterated and noted that we should start to organise so that electoral principles can transform to real democracy.

“Journalist, author, rights activist and social mobilise in different countries around the world”, Dr. Onumah has been present and acted (still acting) at every theatre of rational, scientific struggle to remake Nigeria.

Co-founder of the Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue (MILID) Foundation, he is also the coordinator of the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL). AFRICMIL focuses on many aspects of social action and entrepreneurship particularly promotion of “whistleblowing, and whistleblower protection through its accountability and good governance project, Corruption Anonymous (CORA).