All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership. —John Kenneth Galbraith. There are three kinds of people: Those you meet and instantly forget a few minutes later. Those that give you a negative impression when you meet them, and those that leave long-lasting pleasant memories after you’ve met them.
I am Onyeizu Chinedu from Obingwa LGA of Abia State; a Harvard University trained professional and a Petroleum Engineering graduate of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri.
Of course, I had a pleasant experience
teaching in the community school and hanging out with friends and other corps
members most evenings under the famous Kiama bridge.
One of the most significant incidents of
my youth service experience occurred outside the classroom and it started with
a visit from an elderly friend of mine, Papa, who supplied fresh plantain and
fish to corpers. Anytime he visited, I observed a cloudy white substance that
covered a large part of his right eye. While we conversed, I remembered we were
encouraged at the NYSC orientation camp to engage in group or personal
community development projects (CDP). So the idea of surfing the net for an NGO
to help the old man came to my mind, at the same time, as a corps member who
had benefited from his free food, I decided to make it a personal CDP and
explore any opportunity to relieve his condition.
Initially, I pondered whether my meager
N11,500 monthly allowance popularly referred to as allowee will be enough to
accommodate an extra investment in a humanitarian initiative and also sustain
me in Kiama village. But since Papa wouldn’t hesitate to share his bunch of
plantain, which is actually all that he had, I didn’t waste time to conclude
that any effort to restore Papa’s sight will be worth my time, energy and
allowance.
The first thing I did was to register
the initiative as an NYSC CDP. Afterwards, I started researching to learn about
the name and cause of his eye infection. When I was told it was cataract, I
started surfing the net on weekends to either find a group, an NGO or a medical
institution that will be willing to offer free eye service surgery to Papa. As
luck could have it, I found a medical charity in the United Kingdom, “Sight
2020 Direct”. I wrote them an e-mail, asking whether they could come to Bayelsa
for a free eye surgery camp. After several e-mail exchanges, I was able to
convince the group to come.
However, I didn’t know that I had a big
bureaucratic hurdle to jump with the state government ministries. For common
sense sake, we are referring to a group of ophthalmologists and nurses that are
coming to carry out a free, again free eye saving surgery for cataract blind
persons in the state. With the assumption that government officials would be
enthusiastic about the project, I reached out to the Bayelsa State Commissioner
for Health and the numerous special advisers to the Governor on health matters.
To my utmost surprise, I was turned to a ping pong “Chinedu come tomorrow, Chinedu the
commissioner is busy with an important delegation, Chinedu the initiative is
laudable, we will consider it and call you, Chinedu do a formal application
using the NYSC letterhead etc.” After three months of seeking for help and
support from the government, I exhausted my resources and the resources of the
corps members that volunteered to help.
At a point, my small team and I decided to
organize the eye camp on our own. We informed the NYSC state office and got
approval to go ahead with a humanitarian branded message and creative ideas on
how to execute the project. We started making progress as more corps members
volunteered to join. Soon we had opticians, medical doctors, etcin the team. We
set up make shift diagnostic centers across the state, used opticians that
volunteered in areas outside Yenagoa. Within weeks, we registered over 50 blind
patients and conducted visual acuity tests on them. I remember organizing a
sensitization road walk along the major streets of Yenagoa wearing a white
T-shirt; we branded “Sight for all Bayelsans in 2003”. Because we had no money,
we produced the road walk T-shirts out of a
cardboard paper cut-out and then used diluted oil paints to write on it.
However, the Bayelsa Radio and TV stations agreed to place our public
announcements and jingles on air free of charge. That leverage helped us reach
out to patients that reside far from Yenagoa. I hardly slept for two hours in a
day. I would co-ordinate and plan project deliverables with the volunteer optometrists,
follow up on other corp members that volunteered to support logistics and at
the same time pursue the ministries responsible for health matters in the
state. But determination and the passion to serve our nation kept us going.
When the UK- medical team landed in Port
Harcourt airport on November 14, 2003, I still had no financial or logistical
support from any government agency. Meanwhile patients had started contacting
medical officials in Okolobiri General Hospital. Before I made the last move
towards getting the state government’s attention, I said a quick prayer in my
mind. I asked God to intervene; at least for the sake of the poor blind persons
that have made it out of the creeks to receive sight saving surgeries. This
final move was to visit the head of a Bayelsa youth organization. I met him and
explained my ordeal with the state government ministries. He apologized and
asked whether I met with the state deputy governor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. I
said no; but that if any help has to come, it should be quick because the
expatriate doctors were already on their way to Bayelsa from Port Harcourt
International Airport.
He made some calls and asked me to
quickly get into his vehicle. We drove down to the Bayelsa State Government
House and we were ushered into the deputy governor’s office. We logged in our
names and after a few minutes we went into Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s office.
I told him about the free eye surgery
programme and my fruitless efforts to get support from the state ministries. I
was specific, I asked him for three things: accommodation, security, and
transportation. After listening to me, he smiled and thanked me for initiating
such a laudable project in Bayelsa State. You may wait at the reception.” His
voice was gentle, like he was giving me a suggestion, not an order. I left his
office and waited at the reception room. I was exhausted and anxious, still
praying in my heart for a miracle to happen.
As God could have it, the Chief of Staff
soon appeared and relayed a message from Dr. Jonathan. “You will be provided a
coaster bus, five mobile policemen and accommodation at Intercontinental Hotel,
Yenagoa. In addition, they gave me the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand
naira to purchase medical equipments for the project.
I couldn’t believe my ears. To me it was
a modern day miracle; especially after passing through hell in the last couple
of months.
The free eye surgery programme started
on Tuesday, November 18, 2003, at Okolobiri General Hospital. The Sight 2020
Direct team performed a total of sixty-eight surgical operations; removing
cataracts and inserting intraocular lenses. Over sixty-eight blind indigenes of
Bayelsa State had their eyesight restored at the end of the programme–The full story was
published on pages 24-25 of the December 13th,2003 SUN Newspapers.
Twelve years have gone by since my youth
service in Bayelsa State, but I have never stopped wondering what would have
happened to that free eye surgery programme if Dr. Goodluck Jonathan hadn’t
intervened. What would have happened to Papa and the other 67 blind patients?
I strongly believe that Dr.
GoodluckEbele Jonathan certainly belongs to the group of individuals who give
long-lasting positive memories. He addressed the major anxiety of his people at
a time it was needed. Although we met for less than ten minutes, his prompt
action that fateful day had a huge impact on my life and the lives of those 68
patients.
From that brief encounter with him, I
learned that persistence pays off. Problems and challenges may obstruct your
progress, but if you believe in yourself and your goal, you will eventually
succeed. I remember waiting for hours, particularly at the ministry of health
with nobody paying attention to me. I remember being referred to this or that
special adviser, and being forced to use my meager corper allowance of N11, 500
(less than $100 today) to support the free eye surgery programme. Despite these
initial setbacks, the breakthrough finally came.
The second thing I learned from my
encounter with Dr. Jonathan is that there are government officials who
genuinely care about the welfare of Nigerians and strive to improve lives. Even
in the midst of corruption and apathy, you’ll find God-fearing leaders who
provide immediate solutions to pressing problems.
The last thing I will like people to
take away is that it’s okay to aim high. I could have donated textbooks to the
students of Kiama Grammar School and registered the donation with NYSC as a
personal community development initiative. But I decided to aim high and impact
as many lives as possible, and thanks to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, I succeeded.
These three lessons inspired me to share
my national youth service experience with Nigerian youths and with those who
find it difficult to cope with government bureaucracy and the challenges of
life.
A lot has been written about the
upcoming February 14 presidential election, and most of the debate revolves around
speculation. I already know my choice for the office of the president and it is
based on personal experience, not fantasy or rumors. He might not be a perfect
president; but he is a man that can listen and act;especially when approached with
solutions to our national problems. However, my vote will go to the affable
former deputy governor of Bayelsa State who believed in a youth corper and
acted promptly to improve the health of the helpless.
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