Iya Abubakar, Walter Ofonagoro: Where are they now?

This week, three prominent Nigerians who were once active players in the Nigerian project, but suddenly are no longer in the public space have come under focus. ELEOJO IDACHABA asks where they could be now.

Iya Abubakar

Professor Iya Abubakar is described as ‘one of the shining icons’ to have emerged from the northern part of the country. Apart from being a former minister, academic and lawmaker, he remains the first and youngest professor of Mathematics to have come out of that part of the country at a time the region was alleged to be educationally backward.

Born in the present Adamawa state, he was very prominent in the Second Republic when he held several cabinet appointments under former President Shehu Shagari.

A First Class graduate of Mathematics from the prestigious University of Ibadan, he rose to become a professor and later the vice-chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. At the return of democratic regime in Nigeria in 1999, Prof Iya also contested and won the senatorial seat of Adamawa North where he represented his people in the upper chamber between 1999 and 2007. While in the Senate, he was very prominent among his colleagues such that he chaired the committee on finance and appropriation and later science and technology. After he failed to return the third time, nothing was heard about him again. However, at a function to commemorate ABU’s alumni annual public lecture in Abuja a few years ago, he spoke about the appalling state of education in the country, saying that for higher education to take its place, the act that establishes the National Universities Commission (NUC) should be amended. He said, “The only way to sustain educational standard is to ensure that the extant provision of the education act only empowers NUC and its sister agencies to close down illegal institutions without provision of sanction for their operations.”

Speaking about ABU which he left years back, he said, “If we resolve to recreate ABU and take it back to international standard, we must imbibe the international culture of having vibrant alumni.” He is no doubt one of the finest brains to have come out of the North whose legacies in the academia are worth celebrating even as he appears to have bidden farewell to active public service.

Walter Ofonagoro

Walter Ofonagoro is the former minister of information who came fully into limelight in 1995, when the late head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha, appointed him into the cabinet. He was in the public service before then. His entrance in the cabinet was a move by the military administration to ensure that it got the right person for the position owing to the credibility problem that regime suffered in the comity of nations. Ofonagoro who was before then a former director-general of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) appeared suitable for the job and he played the role well. From the background of journalism, it was not difficult for him to rally support for the administration which was almost in a state of pariah, especially after the execution of Niger Delta environmental activist, Ken Saro Wiwa, by the then military government.

In those days, the daily evening network news on NTA and MINAJ Broadcasting Service (MBI) which were the prominent broadcast stations then would not be complete without scary press statement from Ofonagoro’s office as government spokesperson. Beside this, the daily newspapers were awash with screaming headlines emanating from his office. In fact, he was more visible than the head of state. While as minister, he signed on behalf of Nigeria several bilateral agreements with about 20 countries and organisations in the hope of facilitating a robust and meaningful relationship with the countries concerned.

As the DG of NTA, he ensured the development of the television college in Jos in the form of commissioning the engineering and journalism facilities. It was also during his tenure that the National Films Institute, National Films Archives and the National Films Processing Laboratory were established in Jos. However, since the death of Abacha in 1998, he has been away from all public offices even after the return of democracy that everyone was jostling to join politics, but was said to be a member of the Imo state Elders Council. Shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari became president in 2015, Ofonagoro said at a private university in Awka that, “President Buhari came to power on the mantra of change and he should be amenable to change. We have to negotiate how to run a post-colonial government different from what our colonial masters left behind. They are opposed to restructuring and they feel they must keep it the way they inherited it so that their children can also inherit in the same way. Since then, no one knows exactly where he is.

Mike Onolememen

Arch Mike Onolememen was the former minister of works under the administration of Dr Goodluck Jonathan. As a trained architect, he has had extensive experiences in construction and building both in the private and public sectors. According to analysts, he remains the best minister the country has ever had in that portfolio on account of performance index. The fact that this ex-minister appeared to have been quiet almost four years after he left office without any trace of him in any public or even private event fuels great suspicion. Importantly, because as works minister charged with the responsibility of fixing the roads and other critical infrastructure related to roads, Onolememen was in the news every day.

On many occasions, then secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, had to defend his absence from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting either because he was inspecting some roads in the South-south or somewhere in one of the remotest parts of the country. His ministry made headlines in the news every day because of activities going on daily. Almost four years down the line, no one has heard about this Edo state born architect any longer. Speaking on the performances of Onolememen, a construction engineer, Yusuf Bola Shagaya said, “The ministry has been doing very well. The road condition across the country has improved. I know the minister is putting in his best efforts to ensure everything works.”

However, shortly after he left office, there was an allegation that he used government funds to sponsor his wife and family friends to China, an allegation he denied and since then, the matter was rested, but long after that, no one has heard anything about him again.

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