Several years have passed since these elder statesmen served the country meritoriously. Since then, nothing has been heard about them again. ELEOJO IDACHABA in this report asks where they could be at the moment.
Philip Asiodu
Chief Philip Asiodu is a man of many parts. He is a former diplomat, minister and special adviser at different times. Although he is described as someone of the ‘old order’, from all ramifications, he is the father of modern day boardroom gurus. He joined the public service in 1964 and rose to the position of permanent secretary during General Yakubu Gowon’s regime. As a technocrat, analysts say Chief Asiodu was instrumental to the botched Aburi Accord implementation which eventually led to the avoidable Nigeria Civil War.
He is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) being one of its founding fathers. He once sought the presidential ticket of the party to contest the 1999 election, but failed. One notable area that this Delta state-born technocrat is, however, noted for is his love for the preservation of the environment. This he achieved largely through the Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF) which he led as its chairman, board of trustees for years. Based on this, President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 during the World Environmental Day celebration gave him an award for his role in the sustenance of the environment. Buhari said, “This day reminds us that our world belongs to seven billion others aside from ourselves. And that their habits as people and policies and government determine whether we would treat other fairly. If the environment issues are properly managed, they have the potential to support growth and this you have dedicated your time to achieve for this nation. That is why you deserve this award.”
The impact of Chief Asiodu can be felt in many sectors of the economy including as ministers of health, industry, petroleum, energy, mines and power at different times. He has also led government organisations such as the Nigeria Economic Society (NES) and Nigerian Committee of the World Energy Council. According to the journal of the Nigeria Academy of Engineering, “Chief Asiodu exudes greater knowledge and confidence in playing high profile leadership role in the implementation of Nigeria’s oil and gas policies beginning with the negotiation for Nigeria’s membership of OPEC in 1971. He was also instrumental to the recruitment of many Nigerian graduates for training in oil technology abroad, the decision to establish LNG plants in 1975, the Warri and Kaduna refineries as well as the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI).”
For some time now, no one has heard anything about this man who is said to be in his 80s.
Jubril Aminu
Professor Jubril Aminu is a former lecturer, diplomat and politician. He was Nigerian ambassador to the United States between 1999 and 2003, before he was elected to represent the people of Adamawa Central Constituency in the Senate between 2003 and 2007. A member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), prior to this time, he had served the country in many capacities. He had held office as education minister as well as petroleum and mineral resources minister in the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida. As petroleum minister, he was the president of African Petroleum Producers Organisation and president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
During the 1994/1995 National Constitution Conference, he was also one of the delegates to that conference. While in the Senate, he served on the committees on foreign affairs, education, air force and health. A major newspaper in the country while doing a mid-term evaluation of senators during his time said Aminu never sponsored any bill while in the House, but only contributed to debates and motions. As chairman of the foreign affairs committee, he was, however, said to have managed its affairs well and at the same time committed to the activities of the committee on education. Writing about Aminu in African Achievers, Professor A. Pate of the Department of Mass Communications, University of Maiduguri, said, “The name Jubril Aminu evokes multiples; in fact, sometimes, strikingly contrasting reactions from different people in the country. This is because in most of his public life, the fellow has remained an issues man; never afraid of controversies, ever strong on his positions which are often well-informed and based on strong convictions and vision.
“For being strong willed, forthright and intelligently defensive on whatever he saw as right, even if unpopular, he was called names, threatened and even victimised. But he was never cowed.
“While enjoying his job at Ibadan as a lecturer, Gen. Yakubu Gowon appointed him the pioneer executive secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) in March 1975. The news of the appointment surprised him. At 35, with a PhD and a fellowship in Medicine, he was happily performing his job as a young academic and consultant cardiologist at the UCH in Ibadan. He had no cause to want to leave when his career progression was satisfactorily in his favour. However, in life there come moments when individuals must take fundamental decisions that may appear painful but inevitable. That was the type of choice that Aminu had to make in 1975 that eventually altered his progressive career in the field of Medicine. There, he was in love with his career in Ibadan, enjoying the full support of his senior colleagues on one hand and the request by the Head of State who was his senior and mentor in the secondary school asking him to take up a challenging and pioneering assignment, on the other. Whichever option he took, he was bound to make somebody that he respected unhappy. Literarily, he had to subdue his inner self to take leave of absence from UI for service to the land at a higher level in NUC by accepting the offer from General Gowon.”
Prof. Aminu has, therefore, traversed major sectors in the nation’s life. In the recent past, not much has been heard about him especially after he left the Senate in 2007.
Dubem Onyia
Chief Dubem Onyia is a former minister of state for foreign affairs under former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He resigned his position as a member of the House of Representatives to take up the ministerial appointment. Onyia, a native of Enugu state, in one of his last public interviews canvassed for restructuring as the only panacea for progress, saying, “If they do not restructure the country, it means they are not really interested in the progress and development of the country. The only way we can live as one united country is to look at our problems and restructure Nigeria. There is no reason why you would produce oil in the Niger Delta and there, they cannot even drink clean water; they cannot provide employment but they lay the eggs that we eat every day. So, if we do not restructure where we can take our destiny in our hands, we are not going anywhere. You set up the Ministry of Niger Delta and you put the office in Abuja here and the contracts for that area is awarded here; you cannot put the ministry in Port Harcourt or Yenagoa; that is not right. I am only using the Niger Delta as an example. Let us not deceive ourselves. Let us restructure the country and when we restructure the country, then, we can now say we have a country called Nigeria.”
Chief Onyia has, for a long time now, been out of public space even though many say he still has advantage of age to serve the country in many capacities.
