HAPPY BIRTDHDAY DISTINGUISHED SENATOR STELLA ODUAH

 

1.Happy Birthday Distinguished Senator Stella Oduah. I wish you many many more years of greatness and good health.

2.I remember the first day you interviewed me to work for you, the first thing you told me was that you would want me to have the opportunity to meet great people through you so as to help rewrite my own history in life.

3. Those words of yours stuck with me from the first day and  helped to seal bond between me and you as boss and employee that I will forever be loyal to you regardless of any situation afterwards because I consider those words good thought towards me as your son and employee.

4. These words of yours are manifestation of your good heart and love for your people and dream to help emancipate our people from the shackles of marginalization and deprivation under the enterprise called Nigeria.

5. Apparently, those words pierced through my heart and created a space for you as my boss then and even former now as the case may be making it practically impossible for me to ever forget your role in my life forever.

6. Yes, through that opportunity you gave me, I met a lot of people in life I wouldn’t have met and even though am yet to reap the fruits of that network and connectivity I built under you, I know someday they will materialize and influence what I will finally become in future under the enterprise called Nigeria.

7. When you were the Aviation Minister, you instantly made impact for the few years you headed the Ministry with a Road Map that created a partway for the burgeoning impact of our aviation industry today. The road map is still valid and being followed today by the ministry.

8. Hitherto before you, air transport was like a luxury only the rich could fly with very few airlines then. But through your vision and aggressive pursuit of programs to stabilize and liberalise the sector, you revamped it so fast that air travel became easy for even the poor and the middle class. I remember in some period under you, flight to London was mere N50,000, while local flights were between N8,000 TO N20,000.

9. This created fast growth for that sector which eventually attracted many players in that sector including different airlines.

10. Your vision to create Aerotropolis spurred you to immediately award contracts for the construction of modern airport terminal buildings across all the zones of Nigeria from South to North without any discrimination. I remember vividly the words of former CBN governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi the day he was commissioning the then remodelled Kano Airport terminal. These were his words,

“There is no way one can visit all the airports and say that things are not working. With the level of commitment and diligence we have seen in the Aviation sector, this country would have been better if other ministries and parastatals are performing as such,”- Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

 11. These words summarized your contributions and efforts that brought about the revolution and change that crystallized into a vibrant aviation sector we have today.

12. The remodeling of the terminals affected many airports that were previously moribund and almost looked like shanties until you came in.

13. Today APC Govt takes glory for all the modern terminal buildings we have across Nigeria especially the big 5 airports of Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Ph and Enugu because the projects were still ongoing before PDP left power in 2015 and APC inherited the projects you designed and started across all regions.

14. If not for you, today Enugu airport would have remained local or classless due to the conspiracy to marginalize Ndigbo through such infrastructural deprivation like airports, seaports etc

15. It was you that also built a new terminal in Owerri Airport, which was like a local shanty then, thereby helping it to gain the status as one of the 5 busiest airports in Nigeria today. The first phase of the airport remodeling also included Ibadan, Ilorin, Sokoto, Benin, Yola etc

16. At the senate where you represented the good people of Anambra North, you promoted a lot of bIlls but most especially you introduced the now crystallized South East Development Commission, designed to rewrite the wrongs of the war on your people with the RRR mandate of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation designed to rebuild the South East after the devastation of the civil war.

17. You saw to the passing of the Bill by the Senate and entire National Assembly, but bigoted Buhari an ethnic jingo in his usual posture of vendetta against the Igbos, denied his assent to the Bill. That’s why the Bill was not made law under you until Deputy Speaker Honorable Benjamin Kalu resubmitted a similar version of the bill and pushed it to finality as law under this 10^th Assembly when you were no longer there.

18. Today South East Development Commission is law with office created and N341B  budget was allocated to the commission in 2025 Budget proposal, all credits to your vision to initiate that bill.

19. It was from working for you I got to see the physical infrastructural aspects of earmarks otherwise called constituency projects through the great works you did for the good people of Anambra North.

20. From Infrastructural developments like roads, school blocks, solar street light, hostels, transformers etc to different empowerment programs ranging from vocational training centers, Educational training centers, women empowerment programs, youth empowerment programs etc the list could go on. You did all these in your constituency.

21. It was indeed my first-hand  witnessing of physical empowerment by a representative of his people as I have never seen that in my state Imo by my own representative both at Senate and House of Reps in my own community.

22. This piece will not accommodate the great things you have done for Nigeria and South East in particular as a great nationalist and of course daughter of Ndigbo, but at the right time when your full legacies will be written, I will be there to write a more comprehensive piece that will showcase your contributions to the growth of Nigeria.

23. Finally, I cannot end the piece without recognizing the recent comments of current Aviation Minister Mr Festus Keyamo live on Arise TV, crediting you with the airport terminal building across Nigeria as the one who initiated and started the projects.

24. Those words reminded me that your legacy in that sector cannot be dismissed, covered or even upturned by anyone in our history as a nation.

25. Happy birthday once again mam, and may your legacies live forever.

 

Anayo Ekeanya(MBA, BSc, DAIT)

Former SA Media and Publicity to Senator Stella Oduah.