FNS, Chinua Achebe's A Man of the People and the 'No Vacancy' Administration

FNS, University of Ibadan, in 2002.

Recently, I chose to recount my experiences at the University of Ibadan, my first higher education alma mater. The University of Ibadan is a world renowned university that has graduated many stalwarts, using that only as a compliment. However, when one is embarking on a journey if nobody calls out to one, nobody would know how far or how well the journey has gone.

In Things Out of UI, I have tried to talk about my rather silly experiences at the University of Ibadan. I tried to mind my own business. I was no busybody in any shape or form. I was law abiding to the best of my knowledge. I believe that a book putting all those experiences together is in order. You are likely to have called this project of mine, this blog, a whine blog. I would rather be writing on a wine blog. However, there are fat chances that many people have misunderstood the reasons behind my long journeys to Ibadan, the city of seven hills, to secure higher education. I believe that issue has been over explained. My admission wasn't a product of bottom power, it was duly certified by the officers in charge. In fact, I feel shortchanged and I find that unforgivable. But I was no admission officer, so there was no telling if I would have admitted myself if I had been in their shoes. That said, let me move on. FNS.

Federation of Ngwa Students (FNS) is a pan-Ngwa student group that has its presence in nearly all tertiary institutions where there are Igbo people of Ngwa extract/descent. I don't know what makes anybody anything other than birth and orientation or guardianship. For me, I was made to believe that I was born Ngwa. I grew up in an Ngwa community of Ogbor Hill, in present day Abia State. The village was probably savage but for many reasons, its indigenous people tried to live up to the demands of modernity. For instance, there was the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA, Aba) only a stone throw from our home until I was nine years old or about ten in the old Imo State. I walked to my mother's offices. She worked as a confidential secretary for many years with the NTA, Aba. Ngwa remains a known part of Abia State, comprising about 7 local governments. The current governor of Abia State, Victor Okezie Ikpeazu, is believed to be Ngwa succeeding a man from Umuahia, who also attended the University of Ibadan. Governor Ikpeazu attended the University of Maiduguri (Unimaid) and UNN - University of Nigeria Nsukka.

In year 1, I tried hard to locate FNS, which was a small group in the University. There were larger Igbo groups like the one of Orlu Senatorial zone, which often took over three classrooms whenever they held their meetings at the Faculty of Arts. For whatever reason, FNS and the silly bullies from Orlu would hold their meetings concurrently. It appeared to me that each time FNS booked Room 32 (and/or Room 34?) of the arts faculty, the idiots from Imo State would ask them to leave taking up their room because we were small in number. Anyway, I found out that was why I never met any of the meetings because the occupants didn't speak Ngwa whenever I got to the advertised Room 32. I believe I went in Year 2, but didn't register until later. I think that was when I squatted in Queen's Hall with Ms Nwanyieze Aguwa and Ms Chinwe Nwaguru, whatever. After a year and in 2002, I was able to locate the Ngwa group in my home faculty of arts. I got the receipt given above for my registration. I attended the meetings. This was in Year 2 or Year 3. I didn't know what those Ngwa students were up to. I believed them to be a little gossip group with clueless (old) men and women. But I would tolerate them as people who came to school to learn like me many of them in the Law faculty.

FNS isn't the University of Ibadan. One could graduate school without identifying with a fraternal organization. I did nearly two years of undergraduate studies without getting too fraternal. But I was happy that I eventually saw people from my area at the first university of the country. I didn't like that they were a quarrelsome group too. They loved the gossip mill. They churned out their tales without verifying any information or used their spywhore to look up that information. I participated in the group even till they successfully published and launched Ngwa Link magazine. I was even elected Vice President of the group before I graduated school. There were notable members of the group like the Venerable Solomon Kanu, one Obinna, one Chinenye Orji (from Ovom area), the president one Obioma, Chima Ukamadu, etc. For  the women, there was one Eziaku (or two or them), another Nwanyichi (I found out that silly name of mine from a grandmother wasn't chic but was shared by another Ngwa woman, haha), one Chinwe Nwaguru (she said that was her name), etc. It was a school of all sorts of people.

When I returned from school in 2001, I attended a meeting at Ukpakiri Primary School that prepared the ground for the Ukwa-Ngwa merger. Sir Willie Wabara was in attendance or Mark Wabara or both. I'm sorry I should make it a habit to keep record. But a Wabara was in attendance. Fast forward to 2015, when Ngwa people would finally get a governor who made no promises. He came as the Messiah of the down trodden Ngwa people who never had a representative until him. He has been called many names including the Sam Mbakwe of Ngwa land or something of that nature; possibly a Man of the People. He's trying to rebuild Abia State. Since I had worked as an ad hoc staff with INEC in 2015, I couldn't vote for anybody. In 2018, I misplaced my permanent voter's card (PVC), which I believe is stolen by an Ngwa person possibly my maternal uncle or a witch or harlot. My posts aren't irrelevant - they point to either a personal or community problem. In early 2018, there was a call on radio for unemployed graduates of Abia descent to apply to the Local Government Service Commission for employment. I went to Umuahia and paid N1000 (one thousand naira). A month later, I was shortlisted for a written test and in March 2018, I attended an oral interview at Umuahia, the state capital. The job process became comatose and it was rumoured that the forthcoming elections were the reason.

In 2019, he sought re-election and touted No Vacancy. While it was clear that he wanted nobody to take his job, he stalled the job opportunities of many young Abia citizens. Before his election, people began to pay money for the job. I had nothing to pay nor would I pay. It became clear that we were running a pay-gain attitude in Nigeria. PAY-GAIN is a distortion of pagan. Anyway, a few got notifications of appointment in January, 2019. I got my own notification later that year. No money or salaries was paid for many months while we were required to attend work or show our presence at work. I borrowed my fare from my mother for many months, straining our relationship thus. I tried securing other jobs but got none. In February 2021, amid the hardship from the COVID-19 pandemic, our appointments were suspended. What happened?

Some of the new staff had gone to work for several months without earning an income. Some have politicians who engage them in their services and possibly pay them out of pocket. It's the local government where work isn't the same as the Federal Government. I don't play party politics. I don't like the corruption in Nigeria and I remain neutral and independent. Party politics is akin to the pot calling the kettle black, one regime after another. Or choosing either of your parents or deciding to give the devil a good name. Many of the staff of the local government were house girls and mistresses of politicians and heads of service. How would a society function out of witch craft/wizardry and prostitution? If we want a democracy, we better do that than this borrowcracy that's destroying our future.

While it's a wonderful idea that nearly every part of the state has been in power since the creation of Abia State in 1991, it's not enough to have a warlock in power who gains from the failure of other people. A leader shouldn't be privy to personal events in the society. Nobody is greater than the other. My services and sacrifice at the Federation of Ngwa Students of the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, have gone unrewarded and unappreciated by past governments in Abia State. Or was my name and fate distorted by a witch or warlock as shown in the picture above? I'm Njoku Ijeoma Monica not Njiku Ijeoma Monica. 

Ikpeazu's No Vacancy mightn't be about his job only. It's probably his way of saying he wasn't interested in giving jobs to young Abians. What Man of the People would do that? Only the kind written about by a fellow alumni even Chinua Achebe. No Vacancy? Damn FNS!