20/08/2026
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A PUBLIC LECTURE DELIEVERED BY OBIZIE-CARL AZUDIBIA TITTILED: MBAISE STRATEGIC ADVANCEMENT THE ROLE OF JOURNALISTS ON THE OCCASION OF RECEPTION IN HONOUR OF COMRADE EZEH ADIUKWU, ELECTED VICE PRESIDENT NIGERIA UNION OF JOURNALISTS BY FEDERATION OF MBAISE MEDIA PROFESSIONALS TODAY THE 13TH OF AUGUST 2026 AT CHRIS VI HOTEL AHIARA MBAISE:
Mr. Chairman Sir, our celebrant, my own brother and one of the emerging Mbaise exports to the World Comrade Ezeh Adiukwu, Distinguished Personalities, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is my pleasure to be called upon to deliver this Lecture even though I am still at a loss of what impurmed my choice as the Quest Lecturer! This is because; a lecture of this magnitude should have been delivered by a professor or a PH.D holder none of which I am as at today. Well, I take solace in the conviction that head or tail I will win. If I do well, it will be said that he performed like a professor or a Ph.d holder. If I do not do well I will be pardoned since I am neither a professor nor a Ph.D holder!
I am happy to be here also because the topic Mbaise Strategic Advancement, the role of Journalist centers on our very being as a people. The hall mark of intellectualism is using your training to interrogate your environment, upholding what needs to be upheld and improving upon what needs to improved and our life is made perfect I am also happy to be here because the celebrant Comrade Ezeh Adiukwu is my blood brother. His grandfather and my father are first cousins. Naturally I, should be celebrating with my brother when he is celebrated!
ABSTRACT
OUT OF A DECAYING CULTURE EMERGES A NEW ONE! THIS PAPER AIMS AT A PARADIGM SHIFT. A STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION THAT BRINGS ABOUT RE-ORIENTATION, CHARACTER SHIFT AND VALUE DIFFERENTIATION THAT EQUIPS THE MBAISE MAN AND INDEED MBAISE SOCIETY WITH AN EDGE IN A VERY COMPETITIVE WORLD. IT POSITS THAT JOURNALIST BEING A STOCK OF A CRITICAL MAS ARE SUPREMELY QUALIFIED TO LEAD THIS CHARGE.
Ladies and Gentle men, the critical words that define our expository in this lecture are
Mbaise
Strategic or strategy.
Advancement
Duty
Journalist
We shall briefly examine them in order to create a channel for this navigation
Mbaise
This is Mbaise. If you enter from Owerri, you get to Enyiogugu to Nguru Center, to Ahiara Juction and you are still asking where is Mbaise, you will be committing what we call in logic fallacy of Category. You enter into a University, you see students, Administration building, Library, Faculty building and you are still asking where is the university! Fallacy. So here we are Mbaise. Bounded in the East by the Imo River, across which you get Umuahia/Ngwa, in the west by Mbano Okigwe, in the North by Owerri and in the south by Obowo! But we are not talking of Mbaise of Geography .Today! we are going to talk about Mbaise of the people! Indeed we are going to talk about the content and not about the container. We shall return to this shortly
2. Strategic
Webster defines strategy as “a careful long term plan or method used to reach a specific goal, involving the smart use of resources and choices on how to win or succeed” this presupposes having aims and objectives, knowing the target or destination, discovering how best to adhere to it as you deploy resources, time, money and tools to get there. It is a military term that originated from the ancient Greek City of Anthems. The Athenian Army used this term strategy to mean Generalship or the skills of a commander. “Strategos” as they called it referred to an elected General who held both Military and Political power and deploys resources to achieve a targeted end. SUN TZU in ancient China saw strategy as the art of winning a war without firing a short! In his art of war, he described it as a psychological and positional game for victory rather than brute force, focusing on winning through preparation, positioning and deception before conflict begins as to subdue the enemy without fighting.
20th Century Scholars like Peter Draker and Alfred Chandler have like shifted the term strategy from a purely military campaign to a Corporate and Civil society setting! They contend that navigating in the unchartered channels of business World is akin to acts of war or war like conditions. In other words, the same uncertain situations of war that necessitates a long term plan for victory called strategy is the same uncertainty that surrounds the Corporate World. Planning to win a war is as uncertain as ABC Transport Company planning to outwit the Young shall Grow Motors! All require strategy to achieve the desired goal. Thus, strategy in war is to win without firing a short. In the corporate world, it is to win even before your competitor wakes up from sleep and in the society; it is to win without committing sociological su***de.
ADVANCEMENT
Webster defined advancement as the “Process of moving forward, growing better or getting higher positions” It covers three main ideas, Career growth, general improvement and moving forward physically” it entails development.
ROLE:
We know this one now: your duty, assignment or schedule undertaken to achieve a desire purpose, goal or intention. For example, my role in this lecture is to spur debate on the strategic advancement of Mbaise land into a First World Community in a Third World Country.
JOURNALIST
Webster defines a journalist as a professional who collects, writes and shares news and information with the public through Newspapers, Magazines Television, Radio or Digital Media. Their primary goal is to find the truth and report facts firmly” Jounalists gather, check and disseminate information and current news with the public. They aim at giving the people honest facts so that they can understand their environment, their communities and the world at large. Eric Hodgins defined journalism as “The process of conveying information from here to there with accuracy, insight and dispatch and in such a manner that the truth is established”. Lippman Stated that “ the function of news is to signalize an event, the function of truth is to bring to light the hidden facts, to set them in relation with each other and make a picture of reality on which men can act” Lippman is considered as the father of modern journalism. A journalist by training and by inclination, is a seeker of the truth and the facts with a responsibility to bring to the public for the purposes of knowledge, direction and change. A journalist asks questions and finds true facts for the public consumption and change.
Mr. Chairman Ladies and Gentlemen, forgive me for taking this route. I have to take it so that those who will interrogate our conclusions will be guided by our bases. We have to take this route to build the necessary blocks for the construction of our reality. Our reality is to strategically position Mbaise on a pedestal to effectively compete in the 21st Century World! And to let our Mbaise Media Practitioners know that destiny has place it in their hands to use their training and equipment to set agenda for Mbaise development and to rigorously follow it to its logical conclusion. Before we can effectively construct a new Mbaise reality, a long term plan for growth and development of Mbaise land, it is important we have a brief look at our trajectory over the years. How did we evolve, where are we now and then, plan where we are heading to!
Who are these Mbaise people? I told you we will return to this and we are not talking about geography but the people. Mbaise became a loose federation, a political unit of five nations in August 1933. This was as of result of the British colonial government’s decision to break the group of provinces into smaller administrative units. Something like, the creation of the Local Government Areas today. These administrative units were called Divisions. Before this, Mbaise was an interregnal part of old Owerri Province that stretches from Okigwe to the Atlantic Ocean! Places like Utueke, Oparaoma, Oloibiri, Opobo Igweocha, Igwenga, Ubani among others were all under Owerri Province with capital at Owerri that is why shell Oil Exploration Company had its first Nigeria headquarters at owerri while drilling oil at Oloibiri. There were also, other provinces like Onitsha Province, Calabar Province and Ogoja Province.
Consequently the provinces were broken down to divisions in 1933. So we had Mbaise Division, Owerri Division Orlu Division, Nsukka Division, Okigwe Division, Ngwa Division, Enugu Division Port harcourt Division etc. it is sad to note Mr. Chairman that amongst these divisions created in 1933, Nsukka has nine local government Areas today, Orlu has twelve, Ngwa has Eight but Mbaise has three yet our population ranks among the highest. In fact, if you check the eastern Nigerian Census Digest of 1971 that recorded the population of Easterners to determine how many people survive the war, the most thickly populated areas were Nsukka Ngwa and Mbaise!
Lets continue, the five Nations that came together to form the Mbaise Union at the prompting of the British were Agbaja, Ahiara, Ekwereazu, Ezinihiitte and Oko Ovoro. These Nations also were organized under five autonomous courts created by the British with Warrant Chiefs in charge of them. Before the creation of these courts, our people used to be under the control of court Abadaba. Some of the Warrant Chiefs in charge of these courts include Chief Owunna, Chief Nwaturuocha, Chief Onyekwere, Chief Nwigwe Akanwa of Ife who pushed his own court to Itu because he was afraid that some of his wives will use the courts to run away from him if it is cited nearby. His first son Onuoha Nwigwe was a court clerk who was the first Mbaise man to own a Car! He was also the first Mbaise man to build a corrugated iron sheet house in 1925. My father, Mark Osudibia as he was then known built his own Zinc House in 1944!
At the instance of the Colonial Government, Communities began to meet to form Political Units and Federations. Prominent Warrant Chiefs began to meet first, at the Palace of Umara 1 of Amara, Warrant Chief William Obasi. After series of meetings in his Palace, they decided to meet at the intersection between Nguru, Oboama and Ihitte, under a big aboshi tree! Three monumental decisions were taken at the historic meeting of August 1933.
The name of the would be Federation. Chief Owunna suggested Mbaukwu, Dede Nwigwe Akanwa suggested Mbaise to reflect the five Nations that formed the Federation. The name Mbaise was adopted. The second decision was the name of the capital of the would be Federation. Warrant Chief Iroapali of Obizi who had keep mute all through the discussions spoke for the first time and suggested that since the Aboshi Tree has provided shelter for them all the time they have been meeting to chart this course, that the capital be named, after the tree to avoid future battles of the ownership of the place by the three communities adjoining to the intersession. That was also adopted and the name Aboh became the Capital of the new Federation. The third decision taken was the establishment of a common purse to run the affairs and the development of the new federation.
The Colonial Government adopted their regulations and Mbaise Division was born and Mbaise County council was established administer the area. The first decision they took after the formation of the union was the establishment of the secondary school and hospital. Thus Mbaise Secondary School MSS was born and also Aboh Mbaise joint hospital too. Mbaise County Council grew in leaps and bounds that it competed favorably in Development strides with even County Councils in Urban Areas. This is such that by 1962, under the Chairmanship Chief N.D Ukah, Mbaise had a five year development plan of 200 British pounds. The beauty of this plan was that 85% of this revenue was to be internally generated.
One of the greatest achievements of our founding fathers at the formation of the Mbaise Union was the establishment of unspoken group consciousness anchored on Physical Development and concept of onyeaghala nwanneya! They encouraged healthy competitions amongst communities and villages. They promoted education- establishment of primary and secondary school including giving of scholarship to study abroad! They promoted establishment of cottage hospitals, they promoted building of, inter-community roads to link villages and for easy accessibility! They did not promote Ime orji, Iri Iji, Eyireyi and Agbachaa Ekurunwa and above physical development of the areas the people.
At every epoch and at every season, Mbaise has always had great men who dominated and conquered their environment! Most of us here read the history of Dr. Stewart who was killed in Mbaise and his bicycle hug on a tree so that it does not escape to tell the story. What most of us may not have known was that, why was Dr Stewart headed to Mbaise area that time? why not towards port Harcourt, Onitsha or Orlu.? He headed to Mbaise area insearch the great Eze Onyewuchi of Udo! A wealthy merchant who was regarded as Eze Mbaise na Obowo and whose fame was well known in Owerri areas and beyond. His contemporaries then were people like Eze Njoku Nwanshi of Akabor whom the British made the Chairman of West African Customary court of appeal in 1910. Dr, Stewart was searching for this great man Eze Onyewuche of Udo, unfortunately he could not make it back alive. Professor Thompson Ogbonna was one of the Medical Personnels recruited from the Luton Hospital London to establish the University College Hospital in Ibadan in 1948. Dr. Aron Ogbonna after graduating as a Medical Doctor in Europe came home to practice his profession in Mbaise and not residing in the Ubarn Centers of Enugu, Onitsha or Aba to practice his Medicine. He went on to established one of the his first privately owned General Hospitals in Eastern Nigeria. He brought German Doctors and Nurses to live in Obizi and work in the hospital. What a feet!
In the Legal Profession, from Barr. B.s.c Nzenwa who was the first Mbaise Lawyer to Chief Mike Ahamba who was the first Mbaise SAN to our daughter Mrs. Mary Odili who was a Justice of Supreme Court of Nigeria, Mbaise has made its mark! In commerce and business, Mbaise has had and still have outstanding men and women who have made their mark Ife Mbaise was an important River Port and trading center by 1900. I once met a man in Akwete, in fact he is my in-law, he told me that he lived with his father in Ife trading on palm oil and palm carnal and also bringing European goods from Port Harcourt to Ife to sell to the people. From Azu Akande of Obizi who controlled most of the Imo River Trade from Onu Imo Amudi to Igweocha to Eze F.U. Anyawu, Akajiaku 1 of Mbaise, who was the first black man to make One million pounds in Port Harcourt in 1956 to Ezenwata of Udo, and even to this day Mbaise men have conquered the business world in their own right.
An Mbaise man has been the Managing Director of Nigeria Lignified Natural Gas (NLNG) Engr Ibeneche. From Mazi OCK Unegbu who rose to become the Managing Director of ACB to numerous Mbaise sons and daughters who have distinguished themselves in the banking industry, Mbaise has two distinguished sons presently as ezecutive directors one of the leading banks in Nigeria
Among others. In governance, Mbaise also had men and still have! Aside, Ogbonna, Abii, Nwoga, who were in one appointed or elective position before the civil war, the man who represented Port Harcourt in the Federal House of Representatives in the 60’s is an Mbaise from Ekwereazu here. From Dr. Sylvester Ugoh who was the Ministry of Science & Technology under which FUTO was established. Mbaise more than any other clan has dominated the Federal Ministry of Education. From Vice Chancellor of Federal Universities to state and Private ones I the highest echelon of the Teaching and Research Profession, Mbaise as a clan has the highest member of Professor and Academic staff in Nigeria.
Mbaise has two distinguished sons as leaders of the faithful! Bishop Osinedo of the Catholic Church! Besides, Mbaise has the highest member of Catholic Priest in the world. There are so many successful Mbaise men amd women who have made their mark in their various callings in Nigeria and abroad. Even in the Military and Police, customs and immigrations, we have had men.
However, Mr. Chairman, how has this individual successes impacted on the Mbaise Society and Mbaise land. It seems to me that especially since after the Civil War has not been able to convert it s individual successes to grouop success. The question could be asked, where is Mmbaise city or Town? Mbaise in all its might has no town in the modern sense of it. The question could be asked, despite the number of Catholics Priests we have and population of Ccatholic faithful in our land, where is the Catholic University of Mbaise . the question could be asked, despite our dominance in education, where is one Campus of a Federal or state higher institution in Mbaise land? The question could be asked , despite our outstanding business men and other professionals, where is the Mbaise business community.
Mr. Chairman, it is said to note that, Trillions of Naira is budgeted and spent every year by the Federal and state government, none is spent in Mbaise land. There is no federal or state Agency that receives yearly budgetary allocations that is cited in Mbaise land. In fact, there is no economic destination to Mbaise land as at today even if it is Nigeria Prison. How did we fall from a society that had a five years development plan in 1962 to a society of no plan, no development, no agenda? Are we diving into group of the past? What are the factors that are stalling Mbaise development?
How have we regressed from a society of disruptive thinkers, intentional executors and depository of widom, which used to be the envy of our neighbors to a society of carterkerous attackers of each other, pull him down syndrome and divergent opinions detrimental to development and progress. How have we become a society that cannot have consensus on anything? If political parties are one hundred in Nigeria, is rest assured that the whole one hundred of them will offices and members in Mbaise land. How have we regressed to the level loquacious consumption dance and celebration as cultural revival! The only time you see people seem to have unity is during traditional festivals that add little or value when it ceases to establish building blocks for development and advancement of the society. We spend millions of Naira celebrating relics in the name of culture.
Last year, my Amumara people spent over one hundred million hosting Ezinilotte. This year Exudo people spent over one hundred & fifty million doing the same. Am hearing that Itu also planning a budget of one hundred & fifty million to host it next year. CHAI! Two hundred & fifty million naira out of Ezinilotte in two years in unproductive loquacious consumption. Apart from the fact that there are so many primary schools and secondary schools in very dilapidated conditions (15)in Ezinilotte, apart from the fact that there could be students in these committees who cannot got to the vanity because of lack of funds, the real tragedy is that from Anumana through him to Eziudo spamming about 20 kilometers, you will not find twenty kola nut trees. How do we spend so much celebrating a product we do not have? Even the Yoruba people, who produce the kola nuts in commercial quantity supplying the whole of West Africa, did not spend such in planting the kola nut trees. This malady is not united in Ezinilotte alone. Almost all the communities in Mbaise have one cultural festival to celebrate or the other but we can hardly come together again to collectively and successfully carry out developmental projects like our ancestors did.
Iri ji Mbaise has become an annual source of war in Mbaise land. There is always peace in Mbaise from September to April. Once you enter May, the war begins. I learnt that this year to war has taken a legal dimensional. In all this, drastically, we celebrate once again a productive do not have. Seventy five percent if yarns sold at Afor Ogbe, Afor Enyiogugu or Nkoro Mbaise are from Abakaliki and Benue. I can only subscribe to this Iri iji when I see that the Market woman who waits yaui in Owerri, Umuahia or Abia is asked to go to Mbaise and buy. I can only support this Iri iji when it becomes a building block for our development. I learnt that the organizers of this year’s own are using it to talk about issues of insecurity in our land. That is the way to Strenghtene Ezurezu and make it the Apex body of Mbaise where every association, club or body will subscribe to. The Ezurezu leadership must be demoralized and emanate from the people and not by imposition. Ezurezu should constitute a committee that will emulate a collective agenda for development called Mbaise Integrated Agenda for Development (MIAD). We must insist that as matter of rule in Mbaise land, any cultural celebration must have a talk shop, a public lecture on and about the event as a way of sustaining it’s good parts and improving upon it’s decayed parts because out of a decaying culture emerges a new one. We must institute a culture of interrogation of everything in Mbaise land.
Strategic advancement of Mbaise must take education serious for in it has the basis of our development. This leads me to the charity of Mbaise project being championed by Mbaise people’s congress. Our media practioners must be in the fore front of the realization of this long overdue project. Our founding fathers will be crying in graves those 93 years after the formation of Mbaise Union and 71 years after the establishment of Mbaise Secondary School, there is no higher institution in Mbaise land.
This body must take Mbaise back to as matter of (18) strategic advancement to era of collective effort at the eradication of poverty. There are individual effort at polling people out of poverty through scholarships and provisions of machines and tools for artisans and traders but a collective effort will yield a better and quicker results. Imagine if we join efforts and establish the quantity of Mbaise and the school has five thousand students for example. Imagine the economic multiplayer effect of that in the economy of Mbaise land.
To point out and champion these development strides is the role of Mbaise Media Practioners. To hold our leaders local, state and federal accountable and ensure that fidelity to the Mbaise Integrated Development Agenda. To interrogate our leaders to ensure that the best that will attract development and progress to our place is elected. To make our to begin to think home and make an impact at home. Above everything else to make home conducive for our successful sons and daughters to bring their investments home without fear of loss and or even death. We cannot have a chaotic environment and expect a reasonable people to come and invert them. We must prepare our place; we must prepare our people to be ready, for I see an immersing economically potent Eastern Nigeria that will lead the black man out of the dark. That Economically potent Eastern Region will be led by people who know their duty and have the courage to do it. Those who are trained and equipped by education and by characters those whose mind set and demeanor are objective and intentional.
I urge you dear media practitioners to work together and ensure the emergence of the new face of Mbaise man-confident, knowledgeable, and pragmatic, result oriented and assertive-who is needy to take the world by the storm.
Mr. Chairman, ladies and Gentlemen, if I have wasted your time please pardon me for you know I am neither a doctor or a professor.
Thank you.
Carl Azudibia
Beloved son of Obizi
