A joyful jottings on Eddy Ochigbo at 60!

By OCHE AGWUCHI

Mr. Eddy Ochigbo is the gentleman beside me in this pix. At the time, he was Editor of then famous but now rested Hotline Magazine in Kaduna. Permit me to tell you a short story so you may appreciate why I truly appreciate this man.

I had gone to Hotline to drop an application for employment as a reporter and was told to wait for the Editor to be interviewed. For all the times I was asked to come, I did but Mr. Ochigbo was never on seat.

The day I finally met him, he apologised and told me he had to do a number of trips out of town. We were about settling down for the interview when the publisher, Alhaji Hassan Sani Kontagora (Magajin Rafin Kontagora) walked in. Straight at me he came: "What are you doing here?" he thundered. I told him I was looking for a job. "My friend there is no job here," he replied. "Come," he commanded and I followed him out of the Editor's office. Pointing at another office, he told me, "Go there and introduce yourself to them. If you can write, you have a job but if you can't, I don't ever want to see you here again."

That was the beginning and end of the interview. Now if you know the Magajin Rafi, you would have pictured what happened between us. I must admit it was quite a scary moment. To think that I had no journalism training, not even a day of trying to write for journalistic purposes, I almost made up my mind not to return to that office again but for Eddy Ochigbo.

After the publisher left, I went back to the Editor's office. He asked if I had ever practiced and I answered in the negative. He asked again if I believed I could write and this time my answer was in the positive. He said that was the first thing I needed. He asked me to write on any issue and bring it to him the next day.

The next day, he read my piece and told me I could write. What a boost! From thence, Mr. Ochigbo took to training and personally guiding me. I was given tasks that I completed satisfactorily. Before long, I became the favourite of the publisher. He gave me a room in his house, made sure I ate each time he ate. From a job seeker, I became family. It was all thanks to the tutelage of Mr. Ochigbo.

When I later went to journalism school, I found things rather easy. Mr. Ochigbo prepared me to be the best and for the two different programmes that I undertook, I came out the best each time.

Today is Mr. Ochigbo's birthday. How else do I celebrate such a man than bore you with such lengthy write-up? A very humble fellow he is. He makes writing easy and exciting. Anything he cracks turns out a masterpiece. Lest I forget, he is a table tennis champion.

May God favour you all the days of your long and healthy life. May the riches of heaven be your lot. May the good seeds you have sown grow to become fruits you shall joyfully reap. Happy birthday sir. My Jottings are joyfull, not Joyless sir.

Oche Agwuchi, is an Abuja-based journalist

Comments

Why States may be unable to pay new minimum wage -Commissioner

Citizens listening with rapt attention By YUSUF GOJE C ommissioner, Planning and Budget Commission Kaduna state, Mohammed Sani Dattijo has queried the rationale behind the proposed upward review of the minimum wage, which he said compels even states that are not viable to play ball. Making the assertion at the recently concluded Citizens' Consultation forum on Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2019-2021 held in Kaduna, Dattijo said:"The minimum wage should be moved from the exclusive to the concurrent list, even though Kaduna state is healthier than most states, there are states that cannot afford the increase in minimum wage. If this is not done, the increase in minimum wage will only be on paper but difficult to implement by many states, resulting in labor disputes". He stressed that the exclusiveness of this piece of legislation which empowers only the Federal government to de...

When competence matters in leadership recruitment

President Muhammadu Buhari DANGWA Danjuma T he tension that greeted Peter Obi’s walk out on the People’s Democratic Party included the concerns on availability of another competent partyman who will be worthy of the demand for the incorruptible leader to emerge vis a vis deputize when the chips are down. This also has been made easy by governor of Ebonyi, Engineer Dave Umahi’s exit from the party who would have stood out in the event that Obi falled shy of the Vice Presidential slot. This box around the party, underpinned by an outcry for national unity by nominating the South Eastern deputy in the second attempt of Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President, to dismiss the two term era of the incumbent All Progressive Congress on the premise that a good number of Nigerians will reconsider the PDP as a better alternative. However, viable options exist outside the South East for the PDP, particularly in the Niger Delta where state governors under the party hav...

N81.68bn Supplementary Budget: Matters Arising!

By YUSUF GOJE R egardless of the good intention - anything for us, without us, cannot be for us. I have been wondering if the Open Government Partnership (OGP) commitment one (Open Budget) covers supplementary budgets in Kaduna state.. The proposed supplementary budget of 81.68bn before the Kaduna State House of Assembly (KSHoA) is about 51.8% of the total 2019 approved budget of N157.45bn; which when passed will take the budget for the year to about N230bn. This is said to be from the World Bank loan approved for Kaduna state. While I have no personal issue with the loan, because it has a clause that makes it non-discretional (tied to projects) and we are ready as civil society to track its utilization; over the past three years, even with the OGP in place, we have been having supplementary budgets passed without citizen's engagement and inputs, more so, without their initial knowledge. We usually become aware of it just before or after KSHoA passes it into ...

Coalition urges COP-27 to fast track advocacy against Climate Change

Participants in a group photograph after the event in Kaduna By EDDY OCHIGBO, A coalition of environmental organizations in Kaduna, under the aegis Extinction Rebellion (XR) - a global movement which seeks to persuade governments to act justly on climate change and ecological emergency - has hosted a pre-COP27, in partnership with Bridge-that-Gap Initiative, to galvanize the campaign against climate change, as the the 27th Conference of Parties slated for Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt kicks off. In an exclusive interview with NATIONAL ACCORD, one the coordinators of the event in Kaduna metropolis, Mr Zinta Akpoko, revealed that COP27, Egypt could become a turning point of the campaign, given that forerunners of the conference have since pledged to relentlessly push to prioritize climate financing for developing nations. "The effect of climate change is very evident and we need to be very frank by telling the truth about the inherent dangers tha...

Fiscal responsibility: Kaduna State's debt burden and unrealistic budgeting

By YUSUF ISHAKU GOJE T he budget is said to be the second most important document outside the constitution, without which even the constitution cannot fully function. It enables governments to turn campaign promises articulated as policies into concrete public services that seek to improve the overall living standard of the people. That is why it remains the most critical socio-economic policy tool that outlines the government's priorities in financial terms. The extent to which the government's proposed spending sticks to what it has projected as realistic revenue makes a budget credible. Therefore, it also becomes a measurement of government's sincerity and capacity to deliver on campaign promises. More importantly, the credibility of any budget depends on its realism, as you cannot spend what you cannot get. That means for a budget to be realistic it has to be substantially achievable. However, politicians are always under pressure to spend more, most times overshooting ...

Cubinks NEWS

Search This Blog