Five things Elechi Amadi taught me

BY AKIN OYAWALE

When I was posted to Rivers State for my National Youth Service Corps programme as a Batch A corps member in 2010, I could barely envision that some of my experiences within that community would change my life forever.

As you would expect, I arrived at my place of primary assignment (PPA), Community Secondary School Aluu, Ikwerre Local Government, with an overdose of hearsay and stereotypes, which inevitably coloured my initial perception of the community. This was not helped by the fact that a corps member in a penultimate set had allegedly impregnated a young girl in the community without accepting responsibility for his action.

There was another altercation between a corps member and a local hooligan, which had culminated in a near-fatal knife attack on promenading corps members at the entrance of the community secondary school. This tripartite concatenation, namely, my own jaundiced preconception, the young corps member’s shenanigan and the latent altercations between corps members and community members, meant that the atmosphere I had just arrived in was negatively charged and hostile.

During our first briefing by the NYSC school leader and other corps members, it was revealed that there was an illustrious indigene whom we had very likely heard about and would love to meet. The moment his name tumbled from the lip of the school leader, my heart leapt. I could hardly believe my luck that by some serendipitous roll of life’s dice, I had been posted to serve in Sir Elechi Amadi’s community. I had read some of his works, most notably, his 1966 debut masterpiece, ‘The Concubine’, and I was eager to query him about Ihuoma, Nnadi, Nnenda, Ahurole, Agwoturumbe, and other characters in his ace novel.

By the time I finally met him and asked about what became of them, his response was unequivocal. “The story ended there but your imagination can take it where you wish,” he said with a sly smile. Some lessons from my few encounters with him have and will continue to shape my personality.

BE CHARITABLE

First, be charitable and munificent. He was one of a kind in the community and perhaps in today’s society in this regard. If there was a single file of the people he had supported financially in one way or the other, I wouldn’t place a bet against the queue reaching Port Harcourt from his residence in Omigwe Alu. He had financially supported almost every single NYSC project within the community secondary school and community at large.

When I came up with a plan to construct a water system toilet facility (which the school lacked) within the community secondary school’s premises as my NYSC community development project, he was recommended by everyone I spoke with. On my first few visits, he had refused to commit and urged me to start the project first and at least bring pictures of my foundation to him. This challenged me and I rallied round to achieve it.

After several months of extensive laborious work and suffering, I arrived at his residence with pictures of not just the foundation but the project at window level (at some sections). Unfortunately, he urged me to keep trying as it was September and his charges were returning to the university at a high financial commitment. I felt forlorn but I persevered, knowing that I would never quit. I made a breakthrough in November 2010 when he gave me the first of his three outlays after seeing other pictures and the progress of the project.

The most remarkable of my visits was at 9:50am on the 1st of January 2011 (New Year’s Day) in my NYSC uniform. He was at his table on the same routine. “Ahh, Copa,” he yelled. “You didn’t travel to celebrate New Year with your family”?

“My closest family at the moment, sir, is out there in the community school in need of a roof… time has been hostile to me sir,” I responded.

“Well, don’t even bother to ask,” he added. “Besides, would you want to come and celebrate with us later in the afternoon?”

He made a beeline for his bedroom and gave me the money that I used to purchase roofing sheets for the toilet. I couldn’t afford to hire a professional carpenter so I roofed the building myself, being a grandson of a Lagos carpenter.

BE DISCIPLINED

Sir Elechi Amadi was always at his desk at 10am whenever he was at his residence in Aluu. Perhaps he got up much earlier but I always met him at his desk at 10am, thereabouts. This was a routine that inspired me to develop a strict routine that has remained with me ever since. My project in the community required a lot of discipline and dedication and he was always an inspiration in this regard. I reckoned that if a successful septuagenarian could still be driven to get up daily and work at the table that early, what excuse did I have as a young man chasing my dreams?

BE CREATIVE AND PERSUASIVE

I could remember dashing to his house when I was about to begin my project in anticipation of a pay-cheque that would cover my project. He was smart and did not commit. He made it clear that my project was outstanding and timely but that the cost might be a challenge. He had supported almost every single project in the school until then, but mine, he feared was quite enormous. After about four visits, he made it clear that I had to show some commitment first/

“You have to begin this project first, and bring the pictures for me to see. Even if it is just the foundation,” he had said. At that moment I knew that he felt it was a good idea but he had fears about its practicability. Did I possess the requisite grit and determination to make my ideas come to fruition?

BE HUMBLE AND DOWN-TO-EARTH

He had an open-door policy. On my first visit to his residence, I had anticipated that I would be subjected to numerous security checks as he was not only the most illustrious son of the community but formerly a permanent secretary (1973-83), commissioner for education (1987-88), commissioner for lands and housing (1989-90), and at the time, the sitting director of the state’s scholarship board.

This was undeniably a recipe for most Nigerians to ostracise themselves from the common people through fully armed guards and hallelujah-defying fences that dwarfed Jericho’s walls. His door was always open and there was never a security personnel at his gate which was always wide open despite the spate of kidnappings and insecurity that had gripped the state at the time. His resolve was undeterred even when he was abducted by gunmen from his residence in January 2009. The only security between myself and him on my first visit was his sitting room door which was always unbolted while he sat at his desk.

WORK SMART

Those who work hard go far; those who work smart go farther’!!! I had struggled to make any significant headway in my project as I was expecting a mega sponsorship from politicians or some affluent community members. Failure at achieving this had left me in despair and on the verge of throwing in the towel. A visit to his residence, a 20-minute tête-à-tête with the sage and I was booming with a newfound zeal, raring to run through a wall, but with an ingenuity which made me realise that I needn’t expend my zeal in that manner. Inter alia, in the following statement, he displayed his witticism:

..my friend, don’t expect people to give you a house. Not that they don’t want to help but they may want to take the glory or may even lack one themselves. Be smart; take a window from this person, a door from that one, some planks from the chief down the road, some blocks from the block industry owner, roofing sheets in pieces; before you know it, you have a house – Sir Elechi Amadi.

Words fail me in expressing my gratitude to this rare icon. Under his mentoring and support, I was able to implement ideas that almost everyone considered as unattainable. This community development project won me several awards, including the Rivers State NYSC Award for Excellence and ultimately, the much-coveted Presidential Honours NYSC Award 2011.

He was one of the most significant pieces of my jigsaw and I will remain forever grateful. The elation on his face when I returned to his residence in December 2011 with the news that I had just won the Presidential Honours award was indescribable. As if his contribution to my project had not been enough, he made another beeline to his bedroom and gave me some money to cover my transportation back to Lagos. He might have departed the shores of this world ‘physically’, Sir Elechi Amadi has defied mortality as his voice, compassion and creative genius are indelibly emblazoned on the tablet of our hearts through his works and exemplary deeds.