“Umu Government School eje la atulu ugha. Hafu ha. Ashi m gi Umu Government School eje la atulu ugha.” (Government School kids don’t tell lies. Let them be. I say, Government School kids don’t tell lies).
It suddenly dawned on me that this was about us. I turned to look at Dike Ugwu. His mouth was half open. Knowing Dike, he was about to say something. It would not be far from telling the speaker that what he said was not correct. He would even tell him that just that day he had heard more than eleven lies from students back in the dormitory. Yes, my expression was pure disbelief but the look on my face warned Dike. The words were caught in his mouth. Instead, his right hand went up and covered his mouth as he looked away. He was still caught between countering the store owner and laughing out deeply.
We were in what was then Owerri main market. It was 1975. We had bought some books and stopped by another store to buy toothpaste and body cream. The book seller had come to the store to tell us we did not pay for his ball point pen. We told him we changed our mind and kept the pen back in the box. I oXered him my bag to go through and satisfy himself. When he made to look into my bag, the grocery storekeeper rebuked him and told him Government School students don’t lie.
A few days letter, I had gone to the residence of my guardian, a lecturer in Alvan Ikoku College of Education. His wife proudly introduced me to the couple visiting them that I was a student at Government Secondary school even though we were Owerri High School.
Coming from Enugu, I had simply filled Owerri as one of the schools as required in my Common Entrance Examination. I had no expectations or opinion. But I was struck by the perception of residents of Owerri of us. First the trader in the market and now my guardian. Even many more people. Those words, that impression, that gentle feeling of fondness for Government Secondary School remain part of my abiding memory of my stay in Owerri.
Ikenga O! Ikenga O!! Ikenga!!!.
What am I seeing that I have never seen before.
Chukwu ekwe kwa na
Those were the opening lines of the play: HER VOICE STILL SPEAKS.
That was the voice of Mama Ikenga who was searching for her stubborn and wayward son.
Ogwo Ogbonnaya was walking past New House, my dormitory. “Ogwo please”, I shouted to say hello. “I have been meaning to speak to you, Ikenga” Ogwo said. I asked to be given a minute. I ran out of New House and joined him. This was 1976 and I was in Class Two. My first term.
“I would like you to join our drama society” he told me as we walked towards Owerri House, his dormitory. What we knew as the play group was The Ogssian Play Group whose membership consisted of junior and senior students. But Ogwo was talking about JDS, The junior Dramatic Society. Ogwo was in form Three. As a junior student, it was going to be a struggle for him to get a key part in Ogssian Play Group. Ogwo wanted a big role. He and a group of his friends had formed a new dramatic society JDS. As one could tell from the name, it was for students in Classes one to three. I accepted the invitation.
I attended the audition and got the role of Mama Ikenga.
We toured schools presenting our play: HER VOICE STILL SPEAKS written by our then School Captain Nwokafor Michael.
Secondary school drama groups help students develop acting skills, confidence and stage presence. Drama clubs help students improve their communication skills, learn to articulate movement and communicate messages eXectively. Group members build teamwork skills learning to work together in an ensemble. In addition, Secondary school drama groups help students develop empathy by understanding diXerent characters, roles and subtexts. They also provide opportunities for students to perform in front of audiences in their schools and other schools.
As a young and junior student at Government Secondary School Owerri, Junior Dramatic Society, JDS took me to places I had not imagined. The experience and more importantly building my mental strength. From the emergency dining hall stage of Federal Government Girls College Owerri to Ihioma Girls and even Anambra State.
Junior Dramatic Society took me farther than my feet could ever have wandered. Junior dramatic society was not only about stage performance and productions. We had to do backstage work learning light and sound management skills including making our own props. We even taught ourselves playwriting, learning to write and perform drama pieces. We also taught ourselves movement, nuances and even the use of gestures.
The business of our theatre involved managing the financial aspects of stage productions, marketing and management. We needed to manage schedules, arrange rehearsals and keep our members focused. As secondary students, the management and production of our play could be very challenging. What we achieved showed we navigated it successfully. Clearly, it required a mix of creativity, pragmatism and determination.
We were a bunch of 11 to 14-year-olds. We took our production to many girls’ schools. To perform, we had to first market to their principals. We had to make many trips to each school to persuade the principals to allow us to perform for their students after dinner on Fridays and Saturdays. To persuade each principal required a great deal of determination. I do not recall any school where their principal declined our proposal to stage our play for the students. Sometimes we travelled with our School Society Master.
Most times we travelled by ourselves in the school kombi bus. Many nights we arrived back to our School at 1 am. Looking back, I do not remember if we ever paused to think about the risks. Maybe we were unaware of the danger of travelling at night. Maybe, we were not concerned about it. Also, maybe the roads were just safer. We read novels. And we read comics. Some novels were bought from bookstores in the market. We bought comics from a seller outside the then Post OXice. But most novels and comics were brought to school by students from diXerent sources. We could give anything to borrow novels and comics from friends including giving up your school meal. This happened quite often. I became a source for novels. The truth was that I became good at making friends with many boys who had access to novels and comics in Government Secondary School and in town. It is funny that I developed a strong network just for novels and comics. Some of my warm childhood and schoolboy memories were within the pages of books and those novels. Indeed, those novels helped foster my imagination. Even as a child, books transported me to other worlds.
Early, I considered building companies because I read about it in novels including those written by Harold Robbins. My life in Owerri was not only about drama and novels. Consistently, I remained top of my Class E from Form One until Form Five.
As we sit here, memory takes us back to 1980. We had written our West African School Certificate in June. Hopes were high. The preceding year, while we were in form four, there was a student riot in our school. Something of a surprise. We were too disciplined. Neighbouring schools could engage in public disturbance but not Owerri boys. It was totally unexpected. Consequently, form five, Lower and Upper Six students were expelled from the dormitories. There were stripped of responsibilities even as day students. Overnight, the task of running the school fell on us. We were left in charge. We became prefects while we were in Form Four. We sympathised with our seniors outwardly. Knowing the dynamics and ever-present power play amongst senior students where Form Four students where the class One of the senior section we cherished the opportunity to exercise authority over them. It was a great time to be a Class Four Boy.
We were the last set to write the East Central State Common Entrance Examination in 1975. In 1976, shortly after we arrived Owerri, Imo State was created and Owerri made the capital. Now we were running the school while in Class Four. We believed we were the chosen ones. We were flying high. We thought we owned the world. We were invincible.
What started as a rumour then turned into a reality. Cancellations. West African Examination Council WAEC had cancelled many of our 1980 school certificate examination subjects including English language. Who could ever believe it. Champions in Owerri, masters in Imo State. This was not how we planned to exit the school. This was not how we planned the curtain call. We were looking forward to a triumphant departure. Not this sunset at dawn.
I heard the news though while I was at home during the holiday. I travelled to Owerri to see for myself. It was real. About five papers including English language were cancelled. Where do we go from here, I wondered. Where does the road lead to?
As I walked through the gate out of the school compound, I never felt so alone. So, this was it. We were not untouchable. There went my dream of going into university straight from my class Five. I was at sixes and sevens. However, even in the dark of it all, I felt a fleeting thought that maybe this setback was good. Maybe it was going to make my father put less pressure on me to study medicine.
I wonder if we ever pause to think about the science of eureka moments. Do you create the light bulb moment, that sudden insight or does it just chance on you. I was alighting from my motorbike in front of Eastern shop, a supermarket on university road, Nsukka when that song came over from the nearby record store. I liked that song. It was one of my favourite songs. But not at that moment. And not on that day. That song was “Theme from Mahogany (Do you know where you are going to?)” by Diana Ross. The song had lyrics like: Do you know where you are going to? Do you like the things that life is showing you? Do you get what you are hoping for, when you look behind you, there are no open doors. For me, when I looked ahead all the doors seemed shut.
Diana was singing my life at that moment with her song. I wished the song would go away but it went on, asking questions that were haunting me at that point in my student life. Each lyric hit me with the force of a boulder rolling down the hills of Nsukka. That year was 1985. I was an undergraduate studying Industrial Chemistry at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Graduation was not too far away but I was not sure what I was going to do with a degree in Industrial Chemistry. Truth was, I did not find the course challenging and exciting. I was simply going to the lectures and the laboratory practicals without genuine enthusiasm.
Professor Patel, one of my lecturers pulled up beside me in his car. As he came out of the vehicle, I went up to him and greeted him. I walked with him to the supermarket. He made to pick up a shopping basket, but I reached it before him and told him I would carry the basket while he did his shopping. Walking ahead of me, Professor Patel began to explain to me how the products on the shelves were the outcome of research and development. He related what he taught me in class about product development to the items I saw on the shelves. He also explained how these products were manufactured with reactors and equipment in his Chemical process technology and design courses.
That day, it all came together. My tomorrow was clear in my head. Chemistry is life. I was going to focus on the commercial application of chemistry. I was going to build businesses manufacturing products using my knowledge of chemistry and research. As I left the supermarket later that day, I knew I could confidently respond to Diana Ross If I heard her song “Do you know where you are going to?” again. This was because I certainly knew.
Chemistry began to make more sense to me. It held a new meaning. I began to take my classes serious and my laboratory work even more serious. My final year research project became more exciting as I sought to make adipic acid by catalytic oxidation of cyclohexanone while peeping into the manufacture of a cosmetic product from local ingredients. The cancellation of our school certificate examination was in 1980. I could not take up my offer of university admission that year. I went into university in 1981, the following year. Ordinarily, the one year stay at home while my neighbours were in university should have seemed like hell. Yes, the day of the cancellation seemed like the darkest day of my life and the tomorrow held no clear promise because we did not have the opportunity to re-sit the examination in Owerri, my father was shocked to realize that I just shrugged my shoulder. He realized and I became aware too, that I left Government Secondary School Owerri with my most important attitude: a belief in myself.
I must confess that as a youngster I was frightened by the way I carried on as if the cancellation was not even a setback. Maybe it was the five years I spent at Government Secondary School Owerri. Maybe the time there had left me with a set of beliefs that shaped how I make sense of the world and myself. This has influenced how I think, feel and behave in any given situation. Perhaps, I was telling myself that one unfortunate event was not going to stop me. That I was going to build the man I would be.
Government Secondary School prepared me for university. In Owerri I had improved some skills that helped me immeasurably in university. These included problem-solving skills, communication skills, social skills and relationship building skills. I found myself strengthening some other traits that would help me immensely in later life. These included keeping my word. I knew early that it was about my behaviour, what I say, how I say it and when. My attitude, my behaviour and actions combined were going to help me in my journey through university. In summary, Owerri gave me the confidence to engage in a bigger world.
At Nsukka, Government Secondary School Owerri was a known brand. It gave you a social pass. There was the brotherhood of the three government secondary schools of Umuahia, Owerri and Afikpo to leverage on. There were many student old boys and staff. Life was good because of where I come from. Reading many biographies today, many business leaders and entrepreneurs had ventured into various mercantile endeavours as kids. I did not do any of that. I was not interested in doing any. I seemed just interested in having a good time and being a man in learning and character. However, Junior Dramatic Society had a massive influence and impact on me. Young as we were, we produced and staged our play. We marketed it and kept the audience excited. That experience thought me that I could learn and do anything I wanted. It made me develop a mindset of everything is possible. My mind was made up early. Anything I studied would take me to corporate Nigeria. I saw chemistry as not just a course but a path to that corporate environment. I always kept this perspective in mind to help me transition from a chemist to a business owner.
I defended my university project. My external examiner seemed very pleased with my work. I learnt he went through my examination papers. He particularly liked my general paper on the commercial application of chemistry in Nigeria. He offered me a place in the Masters programme in his school, University of Benin. He also offered to get me a scholarship. He was very surprised that I thanked him but declined. When he asked why, I told him I was going to build a business- the commercial application of what I studied, Industrial Chemistry. If he had asked further what made me so confident I would have told him Junior Dramatic Society. I had been part of something successful as a kid. I would have also told him I was certain I would do even more on a bigger scale, in a bigger world. That I was confident because of where I come from.
My National Youth service was in Rivers State. Working in the Oil Industry was the dream of many graduates. I was not interested. My father suggested working first before striking out on my own. At the end of my national service, I moved to Lagos. Banking was becoming a popular career. I never bothered to apply. I was looking for a Sales job in the chemical industry. That was even scarce. While I waited, I was happy to accept a role as an afterschool home teacher. I took that job over a better opportunity for a reason that might have been silly. The home had a big library. The attraction of being lost in those books swung my decision. Also, I could have time to engage in my favourite pastime – mind wandering or daydreaming.
My job finally came. It was two years later. The position was a Sales Representative in Ibafon Chemicals, a joint venture company owned with Dow Chemical, the second largest chemical company in the world. Now I was a chemical Salesman with a brandnew Peugeot 504 salon car. My lines were aligning. I was not interested in sales because of passion. I felt it was what I was good at and more importantly what I needed to do before I set up my business. I realized even while I was in Owerri that I was good at solving problems, building relationships, listening and communicating. These were skills useful in selling. I was merely focusing on what I was good at and what would lead me to where I wanted to go to. Some people talk about following your passion. I prefer following my talent and being passionate about it.
I believe I was passionate about my job. Very passionate. I invested all my time. All my waking hours were invested in my Sales job. Even my pastime, daydreaming was all about my job and imagining success. I won awards in my company. I travelled round the country finding and developing customers. I built relationships and became trusted. I solved the problems of my customers and won businesses for my employer. They said I was ethical. Yes I was, because of where I was educated. Because of where I come from. Because of my school anthem which remains my lighthouse and my guide.
I like talking about my five years in Ibachem. I learnt that you should find a problem people face and create a solution. If you do that people will beat a path to your door and in great numbers too. I love to solve important problems for my customers. To have the imagination to see what competitors don’t, the happiness to serve them and the ability to act before anyone else.
I gave my customers good experience and good service to create what I always call “Forget Me Not”. I create unforgettable moments for my customers. I didn’t care about being the first, I just want to be the best. I didn’t find pleasing customers difficult to do. As 11–14-year-old students we were travelling to schools as Junior Dramatic Society presenting our stage play to entertain.
We were making sure that our audiences were happy and got value for what they paid for. Now in employment, I spent a large part of my salary to develop myself and improve my work without asking my company to refund me.
I remember clearly with great amusement the day I was interviewed for this job. Towards the end of the interview, I was asked how much I wanted to earn. A question I had not given a thought to.” Pay me whatever you like” was my enthusiastic response. “It does not work that way in our organisation” they replied. We have to negotiate a pay.”
Negotiate? I retorted in my mind and laughed inside. These interviewers did not know I was ready to take this job without a pay. No! I would even pay the company to hire me. I came here to learn. Not to earn. This was my post-grad education. I wanted to serve first. To give before receiving. A career in sales required a lot of discipline. Discipline in managing your time and discipline to manage a good reputation. Because I was always helpful to customers and prospects, because I was solving problems that were outside my remit, giving of my knowledge, time and resources without asking for anything in return, I developed a network of relationships that would prove crucial when I left to start my own company.
Towards the end of 1995, I resigned my appointment. I was going to start my own chemical company, though I had no capital. I was making a voluntary pension contribution in my company. I had some entitlements. I did not apply to receive them. I just walked away leaving them behind. My friends wondered how I was going to fund my new company. I built contacts, I had credibility, I had market knowledge, and I knew the pain points of the market. I knew buyers and I knew sellers. I had created a network, my own ecosystem. My credibility and the network of sellers and buyers I had cultivated were my capital. Sellers trusted me enough to give me credit and buyers were even more willing to pay me upfront. My big lesson at that point was that credibility and trust were just as important as financial capital. Going forward, these would be my leverage.
In 1994 while still working for Ibachem, my General Manager had asked me to help Wilbros Nigeria Limited source for some chemicals they needed that we were not selling. I found the chemicals and even saved them a large amount of money. They offered me the money that I saved them. I declined. I was only directed to help them which I did. For me helping them and saving them money did not mean I was entitled to any payment. I thanked their General Manager and walked out of their office. There was no way I was going to take any money from them because of my upbringing and because of where I come from. Their Nigerian staff watched me walk away in disbelief. One ran after me. He stopped me and told me I was stupid. I thanked him. I told him not to worry that I had done more stupid things in my life.
In 1996, few months after I left Ibachem to start my own company, that General Manager of Wilbros sought me out to help them find and supply them some chemicals. He wanted me to name my price. My profit from the transaction was very significant. Now that I was working for myself I could monetize my services. Today my company, Eunisell designs, manufactures and markets chemicals that find application in manufacturing, oil and gas and several other industries.
While I was at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka studying Industrial Chemistry, I took an interest in the chemistry of plant-based ingredients. In 1997, I noticed that Nigerian women living in Nigeria were plagued by hair challenges including hair breakage, dryness, slow growth and scalp itch. I knew that chemistry, using plant-based ingredients could provide the solution.
Further research confirmed that our women’s hair was directly aXected by our climate and diet. I observed that the unique texture of our Nigerian hair made it drier requiring a constant balance of moisturising and conditioning. This realization gave rise to the creation of the hair care brand Natures Gentle Touch in 1997.
I noticed a hair care problem and I developed a Nigerian solution, Natures Gentle Touch There were many products in the market, particularly imported foreign brands. We did not compete with them. We simply created a new market category providing solutions for Nigerian women living in Nigeria.
While these imported brands expected our women to be like their home country consumers, we empowered Nigerian women to express their own sense of personal style. We provided Nigerian women with a new set of values- diXerent to what the imported brands were touting. We used our brand as a social vehicle, empowering women to express themselves and their individuality. We oXered a way to self-discovery. We also took ownership of being proud to be Nigerian and created a new generation of young customers who used their hair to project who they are and to reflect their unique sense of style and origin. We had a created a new niche that we owned. To the Nigerian woman, Natures Gentle Touch became a statement of individuality, youth and personal pride. With more than forty-five products in our portfolio, we have solved the broad spectrum of problems that Nigerian women face, with additional innovations on the way.
In 2003, We took our business international and acquired another hair care brand in South Africa. In all these, through my journey and along the way, Government Secondary School, Owerri has been my lighthouse. From my attitude to my behaviour and my actions, all coming together to give me my personality, the common thread has been good OGSS.
I have faced many challenges along the way. I have run into circumstances where compromise seemed the only way forward or out. Each time I have chosen the more difficult and the less travelled road because of where I come from, to do or to die for the right. Even though life is full of twists and turns, because of where I come from, I always chose to do the right thing in a Nigeria where wrong is celebrated. Because of where I come from, my only choice is to do the right thing because it is always the right to do.
The cancellation of our School Certificate examination was heart breaking. It changed the course of life of many of us. Perhaps it created some disenchantment and some distance. We still have not forgotten where we come from. Our gathering today, in fellowship and friendship of classmates is to celebrate our past and honour you, Dear Owerri. Personally, I have come back home to thank you Government Secondary School. I came here as an eleven your old kid but left as a teenager with confidence and reassurance built by Junior Dramatic Society that I could succeed in anything and anywhere.
Yes, the 1980 cancellation created a deep sorrow and hopelessness. Dear Owerri, the memories of the five years you gave me made that life worth living. Even though I have been away for so long and no matter how much I may pretend, the truth is, I have missed you, My dear Owerri. You gave me five years of education, years of moments and memories that remain forever in my heart. My dreams were made here even if I found my miracles somewhere else. I am back home because I remember where I come from.
Yesterday, I walked into Everyday supermarket in Owerri. I also visited Payless and a couple of other supermarkets. I saw displayed on the shelves my personal care brand Natures Gentle Touch. I smiled. It was one of my proudest moments. I have made it back home to Owerri. Dear Government Secondary School, your little form one student who was buying Vaseline in Owerri main market in 1975 has put his brand on the shelves of the big stores and supermarkets in Owerri. I went into the car and as the driver drove off, I closed my eyes and pumped my fist in the air. This is it. I was back to where it all started. The lines came rushing: “This is the child of my brain. The product of my endeavour…” From James Henshaw, This Is Our Chance. This time it did not come from the herbs in my village but from the chemistry that I first learnt in Owerri.
Dear old GSS, I am back. Even after the setback of 1980, you remained my inspiration and my light, your anthem my guide.
Dear GSSO, as a class set, we are back here today to honour you and to remind you that we still love you.
Thank you and God bless Government Secondary School, Owerri.
A speech presented at the 50th Anniversary reunion of the Class of 1975, Government Secondary School, Owerri. By Chika Ikenga, currently Chairman of Eunisell Group.
Chika Ikenga Chairman of Eunisell Group.
