by Emmanuel Nwachukwu
As the winds of harmattan urshers us into the New Year, there are people who can look back and say another year of success has passed. Nigeria’s former minister of aviation, Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah, is one of them. And for a woman who ended the year 2014 celebrating achievements, the New Year for her comes with the hunger to achieve more.
But, with the rare gift of kick-starting the New Year with a birthday that comes in January, Oduah definitely has more to be thankful for.
During her time as a cabinet minister, Oduah inspired the nation with her candid work and hands-on approach to making the change she so passionately championed.
Yes, few public figures have caught the imagination of their people as Princess Oduah. She’s one woman who will be hard to forget by many Nigerians for her accomplishments and dogged fight she fought to bring out the aviation sector from the wood in the face of many challenges and adversaries.
An insight into the personality of this distinguished lady reveals a woman with inner strength of character and an achievement driven persona whose exceptional vision and charisma stand her out.
There is nothing like ‘it can’t be done’ in Oduah’s personal dictionary. She can dream big dreams, like many, yet the difference is that Oduah she also has the exceptional energy to bring such dreams to reality.
Born into royalty at the Eze’s palace in Ogbaru, Akili-Azizor Local Government Area of Anambra State exactly 53 years ago today, Adaeze, as she is fondly called, is a precocious person.
She enjoyed her royal environment while growing up, but she was also very adventurous. She wanted to know what lies in the world outside her immediate environment.
And soon enough she got her opportunity to explore further when she travelled to the United States for her higher education. There, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in accounting and thereafter, a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA).
Oduah returned to the country to offer her skills by joining the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
She rose to the position of a manager in the downstream subsidiary (PPMC) by 1990. In 1992, she took the very bold decision to leave the NNPC to set up her own oil marketing business.
Through dint of hard work and a dogged determination to succeed, her oil trading company which was worth only a few millions of naira in 1992 had ten years later grown into a multi-billion naira business.
This is a fitting tribute to Oduah’s vision and hard work. Having literally conquered the business world, Oduah was pulled by passionate desire to change her society, thus she yielded to the political turf. She joined the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
In 2011, she played a prominent role in the election campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan as Director of Finance and Administration. She led an innovative NGO called Neighbour-To-Neighbour, which mobilised grassroots support for the presidential campaign of Goodluck Jonathan. In the same year, following the President’s election victory, she was appointed the minister of aviation.
With her appointment this well-known amazon of business began to transform the Nigerian aviation sector to the delight of everyone. It was the kind of magic that the industry has not witnessed in the past 40 years and may be difficult to recreate that Oduah brought in to resuscitate a dying industry.
Undoubtedly, the true transformation promised by the Jonathan administration was brought to reality in the aviation sector by a very able lieutenant, Princess Oduah.
First, she launched an ambitious re-modelling /rehabilitation programme that would radically reverse 40 years of dilapidation, wanton neglect and decay that was impacting on the operations of airport terminals in the country.
No less than 22 federal airport terminals were involved in the remodelling and rehabilitation programme set in motion by Oduah. This is unprecedented! She started the Hajj/Pilgrims terminal reconstruction.
The difference made to our airports, as the saying goes,is as clear as bringing light into darkness.
Of course, Oduah was brave enough to stop the selfish cabal milking the aviation industry dry through lopsided revenue-collection contracts with the previous administration. For the first time, all the aviation agencies were transformed,
Through her bold, no-nonsense action, she sent this cabal packing and the country began to earn billions of naira from the aviation agencies.
Even while she was upgrading existing infrastructure, Oduah had a vision for the future of Nigerian aviation, prompting her to plan for the construction of five new world-class, state-of-the-art international airport terminals in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kaduna and Abuja, being built by the Chinese with completion deadline of 2016. She mainstreamed aviation into the Nigerian economy.
Nonetheless, Oduah did not forget her own root, the Ndigbo. As Aviation minister, she gave Ndigbo the first international airport since independence over 50 years ago –The Akanu Ibiam International Airport with the first international flight direct from Enugu which commenced in July of last year. Last month, cargo operations commenced at the airport.
She initiated the construction of the first-ever cargo terminals at Enugu and Owerri Airports to help create a new middle-class of wealthy farmers and fishermen in Igboland through access to global food export markets.
She established the first-ever Christian Pilgrims Terminal and VIP lounges in the South-east. She started the on-going construction of a new state –of-the-art, world-class, international airport terminal building at Enugu.
She provided employment for thousands of Nd’igbo sons and daughters, through her many initiatives.
To help the weak among your people she set up the Stella Oduah Foundation many years ago.
The foundation has empowered thousands of widows to cater for their families. It has built skills acquisition centres to train people in various trades. It has given micro-credit to many farmers and artisans to help grow their trades.
The foundation has also sponsored many Catholic and Anglican priests in order to assist them with the spiritual development of their communities.
Having done so much for the country and her people, it is no surprise that since she returned from her national assignment as a minister, the leaders and elders of her constituency, Anambra North have been calling on her to represent them in the Senate. Why? It is because they know that she is a performer. They know that she will fight for their interests. They know that she will keep her promises. They know that she will wipe away their tears and help solve their problems.
And after she accepted this challenge, she has made several heart-warming promises to the people of Anambra North. These promises include fighting for the gazetting of Anambra North as an Oil and Gas producing area, influence the construction of an international seaport at Onitsha and an inland dry container port. Of course, bringing a federal polytechnic and nursing/midwifery school to the area has been something has occupied her mind lately.
Adaezechukwu, We know you will do as you have promised. We know you will do more as our Senator!
Our Adaeze, Daalu, we congratulate you on your birthday and pray for God’s guidance and protection over you and your family. Amen!
Emmanuel Nwachukwu, a public affairs analysts writes from Onitsha.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
