EMEKA ALEX DURU peeps into the life of Elewachi Ebere, Lawyer, Chartered Surveyor and retired Federal Registrar of Deeds, who celebrates his 80th birthday today.
His birth on December 4, 1934, evoked some sentiments in the family. Being the first child of the parents, his arrival naturally called for ululation. But four days or there about, he did not let out cry – a sign of normal human being. Apprehension then set in. Would he live or die? That was the question. And nobody knew the answer, except God. Hence the parents named him Elewachi (Looking up to God).
Today, 80 years after, Elewachi Ejughanya Ebere, a Lawyer, Estate Surveyor and Valuer, believes that his father, Ebere Ejughanya Achilefu (a.k.a Samuel Achilefu) and mother, Nwanganga Nwachukwu (a.k.a Martha Samuel), could not have given him a better name. He indeed, lives his name; a reason perhaps, he looks up to God at all turns in his life, emerging victorious at all times, almost.
In the Civil Service where he had a glorious career for instance, he entered from the lower cadre, rose through the ranks until his retirement as Registrar, Federal Lands Registry in March, 1996. Elewachi is also a Clergy, in fact, an Elder of the United Evangelical Church Orile, Lagos.
His bread, has incidentally, not been buttered by godfathers, but on account of hard work and sheer grace of God. Like his mates he had set off for primary education at his Aba-Ala village, until June 1949 when he moved to Aba (Wilcox memorial School) from there he entered Qua Iboe Mission Secondary School Etinan in 1952. He took the West African School Certificate Examination (University of Cambridge) in 1956. He passed in Division One and won the college prize as the best student in the college for the WAEC exam. He was subsequently enrolled as a Clerk in the Ministry of Labour, Enugu.
Thereafter, he entered the Enugu Branch of the former Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology (NIGERCOL) for the intermediate arts course. He was awarded Federal Government Scholarship on merit to study Estate Management. This course which started in NIGERCOL Enugu was concluded in Nottingham, England in 1966.
His stay in England marked a turning point in his life. There, the young Elewachi saw a different climate and different culture. What was the experience like living in England? Was he discriminated against? He chose his words carefully, avoiding the use of the word discrimination. “I would not subscribe to being discriminated in Nottingham. It is not fair to use the word discrimination”, he said, preferring rather to say that the people “understood themselves”.
He however had experiences as other non-natives where he was subtly denied certain opportunities without official prescriptions. For instance, on occasions when he was looking for accommodation outside the campus, he had come across situations where apartments that were listed for lease, had been politely denied him. There was also an incident of his supervisor in an estate management firm in Nottingham, who, while doing him an introductory letter, carefully couched it to indicate that he was in England for studies – perhaps, a reminder that he should finish his academic programme and head back to his home country. Faced with the reality of the moment, he had taken the experiences in their stride, not wanting to be distracted. Aside these incidences of subtle prejudice at him, Ebere had a swell time in England.
It was there, for instance, that he applied for a Law Degree at the University of London, combining it with his Estate Management programme. But why going in for Law, even with a promising career in Estate Management? Ebere’s response, which ordinarily, would appear shocking, incidentally gave insight into a mind that had profound degree of self-confidence; an “I can do it attitude” sort of. He said that he discovered that direct professional courses were not highly rated as degree courses.
“They felt that if you have brains, you should do a degree course”, he recalled. Somehow, also, he had done similar course in his early years in Estate Management.
Propelled by that determination, by 1966, Ebere had done his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree. But then, there was a twist on the flourishing programme. The January coup of the year (1966), affected his scholarship; his allowance was stopped.
The blow, incidentally came when he had almost completed his course. The option was to head home. But he could not return because of the crisis in the land. To keep body and soul together, as they would say, the young man looked for job in England. He got some offers but then, the mind was already geared towards the fatherland and he became eager to leave.
Ebere eventually returned to Nigeria when the civil war was looming, having tried to get fully integrated into the British system. He was interviewed and employed in Eastern Nigeria.
But that changed the story. Many individuals and groups had different experiences and stories of the war and its aftermath. For some, it was a tale of anguish. For some, it ushered in opportunities, merited or contrived. While to some, cessation of field hostilities, turned out a moment of displacement and presented unenviable task of starting afresh, their previous input, notwithstanding.
Ebere, in a way, fell into the latter category. His employment was not validated at the end of the war. Faced between starvation and survival, he chose the latter and headed for Kano, for a contract job with Kano State government.
The job and his sojourn in Kano, presented some challenges, given for instance, that he was operating in an environment that he was basically a “foreigner”, considering the fresh experiences of the war. But he trudged on.
While in the service, he established the Kano State Valuation in the State Ministry of Works and Survey. This employment was a sort of relief and rehabilitation after the civil war.
In 1973, the part he played in the valuation of the assets of the Northern Nigeria livestock and meat authority earned him the written commendation of Alhaji (Justice) Mamman Nasir the then Chairman of Northern Nigeria Interim Common Services Agency.
The Kano employment lasted from December 1970 to November 1974 when he rejoined the Federal Civil Service as a senior lands officer.
In between the time, he was called to the Nigerian Bar as a solicitor and an advocate of the Supreme Court in July 1982 by the Council of Legal Education.
In May1986 he was posted to Owerri as the Federal Controller of Works and Housing, a position he held until the end of 1989 when he was reposted to Lagos. He grew through the ranks and in July 1994 he was appointed the Federal Registrar of Deeds in the same Federal Lands Department to re-establish the Federal Lands Registry. This he did creditably until he retired in March 1996.
With a fulfilling career and gratifying retirement, Ebere should be happy. Indeed, he is. At peace with self for dedicated service to his country and in comfort of a co-operating family he put together with his dutiful wife, Onyedinma, he couldn’t have asked for more. And he shouldn’t.
To add it up, the union is blessed with four wonderful children – Nwanganga, a banking and accountancy professional; Ugonma a business administration and accountancy graduate; Ulonnam , an engineer, and Iwueze, a lawyer. There are also grandchildren. He is thus, a happy man.
But he has his regrets with the tide of events in the Nigerian system that is gradually but steadily drifting on matters of morality and merit. Recalling how he earned his scholarship on merit and the near absence of such opportunities in the country these days, he shook his head in despair. “Morality is fast going; merit is fast going. These days, it is more of who do you know. This is not healthy for our system. No society grows like that”, he lamented. His recommendation in reversing the ugly trend, is a conscious return to the days, when honour and integrity mattered most.
He also regrets not practicing Law fully as he had planned. Finance was one of the limiting factors, as valuation contracts he had expected to be getting while out of service did not come as he had hoped.
Perhaps on account of his insistence on established principles, it was difficult for Ebere to practice in a system he later found himself. He actually opened a Chamber in Satellite Town area of Lagos but in his words; “the office did not work”. He did not say much on why the office did not work, except that he discovered that he was in midst of sharks. “I had to run away,” he stressed.
He has since dedicated himself to the service of God in various ways. The result, our reporter inquired. “Peace of mind”, he enthused. He really has that peace as he celebrates his 80th year on earth today, with his wife, children and grandchildren surrounding his table.
