NTYR: Nigerias future is 2019 Onyeizu
News & Trends •
by edith ike-eboh6 one must persist in the present only then will what we seek to achieve tomorrow happen1 truly in most countries of the world the youths are gradually becoming presidents members of legislative houses and cabinet ministers among others1 however in nigeria prior to the signing into law of the not too young to run ntyr act the hope of any young man aspiring to the leadership position in the countrys polity was a herculean task1 of the few young persons who managed to grab political positions majority of them were either children of renowned politicians sponsored by a god-father who is an elder or very loyal to an older politician1 this however does not include the few that genuinely got the position because of their qualification professional expertise and character1 in nigeria presently the least average age of people in political positions is 50 years1 today not content anymore with the way things are going many young people appear to have become tired realizing that they have only been tools to attain power many young nigerians are readying to challenge the older politicians at the poll1 tired of waiting for a future that never comes they have decided to seek elective office in 20191 there are those whose only claim to seeking office is their age. entitled they feel since they are young and having been promised leadership positions for many years then they should be given the chance to run for office freely1 however oneman chinedu onyeizu does not feel he belong to the above category and is determied that even without the ntyr he can join the race1 i know it will not be easy he said. as a matter of fact i do not expect it to be easy but the time to act is now. the older politicians have failed us we cannot keep sitting on the sidelines and be tools for their continuous hold on power1 but then when you follow his lifes trajectory from such tough beginnings how he finished secondary school with distinctions and graduated from the federal university of technology in owerri where he studied petroleum engineering it becomes clearer the kind of person chinedu is the kind that can surmount such modest beginnings and turn it into one great success story1 when nigeria holds its next national election in 2019 chinedu onyeizu is hoping to represent the people of abia south at the senate1 since his nysc years in bayelsa state in 2003 where his empathy for the poor and less privileged led to a humanitarian work that helped restore the sight of over 67 cataract-blind bayelsans its been one success story to another1 his desire to help the over 67 blind bayelsans began with a relationship with a 75-year-old blind man. normally many nysc members before him would take the easier paths and do projects that didnt require much effort but not chinedu1 to restore the sight of the people of his host community meant he had to invite specialists from foreign countries1 luckily he found an organization that does it free in the uk. but he needed the state governments involvement to help out with their transportation within the state and to ensure their safety in a region where militants are known to kidnap foreign nationals for ransom1 from this point it became a slippery slope of challenges. government officials that normally should be excited became stumbling blocks with almost everyone wanting something in return before they could offer any assistance1 helping to restore the sight of those blind bayelsans taught me something very important. i learned doggedness and that when you want something if you persevere you will eventually get what you want chinedu said1 having been stonewalled by difficult government officials and feeling frustrated chinedu kept pushing. his persistence eventually paid off on the last day when the specialists arrived at the port harcourt international airport and were on their way to bayelsa1 someone linked him with former nigerias president goodluck jonathan who was at the time the deputy governor of bayelsa. jonathan granted his request for transportation and security. the rest is history1 for several years the world over youths have been consistently referred to as the leaders of tomorrow giving hope to young people that one day they would be at the helms of affairs of their various countries1 during this period he developed a method to convert flared natural gas to hydrate balls and also proposed an innovative means of transporting the gas balls to shore for re-gasification and electricity generation1 it is no surprise that in 2006 he went on to win the best young engineer in west africa award for developing a geospatial model for oil spill tracking in nigerias oil-rich niger-delta region1 the award was given by uk based pennwell petroleum group organizers of the offshore west africa conference1 in 2007 chinedu joined chevron nigeria as a petroleum engineer and during his time there he worked in eight upstream petroleum asset development units and led many multi-functional teams across the globe1 he was also assigned to manage several multi-million dollar projects for the organization and in 2012 he was selected to represent chevrons mid-africa business units in louisiana usa gulf of mexico to lead her upstream workflow transformation project1 nine years after joining chevron in 2016 and in an act of selfless service to nigeria chinedu left the high paying job to search for a permanent solution to nigerias frequent fuel scarcity and distribution problem1 this drive to help solve one of the countrys pertinent economic challenges led him to mit where he was selected as a sloan fellow and in his research again suggested actionable recommendations that could solve nigerias fuel distribution problems1 his recommendations was published on the july 2017 edition of mits expert blog and passed on to the government for consideration1 the next year in 2017 chinedu co-founded an africa focused think tank and strategy consulting group called afri-pera. the company works with national and regional governments in africa to solve their policy and development challenges1 these days he spends his time on the board of rhino group of companies and the chinedu onyeizu foundation cof while remaining an active member of the international society of petroleum engineers and represents chevron on the global production and operations award committee of the organization1 you will agree that all these are no easy feat for a small-town aba boy whose early education was under mango trees1 onyeizu is not only young more importantly he is vibrant and a good replacement to the current old recycled politician whose track record at the senate has been poor selfish representation1 from his humble beginnings in the village of abayi umuocham chinedu onyeizu has shown that with persistence and an understanding of urgency anyone can be anything they set their mind to1 he said there is no greater achievement to giving back to an aba that made me what i am today. i am proudly an aba boy. aba has given me so much and it is only proper that i give back1 also his campaign manager and long-time friend mr. ojo maduekwe maintained that listening to onyeizu one gets the feeling of a man whos had to surmount challenges in all that hes achieved in life beginning from his early school years in nigeria1 according to maduekwe this culminated in him going abroad to further his education in some of the best higher institutions in the world such as the harvard kennedy school heriot-watt university and the massachusetts institute of technology mit1 he said born and raised in aba abia state chinedu began his education in a village primary school at abayi umuocham. when he told me during our conversation that they were taught only mathematics and english and that classes were held under mango trees it sounded like something made out of folklore1 absolutely not this is not those tales by moonlight kind of stories this is real. i schooled in the village and we had our classes under mango trees. this is the kind of humble beginning that was my childhood he assured me chuckling1 as we rounded up the meeting chinedu seemed to remember something vital1 before i forget bayelsa also taught me something about urgency. the future might be tomorrow but the time to act is always now1 after nysc in 2004 chinedu joined the petroleum trust development fund ptdf gas research group as a research associate and for three years worked on innovative ways to harness nigerias deepwater stranded gas resources1