Iheanacho Nwosu
At 55, Hon Dennis Agbo has every cause to celebrate and give thanks to God. In his words, “when I reckon with the various accomplishments God has graciously performed in me and through me, I feel like having lived three times over. He started as a highflying upwardly looking vibrant young man some years back as a banker.
Way back in 1989, young Agbo took employment with the defunct Afribank, where he began a career in banking. He spent only a year there before joining Zenith Bank and within the seven years, he rose to senior manager and pioneered the setting up of five branches,: Idumagbo, Lagos, Ereko Street, Lagos, New Market Road Onitsha, Oba Akran Ikeja and Warehouse Apapa before moving on again to the United Bank for Africa (UBA) and later African Express Bank in 2001.
In 2004, Agbo took a bold step to quit paid employments to try his hands in entrepreneurship. He set multiple enterprises, ranging from manufacturing of security and leader outfits to electricity distribution, telecommunications and food processing, among others. In his usually characteristics he made success stories in all the endeavours.
He also ventured into politics and in 2008 he was appointed as Special Adviser (SPA) to the Governor of Enugu State on Intergovernmental & Multilateral Partnerships. Utilising his consulting experience in this area, he was able to give the state access to independent, non-statutory revenue and development opportunities through federal government projects, investments and employments, as well as development assistance by various donor agencies and development partners. In 2015, he contested and won the House of Representative position to represent my people of Udenu/Igbo-Eze North Federal Constituency at the National Assembly. At the House of Representatives, he demonstrated that he is a true ambassador of his people through quality representations but by attracting several impactful projects to the various communities that make up the constituency in the last three and half years.
The projects include the followings:
• 4.2 kilometers of Rural electrification with 1 (one) transformer linking Ezzodo and Ugbaike Communities.
• Fully furnished 3 – Classroom block at Aji, Igbo-Eze North LGA.
• A 5 – Classroom Block at Udah Community Secondary School, Igbo-Eze North LGA.
• 500 – Students capacity examination hall at Aguibeje.
• Motorized borehole project at Aji, Enugu – Ezike.
• Employment for up to 85 eligible constituents.
• Empowerment of constituents with tools for entrepreneurship and sustainable livelihood.
• Development of complete value chain in poultry and cassava for wealth creation and employment generation.
• 10 beneficiaries have graduated from the university on his scholarship under GoddyBriggs Foundation. Fourteen more are currently studying in various institutes of higher learning with our scholarships, including six medical students. He deliberately uses the scholarships to support indigent students, and also encourage the study of medicine among his constituents.
Honourable Agbo equally sponsored a landmark motion at the peak of extreme bloodletting resulting from the farmers’ herders’ clashes across the country. The motion which was rounded acknowledged by his colleagues as truly born out of in-depth patriotism was anchored on the need to transform and modernise the animal husbandry system in Nigeria, to terminate the mobility of herdsmen and solve the crises between herdsmen and farmers. This initiative, which has been largely successful has involved four participating institutions namely, National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI) ABU Zaria, National Agricultural Research Liaison Services, (NAERLS) ABU Zaria, National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) Jos, and University of Nigeria Nsukka, (UNN).
He has had his ugly experiences in life. There were life-threatening experiences in between. Twice he was attacked by armed robbers on the highway, twice robbers invaded his house in the night while he was asleep with his wife and children. He was once ambushed by robbers and driven away with his wife but later abandoned with their car when the robbers realized the car did not have enough fuel.
Agbo would also not forget in a hurry one particular incident he was seized by four armed robbers in his car, and was sandwiched in between them for a long distance, detained him in their hideout while they robbed same night with his car and killed six people.
“In all of these incidences, the Lord delivered me. Had I been among the dead killed by the robbers, what would have become of all my vision and dreams of a glorious future! Certainly there would not have been any opportunity to demonstrate my capability as a Commissioner, SPA or Legislator. What would have been of my children?
“Indeed some of my children may never have been born. Yes, my spirit of philanthropy may never have been known. I would have been soon forgotten. I might have been regarded as an ordinary, and what I hate most is to be regarded as ordinary.
But I believe that the Almighty had a role well cut out for me and, as long as I remained faithful, he will ensure that I am preserved to discharge that role benefit of society and humankind.”
He said: “My story has been that of a checkered life made glorious by the abiding grace and mercies of the most high. As they would say, I was born with a silver spoon, even gold spoon, but I lost the spoon when I was barely three years. That was in 1967, the year the civil war broke out and my father died among the prominent casualties of the war. My late mother struggled as a widow to bring up eight children and train all of us through the university.”