Obinna Okafor
In a highly materialistic society like ours, the urge to keep acquiring wealth is over-powering to many. In our ignorance, we think being rated the richest or among the richest makes the world grovel at our feet. We build beautiful edifices, fly in best private jets and post multiple digit turnovers that swell our heads.
Leading a comfortable lifestyle is good, but does it make sense when your next door neighbour is in perpetual want? How do you sleep when your community or those around it are in dire need of the most basic things of life which could put smiles on their weather-beaten faces?
Philanthropy is an art that comes out from the mind, borne out of the fact that there is a misappropriate distribution of wealth and resources in the world, and those who are fortunate to have can always do give out to the needy to change their lives and offer hope where it seems nonexistent. There are few among us who lead this life.
Dr. Godwin Maduka isn’t the richest Nigerian alive. He is a medical doctor based in Las Vegas, USA, from Umuchukwu community in Orumba South LGA of Anambra State. Over the years, he has elevated giving to a fine art, impacting on the lives of those on the fringe and people who can’t get the good things of life on a whim.
Today, the unusual philanthropic and dexterous vision of one man has positively transformed the face of both this community and its people for the better. One amazing thing about this is that, this man, despite his success and exposure overseas, has attributes nothing to his abilities but credits God for all that he has become and all that he is doing.
With an excellent, rich academic profile and a successful professional practice, he has taken it upon himself to channel his wealth of experience towards service to God, education and provision of social amenities for the people. He has sponsored hundreds of young minds to schools and universities to train as school teachers, bankers, lawyers, doctors, pharmacists, engineers, to mention a few.
We are cognizant of the fact that the absence of viable economic opportunities always translates to increasingly growing ratio of poverty, insecurity, crime, etcetera. Hence, he also runs an existing micro finance programme that gives free grants to people to start a vocation or a trade. In the Igbo world, the wealth of a man is never reckoned with until it is felt by the community from where the man sets out to the outside world. That informs the philosophy of Aku rue ulo (think home). Little wonder, Maduka has successfully replicated the beauty and standards of Las Vegas back home.
With remarkable interventions in education, security, infrastructure, and welfare of his people, Dr. Maduka has an endless list of projects credited to his philanthropic gestures. These include a 15-floor multiplex planned to house offices and the Medical College of the Anambra State University College of Medical Sciences. He appreciates the work done by the clergy and the need for man to be closer to God, which explains why he has built two churches and houses for clerics of both Catholic and Anglican churches in Orumba. He also built two monasteries for churches.
Saddened by the sufferings of the ordinary people in getting adequate Medicare, the medical doctor built Trinity Hospital and Maternity in his area. What does it profit him if he lives in a palatial home in America while those who can’t afford it back home live in leaking roofs? Our man has, so far, built over 100 standard houses for widows and the poor in his area.
In the area of education, Dr Maduka has built Immaculate Conception International College 1 and 2, providing buses to convey students to and fro the schools. To secure the area from bad eggs, he donated a police station and built a magistrate and state high court in Orumba South. Besides, he built a standard market & post office, as well as Barracks for the Civil Defense staff. Other remarkable achievements of this great Igbo son include building a community hall and his own village hall, providing transformers to boost electricity in the community, a befitting palace for the monarch, a civic centre and a five-star hotel known as Lion of Africa Resort.
The Okosisi Orumba (as he is known), to be frank, has established himself as a pillar of hope in his community and environs. His commitment to improving the welfare of people is second to none. He did all these without oil money, contracts or links whatsoever with government. ways of improving the living condition of his people.
Human capital investments such as these in these communities are capable of bringing the much needed development and empowerment to them, nay, eradicate poverty, crime and, above all, lunch people into a new world of possibilities where they can discover and utilise their potentials. Being a man who doesn’t subscribe to organized fanfare of charity, he has touched countless numbers of lives through his direct intervention and investments made in building a functional society, silently, outside the glare of the media.
But we say a golden fish has no hiding place. Of course, honours are beginning to come from different quarters. On 29th of this month, he will honoured with two different awards as the Man of the Year at Sheraton Hotels, Abuja, by Igeberenews.com and, the next day, the recipient of an award by ASATU (Anambra State Association of Town Unions) in Recognition of Service to Humanity.
Lest we forget, Dr. Maduka is the CEO and Medical Director of Las Vegas Pain Institute and Medical Centre, which is the largest Pain Treatment Centre in Nevada, US. He has become a global authority in chronic and acute pain management, anesthesiology, and interventional pain management.
Okafor writes from Awka, Anambra State