By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi
Senator Uche Lilian Ekwunife, a former banker and ranking federal lawmaker, embodies the art of giving, in a society where empathy for the indigent, the poorest of the poor and the disadvantaged seem to have taken flight.
Ekwunife’s quiet acts and deeds of philanthropy were borne out of personal experiences while growing up in a household where there was no distinction between biological children and strangers.
The first woman and South Easterner to chair the prestigious Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), her philanthropy to the needy, indigent and less-privileged extends beyond her constituency, Anambra Central Senatorial District and Anambra State. No stranger to the National Assembly, she was first elected into the House of Representatives in 2007 and returned to the chambers in 2011. Between 2010 and 2013, Senator Ekwunife contested for the governorship position in Anambra State.
Regardless of whether she was contesting for any political position or not, Ekwunife never stops helping out and giving back to her people and others through numerous empowerment programmes, with special focus on women and youths. She has built and handed over 26 houses to widows.
Whoever goes to her, asking for help is never turned away. And that was why, in the last one year alone, Ekwunife was able to single-handedly get jobs for over 800 people and still counting, regardless of ethnicity and religion. She has facilitated, at least, a road each for the 58 communities in her senatorial district. Twenty of the roads are ready for commissioning.
They include the Awovu Village Road, Enugwu-Ukwu, Onukwube/Kabe College Road, Amawbia, St. Matthias Catholic Church/Igbadisi Road, Umuowelle Agulu, Timber Market Raod, Umuokpu; Oguejiofor Road, Adazi-Nnukwu; E.Onyeagba Road, Enugwu-Ukwu; and Echezona/Igwe Nwokeobi Road, Obosi.
Ekwunife recently attracted many capacity-building programmes to her senatorial district. These include the recently concluded Entrepreneurial Development and Skills Acquisition Training for women and youths in Anambra Central, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) technology board distribution programme, which benefited about nine schools in Anambra State, facilitation of a strategic seminar for the clergy in Anambra Central, training for the Presidents-General in Anambra Central and others.
In 2007, the former top banker was elected to represent Anaocha/Njikoka/Dunukofia Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. She was one of 11 women elected in 2007. She was re-elected in 2011.
In 2015, she was elected to the Senate and she returned to the upper chamber in 2019. Since her return to the Senate, she has sponsored over 28 bills.
For a life of charity, Ekwunife is winner of The Sun Humanitarian Service Icon award 2021.