Abia Onyike
The Nigerian society has developed a tradition where its most prominent citizens are those who rose to the top by government appointments and patronage. Hardly do we come across people who climbed the social ladder by dint of hard-work, ingenuity and talent-driven creativity. But the life of Mazi Sam Iheanyichukwu Ohuabunwa( the incumbent President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria) is a different ball-game. This tribute is a celebration of his 70 years of age and a reflection on his life as one of Nigeria’s pragmatic and productive professionals; a consummate and quintessential leader of men and manager of resources, who made it to the top through unique accomplishments in his chosen profession. Added to that is Mazi’s polyvalent and multi-professional achievements in other diverse fields of human endeavour.
Mazi Sam was born on 16th August , 1950 in Port- Harcourt, in the Old Eastern Region, now Rivers State. Born of Arochukwu parentage, his fore -fathers settled in Ikwerre in Port-Harcourt. He was the first son of his parents in a family of twelve children. His father was Mazi Esi Ohuabunwa while his mothers were Madam Matilda Nwannediya and Madam Mercy Ejighator (nee Ukpabi). The young Sam began his early life in the city of Port-Harcourt. He had his primary education in the Woji and Rumumasi Primary Schools in Port-Harcourt. After his primary education, he entered Okirika Grammar School, Port-Harcourt for his secondary education. It was while in secondary school that Sam manifested exceptional academic brilliance and leadership qualities. He came top of his class consecutively for four years and presided over many junior societies where he joined two of his mates to produce plays.
His educational progression was, however interrupted by the Nigeria-Biafra war(1967-70). After the war in 1970, Sam went over to Government Secondary School, Owerri, and passed out in 1971 in Division One with 8As. In 1972, he gained admission to three universities, namely the University of Nigeria, Nsukka(UNN), University of Benin (UNIBEN) and University of Ife (presently Obafemi Awolowo University-OAU). He later settled for the University of Ife where he read Pharmacy. At Ife, Sam was a notable socialite; the Mayor of Alpha Club and Editor-in-Chief of the famous Campus media organ, the Cobra Newspaper. In spite of his engaging social activities on campus, Sam still made second class upper honours degree in Pharmacy and graduated in 1976. He later had his post-graduate training in Business Management at Columbia University in the United States of America and the Lagos Business School (LSB).
When he left Ife in 1976, he went to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, for his internship. He was posted to Sokoto for his one year National Youth Service (NYSC), where he served in Yelwa General Hospital, Yauri, in present-day Kebbi State. After his youth service in mid July, 1978, Sam joined Pfizer Products PLC in Lagos as a Pharmaceutical Sales Representative (PSR). He rejected another offer to work as Products Manager in Ranbaxy or PSR in Roche. Within a period of 15 years, Sam straddled the Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company like a colossus, manifesting a measure of diligence and dynamism rare to find in this part of the world. He rose rapidly through the ranks from Area Sales Manager, to National Sales Manager, to Group Sales Manager, to Marketing Manager, to Pharmaceutical Division Director, to Deputy Country Manager, to Country Manager, to Managing Director/CEO of Pfizer Products PLC and Pfizer Security Limited and finally to the position of Regional Manager for Pfizer West Africa in 1993. When the Pfizer Inc, New York, USA decided in 1997 to reduce its business exposure in Nigeria, they offered Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa the chance to lead a Management Buy- Over(MBO) of their 60% equity shares in Pfizer Products Plc. Mazi Sam was able to accomplish that and the company which resulted from that was his Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals which was a frontline Pharmaceutical industry for years.
Mazi Sam is one of the most decorated and most visible professionals in Nigerian history. He has a rich odyssey of diverse accomplishments in the Sciences, Arts and Humanities. A glimpse at his towering profile reveals that Mazi Sam is a former Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and a man whose contributions to nation building can no longer be discountenanced. He has been at the top of many complex organizations and still forges ahead as if nothing is happening. Apart from being a pan-Nigerian leader, polemicist and public commentator of note, he has combined his practice as a Pharmacist with a certain measure of activism for socio-economic transformation in Nigeria. He himself attested to it when he said that “ I am experienced in a large number of fields. I have been in economic advocacy and I have gone through the whole hog. My diversities demonstrate my multi-professional inclinations. I am a social worker building my country”. Some of the books written by Mazi Sam include: The Port-Harcourt Volunteer, Nigeria:vTime for the Evolution of A New Nation and Wired To Lead etc. Mazi is an accomplished writer and author and was a Columnist with Vanguard newpapers.
In his chosen field of Pharmacy, Sam rose from the position of an ordinary member to the position of a Fellow. He is the current President of two important professional organizations. They are the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and the Association of Corporate Governance Professionals in Nigeria(ACGPN). He is also a Fellow of the West African Post-Graduate College of Pharmacists, Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Pharmacy(FNAPharm), Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management(FNIM); Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations(FNIPR); Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management Consultants, Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Marketing, Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Quality Assurance, Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Immunology and Fellow, Nigerian Association of Corporate Governance Professionals etc. etc. Mazi also served as Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria(MAN), Ikeja branch; President, Nigerian Employers Consultative Association(NECA) and National President, Nigeria-America Chamber of Commerce(NACC) etc.
Sam’s contributions to nation-building cannot be glossed over. Amidst the contemporary crises engulfing the Nigerian federation, Mazi Sam joined forces with progressive elements in Igboland to call for the reconstitution of Nigeria’s monolithic federalism.
Onyike is the Chairman, ADF Media and Publicity Bureau