From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen Chris Ngige, has extolled the former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, as a colossus of profound attainments.
A statement by the minister’s media office at the weekend described Chief Anyaoku as an institution that generations of Nigerians will look back on as an enigma of exemplary citizenship and diplomacy.
“You are a great son of Nigeria who is eminent at all counts and whose name is a foreword in the book for excellent citizenship. You are a change-maker whose example provides a veritable counterpoise to the socio-economic and political uncertainties that conspire against Nigeria today,” Ngige said.
“But will Nigeria, especially our youths be patient enough to learn? Will they endure the rigours in ropes to eminence from an elder statesman, whose life will continue to figure in the pantheon of successive generations of Nigeria?
“Out and out, Nigeria must learn from Chief Emeka Anyaoku, a sui generis whose views and voice count in defining winning ways and whose undertakings across the decades, bear out a revolutionary example of quintessential statesmanship.
“ Every era must grow men and women capable of leading the way and providing solutions to the society’s ethereal and temporal challenges. Adazie Obosi exemplifies one. Like a burning sun that never sets, he has been lighting our ways.”
The statement added that all through his career, first in the federal Civil Service from where he joined the Commonwealth Secretariat, rising to become the Deputy Secretary General and then, two-term Secretary General, the first black man ever to achieve such, to becoming the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Second Republic, Chief Anyaoku distinguished himself.
“ But this great height did not become a final footnote in the long-stretched symphony, because even in retirement, he has continued to bigfoot in service to the nation in critical times, providing stability to Nigeria’s democracy and broadening public intellectualism to curb the thoughtlessness of both the leaders and led.
“Were Nigeria the Greek of old, Anyaoku would certainly make the list of the legendry Greats and were Nigeria the Rome of the Julio-Claudian era, Anyaoku would only compete with the Great Cicero in oratory and rhetorical fecundity.”
The minister prayed that God further blesses Chief Anyaoku with sound health to afford Nigeria to dig more from his deep mine of knowledge and experience.
