Learning from Dan Nzelu

Few things give a chronicler so much pleasure as the celebration of a life well lived. Whether as diarists, journalists, historians, writers, or simple participants in the various genres of storytelling, we are all chroniclers.  Last week, I was privileged to witness the presentation of a book titled, “DAN-NZELU: The Biography of One of Nigeria’s […]

Few things give a chronicler so much pleasure as the celebration of a life well lived. Whether as diarists, journalists, historians, writers, or simple participants in the various genres of storytelling, we are all chroniclers. 

Last week, I was privileged to witness the presentation of a book titled, “DAN-NZELU: The Biography of One of Nigeria’s Foremost Oil Engineers”, written by Dr Jimmy Imo. And it reminded me of my duty of pointing out possible role models to the younger generation. 

Daniel was a child of destiny as recounted in the 258-page biography. What was so remarkable about him was not just that he was born and grew up and went to school and made good thereafter – that can also be said of many people whose lives would not qualify as a footnote to Dan’s life story. Dan did not just exist; he lived. He did not just live; he touched lives, so much so that 10 years after his demise, the main auditorium of the Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, could not contain the large turnout of friends and admirers who came to reminisce on his life.

Born in Jos to Jeremiah and Janet Chikelu Iwekpeazu Nzelu from Oba, Anambra State, Dan struggled to climb the ladder of success and hawked goods for his mum as a child. He may not have been born with a silver spoon but there was a spoon nonetheless. The family was not rich, but neither were they poor. With a solid family background entrenched in the finest of Igbo and Christian traditions, he simply glided from glory to glory. 

After his primary education in Jos and having passed the Common Entrance Examination, Dan gained admission into Government College, Umuahia – one of the Ivy League colleges of those days. He lost three years to the civil war; it was with understandable gusto that he resumed academic work at the Ahmadu Bello University to which he was admitted in 1971. He graduated with a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering in 1974. 

Fate had a surprise in store for him when he was posted to Ibadan in the Southwest to serve out the mandatory National Service year. That was where he met Chinelo Anyadiegwu, a beautiful undergraduate of the University of Ibadan who, he now recalled, he had first sighted in Oba on the eve of the civil war. He eventually married her and she is today a tireless champion of his legacy.

Dan’s first job as Engineer at the Nigerian Steel Development Authority, NSDA, exposed him to an 18-month training course in India. His next port of call was to be his professional harbour at last – the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC where he was recruited as Assistant Chief Engineer in 1982. When eleven subsidiaries were created out of NNPC in 1988, Dan was appointed Chief Engineer of one of the new outfits, Nigeria Gas Company (NGC) Ltd. When in 1999 President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Dan Nzelu as the Managing Director of the Pipeline Products Marketing Company (PPMC), nobody was surprised. “When you’re good at something”, says Walter Payton, “you’ll tell everyone; but when you’re great at something, they’ll tell you.” 

Anyone who did not appreciate Nzelu’s achievement in PPMC did not have long to wait as militant activities and wholesale corruption escalated after his retirement resulting in massive disruption of crude oil and petroleum products distribution. 

In the midst of all these, Dan managed to live up to the billing as a quintessential family man. He found time to personally teach his children on weekends and encouraged his wife to excel in her chosen career which started as an Economist at the Central Bank of Nigeria to her secondment to the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Company where she retired as Director.

It was through giving that he touched so many lives to the extent that his final committal to Mother Earth was virtually a national funeral. Beyond his immediate family, so many people were orphaned by his untimely death. On his death 10 years ago, the then Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, wrote: “I have lost a personal friend who was loyal and kind. O God, grant him eternal rest. Grant his family the courage to bear the loss”.

Dan Nzelu took his exit six decades after he came into the world. The book is a fitting tribute to a public servant who poured out himself in service of others. If young Nigerians are looking for a role model, here he is. A man who stood and lived for something! All told, the world is better for the fact that a Dan Maduabuchi Nzelu passed through this patch of earth. And I ask, do they make them like that anymore?

The segmentation of the book into 13 chapters (tragic 13) could be seen as suggestive of tragedy. The loss of Dan at a time when he still had a lot to contribute to humanity was indeed tragic. The preliminary pages consisting of the Author’s Note, Foreword by Engr. Samuel Ndukwe, Preface by Sayyu Dantata and Introduction by Prof. ABC Nwosu all serve appropriately to whet the reader’s appetite before the main dish which Dr. Jimmy Imo so competently serves.

Dan Nzelu gave meaning to Amit Ray’s famous statement that, “It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters,” 

Now that we are trying to reinvent Nigeria, and chart a new course for the younger generation, will all the Dan Nzelus out there stand up to be counted, please!