Major Gen. Onoja @ 70: AANI dimension
Today all roads lead to Abuja (precisely Army officers mess Command Asokoro) for family members, friends and well-wishers to mark the 70th birthday of General Lawrence Anebi Onoja mni (rtd). My dear friend and great chronicler, Elvis Ogenyi in a book to be made public today entitled Echoes of Destiny had ably documented the eventful […]
Today all roads lead to Abuja (precisely Army officers mess Command Asokoro) for family members, friends and well-wishers to mark the 70th birthday of General Lawrence Anebi Onoja mni (rtd). My dear friend and great chronicler, Elvis Ogenyi in a book to be made public today entitled Echoes of Destiny had ably documented the eventful life of General Onoja. The book could very well be entitled Onoja; From Grass to Grace.
The book is a compulsory read of a dramatic transformation of a village boy, gallant survivor/combatant of the unfortunate civil war, to a military governor of both Plateau and Katsina states, a General of Nigerian army and the 10th President of Alumni Association of the National Institute, (AANI) Kuru Jos. Godliness is in the details of the 17 chapter book on the General today.
My tribute on Onoja at 70 flows from my record of his sterling unprecedented achievements as the elected President of AANI from 2013 to 2017. He was also elected two terms as the Secretary General of AANI during the period. What struck me about General Onoja was his love and compassion for members of Alumni. AANI under his leadership had cause to intervene on members’ promotions and deployments in some government agencies such as immigration, customs service, external affairs and agriculture ministry. I recall the case of a female member in Ekiti state whose job was threatened by the state governor on account of alleged disrespect. He personally called the governor who in turn reversed his decision and member’s job got secured.
Remarkable too was his team spirit. With his larger than life qualifications and pedigrees, General Onoja was and still one among equals.
I bear witness that Onoja-led Executive was made up of good heads and hearts making good combination. In spite of occasional legitimate policy disagreements, the Executive was united throughout in the service of AANI. Never was there external intervention to manage any internal organizational feud since there was none anyway. General Onoja brought a number of innovations to the alumni. One significant innovation was the historic first AANI Re-union which took place on Monday 12th January 2015 at NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja.
AANI held an unprecedented Special Town Hall Meeting/Policy Dialogue on “Effective Implementation of the 2016 Budget” in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture on Tuesday August 9th, 2016 at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja. His Eminence (himself a member of National Institute) Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, CFR, mni, Sultan of Sokoto was a special guest. Inspired by the renewed activism in governance by President Buhari administration to link budget outcomes with target plans and with the successful launching of the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) for the 2016 budget, the Policy Dialogue complimented the efforts of the Federal government for effective implementation of the 2016 budget and to link budget outcomes with target plans.
AANI’s voice was also loud on topical national issues under his leadership. AANI registered support for the three point Agenda President of Buhari Administration namely security, anti-corruption and economic diversification. It commended the efforts of the administration in identifying and damning corruption in ways that have not been done before. AANI saluted security men and women who have jointly put the criminal terrorists on the run. AANI was willing to partner with the states governments of the north east in the task of reconstruction and rehabilitation. AANI also strongly condemned the indiscriminate unprovoked xenophobic attacks on Nigerians resident in South Africa. AANI called on the Federal government to hold South African authorities accountable for the security of all Nigerians and indeed Africans in South Africa. Happy birthday to one of the Presidents AANI ever produced.
Issa Aremu, member, National Institute, Kuru, Jos