FATE has its own designed way of throwing people up on a solid foundation of hardwork. Just like the story of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, who applied himself seriously to achieve greatness of being counted among elders of Umuofia, Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme in no small measure committed himself to robust academic pursuit in different fields of endeavour, which paid off in his success story. He is an accomplished political actor with several achievements. As we all know, he was the first Executive Vice President in 1979, the second highest Government office in Nigeria. He remained in that office till 1983 when his government was ousted by the military junta of Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.Born on October 21, 1932, in Oko, Anambra State, he started his primary education at the St John's Anglican Central School, at Ekwulobia. He thereafter proceeded to King's College, Lagos. As an awardee of the Fulbright Scholarship in the United States of America (being one of the first Nigerians to gain the award), he attended the University of Washington where he earned Bachelors degree in architecture and city planning. He obtained his Masters degree in urban planning. Ekwueme also earned degrees in sociology, history, philosophy and law from University of London. He later proceeded to obtain a Ph.D. in architecture from the University of Strathclyde, before gaining the BL (Honours) degree from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos.He is a distinguished architect and rose to become a former President of the Institute of Architects, Nigeria.Ekwueme having majored in architecture, started his professional career as an assistant architect with a Seattle based firm, Leo A. Daly and Associates, and also with the London-based firm Nickson and Partners. On his return to Nigeria, he joined ESSO West Africa, Lagos, overseeing the construction and maintenance department.He then went on to create a successful private business with his firm - Ekwueme Associates, Architects and Town Planners, the first indigenous architectural firm in Nigeria. His practice flourished with 16 offices spread all over Nigeria and was wound up in preparation for his assuming office as the first executive Vice President of Nigeria in 1979. Dr. Ekwueme had presided over the Nigerian Institute of Architects and the Architects' Registration Council of Nigeria.He is currently chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Nigerian Institute of Architects. Before he gained national and international limelight as the Vice President of Nigeria in 1979, he was actively involved in the socio-economic development of his community. In addition to his many public service roles within his community, Ekwueme has an active Educational Trust Fund that has been responsible for sponsoring the education of several hundreds of youths to universities in Nigeria and abroad. Dr. Ekwueme was a member of the housing sub-committee of the Adebo Salaries and Wages Review Commission. He also served for many years on the board of the Anambra State Housing Development Authority.On the national front, Dr. Ekwueme participated in the Nigeria National Constitutional Conference (NCC) in Abuja, where he served on the Committee on the Structure and Framework of the Constitution.His famous proposals at the NCC for a just and equitable power sharing in Nigeria based on the six geopolitical zones have now come to be accepted as necessary for maintaining a stable Nigerian polity. He mobilised the group of 34 eminent Nigerians who risked their lives to stand up against the dictatorship of General Sani Abacha during the era of military rule in Nigeria. He was the founding chairman of the ruling party in Nigeria and was the first chairman of the party's board of trustees. This great patriot is also is a renowned and prolific philanthropist, public servant and a man of peace.He is a member of the Board of Directors of Canada-based Forum of Federations. He is also a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Council of Elders. Dr. Ekwueme was leader of the team assembled by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) for pre-election monitoring for the parliamentary election in Zimbabwe in 2000. He was the leader of the Organisation of Africa Unity (OAU) observer team to the Tanzanian Presidential and Parliamentary election in 2000. Ekwueme co-led the 28 member NDI/Carter Centre sponsored Observer Team to the Liberian Presidential run-off election in 2005. Most recently he was called upon by the ruling party in Nigeria to head the reconciliation committee in the wake of intra-party discord and after the recent presidential election. He has been honoured with the Order of the Republic of Guinea and Nigeria, second highest national honours of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON). Dr Ekwueme is the benefactor and Patron of Alex Ekwueme Foundation.Ekwueme is a statesman by the standard of the Greek philosophers. (Of course, the Greek standard and tradition has remained for a long time a model for the rest of the world). And he is no less, back home - Nigeria. In fact, by the reckoning of many Nigerians, precisely the discerning ones, Ekwueme is a 'mega-personality'.But how does he fit into the world of statesmen' His stars shot him into national reckoning in 1979, with his emergence as the vice president in the Second Republic of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He was up till 1979 largely a political observer, shunning mainstream politics in the land. But he had already made fortune and name by dint of hardwork via his profession as a trained architect.Before his involvement in active politics, he was the principal partner of Ekwueme and Associates, an architectural firm based in Lagos. By the judgment of critical Nigerians, Ekwueme, for a long time is to Nigerian architecture what Akintola Williams represents to Nigerian accountancy or Rotimi Williams to Nigerian law. Having proceeded to the University of Washington where he trained in Architecture and Town Planning on a Fullbright Scholarship, he returned to Nigeria in 1957 to start his first job as the construction and maintenance coordinator of Standard Oil, then operated in Nigeria as Esso West Africa.By the nature of his job, he traveled all over Nigeria mostly by road, developing storage depots, housing and retail outlets for the company. Coincidentally, the job exposed him to people other than his own. Indeed, he has found memories of his several stop over at Fiditi, Ibadan and Ilorin, Kwara State, where he used to visit the poet, Chris Okigbo. When he quit paid employment, he started his own firm of architecture. The University of Ibadan was among the first job he handled. As it was noted, there were trademarks of competence in the handling of the projects in the university. By the time the Nigerian Civil War broke out between 1966 and 67, he was on the side of Biafra, with a compelling quest for a place in the engineering corp. But he ended up serving as Head of Planning of the Biafran National Airports Board. To his credit, at the end of the war, there were two functioning airports. One, at Ulli, the other, at Uga. A number of others were at different stages of construction. Ntigha, Ngwa in Abia, had one almost completed as at the time the war ended. Another was at Mbaise, in Imo State and two others were sited at Arochukwu and Umuleri in Abia and Anambra respectively.He survived the war. And he returned to private practice. By 1979, he had recorded a measure of success financially and had become well known professionally. However, he was not known enough as to represent the Igbo in the socio-political affairs of Nigeria. If anything at all, not when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. J.O. J. Okezie and Dr. K. O. Mbadiwe and other super political figures were still relevant in the political life of the people across the Niger. But by a combination of wit and good luck, he joined the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), which at the time was the largest political machinery while the other political heavy weight, were in the other parties.
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