During the last yuletide, my community- Dikenafai- the headquarters of Ideato South LGA in Imo State, was agog with a rare feat of philanthropy.
The Dikenafai epic philanthropic event was peculiar for a number of reasons. It was not about the distribution of bushels or bags of rice to the indigent by some notable names in the business and political circles. Neither was it an empowerment scheme promoted by a political office holder as part of the state-funded constituency programme. Rather, a hitherto unknown or unpopular name was behind the remarkable and unique philanthropic exercise that took my community by storm. His name is Mr. Kingsley Igwe, a young businessman of little or no acclaim before now.
Prior to the astounding philanthropic event initiated and wholly sponsored by Mr. Kingsley Igwe during the last Christmas season, I had never heard of this name in my hometown. As a deeply-rooted community person and a former President General of my town union, I can beat my chest to say that, I am privileged to know quite a significant number of the elite, the wealthy and less-endowed people in my not-so-large a community. I am certain that until this last Christmas season, Mr. Kingsley Igwe was not reckoned as a wealthy person by many in my community.
One could therefore imagine the utter surprise sprang on quite a number of our kinsmen by someone whose name did not ring a bell as an affluent person, who, in one fell swoop, distributed 17 mini-buses and a total sum of 20 million Naira to empower his people. About 20 persons were said to have been handed N1m each to assist them in their small scale businesses. Indeed, it would take an affluent person to dispense of such whopping magnitude of magnanimity. Mr. Igwe simply introduced a new dimension to philanthropic activities in the community.
His exceptional act of generosity generated a whirlwind of excitement across the community. As was expected, many of his extremely delighted kinsmen and women proceeded to eulogise and celebrate the young man’s rare act of benevolence. The joy was electrifying, and the accolades rained on him profusely. He got profoundly praised to high heaven, and this was accompanied with endless good wishes and prayers.
As torrents of accolades from enthusiastic indigenes of my community landed on Mr. Kingsley Igwe, I personally preferred to remain silent while I sought more information about the record-setting philanthropist in my hometown. I considered this as absolutely necessary given my defiant opposition to the general application of Niccolo Machiavelli’s popular saying in relation to power and politics that, “the end justifies the means.” I am one person who will never rationalise any fellow acting out the Robin Hood example in practical life. Hence, I needed to have more grasp of Mr. Igwe’s background before joining the train of my kinsmen and women applauding and celebrating his extraordinary philanthropic gestures, or otherwise.
Having sufficiently obtained necessary information about the uncommon achievements of this young man, I feel a great sense of pride to place on record my impressive opinion about him for the benefit of the young generation of our country men and women.
Let me reiterate, therefore, that, the highly commendable, record-breaking act of philanthropy by Mr. Kingsley Igwe is not basically the essential reason for this article. The life of this young man offers more perceptible significant lessons which I hope that Nigerian youths could leverage on to better their own lives. I say this with every assurance derived from my irreversible faith in hard work, dedication, perseverance, trust and integrity as the bedrock for success in every human endeavour.
A recent viral video of JPAC, a blogger and social media influencer, confirmed information I had earlier acquired about the young Kingsley Igwe’s modest business activities and his rags-to-riches background. The video shares reliable information on the source of this budding philanthropist’s fabulous wealth. It gives practical insight into his waste-to-wealth transformation.
Mr. Igwe was said to have initially been personally involved in scavenging for metals from garbage dumps. Over the years, as he continued to experience gradual boom in the business, he commissioned people to help him in gathering the needed materials. At a point, his concentration was on the acquisition of empty and discarded cans of drinks and plastics, which were processed and converted to aluminium products. Through a dint of hard work and the application of creativity, Mr. Igwe was able to add value to what was ordinarily a business of harvesting wastes from disposal sites.
Today, he has been able to prove beyond every reasonable doubt that, stupendous wealth could be found beneath our feet, without recourse to crime. His case is a glaring testimony to the fact that great affluence is still very possible through legitimate, honest and honourable avenues. His experience shows clearly that, opportunities for wealth do not sometimes lie far away from us, reinforcing the belief of many of us that, enterprise, hard work, resilience and honesty are veritable means to the attainment of success in life.
The success story of Mr. Kingsley Igwe should serve as a potent tonic to motivate Nigerian youths to strive at all times to attain self-actualization through lawful engagements. If this young Nigerian could accumulate huge financial fortunes from waste dumps and discarded items, there would be no reason why anybody should sit idly and endlessly waiting for grossly limited white collar jobs. It’s worst for our youths to contemplate the patronage of criminal activities such as internet fraud or “yahoo-yahoo”, kidnapping, drug trafficking, armed robbery, ritual killings and other less dignifying avenues for achieving their ambitions of becoming wealthy. Such crimes and ignoble activities do not offer their perpetrators any peace of mind or sense of security. Wealth derived from such despicable avenues do not last. The perpetrators are most likely to lose their much cherished freedoms and sometimes, their precious lives. Those who indulge in performing money rituals, otherwise known as “ogwu ego”, “oke ite”, etc, eventually live a lifetime of regrets. Not only that their lives are eventually cut short, they wallow in perpetual regrets about the unforgivable actions which they embarked upon merely to acquire wealth that is transient. All forms of “ego mbute” (easy wealth) have severe consequences. Unfortunately, they fetch only momentary comfort and joy which cannot be compared to the ones derived from decent, honest, dignifying and long-lasting sources of wealth such as the one patronised by Mr. Kingsley Igwe. Little wonder, he decided to embark on a humongous depth of generosity aimed at impacting positively on the lives of the people of his community. Nigerian youths, especially those of Igbo extraction, should emulate Mr. Kingsley Igwe’s business life and accomplishments. They must shun their growing get-rich-quick syndrome or attraction, for the inherent consequences are dire and most regrettable.
Coming back to Dikenafai, I implore the beneficiaries of the benevolent gestures of Mr. Kingsley Igwe to regard the opportunity as a lifetime privilege which must necessitate them to work very hard, in order to turn-around their lives and the conditions of their families, for the best. Their success will undoubtedly have multiplier effects as it will not only improve their financial positions, but will spur their benefactor, Mr. Igwe to do more for others. Some other affluent people in the community, seeing the degree of the positive impact of this laudable initiative, might be encouraged to tread the same path of empowerment aimed at poverty reduction in our community.
Finally, let me congratulate Mr. Kingsley Igwe for his vision, tenacity, hard work, commitment and belief in himself that ultimately culminated in his stupendous success in his chosen business line. I believe strongly that he has inadvertently raised the hopes of many that, business opportunities abound around us; and that it would require people to look deeper and to humble themselves to be able to see and exploit the boundless opportunities to their advantages.
I also extend my commendation for his outstanding demonstration of generosity to his people. I urge him to continue with this unique spirit by possibly sustaining his empowerment scheme through strategic planning and execution. This is not necessarily for people to heap praises on him, but for the impact he could exert on the lives of his kinsmen and women with the wealth God has made it possible for him to acquire. It’s not going to be easy, but he’ll be prodded and sustained by the prayers of the teeming people of Dikenafai for more success in his business endeavours, and for God’s guidance and protection.
Congratulations to this great philanthropist and modest Nigerian youth worthy of emulation.
*Joachim OLUMBA (Retd CIS), KSJI*
(Emetumba-Dikenafai & Omekannaya-Nchoke)
Former President General, Dikenafai Improvement Union (DIU)
