By Usman Adams
Perhaps, it’s necessary to set the premise of this conversation from the onset. And that is to state emphatically that nobody has approached me, induced me or persuaded me to do what I am set out to do in this write-up. Consequently, it may be possible that Eng. Ibu may not have been aware that there is such a write up about him until alerted. I had taken a similar stand when I wrote in several National Newspapers about the Former Senate President, Chief David Mark supporting his election against the Young Alhaji in his then pending case at the Tribunal. I had perceived correctly that the position of the Senate Presidency was contextual and if David Mark had failed to secure that position at the time it would probably take over 40 years for another Idoma man to secure that position. In addition, as Ernest Hemingway the literature Nobel prize winner once wrote, “a writer can only write as he truly feels”.
I am, therefore, just putting down my true feelings about the man Eng. Peter Ibu.
Engineer Peter Ibu and myself met nearly 50 years ago at Katsina-Ala Provincial Secondary School as students in form I in 1965. Ibu had come from that part of the then Idoma Native Authority adjudged as backward by the rest of Idoma people. The Guinea worm epidemic then ravaging that part of the then Idoma Native Authority Area probably added to that “perdiction”. Thus, the name “Igede” conjured a pejorative connotation and Igede people were classified as inferior to other Idoma nationality.
But this is far from the truth. In any case, there was no part of the then Idoma Native Authority Area that was not afflicted with one problem or the other and it is therefore a fallacy for any group of people to stigmatize any sect of people for any reason. The story of Gulliver’s Travels readily comes to mind.
On that day January, 1965 when we set our feet on the Tiv soil of Katsina-Ala, Engineer Ibu and myself placed in form IA in a class of 65 students.
As our studies progressed, I soon noticed that Peter Ibu was a manifestation of brain and intellect. He was quiet, but studious and as our first termly examination results indicated was way ahead of his mates in several subjects. For example, while I was unable to understand Mr. Onazi’s Technical Drawing and wood work as a subject, Peter Ibu would effortlessly bring out “front” “side” elevation and the next as demanded by the class teacher.
Thus while Eng. Peter Ibu would score almost 100% in that subject, some of us would only labour to get about 30%. Similarly in mathematics which was also problematic to me, Peter Ibu was among the top 5 in that subject in our class. In the same vein Gabriel Igwe and handsome and Lanky John Ibu who later became our head boy were also top brains in their classes. The two gentlemen are now professors in their various fields of endeavours. When Peter eventually secured Division One in the West African School Certificate and three principal passes in his Higher School Certificate (HSC) Examination that paved his way to the Ahmadu Bello University in 1972, those who know him believed it was a deserved destination.
When Peter finished his secondary school in 1969, he proceeded to Government College, Sokoto, for a two-year Higher School Certificate Course and at the end of it he was posted to Government Technical College, Bukuru, near Jos, to teach Mathematics. I had also finished my HSC in Kuru and was posted to teach English at the same school. We were allocated accommodation close to each other and we had the opportunity to recall our secondary school days. Peter got his job at Bukuru because he was good at his subjects.
I, too, and without being immodest would say that I was given the job because of my performance at my HSC. That was the time where merit was recognized. Those who gave us the job did not know us, they only looked at our papers and that is what one expects President Buhari to also look at as he did when he appointed his Service Chiefs.
By dint of hard work and discipline, he was able to improve his profile both academically, professionally and performance at the various places he found himself. Either at the Benue State Ministry of Works where he started his career at the Murtala Mohammed Airport where he was an Assistant Chief Engineer and Head of Department or Murtala Mohammed Airport, as Head of Civil/Building Department and Kano Airport Rehabilitation works, as Chief Resident Engineer and Assistant General Manager in Lagos, Abuja and Kaduna Airport, respectively.
He always, took his assignments seriously to the admiration and satisfaction of both his superiors and subordinates alike. His profile is a full portmanteau of synonyms and accomplishments.
When Eng. Peter Ibu moved to FERMA about a year ago and was placed as a Director in charge of the North West Zone of the Agency, his hard work, dedication, transparency and honesty must have impressed his then retiring boss who had no hesitation in recommending him to the parent ministry that approved his now acting Managing Director status. Probably unlike some others who may be better connected, his present position did not come as a “hop”, “step” and “jump” stance but as a result of a well orchestrated laid out plan and discipline. At FERMA, there is a lot of job to be done. The holder of the top position in that establishment should be a man who cannot easily compromise his position, who should not have baggage, who should not even have a political godfather, but simply a technocrat who is dedicated to his job and whose only main target is to ensure that Nigerian road users enjoy their ride to safety at all times.
The problem facing FERMA are legion. It is clear that with dwindling resources available to the federal government, FERMA needs a chief executive who will not take advantages of his position to further his political ambition but the helmsman who will harness all available resources to achieve optimum results and this is where Eng. Peter comes in.
I personally can vouch that Eng. Peter Ibu belongs to that category of people whose only ambition is not to disappoint those who have given him such a place of trust. After all, being a man from a minority ethnic group, the only thing that can work for him is to remain focused as he had been in the past. This is why President Muhammadu Buhari should confirm his appointment as the Managing Director of the Agency and forget all the scrambles that may have already started for that position.
In any case as the saying goes, “why the far-flung search for a woman of your dream where she lives just the next door. In local parlance, “why do you go to Sokoto in search of what is inside your Shokoto”.
Usman Adams, a veteran journalist, writes from Abuja.
