In 2006, a group of friends formed the planning committee for the wedding of Chigbo Anichebe. And the event was a success. With time, the bond of friendship strengthened and more people became part of the informal group. And they participated in the social activities hosted or organised for their fold.
But some members championed the cause to put form and shape to the group and its activities. And so, it happened in early 2013 when it was resolved to formalize the workings of the group. That gave rise to a five-member committee to draft a constitution in March 2013.
With the constitution in place and a name to boot, the club, Just Friends Club of Nigeria (JFCN), was born. The club was registered by Corporate Affairs Commission on 30th August, 2013 as non-profit socio-cultural and philanthropic association. The Board of Trustees has the following members: Chigbo Anichebe (Chairman); Fred Ohwahwa; Godfrey Obinabo; J.N. Green-Amakwe and Kester Mgbodille.
According to Fred Ohwahwa, the President of JFCN, the club is a socio-cultural organisation that fosters and encourages the spirit of oneness, companionship and comradeship amongst members and between the club and other friendly associations. The club is also involved in recreation, sports and engages in acts of philanthropy in favour of the needy members of the society at large.
He informed that its members are professionals in engineering, communication, accounting, business, legal, information technology and other sectors of the economy.
Ohwahwa, a former editor of The Guardian on Sunday, explained that the club is built on a foundation to be socially responsible and to serve communities with her programmes like the Annual Lecture where prominent people are invited to provide insight on topical economic and social issues. The lecture is an important event in the club’s calendar, he explained.
As part of its philanthropic activities, the club annually visits orphanages and the needy of the society.
Philanthropic activities
In the course of its philanthropic endeavours, the club visited the Children’s Home, Karu, Abuja in December 2014 and presented items to the orphanage during the festive period.The same act was undertaken in December 2015 when JFCN visited the Mother Teresa Children’s Home, Gwarinpa, Abuja.
In December 2016, the club visited the City of Refuge Orphanage, Durumi, Abuja for its philanthropic activity. In November 2017, the club visited Shining Star Motherless Babies Home, Angwan Dutse, near FHA, Lugbe, Abuja. And in November 2018, JFCN extended its philanthropic hand to Amazing Grace Foundation Old Peoples Home, Kado, Abuja.
In December 2019, the club visited Vine Heritage Home Foundation, Kiyi, Abuja to felicitate with the inhabitants. This visit was an eye-opener for members of the club as they were informed that there are societies that still kill twins. According to Ohwahwa, the members saw members that were rescued from the communities involved in the practice.
In November 2020, it was the turn of JKS Orphanage Home (for children with special needs) to be their guest. In November 2021, the club returned to Abuja Children’s Home—a venue that hosted the club’s pioneer visit to orphanages. A party was held for the members of the orphanage. In November 2022, the club visited Anawim Home, Gwagwalada–an orphanage run by Catholic sisters.
On November 25, 2023, JFCN visited Focada Orphanage Home, Wumba District, Abuja to felicitate with its members as part of events to mark the 10th anniversary of JFCN. The club paid WAEC fees for some inhabitants of the orphanage. In same regard, JFCN, in 2023, offered full scholarship to five less-priviledged children in Jikwoyi and environs. The kids are: Chimaobi Eze, Kinkeni Dauda, Wonder Monday, Monday Gowon and Goodness Pambolo. The scholarship amount was given to an NGO, Sovereign Grace African Foundation which paid the necessary fees on behalf of the students to Government Secondary School, Gikwoyi.
In the wake of the insurgency in the North-East which created Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), Just Friends Club of Nigeria visited a National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)-organised IDP camp in Area 1, Abuja on March 21, 2015 and presented items to them.
During the COVID crisis, the club in April 2020 again visited Shining Star Orphanage, Angwan Dutse, Abuja to present gifts to the orphanage home.
On June 22, 2021, the club was at Government Secondary School, Jabi to present a cheque for the school fees of 20 indigent pupils of the school.
Annual lectures/career talk
On June 27, 2014, the club organized its first Annual Lecture and the inaugural guest speaker was Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki, then Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises. Dikki spoke on “The Federal Government’s Privatization and Economic Reform Programme” at the event which held at Rockview Hotel, Abuja. The Chairman of the maiden annual lecture was Mallam Yunus Ustaz Usman, SAN.
The 2nd JFCN Annual Lecture was held on November 30, 2017, with Tony Ejinkeonye, then President, Abuja Chamber of Commerce & Industry, as the Guest Speaker. He spoke on “the Role of the Private Sector in FCT Development.” The Chairman of the Second Annual Lecture was Dr. Goke Adegoroye, a former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Permanent Secretary.
On May 16, 2019, the 3rd JFCN Annual Lecture held with Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, a former Director General of Debt Management Office, as Guest Speaker. He spoke on “Realism and Paradox in Financing Nigeria’s Huge Infrastructure Needs.” The Chairman of the 3rd Annual Lecture was Chief Chidi Izuwah, former Director General of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC.)
In December 2022, the 4th JFCN Annual lecture held with Rev. Father George Ehusani as Guest Speaker.He spoke on “Beyond The 2023 Elections: That Nigeria May Be Saved.”
A former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Anslem Odinkalu, was the Guest Speaker at the 5th JFCN Annual Lecture which held on March 7, 2023. His topic was “Resetting Nigeria.” The Chairman of the event was Professor Samuel Ovuete Aghalino, then President of Historical Society of Nigeria (HSN.)
The club’s interest in the knowledge ecospace has seen it host career talk for public secondary schools. On March 22, 2022, JFCN, in collaboration with Government Secondary School (GSS), Life Camp, Abuja held “Career Talk” programme at the school. The resource persons were members of JFCN who spoke to the students on various disciplines.
On March 6, 2024, the club held another Career Talk at Government Secondary School,Wuse Zone 3, Abuja which saw over 200 students participating.
6th JFCN annual lecture
The sixth JFCN Annual lecture held at Bolingo Hotel, Abuja on November 5, 2024 with Dr. Sam Amadi, a former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), as the Guest Speaker. The topic of Amadi’s lecture was: ‘High Cost Of Governance As An Impediment To Development.’ The Chairman of the occasion was Olorogun Peter Igho, a former Executive Director (Programmes) of Nigerian Television Authority(NTA) and former Director General of National Lottery Regulatory Commission,
In his presentation, Dr. Amadi, who is currently the Director of Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, lamented that Nigeria is highly indebted in that it services debts with almost 80-90 per cent of its revenue.
Said he: “We are not just a highly indebted country, we are borrowing to service the debts, further worsening our economic situation. We are stuck in debts after we struggled to free ourselves from debt under President Obasanjo administration.
“The first requirement of debt restructuring is to look inwards and restructure public expenditure. This is one reason for worrying about the rising cost of governance.
“Another cause for worrying about the rising cost of governance is how big government affects performance. This is not just about financial costs. It is about lack of optimisation and incoherence that an over-bloated public service can exhibit. The essence of the public service is performance.
” If the bureaucracy is over bloated, it affects the efficiency and effectiveness of bureaucratic actions. Optimizing government through de-layering and restructuring is important for efficient performance.”
Amadi explained that issues to be addressed in the challenge of costs of government include institution/agency proliferation; distorted and misplaced priorities; rising overheads; duplication and overlap in the structure of the public service, and retention of perquisites earlier and purportedly “monetised.” Others are budget indiscipline and accountability failure (resulting in miscellaneous leakages); and lack of accurate and up-to-date cost data (and early warning mechanisms).
He agonised over Nigeria’s poor rating in corruption perception index and other indicators of public probity. According to Amadi, the country is also very poor in the rating of state effectiveness. Despite having an array of well-educated and nurtured people, the expectation is that Nigeria will be suffused with a high degree of ethics and competence in corporate and public leadership. But to him, Nigeria faces an acute crisis of values which reflects in the gross lack of productivity in both its private and public sector.
He remarked that Nigeria’s travail is partly the lack of good leadership that can mobilize citizens toward a virtuous path of productivity. He added that such leadership is often described as transformative or redefining.
He noted that currently Nigeria has a low-quality public education and a dysfunctional public service structure that weakens the capacity of the Nigerian state to deliver development. Said he: “Capacity is an important ingredient of development. With low capacity a country may not be able to generate good policies and effectively implement them. Lessons from successful Asian countries underline the importance of state capacity. These countries succeeded because they have capacity to design good policies and implement them with coherence and effectiveness.”
The panelists were Dr. Ahmed Adamu, an associate professor and a petroleum economist at Nile University, Abuja; Mr. Abdulhakeem U. Mustapha, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former member, Legal Committee of the National Council on Privatisation; and Dr. Felix Oisamoje, an adjunct Senior Lecturer of Mass Communications at Bingham University, Keffi.
The consensus from the comments and observations of the panelists is the call for a change in the presidential system of government to the parliamentary or a hybrid system that is capable of drastically cutting down on the cost of governance. The discussants squarely blamed the problem of Nigeria on leadership.
Dr. Felix Oisamoje blamed Nigeria’s problem largely on leadership, adding that the presidential system of government being practised worsened the situation with the attendant high cost of governance. Dr. Ahmed Adamu noted that three reasons account for high cost of governance in the country, including the desire by public servants to acquire wealth, psychological fear of poverty, as well as lack of belief and love for country. He lamented that high cost of governance is traceable to high recurrent expenditure, high number of government agencies doing the same things, payroll fraud, large official convoys, security votes, huge estacodes and airfares.
In his welcome remarks, Fred Ohwahwa, the President of JFCN,said that the topic is germane for the present time. “From whatever angle you look at it, Nigeria is an apology to its vibrant citizens, the African continent, and the Black race. We are far behind in virtually all metrics of development. And this is in spite of abundant human and material resources the country is blessed with,” he stated.
He added: “Our infrastructural deficit is scandalous; our education, health and other sectors are begging for quality intervention. This unfortunate state of affairs is partly attributable to the high cost of governance. And this is at all levels of government. The time has come for us as nation to review our system of governance with a view to making the people the primary purpose of government.”
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
