MADUMERE, A GREAT MANAGER IN THE CIRCLE OF GREATNESS!

By Uche Onwuchekwa
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On August 28, 2014 at Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos State, when Prince Eze Madumere, the incumbent deputy governor of Imo State, was among a few prominent Nigerians recognized and inducted into the Fellowship of the Nigeria Institute of Management, what readily came to mind was what could have been the cause of the continual progressive profile of the man and the contrast of his quietude.

At this point, my mind wanders further on what the background of this man could be like. The argument of affinity and disaffinity between nature and nurture preoccupied my mind. Yes, hereditary has become an acceptable explanation even in sciences as considerable influences on our behavioral pattern and our vulnerabilities. Again, how we are nurtured or the influences from our environment play role as to how we are shaped especially in terms of our views and dispositions towards our immediate environment and our world.

The above premise is not unconnected to the question behind consistent rising profile of Prince Eze Madumere. Suffice it to say that inquiry and obstinate resolve to understudy such political heavy weight and highly endowed personality will definitely arise some day. Such deafening call may not be far from an effort to draw an acceptable or the right inferences about the personality of Prince Eze Madumere viz-a-viz his parsimonious instinct in the use of power, simplicity, humility, loyalty, enterprise, industry, acceptability, transparency, sense of justice and above all, trustworthiness and life of sacrifice.

Stripping Prince Madumere of the toga of a politician and political power, what manner of a person could he have been? Could he still be known with a trade mark of the above mentioned traits? could he had retained the magic of an acceptable personality? To put succinctly, how industrious was Madumere before a foray into the murky waters of Nigeria's politics? Who was he before now? Can we lay our hands on any tangible accomplishment he ever left behind? My conjecture is, if effort at unraveling these questions are made, it will definitely put some confused spectators where they rightly belong.

Prince Ezeakonobi Madumere is the third child of HRH, Eze Henry Anoruo Madumere from Achi Mbieri. He is close to his mother but was very close to his father whose enterprise has come to be appreciated by all. His Royal Highness, Eze Madumere was a renowned business man and a contractor, which made him very itinerant. This exposed the Imo Deputy Governor to different culture and influences from all sheds of behaviours. This could account for his attendance of Secondary Schools both in Imo and Lagos States.

For his exposure and practical education, Madumere learned from his father to live as an entrepreneur as he worked on sites and appreciated whatnit feels like getting jobs done with value added. Little wonder, his sense of responsibility distilled quite early in life.

Before attaining the age of sixteen, Prince Madumere already knew where he was headed for in life. He had secured his United States visa to pursue his American dream and kept a sealed mouth until the eleventh hour when he was to leave. His father being a liberal and supportive father, gave his blessings and expressed it, too, with his substance.

knowing what he wanted in life, he went for education and with dint of hard work academically and otherwise, he secured a scholarship. He had his degree in Business Administration from San-Jacinto College, University of Houston Texas.

In his work experience, he worked to the level of Area Manager of PepsiCo and also worked as the Channel Manager of KFC in the United States of America.

It is on record that Prince Ezeakonobi became a reliable vessel to the PepsiCo and contributed immensely to the growth of the firm. Most importantly, Madumere never hid the best of him as his knack for capacity building was highly displayed in the said company. he trained and retrained other workers into great managers as well in their great numbers for a succession plan for the company. It should not be surprising to people that till date, he has continually trained people even in the present government of Imo State. Whatever experience he has garnered, he has always shared with others to make them succeed.

For his business acumen, he founded beauty business chain for men where he made fortune to the extent he was nicknamed "Eazie Money" in the far away United States. As an Entrepreneur with creativity, he founded service oriented companies and other trading companies with requisite management inputs, which are undeniably run with best practice.

Beyond All this search for making self to be in better standing in means, would Madumere be seen as one of those men known for their vain glory, full of self serving interests? No, not at all. He will always be known with a trademark of a caring and loving friend, business associate, brother and father. Ogbohuruzo, as he is fondly called by his people, has shown great capacity in leadership and human resource management. It will be recalled that as a private person, he single handedly organized and mobilize the youth of his community to broker peace when there was skirmishes in the community. One of the instruments he used to reunite the people is Football, christened, Prince Eze Madumere Unity Cup.

As a private person, Prince Madumere in a bid to bring the yearning of his people to fruition for more autonomous communities for a better administrative convenience, Prince Ezeakonobi, without bothering any of his kinsmen, had it all worked out. He made no noise about it, it is always like cracking a hard nut to uncover his great efforts. What we have as Eziome autonomous community is an effort of one person, none other than Prince Madumere.

Effort to get his people organised spanned over many years even while in the United States of America where he was one of the few persons that organized Mbieri Congress in Houston Texas. This shows that signs of leadership and strenght of character have always been in him. It follows that he is no vocational politician but a leader of note whose quest for power is for the glory of the service.

In his testimony before over five thousand youths of Imo State, Imo Governor, Owelle Anayo Rochas Okorcha testified that in his business and political journey, Prince Eze Madumere remained a reliable and indeed friend and a brother who never ditched him for ever failing in his efforts to contribute his quota in Nigeria Project. He called on the youths to emulate and dare to be like Madumere. This Owelle Rochas Okorocha's testimony is one, too many. Again, like the Holy Book says, a wise son is the joy and pride of the father, little wonder, Owelle Anayo Rochas Okorocha has at every opportunity told whoever that cared to listen that Madumere is his beloved son in whom he is well pleased.

Interestingly, for his love for less privileged, this again brought the twosome of Owelle Rochas Okorocha much closer. This man of charity is a board member of Rochas Foundation founded by Owelle Anayo Rochas Okorocha, one of the greatest philanthropist ever known on the surface of the earth. Child Care Trust, which was associated with late Stella Obasanjo, the wife of the former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and its success story cannot be complete without Madumere's inputs even as one of its reliable partner. At present, Madumere is the Chairman of Red Cross Society, Imo State chapter. He has resolved to play a major role in ensuring that those orphans lack no necessities of life. It is also on record that his birthdays are with this special people in special homes. His last travel abroad coincided with his 50th Birthday, he still ensured that his children and his household visits those special homes and share his cake and other goodies with them. That is a great display of management prowess even in charity world.

As a Management Consultant, he is known as a thorough strategic personnel whose output and adoptions you cannot fault save natural occurrences that are beyond human control.

In public service or as a politician, he has never lost his innate gifts in human relations. One thing one cannot take away from Prince Ezeakonobi Madumere is his holistic adoption of human relation school of administration in both public and private administration. No staff will talk ill of this Deputy Governor of Imo State because he has proven to be fare to all and will treat all almost equitably.

Shakespeare said that a good and virtuous may recoil due to the leadership in charge. Prince Eze Madumere has left no one in doubt that he is no such person. He is also lucky to have a great leader and godly principal in Owelle Rochas Okorocha. Since his entrant into the murky waters of Nigeria's politics, he has remained consistently unchanged as he has demystified the myth associated with the offices he has effectively administered. As the former Chief of Staff, despite a seeming green horn but he handled as though he was the second timer. As the Deputy Governor, he has remained the most visible and most functional among his contemporaries. This is not unconnected with his right attitude with humility and sincerity of purpose.

It will be rather uncharitable to the Prince if we care less and not make cognizance of the fact that he is a great Crises Manager who could always fix those difficult challenges that may arise in the course of usual crack in human relations whether at the units or at the community even at the business level. Where the Prince is unable o fix a matter, though not a god, it will only take a pope if not a god to resolve such matter. When he says, it is unfortunate, be assured he has done everything humanly possible, nay, every other thing beyond human intellect. Please, by this I mean seeking God's face. The instances abound. Irete Community versus Nigeria bottling Company Plc, Awarra versus Waltersmith, Orsu Obodo versus Addax, ITC and workers. Again, in all these, the President of Coca-Cola world wide could not believe the sincerity of such a man from Nigeria who could be so resolute in his resolve to get it right.

The great Manager is always concerned about the psychology and the acceptable norms in any environment he finds himself. To put succinctly, a great Manager will even bother more about the acceptable and possibly the adoptable style of his principal. Predicting Owelle Rchas Okorocha is rather a herculean task as he is driven by passion and his God given High IQ to deliver at every level and passion does not have any acceptable generalization that serves as a template to manage. It takes a Madumere to decode the next expected move for distillation and coordination.

In all these, a great manager must be a team player since no one could claim to have a monopoly of knowledge. He remains that man who acknowledges the import of expertise in different fields and bringing them together with proper coordination to get a task handled however daunting it may seem.

It is only great managers who acknowledge great performances and appreciate with a reward and of course with a pat on the back. Give it to Madumere. A manager who knows when to separate private life from public service, Madumere is such a person. He has often drawn a line between the personal interest and the general interest and this has rather presented him a very calm and unperturbed master even in the face of raging storm of politicking.

It is in appreciation of this man's unimpeachable character that Gen. Gowon (rtd) described him as a man of simplicity and service... Arch Bishop Okorocha described him as the best Deputy Governor Imo State has ever had. Newname Newspaper could not help crowning him the best deputy Governor in the South East. The Nation Newspaper Newspaper elected him as one of the ten most outstanding Deputy Governor in the South East. Bishop Maxwell Korie, the founder of Lifeline Assembly said he is a man of peace and loyalty whose kind is hard to fine this clime...

Studying a personality like Prince Madumere, the present Deputy Governor of Imo State will continually present a man whose uniqueness and make up will always make one look ghastly at a loss because it will break and contrast all the recorded generalizations in both humanities and social sciences. The only thing certain is the certainty of his good nature and of course, his humanness and rare humility to calming and finding a soothing balm to puzzling nerves.

The President of the Nigeria Institute of Management, a man of candour with good knowledge of human behaviour and act of management may have appreciated the merit of a chattered Manager in the person of His Excellency, Prince Eze Madumere, the Deputy Governor of Imo State but may not have known the asset of a mulity-cursal Prince in the apex Management Institution in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and beyond.

Uche Onwuchekwa is the Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Governor of Imo State




His Excellency, Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere (FNIM, MFR) being conferred with the Fellowship of Nigeria Institute of Management and Chairman of themCouncil, Dr. Nelson U. Uwaga at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos State recently