A BOOK REVIEW OF LIFE AND TIMES OF ENGR. ISAAC IWEKA: THE FIRST IGBO ENGINEER

A BOOK REVIEW

OF

LIFE AND TIMES OF ENGR. ISAAC IWEKA:

THE FIRST IGBO ENGINEER

A BIOGRAPHY

BY

J.C. AGUNWAMBA (Ph.D)

NO OF PAGES: 100

ISBN: 978-8137-36-9

PUBLISHED IN 2012 BY DE-ADROIT INNOVATION, NIGERIA

REVIEWER:

CHUKWUEMEKA GODSWILL

27TH JULY 2012

A Brief Summary

Life and Times of Engr. Isaac Iweka: The First Igbo Engineer is the biography of H.R.H. Igwe Isaac Emenike Iweka II (Eze Obosi), the king who ruled Obosi, a community in Anambra State, Nigeria,

from 1974 to 1996. He grew up as a young man with undaunted dream of becoming a leader, served his country as an innovative engineer, the first of his kind, and died as a king who revolutionized his community, Obosi.

Engr. Isaac Iweka was born on 23rd January 1911. He was the first son and second child of H.R.H. Igwe Israel Iweka I, who was the Igwe of Obosi from 1932 to 1934. His father was not only rich and learned, but also a Christian. This created an opportunity for Engr. Isaac Iweka to grow up in a comfortable home as a prince, get sound education and have the fear of God.

He began his education at Saint Andrews Primary School (now Central School) Obosi. In 1921, at age ten, he was sent to Hope Waddell Institute, Calabar and at age fourteen (1925) he was sent to Dennis Memorial Grammar School as a pioneering student. When he graduated from the school with flying colours, he was quickly employed by the United African Company (U.A.C.), one of the leading companies in Africa at that time. At age twenty-two he was already earning good salary and therefore got married to Miss Deborah Adaobi Nwobi.

While he worked, he nursed the dream of studying law abroad and becoming Nigeria’s first lawyer. His father’s death in 1934 crushed such dream, but not entirely. What was crushed was only the dream of becoming a lawyer, but not the determination to study abroad and become one of Nigeria’s foremost scholars. In order to achieve his dream, young Iweka resigned from his juicy job for another that paid him only thirty percent of his former salary- a move he never regretted. Through his current job, which was with the Public Works Department, a government ministry, he secured a scholarship to study civil engineering at the Imperial College, London and became the first Igbo engineer, the second indigenous engineer east of the Niger, the second graduate engineer after Engr. Williams and the first Nigerian to qualify as a graduate engineer on the British soil.

After graduation, he worked for a while in the UK and then returned to Nigeria to join the Public Works Department at the senior service category, and not quite long he was made a Chief Engineer.

At age fourty-five he retired from public service and when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the then Premier of the Eastern Nigeria, offered to make him the Director of Transport of the Eastern Region (a position higher than that of a commissioner today) based on his wealth of experiences, he declined the offer considering that his salary would not be enough to train his children in school and to handle other personal and family issues. He afterwards joined Union Construction Co. Ltd. as the Managing Director and achieved quite some feat with the company. Then in 1965 he founded his own private company, Isajon Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd, after gathering wealth of experiences from other companies and organizations, home and abroad, private and public. The Nigerian civil war affected his newly formed company. But when the war ended, he made frantic efforts to revive the company.

In 1974, while he was battling to revive his crippled company and at the same time assisting the federal government to revive its crashed economy as one of the few great minds brought together by the federal government under the body of Capital Issues Commission, the people of Obosi, his home town lost their king and consequently came to ask him to lead them as their new Igwe. He led the people of Obosi in one of the most revolutionary periods of the community from 1974 to 1996 when he passed on to glory.

Feats and Sacrifices

I must mention that H.R.H. Igwe Engr. Isaac Emenike Iweka II did not merely occupy diverse positions of leadership in the country for nothing. He made sure that he left a worthy footprint on each soil he treaded. As a great masquerade, he never danced in the arena for the mere fun of it. Every position he occupied was a carefully calculated effort to develop himself and help his society. For instance, he picked a job with UAC to have a foretaste of business management.  For this reason he had no problem leaving the job and its benefits when he knew it was time to move on. The second job of course helped him to secure his desired scholarship which moved him in the course of his destiny. His third job in the UK, with Croydon Corporation London gave him insight on the innovations he brought into Nigeria’s engineering profession. Back in Nigeria, as chief engineer in the public sector, under the Public Works Department, he spearheaded a lot of constructions that alleviated the suffering of Nigerians, one of which was the construction of the first flyover in Lagos, the flyover which spans over Agege motor road to Ikeja Airport. He handled a similar project when he moved over to the private sector under Union Construction Co. Ltd as the Managing Director by handling the construction of the first flyover in Port Harcourt, the flyover connecting the now Liberation Drive, Port Harcourt. As the Chief Executive Officer of his own company, Isajon Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd, he offered scholarships to quite a number of young people who had the zeal to study engineering.  He also used the facilities of the company to assist Biafra at the time of civil war. And as a king of his community he used the intellect and experiences he had accumulated to resolve the problem of multiple kings in Obosi, by devising a means acceptable to the people, where succession to the throne would alternate between the two royal houses that had the right to produce kings, the Ezeagu and the Okwasala. He attracted infrastructure to the community from the government and well meaning individuals. He also brought in enlightened members of the community as members of the kings cabinet, the likes of Chief Emeka Anyaoku, late Chief G.C. Mbanugo and many other such personalities, etc. The numerous achievements of Igwe Isaac Iweka II, as stated in his biography cannot be exhausted in the few pages of this review.

The path to a great height is often far from being smooth and a head that humbles itself to carry the people’s burden should be ready to walk with a broken neck. The author of the biography was able to point out that the Igwe did not first achieve the numerous feats without pains. There were indeed sacrifices. For instance, to set himself aright on the path of his destiny, by way of obtaining scholarship to study abroad, Engr. Iweka had to quit his well-paying job for another that paid less, not minding that he was already married at that time and had more responsibilities. He also quit his job with the colonial government, to gain experience from the private sector, not minding the benefits that came with working with the government at senior service category, such as free accommodation, pipe-borne water, healthcare and many more. He released his company equipment free of charge to be used by the Biafran government, and when his people approached him for leadership, he bowed his head in service.

Critical Evaluation

I must need point out two great qualities of this great leader, as brought to light by the author, which are lacking in most leaders of nowadays. One of them is leadership by example. This great man, as an engineer, experimented his own innovation on himself, unlike most scientists and technologists of his time and those of nowadays. He innovated a way of constructing modern houses with the most abundant material available to the average person, laterite, by developing sandcrete block which is made of laterite and cement. To experiment such innovation and show how credible it was, he built himself a three storey building with it. Other engineers could have tried it out on someone else’s building, but not Engr. Isaac Iweka.

The second quality is having equal regard for both the high and the how. Not minding his towering personality, his massive physical structure and intimidating resume, H.R.H. Igwe Isaac Emenike Iweka II was a humble king who kept his door open to anyone who wished to approach his throne for help. Very impressive was the scenario where the High Commissioner of Britain in Nigeria, in the company of Chief Emeka Anyaoku, had just finished a session with H.R.H on human right and global economy, and shortly afterwards, a poor market woman walked in, and with equal regard Igwe Iweka II discussed with her the rising cost of pepper and salt in the community market.

Academic/Social Relevance

It is worthy of note that the author of this biography was not merely recounting the life of a great leader. He was able to put together something that has academic and social relevance. For instance, the biography enlightens the reader on what the Igbo leadership system looked like before the Whiteman appeared on the shores of Africa- a system where the Diokpa by virtue of his age, was given the honour of saying the final word in decision making, and the chief priest in the same system weilds a similar authority.

To a scholar who wishes to study the dynasty of kings in Obosi, this book will serve as a good reference text.

To a historian who has interest in the Nigerian civil war of the 1967, this biography will open his eyes to some key events in the war that were neglected by other researchers of the war, especially how and why penetrating Onitsha was such a hard shell to crack for the Nigerian army.

To a political scientist or public administration scholar whose dream is to walk the corridor of power in this country someday, this biography of a leader who made sacrifices to attain the height of leadership and help his society will be highly useful.

To an engineer or engineering student who wishes to attain a great height in the profession and understand the gain of not sacrificing quality for profit, Life and Times of Engr. Isaac Iweka: The First Igbo Engineer should be a must read.

To an entrepreneur who wishes to know the need to first acquire experiences from relevant fields before setting up a business, this book which is on a leader who first worked at the managerial cadre in a multi-national company, served at the senior service category in a government ministry and also led a reputal private company as its Managing Director before setting up his own company will serve as an authority to study.    

And finally, for someone who wants to know the benefits of holding tenaciously to one’s dream even in the face of strong discouragement, this great piece will be a fountain of strength.

It is good to know that the language of the author is very simple and easy to understand, but not in any way simplistic. This is very good, as it would enable people of both higher and lower levels of education to understand the text and put the ideas that are stipulated therein to good use.

So far, a lot of accolades have been showered on both the author and the late Engr. Isaac Iweka. However, I must point out that the work, as a biography omitted a very salient point, which is the weakness or regret of the late Engineer. The biographer presented the late Engineer as a flawless man whose every move always yielded the desired good result.

The biography does contain a subheading on the weakness of the engineer. But under such heading, he merely beat about the bush and mentioned no single weakness of the late Igwe. Every man has a weakness. That is what makes us human.  And for a man who lived in Africa and died at the age of eighty-five, there surely must be at least a single regret. There is no shame in having regrets or weaknesses; it is how you handle them that matters. A certain great thinker once said that he would never hire a man who has never made a single mistake in life. And the point is that our mistakes and regrets always bring out the best in us, and if we harness our weaknesses properly they could turn into our major strength. But we have got to identify them first.  

The late Engineer’s regrets, if recorded, could help other leaders in the making who would read his biography to avoid them. And by studying how he conquered his weaknesses, someone who considers him a role model would understand that there is no shame in falling down, but in staying down. I therefore recommend that this missing component of this great work be brought in in the revised edition.

This notwithstanding, however, Life and Times of Engr. Isaac Iweka: The First Igbo Engineer is a great work on a great man; a must read for an aspiring leader; a well researched account, and should therefore be on every shelf of young people and adults alike.

Thank you.

Chukwuemeka Godswill