BY MCPHILIPS NWACHUKWU

BOOK REVIEW:
Born to Serve, africagenda Publications, Abuja, Enuma Chigbo &Ejiro Barret, 2011, pp.208.

Biographical writing is not only about what  one achieves in life, but also about the challenges one  encounters in the discharge of life entrusted responsibilities as well as  one’s  envisioned programmes for the progress of society and humanity.

These three   expectations from what should be considered a well thought out and accomplished biographical account are all met by the duo of Enuma Chigbo and Ejiro Barret, who  engaged themselves at chronicling the interesting journey of Senator Liyel Imoke in the public service.

Committed to  documenting the life of Senator Liyel Imoke, notable public servant and two times Governor of Cross River State, these writers in a book titled, Born to Serve, beyond telling the story of un quantified development strides recorded by  Cross River State under the  leadership of Imoke, goes further to detailing important critical problems that if not for the magnanimous mind and excellent leadership skill of the young leader would have stifled all forms of growth in the State.

Under the heading; Overcoming Challenges of Life,  the book  examines how Cross River State effectively responded to World Court ruling that ceded  previous Bakassi people of  the State to the neigbouring country of Cameroun. Second most important challenge faced by Imoke as the Governor of Cross River State according to the book is the withdrawal of 75 oil wells from the state, which were  handed over to River State government.

The implication of the second challenge was a serious financial stress resulting from drop in revenue generation, which became  a challenge for the government to identifying other sources of revenue  generation for the execution of development projects.

Born To Serve

Coming from the stable of africagenda Publications, Born to Serve, comes out timely, as  Senator Liyel Imoke will be marking another  one year in office at the end of this month in his second ride as the governor of Cross River State.
Appropriately titled, Born to Serve, the book provides an innovative platform with which the public can engage the performance of their leaders, seated on hot seat.

Apart from also chronicling the interesting formative years of the subject in the beautiful city of Enugu, the book  further  reveals  how proper upbringing helps to shaping the humble and agenda setting public servant one sees in the person of Imoke.

The story is told through an innovative interview  approach. Through this well exploited style, Chigbo and Barret succeed in bringing their subject to a proper public trial as the entire narrative revolves around interview responses from over a 100 hundred witnesses drawn from  different strata of society and ethnic formations.

These witnesses include two  Presidents in the person of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, clergies, business moguls, party chieftain, public servants and traditional rulers.

Apart from venturing into the murky waters of Nigeria’s politics as the country’s youngest senator at a relative young age of 30, Senator, Liyel Imoke in the course of his public service career has been privileged or rather unfortunately been saddled with very challenging national assignments.

In the last twenty years, President Goodluck Jonathan wrote in his foreword to the book, “ Senator Liyel Imoke has been actively engaged with Nigeria, having served  in various capacities: senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1991, Special Adviser( Utilities) to President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chairman Technical Board of NEPA, Executive Chair of the Federal Government Committee to wind down OMPADEC IN 1999, Minister of Power, Minister of Education and currently, Governor of Cross River State.”

It is to these national assignments that the biographers of this critically engaging book bring to trial with the intent of not having the honor to convicting their subject or acquitting him, but more honorably, allow the public to pass its judgment.

Brilliantly too, the authors methodological approach of the interview style makes it possible for the interpretation of the activities and personality of the subject be done by outsiders, who do not have anything so to say, at stake, in  scoring the man.

It is important to state here that this biographical writing approach is very innovative and equally lends some sense of objectivity to the entire account.

From the account of all the witnesses that spoke about Imoke in the book, essential evidences in his favor are: absolute dedication, loyalty, innovativeness, good team player, brilliancy and above all, humility in low and high places.

The entire trial of Imoke in the course of this engaging narrative also reveals another significant and hidden fact about the nation’s political culture. That fact is that Imoke represents and achieves all that entire are attributed to him due mainly, to a proper harnessing of his productive young age in service of humanity.

This revelation  is perhaps  one of the authorial views of these biographers , who appropriate their subject as a case study in proposing this important hypothesis, perhaps, suggesting that the nation should consider more seriously the call by larger Nigerians for generational shift in the leadership structure of the nation.

Besides being properly packaged and excellently edited, Born to Serve, which will be presented at Kola nut Conference and event Centre, Calabar on 25th May, 2011, is no doubt an important read, not only because of its subject matter, but more significantly, because of its manner of presentation.