By Wole Mosadomi

The last visit of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the ceremonial president in the first republic, to Zungeru, Niger Delta, his birth place, was on November 16, 1991.  It was shortly after a colourful ceremony organised to raise funds to build Zik Centre, located in the town, to mark his 89th birthday.  Earlier during the second republic, precisely in 1983, during his political campaign to Zungeru when he was the presidential candidate of Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP), Azikiwe took time off his political schedule to visit his birth place.

He promised to uplift the spot by erecting a library of international standard to promote education and tourism.  Eight years after that visit, that dream almost came to fruition with the fund raising to build the edifice. The gathering was held at the Bako Kontagora Memorial Stadium under the chairmanship of former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who was in power then.

The target was to raise N50m to build the edifice. From the fund raising venue, Azikiwe and invited guests drove to the site in Zungeru for the foundation laying ceremony of the Centre.  At the spot, Zik, as he was fondly called, said, “What would have been my wish and joy is to witness the commissioning of the Centre named after me as I have just witnessed the fund raising and foundation laying ceremony”.

*Azikwe centre (Inset) Late Nnamdi Azikwe

However, that hope was dashed because it was his corpse that was brought to the uncompleted building about five years later. To be precise, the remains of the late Owelle of Onitsha was brought to the site on November 12, 1996 as part of the activities to mark his final funeral. The aim of taking the corpse to the place was deliberate.  It was to draw the attention of the Federal Government, the state governments and individuals to the uncompleted building and ginger them towards completing it.

The idea did not however work because 17 years after the demise of the elder statesman, the edifice remains uncompleted.  Infact, it has now turned into the den of armed robbers with the structure dilapidated and used as public toilet while reptiles and other animals have also taken over the building. About 14 years ago, the national secretary for the centre, Rowland Anyanwu, in an interview few days to the final burial of Azikiwe, said the Centre had gulped N52m, adding that the money was paid directly to the contractor.

He explained that about N60m was realised on the spot during the official fund raising in 1991 but that due to galloping inflation especially on building materials between  1991 and 1992, the project could not be completed on schedule.

He said most of the pledges by prominent Nigerians amounting to about N8m were not redeemed then. In other interview, the Eze Ndigbo, Minna, Niger State, Dr. Pampas Ngozi Nwahiwe, described the development as unfortunate and called for government intervention. He recalled that the project was initiated by the associates of the late Zik, most of whom were late while those alive were no longer strong enough to champion the cause.

He suggested the redesigning of the structure to accommodate a library which was the dream of the late Zik, a Conference Centre and facilities which will invariably attract tourists to Niger and improve the revenue profile of the state after which another fund raising could be initiated with the federal and state governments, especially those of the South-east, the prominent Nigerians involved.

Nwahiwe said after the burial of Zik, the burial committee, headed by a former Information Minister, Malam Garba Wushishi, and which he was a member of, presented a post-mortem report to the fund raising committee on the need for all stakeholders to come together to complete the building but the sudden death of  Wushishi put paid to the plan.

Other prominent Nigerians had also spoken on the need to complete the Zik Centre. Just a week ago, Babangida lent his voice to the need for the Federal Government to take over the completion of the building.

In an interview at his Hilltop residence, the former military president said: “I call on the Federal Government to please make sure that the Zik Centre is completed. Zik was a nationalist, a President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and so I think the responsibility falls on the Federal Government to make sure that the Centre does not lie waste.

I therefore appeal to the Federal Government to see to the completion of the edifice immediately probably with individuals joining hands”.  Part of our National Anthem states: “The labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain …”, and in order not to allow the labour of Azikiwe be in vain, there is the need for the Federal Government, South-east governors especially, and indeed other well-meaning Nigerians to rise to the challenge of completing the Centre in Zungeu.

This will not only immortalize Zik but also assure other Nigerian leaders that they will not be remembered only when they are alive but also when they are dead.