Not many cobblers in modern Nigeria will rise beyond the challenges of their immediate environment, some may get frustrated and end up in abject penury. Nicholas Uchechukwu Asogwa is a proud Professor of Ethics, who started as a shoe-shiner.

Asogwa’s story will be incomplete without mentioning two helpers sent down from Heaven in the form of women. Mrs Nkechi Ohanuka gave him 620 naira to buy Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) form. Mrs Proscovia Kyazze Ndoboli was responsible for his first tuition and accommodation.

While others moved up from secondary to tertiary school, the young man graduated from barrow pushing to shoe mending. Poverty struck him like lightening until providence fired back, decorating Asogwa with academic gowns and garlands amidst thunderous ovation.

Nkechi and Proscovia were students of the University of Nigeria ( UNN) Nsukka. They lived in Bello Hall, reserved for female undergraduates. Asogwa was the resident shoemaker. While his mates swaggered into the hostel to impress with romantic love notes, he was the guy whose job was to clean dirty shoes.

Many did not reckon with him. Nkechi was different, she asked questions. Proscovia cared. The former got to know that the cobbler had enough papers to further his education. She got in touch with her husband and money came for JAMB form. The latter, on learning that Asogwa was about to join UNN Jambites, paid the necessary fees to make life comfortable.

Mrs Ndoboli was at Nsukka from Uganda. Mrs Ohanuka, like Asogwa, is Igbo. Both are recognised for changing a life. The Barrow Boy of Orie Orba Market, in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State, went beyond mending shoes. In September 2023, he became a professor, at the same UNN.

The Ugandan touch is significant. It appears Nigerians and Ugandans have a lot going for them. President Yoweri Museveni holds a degree in Political Science, from the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Two of his lecturers were Professors Okwudiba Nnoli and Claude Ake. Museveni was in Abuja for the African Union Summit in 1991. He asked ECOWAS leaders to thank Nigeria for ECOMOG. I got two of his books: The Path of Liberation and Consolidating The

Revolution. Chief Moshood Abiola had Museveni’s ears. I was told that the Ugandan leader benefitted from the billionaire.

General Yakubu Gowon was overthrown while attending the AU Summit in Kampala. Field Marshal Idi Amin wanted to impress the world in 1975. The Nigerian leader lost his seat and walked away. The Ugandan president was a supporter of Enugu Rangers. They beat his Army team Express in 1976, came back in 1978, thrashed Kampala City Councillors. He organised a presidential dinner for the Flying Antelopes. Justice Egbert Udo Udoma was Chief Justice of Uganda between 1963 and 1969. He also acted briefly as Governor-General. In 1968, Kampala hosted a peace meeting between Nigeria and Biafra. It was organised by the AU. One of the Nigerian delegates, Johnson Banjo, was kidnapped outside Apollo Hotel ( now Kampala Sheraton). His body was later found by the riverside.

It was at Makarere University that Ngugi Wathiong’o met Chinua Achebe in 1962. The Kenyan handed over the manuscripts of his books, The River Between and Weep not Child, to the Editor of African Writers Series ( AWS). Some Ugandan names sound Nigerian. There is the actor, John Atiku, who was born in Arua. At the Rome 1960 Olympic Games, Aggrey Awori, represented Uganda. At the Ethiopia 1976 African Nations Cup, they had Dennis Obua. Another Obua, David, played soccer in Scotland. Yaba Ochola won Hammer gold at the Lagos 1973 All Africa Games. Ivon Asaba and Delton Oyo played for

Hippos of Uganda. Ndoboli should know Prof. James Katende. He graduated from the University of Lagos in 1981. The Engineer spent nearly 40 years in Nigeria. Teaching took him round, from Unilag to Bayero University, Kano and Covenant University Otta.
Katende added a proud Nigerian wife, of Yoruba background, to his profile. 

Mega bucks began to pour when he relocated to Botswana International University, Gaborone. The Ugandan is now settled at Namibia University of Science and Technology ( NUST), Windhoek as Professor of Renewable Energy Systems.

His name still rings a bell. Katende won gold at the Nigerian Universities Games Association (NUGA) Championships, University of Benin 1980. An interesting story. The initial winner, representing University of Maiduguri, was stripped of the gold when it was discovered that he was not a student. Felix Owolabi, Kingsley Ufere and Alex Tunwagun also won medals for Unilag.

I remember that former Nigerian international, Francis Moniedafe, was nicknamed Idi Amin. He left Jimeta during the crisis that preceded the Civil War but returned after the war to play for Yankari Bulls North Eastern State alongside Ben Duamlong and Haruna Garba. From there, he moved back to Asabatex and later Insurance.

Major J. R. Muhazi was Ugandan Army officer ( RO/ 1326 ). He died in the C- 130 crash, Ejigbo. Seven other foreign nationals, five Ghanaians, one Tanzanian and a Zimbabwean, also perished in that 1992 disaster.

In the early 1970s, Nigerians fell in love with a certain fabric commonly called Kampala Eggs. It was at a time Col. Paul Tarfa was using Koboko to control traffic in Lagos. Many did not know that Idi Amin was born in Koboko.

Asogwa has shown gratitude to Ohanuka and Ndoboli. His story is worth telling. These women have made shoe making beautiful in my heart. When next you see a cobbler, do not forget to get a little closer. Paying for services rendered is okay, digging deeper may help.

Now tell me why Asogwa will not be gingered to visit Jinja or tell the Kagara man in Niger State about Kagara in Uganda. As an Igbo man, I am sure he enjoys the old highlife tunes of Kabaka and the Oriental Brothers. Well, the real Kabaka, is in Buganda.