By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu
Let’s take a trip to Umunna, that is, the kindred setting where the families meet. I’m making this journey to break kolanuts with the ebullient homey of many titles – Ozonkpu! Ezeudo! Call him Uche Nworah, PhD, and the ever personable go-getter will take a bow.
The brand new outing of Uche Nworah is in the toga of Executive Chairman, Umunna Media Group, Abuja. The date stares one in the face as Tuesday, October 14, in this year of Our Lord. It’s the grand opening of the Abuja City office of Umunna Media, a different kind of business consortium intervolving Charlton Business School, Umunna TV, and Woodhouse Consulting, situated at No. 9 Jere Street, Garki, Abuja.
It’s cool by me to strive to keep in touch with a man who walks his talk and dominates his space. In this brave new age of the worldwide web, alias www, and such sundries as the social media affiliates, Uche Nworah has blazed a commanding trail that deserves consummate attention. He may be caught breaking kolanuts on Facebook this moment even as he is also gathering the in-crowd via Whatsapp and working up the season on Youtube. The universe is his to occupy.
Uche has taken the natal kola to the internet, and the wide world bears witness in wonder. The inimitable Senator Victor Umeh showers him with prayers of all-encompassing success. Uche thrives in his turf of offering public relations solutions. With his finger on the hub of the technology-driven scheme of things, he is breaking bold ground in Media, Public Relations, Advertising, Education and multi-faceted Consulting.
His inspiration is youth-centred as he drives the next generation into new discoveries and conquests. As a motivator, Uche sees possibilities beyond any odds whatsoever. The numbers following him on Facebook should be put in the multiples of thousands as he connects with all ever so readily. A multi-tasking team-player, Uche is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Marketing , Nigerian Institute of Management , and the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria. He is a prized Member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations.
In the ennobling words of the rendering Chief, “This is the time for brands and people to stand out because when everybody is losing their heads in the water, this is the time for you to put your head up. And how can you do that? You have to leverage PR, leverage on media, and leverage on communication. You need somebody to tell your story for you. That’s what we are doing here.” He runs the Umunna Business School where learning is pure fun. He offers this advice: “While in the village, endeavour to attend your Umunna meeting. There is no better humbling experience a man will get than at Umunna (Kindred) meetings. Such meetings provide opportunities to show love, respect and share conviviality. Stop running away from your Umunna. Nobody is trying to kpai (kill) you.”
The National President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Dr. Ike Nellaku, has the highest commendation for Uche Nworah’s Umunna Media Limited. For the PR supremo, Uche Nworah and his Umunna Media are standing out to raise the bar. The value and impact they are poised to create through inspirational public relations cannot be gainsaid. Dr Neliaku charged Nigerians to patronize accredited and registered public relations institutes like Umunna Media Limited, stressing that the law establishing the practice of public relations in Nigeria prohibits quackery, and warned that any individual or group practicing quackery will be prosecuted.
A titled high chief of his hometown Enugwu-Ukwu in Anambra State, Ozonkpu Ezeudo took a Second-Upper Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Arts from the University of Uyo, and capped it up with Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree in Marketing from the University of Nigeria (Enugu Campus). He holds a Certificate in German language from Volks Hoch Schule, Dusseldorf, Germany as well as a Master of Arts in Educational Research from the University of Greenwich, London. An avid lover of education, he also bagged a Master of Science (M.Sc) degree in Mass Communication from the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), and netted the crowning glory of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) degree in Marketing from Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam (formerly Anambra State University).
Chief Uche Nworah distinguished himself as the MD/CEO of Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) from 2014 to 2022.
The Umunna gathering of Chief Nworah knows no bounds and escapes, as I can attest to. I once attended the Izunna Okafor organized Chinua Achebe Literary Festival and Memorial Lecture, and I was hiding in the audience only for me to hear the unmistakable voice of Ezeudo: “Borojah, why are you hiding there? Come up here to be with us!”
As the legendary poet Christopher Okigbo asked, “Who can say No in thunder?” I had to answer the call of Ozonkpu Enugwu-Ukwu na Umu Nri, in the everlasting spirit of Umunna.
Uzor Maxim Uzoatu is the author of God of Poetry.
