As a rebellious teen then, though ambled by welling adrenaline to advance human rights and efface instances of inequalities bestriding everyday living, one of the titles I abhor much was the “First Lady” title. For one thing though, it easily bags my verbal aspersions to affix First Lady to any name. What was the yardstick for determining primus inter pares amongst other millions of ladies? I have always questioned to no one in particular.
Frankly, I held this prejudice against ‘First Lady’ title-ship to heart for almost a decade. The prejudice was so intense until an encounter with one who incidentally is arguably an embodiment of candor and beauty all round. Call it Gburu-Gburu beauty and you will not be wrong. Her Excellency, the current first Lady of Enugu State, Mrs Monica Ugochi Ugwuanyi changed my perception about the propriety of first Ladyship for good. It was on a good day when she visited Police Detective College, Uwani Enugu to mark the Children’s Day event with the children. The unofficial office of First Lady apparently gains more prominence under our political clime. It’s more than a sensitive office which affords citizens great opportunity to peer through the internal non-public life of the Presidents or Governors of a state. If the First Lady is health conscious and hygienically-biased the state reflect to her ideals. Much works no doubt bugs the Lady’s schedules.
You may want to agree with me that the Nigerian state has had arrays of first ladies especially at the center, but one who characteristically stole the show by her poise and means remains Dame Patient Goodluck Jonathan, a mobilizer of men and women per excellence who puts on the toga of medieval jester save for what Nigerian inescapable”Bad Belle’s) may term her grammatical infelicities. Truth be told, English language is not worth the strive for perfection pursuant to its absurd vicissitudes and brain-teasing intricacies of which half our people including this writer ails in that regard.
Back to the event which took a toll on my prejudices about “the first Ladies” Enugu State first lady, Her Excellency Monica Ugwuanyi arrived at the children’s event which held at the Police Detective College field with no motorcade or fanfare to herald her arrival, yet she was all smiles as those who had already seated for the event welcomed and cheered her.
If much have been trumpeted of her largehearted and humble husband and Governor, much more pages of history would accommodate printed words of Her Excellency’s humility. If we celebrate the Governor for dallying with the poor, then his wife would be adorned eternally for hibernating with the poorest of the poor.
Accumulated prejudice gave way after encountering Mama Enugu, an emblem of bravery and steadfastness. She took the endurance to narrate her humble beginning and how fate keyed into her expectations. She exhorted the barracks Children to inject determination in whatever they have chosen to eke out a living from. Her questions were more indelible, “who wants to be a Governors wife?” she teasingly queried. Female children with us unreservedly indicated interest. “You can be President’s wife if only you amend today’s mistakes, don’t limit yourself” she retorted.
Very humble to a fault, even when children crammed upon her for selfies she quietly motioned away one of her unsmiling orderlies who brisked to interfer. Now, she has gone to the street to walk her ideals of Children’s Healthy living. By the wake of Monday the 17th day of May 2021, Mama Enugu took another bold step at advocacy to flag off 2021 Maternal, New Born and Child Health Week(MNCHN) and Modified Integrated Medical Outreach Program (MIMOP) held at Uwani Health Centre Enugu South Local Government Area of the State. It was a vibrant advocacy for children’s immunization for effective administration of vaccines. Adverting the minds of Enugu mother’s to keep proper immunization data of their little wards to ease the dilemma of medical vaccinators in unraveling the muddled vaccination records. She counseled mothers to always keep a small bag handy where they would safe keep their Children’s cards. “… You will also put in the bag everything concerning the child that you need in the hospital so that even when you are not there, the person taking the child to the hospital can pick the bag and present the necessary records for urgent medical attention”, she concluded.
Her Excellency summatively captured the deft of immunization record keeping bedeviling children infant’s primary health care programs; a contributory negligence of the mother and the health attendant. This aversion for history keeping has occasioned countless avoidable mortality which consumes even the child’s mother during prenatal medication. Most of the prevalent health complications such as epilepsy and violent convulsions are traceable to either a snap or over dosages forced down the throats of these victims by their hapless mothers; though we may offer them amnesty for handling unbeatable daily schedules coupled with the flourishing nature of our economy which the innocent child cares not a fig but that food be served upon demand.
A staggering truth which has eluded these mother’s is the criminal tendencies of their wards inadequately or outrightly not vaccinated. Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamics specialist would tell more on this proposition.
It’s motherly of Her Excellency Monica Ugwuanyi to pioneer her words that Barracks’ Children by a toss of fate can relocate to government big offices as administrators and CEOs so far they are ready to bear responsibilities. She’s a mother of a nation, am one of her nationals.
BIBIAN ANEKWE NEWS..added… The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.
Written by
IKEMSINACHI NWA-ONAH
A Political Analyst
MEDIA TEAM MEMBER OF ENUGU DI N’AKACHUKWU MOVEMENT
From Makurdi the City of Benue
