Imo @50: Remembering Osigwe Nwogu, Man Who Designed Abuja, Made Many Igbo Men

Onwuasoanya FCC Jones

It was exactly today, 50 years ago, that the late General Murtala Mohammed made that historical broadcast that brought to a pleasant climax, the years of struggle by some eminent Igbo leaders and scholars for the carving out of a state from the old East Central State, Imo. One of the things that General Murtala’s epochal broadcast did is not only carve out a particular area of Igbo land to be called a distinct name but it also gave us, from this part of Igbo land and Nigeria, the special and enviable honour of owning, some of Nigeria’s nay Africa’s best brains and pacesetters. One of such men is the first Nigerian to become a Chartered Quantity Surveyor who is also the first Nigerian to set up Nigeria’s first indigenous private practice named; Osigwe Nwogu and Partners: Chartered Quantity Surveyors.

Chief Osigwe Nwogu scored first in many fields of human endeavour, that it would not be out of place to describe him as one of the architects of Nigeria’s physical infrastructure and architectural identity, he was aptly described by Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu of the Hardel and Enic fame as; “a star whose life epitomized the Igbos’ determination to succeed and excel under overwhelming odds”, not just for his unrivaled industry in his field of study and practice, but also for his unmatched creativity and foresight that stood him miles apart and ahead of his contemporaries.

An outstanding son of Obinuhu of Nkwere ancient kingdom, Chief Emmanuel Osigwe Nwogu was the pioneer alternate chairman of the board of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, whose influence and contributions to the designing of what is today regarded, rightly, as the most beautiful city in West Africa, cannot be exaggerated, as his creative vision and bold idea aligned with his patriotic zeal to gift Nigeria a capital city that rivals with the best in the world.

A soul brother to every enterprising Igbo man or woman who came around him, the Integrated Consultants, a firm he co-founded and co-owned with the former Vice-President of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ekwueme, opened a huge door of opportunities for many Igbo-owned construction giants like the Hardel and Enic, Ozigbo Brothers, R.O Nkwocha, Franco Builders, Joe Nwankwu and many other Igbo contractors and builders. The Integrated Consultants designed most of the renowned Federal Government buildings we have in Nigeria today, including; the Three Arms Zone which consists of the National Assembly Complex, the Aso Rock Presidential Villa and the Supreme Court Complex. The firm also designed and supervised the construction of most of Nigeria’s Federal Airports, Universities, and federal colleges.

Recounting the invaluable contributions of Chief Nwogu to Nigeria’s physical infrastructure and design, Nigeria’s first elected Vice-President, Dr. Ekwueme, shared how their paths crossed and how his partnership with him was not just beneficial to their businesses but to ensuring an organised and well-planned national infrastructure:

“I returned to Nigeria in June 1957 after my overseas studies and on 02 January, 1958, I registered the firm of Ekwueme Associates, Architects and Town Planners. Our first commissions were to design of schools in the Lagos Federal Capital Area under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Education. These were followed by commissions for housing: office buildings, Radio and Television studios (Enugu and Benin), Railway Hospital, Faculty Buildings at the University of Ibadan, etc etc. In all these projects we were able to use the services of Nigerian engineering firms (notably Obi of Obembe and Associates, E Of Fasehun Associates and Iyiola Omisore Associates, among others). But we were never able to procure the services of Nigerian Quantity Surveying firms because there was none. So, all of our Quantity Surveying work was done by expatriate (United Kingdom) firms.”

He continued: “This was the situation then, when on a visit to Enugu, I was introduced to one Emmanuel Nwogu, a chartered quantity surveyor (the first Nigerian to qualify) working for the Eastern Nigeria Ministry of Works. I urged him to resign his civil service appointment immediately and set up a private practice. I assured him that our firm had (and I hoped, would continue to have) enough work to keep him busy with much more professionally and financially rewarding returns to boot. Having only recently returned to Nigeria after several years’ study and work abroad, and being in the process of settling down, he weighed the security of the public sector and decided that he would maul over my suggestion and revert to me in due course. I put forward a similar suggestion to Late Engr. Dan Hogan, a chartered Structural Engineer, also working for the Eastern Nigeria Ministry of Works. And finally, I shared the same idea with an old secondary school mate and friend, Late Engineer Seth Nwanagu who after a brilliant academic outing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology followed by work at the Boeing Airplane Company had returned to Nigeria and after working briefly for SHELL was then working in the Air Conditioning Division of Mandilas and Karaberis (M&K) as it then was…”

The cerebral former vice-president was eventually successful in persuading these eggheads and patriots to team up with him in setting the pace for the Nigerian Building Industry. This led to the registration of Integrated Consultants Nigeria, the first consortium for consultancy in the building industry in Nigeria, which he described as “pioneering, trailblazing, paceseting endeavour”.

Of course, it is impossible for one to attain the great heights attained by Chief Nwogu, like other great men and trailblazers, without a distinct dint of hard work and discipline. His Excellency made this obvious in his eulogy to the roadmaker and menmaker of the surveying profession in Nigeria;

“Since work on educational projects was tied to the school calendar, in that buildings and facilities must be ready for use at the start of a school year, work had to be done on very tight, sometimes near-impossible time schedules and it was not unusual for work by the consortium to be going on sometimes for forty eight hours at a stretch without a break for sleep. I found Osigwe Nwogu as hardworking as myself while at the same time maintaining high professional standards in the quantity surveying part of the assignment and we never failed to meet our set time schedules.”

Chief Nwogu was not just a man of success, but also a man of value, in keeping with Albert Einstein’s philosophy of success. He impacted positively in the lives of hundreds of people, especially, younger people with whom his path crossed. For instance, while he was a man of some good means, who engraved his name in the sands of time, he did not also fail to put Imo’s name on the map in any way he could do it. As the man who erected the first private residential building in Abuja, on allocation number IMO 001, Pioneer House, which still stands tall today, he did not focus on self-glorification.

As Imo marks its golden jubilee, which includes the celebration and the remembrance of some of Imo’s most illustrious sons and daughters, there is no doubt that Chief Osigwe Nwogu, a man whose businesses and innovations provided and still provides jobs and wealth opportunities for hundreds of Imo sons and daughters, especially, through his pacesetting work in the field of quantity surveying and the many companies like; Merchant Bank, Diamond Breweries and others where he was a major shareholder/director.

* Dr. Onwuasoanya writes from Abuja