A group, All Hallows Seminary Onitsha old boys’ Association (AHOBA) on Wednesday evening organized a reception in honor of one of their own, Barr Chinedu Akubueze who was recently appointed clerk of the Nigerian House of Representatives.
The event which was held at Grand Pela hotel Durumi Abuja had in attendance members of the Association, Politicians, religious leaders and other old seminarians from different seminaries across Nigeria.
In his opening remarks, National President of the association and former Vice chancellor, Anambra State university Uli, Prof Fidelis Okafor, thanked everybody who took out time to attend the event. In a special way he thanked the Auxiliary Catholic Bishops of Awka Diocese, Most Rev Dr Benson Okoye and Onitsha Archdiocese, Most Rev Dr Denis Isizoh for travelling all the way from Anambra state to be at the event.
He noted that the seminary prepares one ahead for the challenges of life, and that’s why Chinedu was able to scale through all the hassles of life to attain such an admirable position in civil service. He enjoined all old seminarians to stick to the values that were instilled in them as young seminarians.
The event had two short paper presentations, one on the Religious demands of the civil service by Bishop Benson Okoye (Classmate of Chinedu) and the second on Economy and Health by Rev Fr Prof Hyacinth Ichoku (Vice Chancellor, Veritas University of Nigeria, Abuja).
Reflecting on his topic, Bishop Okoye told the audience that “One cannot serve God without serving humanity”.
“You must recognize the presence of God in every human being and service must be directed towards serving humanity hence you must treat people with humanity and dignity.
“You must bear in mind that God became man just for humanity therefore you must reflect the Christ in you as you discharge your duties.
Similarly, Prof Ichoku while discussing his topic stated that one of the disasters happening in the Nigerian society is the fact that many of our citizens are starving, and many are malnourished.
“Nigeria is 3rd country with largest population of malnourished people in the world.
“Huge numbers of our people go to sleep without food, without water.
Speaking further, he said that there is a big relationship between malnourishment, starvation and Economic development with an accompanied huge level of inequality in our society.
“Don’t be deceived by the flamboyant lifestyle displayed by the few well to do Nigerians especially politicians because it does not represent the actual situation on ground.
“We must all work together to bridge the inequality gap in our society and improve our life expectancy to match that of most economic developed nations he concluded.
The highpoint of the event was the investiture of the special guest as a great achiever and great ambassador of All Hallows Seminary Onitsha by the National President of the Association, Prof Fidelis Okafor.
Other dignitaries at the event include former inspector General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro (Old Boy of St Peter Claver Seminary Okpala), President of Industrial court of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Benedict Kanyip (Old boy St John Vianney Seminary Barkin Ladi), Hon Obinna Chidoka (Member House of Representative, Idemili north and south federal constituency), Barr Emeka Ngige -SAN, amongst others.
