Onun Eteng Ikpi

Biography

IMMORTALIZING THE GREAT SONS OF THE YAKURR ENCLAVE

CHIEF ONUN ETENG IKPI (OON, ARCS): A SUPER PERM SECT.

21/7/2020

A popular local folklore song in Oka, a dance group in Ugep, sang the praises of one of her illustrious sons, Chief Onun Eteng Ikpi, saying, “Onun, son of Eteng, owns those who own Ugep” (translated). This goes to show how revered and loved he was, and still is, by his people. Like his contemporary diplomat, Dr. Okoi Arikpo, he was first among equals.

He was one man whom history can never erase from the generations to come. Born in Ugep, Yakurr LGA, in the early 20th century, he was an educationist, architect, Permanent Secretary in the defunct Eastern Region, and a mobilizer for good causes.

He was a Cambridge graduate who, upon returning home, brought so much modernity to his homeland by building and constructing a grammar school, the Community Secondary School, Ugep (COSGRAMS), and a hospital, now the General Hospital, Ugep.

Chief Onun Eteng Ikpi was a graduate of Cambridge University, London, in the 1940s. Upon his return to Nigeria, he was appointed Permanent Secretary for Lands in the defunct Eastern Region in the 1950s. In the 1970s, he was among those appointed to share the assets and liabilities of the former Eastern Region among the states that emerged from it, including the present-day Enugu, Imo, Anambra, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, and Bayelsa States. This was an assignment he assiduously undertook to a successful conclusion.

Before the establishment of COSGRAMS in 1963, there was an exodus of young people to Obubra, Itigidi, and Calabar in search of secondary education, while there was also a pressing need for better health services. Hence, his arrival was seen as God's intervention, as the appalling conditions inspired him to envision solutions that would alleviate the sufferings of his people. The result was his eventual mobilization and immediate action.

He was the Nostradamus of Ugep; he saw the future and went ahead to beautify it by providing the needed infrastructure, some of which could still serve as reference points even in the 21st century. His creative acumen was evident in the beautiful architectural plans and designs of his country home at Bikobiko, Ugep, and COSGRAMS—the products of his endeavours and the materialization of his inventive genius.

He was a regular face on NTA 8, Enugu, which was one of our popular television stations back in our youth. He was a good orator and one of the public moral giants who pointed the nation towards the path of rectitude. He never minced words, as he would speak vehemently against the cowardice of intellectual ambiguity that indulged veneer characters in public places. He himself was a no-nonsense man.

Chief Onun Eteng Ikpi's life was a watershed of blessings in every aspect. He was spiritual but not religious; ideological but not bigoted, for he could not submit his intellect to the whimsical machinations of another being.

A great patriotic figure to the core, he used his innate talents to serve humanity at every opportunity. When the COSGRAMS Mirror, a journal of the Community Secondary School, Ugep, interviewed him in 1983 to know the motive behind such a great feat, he aptly remarked that “it was his calling at that material time to deliver his people from the clutches of poverty and backwardness.”

What a man! Always working round the clock as if there was no tomorrow. A workaholic of sorts.

His stout and audacious disposition, broad and undeniable convictions, were radiated in his addresses during public interventions. He was a real home man, as he would always invite the various Christmas-time masquerades to come and entertain him in his villa. I saw him on one of those occasions, very excited and showering cash donations as the drummers and dancers did their thing with great fervour.

He was a good role model and an idol to many of us who were privileged to have met him alive and interacted with him. He matched words with action and strived to exhibit a high moral disposition at all times.

“Onun wè Eteng, yanen bae yayeni Umor Nwò oyenibae”...

Indeed, he owns the owners of Ugep.

We cherish your wisdom and who you were. You are Onun Eteng, and you are incomparable with anyone.

💚 Ekubi Bassey
Public Affairs Analyst, residing in Abeokuta.