Ogbede: When preparation for public service meets opportunity

The newly appointed Executive Director in charge of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Natural Resources at the South East Development Commission (SEDC), Dr. Clifford Ogbede is a man with a passion for public service. All his adult life, he has always shown that inclination to serve the public good. It is a great trait that he inherited from his late father, Chief Augustine Ogbede, and it has remained with him to date.

The late father served humanity in many capacities in his lifetime. He was a teacher for thirty-five good years. While in service, he also served his colleagues through their union, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT as Zonal Secretary, and Chairman of Ngor Okpala Branch when Ngor Okpala was created.

With regard to classroom teaching, he taught with so much passion, dedication, and commitment. That stood him out and made him very popular in communities in the then old Owerri Province. Upon retirement, he continued serving. He served his immediate Obiangwu community as president general and Ngor Okpala LGA as a Customary Court Judge.He also tried to leverage politics to serve his Onyeaghalanwanneya Clan as a Councillor.

Indeed, he had an illustrious and distinquished service career. This is why his name remains a household name in Onyeaghalanwanneya Clan and Ngor Okpala, years after his passing unto eternity.

Dr. Ogbede’s mother, Lolo Regina Ogbede, is also a woman of substance who impacted profoundly on the younger Ogbede. She was a professional teacher who taught in many primary schools in Ngor Okpala and around Owerri for 35 years, retiring as a Head Mistress. She is from the Emenike Njoku royal family in Oboama Nguru, Aboh Mbaise LGA of Imo State.

As someone who grew up under the influence of high-flying parents, it definitely would have been a big shock if the younger Ogbede did not walk in their positive footsteps. But, he very well did, and this could be attested to, by the fact that like his dad, he also talks and demonstrates in action, that service is the most important duty of man on earth.

It’s been over twenty years now since he started demonstrating this virtue in words and deeds. At the time he began doing that , he hadn’t even the minutest access to the public sector. He was neither occupying any elected nor appointed office; he was neither a government contractor nor a government employee. He was just a private sector person who worked for every kobo he earned.

What this means, in other words, is that there was a limit to what he could do with his personal resources.

Therefore, if he is someone whose spirit of giving and serving wasn’t ordained from above, he may have simply minded himself, his family, relations, and business. But, because of his public spirited nature, he has remained a man of the people. He has never held back from using the little he had in the service of God and the society.

Ever since he started several years back, he has continued to go about touching lives up till today. Expectedly, one of the consequences of this job was that he got closer to the people, especially those at the grassroots. Naturally, this made him to gain a lot of experience, the most prominent of which was the realization that, try as much as he could, his private resources won’t be enough to do all he wanted for the people.

That was how the idea of seeking public office to help deepen and sustain his humanitarian gestures crept into his mind years back. However, at the beginning, he ignored it completely, but when those he touched in one way or the other began nudging him to give running for elective office a thought, he started reconsidering his earlier stand.

The end result of that rethinking was the throwing of his hat into the ring in 2007 to contest for Ngor Okpala/ Aboh Mbaise Federal Constituency Seat in the House of Representatives.As it is open secret here that, you don’t win election by popular will, Dr Ogbede, despite being the clear favourite of his people, lost that election at the party primary stage.He never allowed that man-made setback to weigh him down, as he again contested for the seat in two subsequent electioneering periods. Just as it happened in his first effort, the system also torpedoed his other two efforts to serve his people.

More than anything else, his responses on the three occasions he was frustrated out spoke eloquently to the fact that he came to serve and not to feather his personal nest. Each time he was rigged out after spending so much, he quietly packed his bag and returned to his business. He never resorted to desperate acts like playing do or die politics, which is exemplified by endless court cases. Or, the licking of the boot of those who were (s)elected, for the purpose of getting contracts, or any other type of patronage.

Dr Cliff Ogbede, a seasoned administrator and educationist is a reputable international businessman, who has been a major promoter of Nigeria in the international community, having pioneered several trade and investment missions to some European Union countries, America, Canada, and Ukraine.

He represents numerous foreign institutions in Nigeria, including the foremost Ukrainian V.N Karazin Kharkiv National University, which was (established 1804).

Sitting on the board of several institutions and having served as President and Chairman, Council of Fellows of Chartered Institute of Public Diplomacy and Management of Nigeria, Cliff continues to strive to offer leverage for people to achieve their set goals in a free society, guided by the rule of law.

As noted earlier, he has at several times aspired to represent the Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives and was a one-time Deputy Governorship Candidate in Imo state. He served in the office of the Deputy Speaker House of Representatives in 2011-2014 as Special Assistant (Foreign/Diaspora Matters) and was again appointed in June, 2023 to the same office as Special Adviser (Special Duties) to the current Deputy Speaker.

A man with a vast global network, his objective always is to humbly serve his country at all times in any capacity.
It is clear that his passion always is to serve and create opportunities for necessary socio-economic and political development, that will impact positively on the lives of every Nigerian.

Personal attributes of Dr. Ogbede shows that he is a motivator with excellent leadership qualities. He is very innovative, hard working, and a team player who always strives for excellence.

With these impeccable records, the South East looks forward to a new chapter in the lives of the rural communities who will benefit from his assigned role. His appointment is a testament that President Tinubu knows how to fish out focused and result oriented personalities who are determined to rebuild the fortunes of this great country.

Just as he predicted many years ago, following series of man made obstacles placed on his path to stop his quest to serve his people, that his own time would come one day. That has come to pass as God Almighty has remembered him using Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, Deputy Speaker House of Representatives, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. President Tinubu and DSP Kalu deserve eternal gratitude not only for fishing out this man of service and excellence, but also for creating this long desired commission. They deserve automatic inclusion in the region’s hall of fame. As Dr. Ogbede gets set to assume office as Executive Director, Agriculture, Rural Development and Natural Resources, in the South East Development Commission, there is every reason to believe that he will serve well. Having prepared for this for a long time, now that his preparation has met opportunity, we are confident he will live up to the expectations of the people.

Written by Chinedu Opara in Owerri Imo state