Voice for the Voiceless, the Uncelebrated Figures of the Nigerian Modern Democracy: A Case Study of Allen Ifechukwu Onyema -By Olusegun Bamidele Abejide

Nigeria is an excellent country with businesspeople committed to helping it develop in all sectors. He continues to exploit opportunities available in the country to transform lives and be a change agent in Nigeria. In his words, Onyema trusts, “as Nigerians, as long as we are ready to take action, nobody can break our resolve.”

Allen Ifechukwu Onyema was born in 1964 in the city of the Benin-Nigerian region. Born a fighter and a bigger dreamer. He has grown into a man everyone can admire. He is also a well-read man with a law degree. Education transformed him into what he is today in a more significant way. Today, when he gives talks, he shares his deep insights into what Nigeria can be if, as a country, its people create an enabling business environment many citizens can eke out a living.

Mr. Onyema is a business magnate in the aviation industry. Through his hard work and consistency, he has inspired a generation that a nobody can be someone. We look up to him because he has achieved immensely in an environment many people find hard to make in life. Knowing that someone can rise in Nigeria and create wealth for themselves has seen Mr. Onyema fight for an enabling business ecosystem. Businesses that can easily succeed have collapsed in Africa owing to the unfavorable business environment. However, when successful businesspeople like Onyema step out to demand the government of the day to do its job-they want it to build a business ecosystem that can help all Nigerians rise. I do not doubt that despite his focus on expanding his Air Peace airline, he wants more Nigerians to succeed. Of course, his rallying call has been on fighting poverty, which continues to push many Nigerians into despondency. In Mr. Onyema’s wisdom, a favorable business environment is an antithesis of poverty. When people run their business activities without security concerns, they succeed. Our resolve as a people is to achieve a favorable environment for businesses to thrive.

ONYEMA’S ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATIVE AGENDA
In life, some people believe that, it is all about them, but for businessman Onyema, it is a different story. He wants all of us to succeed, and his plan is focused on helping young people. After many years of running his law firm successfully, Onyema deployed his entrepreneurial acumen to the aviation industry. He had seen an opportunity in Nigeria’s aviation industry and was committed to creating economic opportunities for the youth and other Nigerians. He is a man of means who made his fortune through sheer hard work. Since he does not believe in amassing wealth and keeping it to himself, he had to find a way of creating jobs.

His vision for Nigeria is immeasurable, and that is why he is now changing lives. In 2013, he established Air Peace airline that serves Nigeria and West Africa. His airline is now an engine providing opportunities for our young people. If you have used Air Peace airline, you must have appreciated that as a country, we are on the right track with people like Mr. Onyema. They are stepping up to revamp our economy. For many years, when we talk of business or investment, we rarely think of our ability.

As an Afro-optimist, I have always believed in our people to deliver the change we desire astutely on many fronts. For many years, we have under-exploited our abilities. When you read the history of many businesses in the USA, they started from scratch, and today they are multinationals. The strength of an entrepreneur lies in their belief to bring change to an entire society. That strength is well-displayed in the person of Onyema. He is setting an example of how Africans can create opportunities for their people without waiting for foreign investments. We have the power to scale to greatness within ourselves, so it takes a few people who dream of daring to set us on economic freedom.

We are seeing in Onyema’s daring and shrewd personality deliver a private airline serving Nigerians while creating job opportunities for our people. We should also pour our praises on these people because they create an inspiring environment that keeps us dreaming. Nevertheless, the story of the success of lawyer and entrepreneur Onyema is what you do not struggle to learn. His conquering nature has seen his airline grow in the last nine years. After a few years of local flights, Air Peace airline extended its operations to Accra, Ghana. Expanding to other markets in West Africa is a justification for success in the Nigerian market.

Many people have been employed in this airline, and those who could not earn a decent living, today can. As the airline seeks more expansion into other new international routes, many more lives shall be lifted. Some people may not look at Air Peace from a broader perspective. However, from my viewpoint, building a nation requires entrepreneurs. Poverty is a death sentence to many people, and when Mr. Onyema invests his hard-earned money into the business, he shifts his attention to poverty eradication. Doubtlessly, he is making a profit, and in the same breath, Nigerians are benefiting. In building a country, people of means focus on economic empowerment. When people are empowered economically, it becomes impossible to be manipulated politically. I now believe that Onyema is fighting for Nigerians by solving their biting problems like unemployment.

Lawyer Onyema is one person who always dedicates his efforts to fighting for you. When business leaders take an opportunity to fight for the economic freedom of their people, they set them on a journey to democracy. In my understanding of democracy, I always have opined that you do not just give citizens freedoms and rights while strangling them through poverty. I look at poverty as a stumbling block to democracy. In eradicating poverty, you set a people to freedom. You create an environment where people are empowered and demand accountability from their leaders. It is the commitment of this son of Nigeria to fight poverty in the country by creating economic opportunities that put him on a high pedestal. He comes out as a man that fully believes that the Nigerian youth should be supported by simply giving them opportunities.

PATRIOTISM OVER PROFITS
Businessman Onyema is a man Nigerians can always rely on at all times. In times of need, he is a man that will always come through for Nigerians. During an outbreak of xenophobic attacks on Nigerians, you saw how this Voice for the Voiceless he jumped to rescue our people. Factually, despite doing great work for Nigerians for quite some time, he became known to the masses after he evacuated Nigerians in South Africa as a result of the xenophobic attack.

Nigerians have widely spoken about the gesture at home and in the diaspora. Not only that, but he has also written his name in the sands of time. We should be our brother’s keeper. Your wealth has no meaning and purpose if you fail to create an impact with it. Use every opportunity to help others because our greatness lies in helping others rise. He forwent profits to facilitate the travel of Nigerians caught in the middle of xenophobic violence that put Nigerians in harm’s way. It was a show of humanitarianism that projected Mr. Onyema as a man who has the interests of Nigerians at heart.

As a private business, Air Peace airline has to pursue profit-making activities. In this case instead, we saw our compatriot emerging as a selfless man, ready to help our people when they urgently need his help. It was the federal government’s work to evacuate its people from danger or risk zones. When I see business owners magnanimously leave money-making flights to rescue their fellow citizens, I burst into happiness. I begin to appreciate the loving spirit in the country. There are still people amidst us who mean good for us. We can all celebrate his philanthropic personality as we encourage him to continue taking bold steps in supporting entrepreneurship in the country. I will always look at Onyema and reflectively say that he is dedicated to a cause that will always empower our young people.

Supremely, a man can only be termed successful after he has accomplished his dreams, and this is what Onyema has done. He knew there was more to leading a great life than living under his parental guidance and working in his comfort zone. Instead, he wanted to become a successful lawyer on his terms. In the pursuit of this path, it has put him where he is today.

ALLEN ONYEMA, AN ADVOCATE OF PEACE
Businessman Onyema has always been an advocate of unity. It has not been easy to sustain peaceful coexistence in Nigeria because of ethnic clashes. Some people support the separatist agenda, but we have seen Mr. Onyema courageously fight for national unity. He sees the strength of Nigeria in the unity of all ethnic communities. Onyema says, “I prefer a big, strong Nigeria to a balkanized country.” This statement is well-supported in his efforts to advocate for conflict resolution. Even in his young age, right from his early days at the University of Ibadan, he led other students to stop deadly religious and ethnic chaos in the old city of Zaria. This is some history that reveals what kind of person he is.

If you have ever heard of Eminent Friends Group, it was through the influence of Onyema that it came into existence. His love for a united nation is worth cherishing because it underscores how nationhood is of greatness. Social activism is an area that Onyema is excellently performing aside from the economic front. His law background is an ignitor to his peacemaking life. From the Eminent Friends’ Group, he later led to the formation of the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN).

Our national strength and democracy are embedded in our willingness to remain committed to loving one another as we pursue economic freedom. It is the reason, Onyema thinks, “we have so many ethnic nationalities in the country, and that should be a source of strength for us.”