By steve anyebe.
To a bemused sweating crowd of largely Idoma elites, at the choked hall of Ochacho Hotel in Otukpo town, the story, which was to be narrated virtually from London, was how in 1987 a young Lecturer at College of Education, Katsina-Ala, Benue State, took the weird decision of abandoning his secure job and moving to the United Kingdom, the stark realities of an uncertain future staring him rudely in the face.
The discussion was on “PROSPERITY BEYOND PAYCHEQUE: REIMAGINING THE IDOMA FUTURE.”
John Ofutu, with an excellent command of the English language, coupled with a gripping narrative style, told his own story of transition through the vagaries of human vicissitudes and natural happenstance. The story is both infectious in its bare-faced personal exposure, as its down-to-earth fearlessness.
Ofutu started his narrative with the emerging unfavourable turnaround in Nigeria of the mid-80s when the politics of man-know-man was beginning to creep into acquisition of choice graduate employment, when inflation was beginning to rear its ugly head after the so-called oil boom, and when investment capital was becoming increasingly unavailable for entrepreneurial minds like the Futwalk Fashion House creator. John had already developed the vital creative mind which would be the moving force of his later life in the diaspora. His emigration to London in 1988 might have looked like an act of escapism at the time, yet his humility in taking up his first diaspora job as a barber was to be the real foundation on which he gradually built and capped his entrepreneurial and intellectual edifice. Other ingredients that formed the superstructure of eventual success followed, some simultaneously and others with time.
For many who would read the paper by Uncle J, popularly called Futwalk by friends, it was unthinkable for a University graduate to move from Nigeria to London only to become employed as a barber. But perhaps that unbelievably humble adaptation by John was the commencement of his success trajectory, obviously causing a paradigm shift which engendered a new perspective that no honest work is beneath a determined person, unarguably a very liberating principle.
With that mindset, it did not take long for John to establish his own barbing business and even employ his own barbers. From that point on, it became forward ever for Mr Futwalk in terms of accomplishments. He continously hankered for knowledge and sought after much needed skills, eventually becoming a recipient of a PhD and other higher academic laurels.
Dr John Ofutu, using his personalised life corresponding anecdotes, must have elevated the spirits of many youngsters by informing them, through his Paper, of the great opportunities that abound in the diaspora. Yet, he was quick to warn that the mere happenstance of reaching foreign land does not automatically translate to goodies. His warning should never be discountenanced for it comes from personal experience and not hearsay. According to him, success in the diaspora also entails going through the crucible of initial loneliness, homesickness, harsh weather, racism, emotional isolation, and identity struggles. But the baseline is that everything is about what you can achieve by yourself, a favourable escape from the home scenario where everything is decided on the basis of ethnicity, religion, language, or political party affiliation. Out there, even as Ofutu urged Idoma youths to take full advantage of diaspora opportunities, he said what they would need to succeed are diligence, business-like commitment and a new perspective of humility, discipline, accountability, and the idea that success is earned rather than bestowed, especially the realisation that value and substance matter more than appearance, in direct contrast to the wrong notion of success in contemporary Nigeria where negative tendencies are celebrated and rewarded. With these, the sky could very well be the beginning for Idoma youths.
According to an Idoma adage, the stream explains that it meanders only for lack of who to show it the straight course. In reimagining the Idoma future, a straight and beneficial course has been shown through the John Ofutu compass, bypassing the sure death through the Sahara Desert, Libya, and the hazardous Mediterranean Sea.
The charge to Idoma youths towards a more productive future is to divorce themselves from the obsession with worthless titles, over-dependence on government, and instead cultivate the philosophy that enterprise is the pathway to sustainable economic prosperity.
In an exclusive chat with mustardpoint.com after his famed Idoma Centenary Lecture discussion, Dr John Ofutu insisted:
“Idoma youths must build their future around Human Capacity Development; Skills Acquisition; Integrity; Networking; Discipline; Business Development; and Independence.”
Dr John Ofutu’s story is the story of an ordinary Idoma man who refused to give up in the face of seemingly daunting odds, setbacks, and re-inventions. His resignation from his lecturing job due to an unmerited query was a crucial episode in his long struggle to eventual success. His message is clear: If I can do it, so can you!
But, like the inscription on a 911 Lorry(Gwongworo) says “NO FOOD FOR LAZY MAN!.”
END. 08/06/2026.
