Alaigbo Development Foundation laments demise of Chief Innocent Diala Nwoga

Global Patriot Staff July 30, 2020 Arts & Entertainment, Local, News Leave a comment 1,320 Views

A socio-cultural and economic group, Alaigbo Development Foundation(ADF), has expressed regret at the demise of Chief Innocent Diala Nwoga, a member of its Board of Trustees(BOT) at the age of 85.

A statement by Abia Onyike, Chairman, ADF Bureau of Media & Publicity, said that “Nwoga was a leading light and an iconic figure in the development of Igboland and Nigeria. He was one of the founding fathers of ADF, which began in 2014 with the Enugu Colloquium on the Igbo Question in Nigeria.

“Son of Chief P.O.Nwoga of Ekwerazu Mbaise, who was a Minister in the Eastern Region in the First Republic, Innocent Nwoga attended Stella Maris College, Port-Harcourt. He later went to the University of Belfast and Oxford University in the United Kingdom.”

Onyike’s statement noted that “A consummate and seasoned Administrator, Innocent Nwoga began his Civil Service career as a Divisional Officer in the defunct Eastern Region. He became the Deputy Head of the Biafran Fuel Directorate during the Nigeria-Biafra war, Chief of Staff in East Central State and was one of the longest serving Permanent Secretaries in old Imo State. In 1991, he was appointed Federal Minister of Establishments by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (Rtd).”

He stressed that “Chief Nwoga made some epochal contributions in Igbo Nationalism by pioneering the historic Ahiajoku Lecture Series in Imo State which provided a new bastion for Igbo renaissance in the first decade of the post-civil war era. He served as Member of the first Ahiajoku Organizing Committee in 1979 and later headed the Committees for subsequent series of the annual intellectual harvest.

“In his later days, Chief Nwoga became a more consistent voice in the Igbo liberation movement. Quiet, gentle but insistent, Nwoga never enjoyed shouting matches or abrasive confrontation. He was full of experience and commitment. He was also part of the ADF Imo Project which supported regime change in Imo State before the Supreme Court judgment reversed it. His fatherly role as ADF BOT member will be missed. His political experience will be missed just as his highly valued counsels will be missed.”

Concluding, he prayed: “May his soul rest in the Lord’s bossom.”