He was once a bus conductor andpalm wine tapper, now, he runs a flourishing law firm
By HENRY UMAHI

Saturday, May 29, 2010
He heads a flourishing law firm in Lagos and travels around the world for business and pleasure. But that is not the beginning of the life story of Nkem Emmanuel Anaekie.





advertisement

Before becoming a lawyer, he had at various times been a journalist, teacher, apprentice trader, bus conductor and palmwine tapper. Once he came perilously close to being ripped to bits by a baboon in the bush while going to tap palm wine in the wee hours.

In fact, there was a time things were so rough for him that he harboured dark thoughts of self-destruction, fear and confusion about his future.

Indeed, Anaekie’s story is a cocktail of hopes, palpable intrigue and actualized dreams. It is a classic grass to grace story, a demonstration of the never-say-die spirit of a typical Nigerian. And it is better heard from the horse’s mouth.

“I started on a very rough note before I got to where I am today. In 1967, when I was almost through with my elementary school, the civil war broke out and I was taken to Onitsha as trainee articles trader. While learning the trade, Onitsha fell and I trekked from Onitsha to my village, which is about 38 kilometres away. Even at that youthful age, it was not a pleasurable experience.

When I got to the village, I could not find anything to do. So, I became a palm wine tapper. I was 14 years old at that time. I continued to tap palm wine until the war ended in 1970. I also had some training with the Biafran Organisation of Freedom Fighters. (BOFF). We were taught how to use bare hands to overcome an opponent. However, I did not major there.

At the end of the war in 1970, I used the proceeds of my palm wine business to sponsor my education. I had gone to all my relations to train me but they all turned down my request. But I was determined to go to school, so nothing could deter me or derail my ambition.

I was in secondary school class one in 1970 at the age of 17. I sat for the examination but because I did not pay school fees, they did not allow me proceed to class two. And many times while reading in the classroom, the principal and the teachers would storm the class and flog the hell out of those of us who could not afford fees. Many of my colleagues who were in the same situation dropped out. Only four of us continued in spite of the humiliation. My parents were peasant farmers who could not afford to pay school fees but I just could not imagine myself dropping out. The small money I made from palm wine tapping was barely enough to buy my books and other things, not school fees of one pound then.

In my second year, the flogging and humiliation continued. Sometimes, they would lock me in the toilet for two days for refusing to dropout. At the end of class two in 1971, there was no result. Then I went to a relation of mine, late Mr. Peter Okolo, asking for assistance. He was a very rich man but he refused to help me. What my father did was to pledge a plot of land bequeathed to me to build my own house when the time comes. The land was pledged to him for two pounds. The money was used to offset my first and second year school fees.

http://odili.net/news/source/2010/may/29/507.html