By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Mr Laoye Jaiyeola, paid a condolence visit to the family of Senator Anyim Ude in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, over the death of their Patriarch, a renowned broadcaster.
Mr Laoye Jaiyeola commiserated with Mr Nnanna Ude, the son of the late Senator and board director of the NESG, on their father’s death and thereafter signed the condolence register.
Senator (Elder) Anyim Ude, MON, was born on the 1st of June, 1941, in Amuzu-Ubegu, Iyioji, Akaeze, in the Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. He was a veteran journalist, broadcaster, community leader, technocrat and administrator with vast experience and track record in the Nigerian Public Service spanning 51 years. He has a testimonial of integrity, service, and excellence.
Senator Ude entered the public service of former Eastern Nigeria as a clerk in 1960 but later joined the Eastern Nigeria Information Service (printers and publishers of ‘Nigerian Outlook’) in May 1965 as a reporter. At the end of the Nigerian Civil War in 1970, he trained as a journalist and broadcaster in Nigeria and overseas.
He later worked in the East Central State Broadcasting Service (ECBS), Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Imo Broadcasting Service (IBS) and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). Senator Ude was the first General Manager of Radio Nigeria, Owerri (1981 – 1985); the first Director-General of Imo Broadcasting Corporation (1985 – 1991); the first Director-General of Broadcasting Corporation of Abia State (1991 – 1996); and the first Chief Executive of Ebonyi Broadcasting Service. Senator Anyim Ude served for 16½ years as the Chief Executive of several Broadcasting Establishments, thus remaining the longest-serving Chief Executive in Nigeria’s Broadcasting Industry. He was appointed the first Commissioner for Commerce, Industry & Tourism, Ebonyi State (1997 – 1999).
He held several special appointments between 1984 and 2003, and they included Director of Golden Guinea Breweries, Umuahia (1984 – 1987); Member of the Special Advisory Committee to the Federal Government on Electronic Media Operations (1989 – 1993); Member of Central Working Committee of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria, BON (1987 – 1997); Chairman, Zone’ E’ of BON comprising the Eastern States; and Chairman, Governing Council of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze in Anambra State (2000 – 2003). He was the President-General of Old Afikpo Union (OAU), comprising today’s Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone.
An alumnus of the famous Hope Waddell Training Institution in Calabar, he was ordained as a Ruling Elder of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria in December 1987. He was also a Member of the Advisory Council to the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria.
He was decorated a Member of the Order of the Niger by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in November 2000 and was one of the six delegates selected to represent Ebonyi State at the 2005 National Political Reform Conference. He is one of the founding fathers of Ebonyi State.
In 2007, he was elected as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone and served till 2011.
During that period, he was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation and later the Senate Committee on Works. He also served in four other Senate Committees: Defence & Army, Land, Transport, Capital Markets and Culture & Tourism. As Chairman of the Aviation Committee, he investigated the disbursement and utilisation of the N19.5 Billion Intervention Fund released by the Federal Government in 2006 for the rehabilitation and development of infrastructure in the Aviation industry, which revealed widespread corruption and led to the prosecution of those involved in the acts.
He was at the centre of the successful effort to upgrade the Akanu Ibiam Airport, Enugu, to the status of an international airport and played a major role in the eventual payment of pensions and gratuities to workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways as well as the payment of compensation to the families of the 2005/2006 air-crash victims.
He sponsored a Social Security Bill to provide for Nigeria’s senior citizens of the age of 60 years and above as well as unemployed graduates of tertiary educational institutions, as well as facilitated several projects in his senatorial zone, especially in the areas of health, water supply, agriculture, electricity, and education, as well as job opportunities for the youth.
As a community leader, he also facilitated numerous infrastructure, social and human capital development initiatives and projects in Akaeze.
His wife, Elder (Mrs.) Grace Anyim Ude is a retired Permanent Secretary of the Ebonyi State Government. He is the proud father of six children and a grandfather of nine grandchildren.
He was called to eternal glory on Monday, the 15th of May, 2023.
