Adeline Ndoma-Egba: The Good Mother of a Good Son
s the Igbo saying goes, “Afu nwa elota nna”, meaning that the child is a reflection of the father. But, father is used metaphorically in place of parents. In a realistic sense, the child is a reflection of the mother because they spend more time with the children. Thus, if the saying that children are the true mirrors of the homes they come from, then one does not need to search far to unearth the intellect, humility, courage, philanthropy, and dedication to service to humanity, which the Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Authority, NDDC, Distinguished Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, SAN, embodies as the son of Hon. Justice Emmanuel Takon Ndoma-Egba and Elder (Mrs.) Adeline Ndoma-Egba.
I came to know Senator Ndoma-Egba in the 5th Senate, which lasted from 2003 to 2007. However, it was when he became the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Publicity that I began to relate quite closely with him. As a Special Assistant on Media to the President of the Senate at the time we naturally had to work together. A versatile man, he handled that position so professionally and in most dignifying way that you would hardly know that he was not a trained media or Public Relations professional.
His intellectual prowess was never in doubt at the time because it showed up in his contributions in plenary for all to see. He is a super brain, an outside-the-box thinker and problem solver. Although his humility is equally very noticeable from afar, one only needed to get closer to know that it is not a façade.
He is so humble that unless you were told, you would not know that he belongs to the cerebral 1978 set of the Nigeria Law School, which produced the likes of the current Chief Justice of Nigeria, His Lordship, Justice Walter Onnoghen; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma; former President of the Nigeria Bar Association and present Governor of Ondo State, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu; former Minister of Justice and former President of the NBA, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN; and former President of the NBA, Chief Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, among others. You would not also know that the present day Imo State. Those who saw or read accounts of the war would understand better the services she rendered at those two places.
Not done, she served as Matron at the General Hospital Ogoja after the war. She was also Matron at the Catholic Mission Hospital Monaiya, Ogoja and Holy Family Joint Hospital, Ikom and retired in 1985. But, she refused to get tired even in retirement as she redirected her life fully to service as a community and church leader.
If we understand that Nursing as a profession is for the innately humane; if we see it as a calling for those whose major aim is not to earn a living; if we see it as the profession for people, who are so connected with humanity that they want to spend the rest of their lives providing care and saving lives, then we would better appreciate the totality of her person. It would also help us to connect the dots as to why philanthropy runs in the blood of Senator Ndoma-Egba and his siblings.
A Jamaican, Mrs. Adeline Ndoma-Egba actually met the young Law student, Emmanuel Takon Ndoma-Egba, aka ET, who later became her husband at a friend’s graduation party in London in the afternoon of July 16, 1957. Both became attached to each other. ET proposed to her on her birthday in 1958, they got formally engaged on ET’s birthday in 1959 and married in 1960.
Leaving her country of birth and the UK, she not only joined her husband in Nigeria, but also melted into her husband’s people, culture, and nation. She also made her home a melting pot of people of all races, tribes, religions, and languages. She accepted all irrespective of where they came from and gave meaning to their lives. Little wonder Distinguished Senator Ndoma-Egba is a pan-Nigerian with highly detribalised dispositions. The Senator is also married to his Igbo heartthrob, Amaka.
As the matriarch embarks on her triumphal journey home at 91, one can only join the Ndoma-Egba clan to celebrate the exceptional life of a woman who bequeathed humanity with a tribe of men and women that are helping to make the world a better place. Goodnight, good mother of a good son.