Ezenwa Duru – Passage of a Hope Merchant
At the end of our lives, we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made or how many great things we have done. We will be judged by “I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless and you took me in.” - Mother Theresa
On April 26 2016 death in its rigidity, callously snatched our own dearly beloved, ebullient and sagacious Ezenwa Duru. His death, which came as a rude shock, has left everyone who knew him, will remain so for some time, in his death, laughter which he basically engineered through his rib cracking jokes was dealt a blow as the rib cracker bowed to the wishes of the Almighty God.
Ezenwa had a highly cerebral mind. He was the first of the ten children of Edwin Ogbonnaya and Rose Igbeje Duru. Born on the 16th of December, 1949 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, he was enrolled into St. Cyprian’s Primary School and later Comprehensive Secondary School in 1963. Between 1967 and 1970, the civil war temporarily disrupted his education as Ezenwa laced his booths and fought gallantly for the Biafran Army’s Signals Corps.
At the end of the war in 1970, Ezenwa picked up his pieces and completed his secondary education at Obazu Grammar School, Mbieri, Imo State, scoring above the required standard for entry into a Nigerian university. In 1971, he enrolled into Trinity High School for a higher school certificate magna cum laude (with great honour and academic distinction) and thereafter sought employment to help sponsor his army of brothers and sister. This was his personal sacrifice to help turn the family’s fortune.
Between 1978 to 1979, Ezenwa was employed by UTA, French Airline in Warri as a marketing executive, where surpassed his targets and fast became the toast of the airline industry. Because virtually every airline wanted his service, he was poached by KLM Dutch Airlines as sales manager to the airline’s open Markurdi branch. Like a gold fish with no hiding place, Ezenwa thereafter joined Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), helping the company increase its market share in the country. He soon became the most sought after sales agent, well known within and outside the airline industry.
In 1977, Ezenwa joined the likes of ‘Ajala’ as he took a trip that covered three continents (London, USA, Japan), attending several training courses to improve his skills. He was a firm believer in the mantra - scientia est potentia (knowledge is power). He is credited to have opened the doors for a mass movement of his kinsmen (Umuaka indigenes, especially Amazano youths) to the United States of America, first by dispatching his brothers and sisters to seek for greener pastures. Thanks to Ezenwa, there is today an army of his kinsmen making their mark in the American society. His approach to secure a better life for his kinsmen soon became a model for most homes in the east.
Ezenwa was the doyen of the travel agency business in Nigeria, serving in executive capacity at the defunct British Caledonian Airways, Alitalia and Swan Travels. In 1995, Ezenwa co-founded Pan Atlantic Travels with Chief Bernard Anyanwu as Chairman, while he became the pioneer Managing Director till death. Today, the travel agency industry has lost one of the finest hands, a professional of unequal pedigree, a reliable go-getter and a colossus in all sense of the word. Ezenwa was a shrewd businessman who took no prisoners. Adequately groomed by the Indian community while with Swan, his magnanimity, helped many set up flourishing travelling agency firms.
Ezenwa and I had our special relationship - apart from being first cousins, it was one relationship in good and difficult times. He encour- aged me a lot and was at my beck and call when I needed him. He equally sought my suggestions on matters and never made our wide age difference a barrier. He stood by his principles and ideas; would not yield to any man’s whims and caprices; and sometimes was too rigid and unrelenting. Ezenwa was stubborn to a fault, yet one thing you could not take away from him was his knack for being focused and resolute.
Ezenwa was a man of many parts. Outside the corporate world, he would have made a first class comedian. An astute rib cracker, he made serious matters light and would make you forget your troubles when with him. With Ezenwa’s death, his community has missed an illustrious son, role model, cerebral mind, and torch bearer.
He will be remembered for two things: the problems he created and the problems he solved. For him, the mere fact that we have lived does not count, but the difference we have made in lives of others. Ezenwa’s life can be aptly coined: duty for service and service for humanity.
For Ezenwa, this is certainly not the end; it is a new beginning. My entire families, home and abroad, my wife whom he loved, my kids (Marshall, Gabriella, Ebunoluwa) say Aeternum Vale (farewell forever). We wish he were here with us but Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit (man proposes, but God disposes).
–Obi is a public affairs analyst and a cousin to the deceased.