Rotarian Max Amuchie, Immediate Past President, Rotary Club of Abuja CBD
…Rotarian President
Valedictory Speech Delivered By Rotarian Max Amuchie On the Occasion of Handover & Award Night of the Rotary Club of Abuja CBD on July 1, 2023 At AGNL Events Centre, Gudu, Abuja
Dear CBD Icons,
District officers present,
Past Assistant Governors,
Synergy Presidents, guests and friends of Rotary, I welcome you all to this occasion to mark the end of one Rotary Year and the beginning of another.
I am the 6th president of our club and today I will hand over to President Aisha Ali, who becomes our 7th president. In doing that we are following the tradition put in place by our founding father, Paul Percy Harris, when he brought together three of his friends (later a fourth friend joined) in Chicago in 1905 to start what has turned out to be the largest humanitarian organisation in the world with a seat in the United Nations.
It is true that we act locally in our communities but as Rotarians we are global citizens united in the ideal of service, service to humanity, service to mankind, service to our communities, service to impact lives, service to ensure sustainable social progress.
Rotary as we know is a non-religous and non-political organisation that emphasises diversity, equity and inclusion. However, personally, my interest in Rotary after I stumbled on the Four-way Test, has been largely influenced by my background as a Catholic, where Corporal Works of Mercy is a doctrinal requirement.
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Just as Rotary has Seven Areas of Focus, the Corporal Works of Mercy is made up of seven acts of charity: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to give shelter to travellers, to visit the sick, to visit the imprisoned, and to bury the dead. Are these not what we do in Rotary?
We can, therefore, see that Rotary and one’s faith find a nexus in humanitarian causes.
I have also often wondered if the paths of Paul Harris (1868 -1947) and St. Josemaría Escriva crossed. St. Josemaría was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest, who lived from 9 January 1902 to 26 June 1975.
He founded Opus Dei, an organisation of lay people and priests dedicated to the teaching that everyone is called to holiness by God and to discover sanctity in their ordinary lives. He was canonised in 2002 by Pope John Paul II.
The essence of Josemaría Escriva’s teaching is that you don’t necessarily need to be a priest to be called to holiness, that whatever vocation (in Rotary we say classification) you have you can be sanctified by it, you can be called to holiness by it.
For us in Rotary our membership is on the basis of our classification, which identifies us by the work we do, through which we can give our treasure and even our talent in service to humanity.
As one got deeper in Rotary and found a connection to one’s faith the passion increased and I took it as an article of faith that if I ever became club president I would use the position to impact lives in our adopted community, Gidan Gimba.
Gidan Gimba is a small, serene, almost sleepy community located on the stretch where you have a popular rendezvous called Zimbabwe on the expressway that leads to Keffi, Nasarawa State from Abuja. Since our club was chartered in 2016, apart from annual outreach programmes during which time we donated food items, used clothes, did Polio immunisation and funded skill acquisition scheme, the only visible project we have executed there is construction of a borehole, which was started by our Charter President, Salome Garba and completed by Past President Yelwa Abubakar, our third president. In our strategic plan as a club we were to build a health centre and classroom block at different times.
However, following a needs assessment we undertook in the community shortly before the Imagine Rotary Year commenced, it became clear that an intervention was urgently needed in the Central Primary School, Gidan Gimba, the only public primary school in that community. Only a block of two classrooms was standing to serve the whole school the day we visited. There was no toilet in the school. Both the pupils and staff including the headteacher, a lady, had been practising open defecation.
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With the authority of the Board, we declared as our star project for the 2022-2023 Rotary Year the construction of a block of two classrooms, a headteacher’s office and a block of three toilets in the primary school.
On 17 September 2022 we performed the groundbreaking ceremony of the project. I was personally touched by the kind words of the Sarkin Gidan Gimba and the people of the community and the pupils and staff of the school. We got to 60% completion of the main school project and decided to focus on the toilets when it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to complete the entire project before the end of the Imagine Rotary Year. The school now has a block of three modern toilets, which was commissioned on 23 June 2023.
I personally took something away from the completion and commissioning of the Gidan Gimba toilets. Tenacity of purpose pays. Inspirational leadership is also key. In May 2023 our Board had approved that an outreach programme be undertaken in Gidan Gimba and June 10 was fixed as date. Shortly after, a discussion ensued as to the propriety of having an outreach programme in the community when the people never said they needed handouts. We had raised a little over a N100,000 in donations for the outreach project. All through the night I thought about it and decided that building the toilet for the school would be more impactful than having just an outreach project. I consulted some members of our Community Service Committee and the first two people I spoke to said they would double their donation if we were to do the toilets. That was the motivation I needed. We went back to the Board and got approval to do the toilets. We went on fund drive and within two weeks we were able to bring the donation to nearly N800,000. Now the school has toilets to serve the girls, the boys and the staff. We have ended open defecation in Central Primary School, Gidan Gimba, Karu LGA, Nasarawa State.
I must specially thank Rotarian Eucheria Ekweozoh, a Past Assistant Governor of our District, who first made initial donation for the construction of the toilets; our Foundation Chair, Past President Tina Okhumhale, whose unflinching support made a difference and PAG Evelyn Onyilo, the Community Service Director, who started the fundraising effort and made the first donation.
I believe President Aisha Ali already has her job clearly cut out for her. Our club members will expect the completion of the block of classrooms and headteacher’s office before the end of the 2023-2024 Rotary Year.
Since 1905 when Harry Ruggles introduced songs at Rotary meetings, songs have become a constant feature in Rotary fellowships. We launched our club’s first songbook on 2nd December 2022 to coincide with our 6th anniversary and it has since become a reference songbook among other Rotarians who have visited our club. Before then we had just copies of an information booklet that contained Rotary information and few songs.
With a view to building an institution we honoured the five past presidents who were my predecessors. Rotarian Salome Garba, now a Past Assistant Governor, is our Charter President. Rotarian Martins Odeh, whom we call General, was the second president. He was followed by Rotarian Yelwa Abubakar, who graciously agreed to serve as my Vice President and in the 2023-2024 Rotary Year, has been appointed Legal Officer for District 9125 by our District Governor, Rotarian Ahmed Sagab.
Past President Yelwa Abubakar was succeeded by Rotarian Ganiyu Daramola, under whom I first served as treasurer combined with the position of President-nominee. Rotarian Anne Uche Obi, who I took over from as president and under who I also served as treasurer for the second time consecutively even as President-elect, was our fifth president. She is now an Assistant Governor in our District 9125.
They were honoured in appreciation of what they have done individually and collectively to get the Rotary Club of Abuja CBD to the level it is now.
At the occasion three eminent Rotarians were honoured with Lifetime Achievement Awards. They are Rotarian Evelyn Onyilo, who started our club and has continued to give valuable advice; Rotarian Leke Adepeju, doyen of music in Rotary and Rotarian Joshua Hassan, a Past District Governor, who played a major role in the chattering of our club.
We started the Imagine Rotary Yearbwith 53 members. We were strategic in looking for members. We got nine new members and lost two old members. Rtn Sarah Ogunsanya, PHF, passed on and was buried in Abuja in December 2022. Another member voluntarily quit Rotary for personal reasons, bringing our current membership to 60.
We are leaving the Rotary Club of Abuja CBD better than we met it. For the first time in the history of our club we initiated a project in a Rotary Year, completed and commissioned it before the end of that Rotary Year. We have refocused our club in the direction of meaningful service projects that have great impact on the lives of the community we serve. That is Paul Harry’s vision which Rotarians are called to uphold.
The duty of president of a Rotary club is onerous but the task is always easier if the president enjoys the suport of Board and club members. I benefitted immensely from the co-operation of both my Board and our club members. I will like to thank Past President Yelwa Abubakar, who agreed to serve as vice president because of the implicit confidence she had and still has in me. In very testing situations her experience became very valuable. Rtn Lauratu Yenwan, PHF, the secretary, learnt quickly as a new Rotarian and proved to be a dependable and loyal board member. Another new Rotarian, Patricia Yakubu, PHF, whom we all call Delegate, did so much to support us. I’m also grateful to Rotarian Kate Sambo-Adamu, PHF, who is now President-elect; Rtn Ezekiel Zang, PHF, Rtn Debbie Usman, Rtn Teresa Ameh, Rtn Dan Ayegba, all our board members and indeed all our club members and friends.
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My predecessor, Anne Uche Obi, was very helpful very early in our Rotary Year. Our investiture on 22 July 22 would have been a very challenging engagement but for her intervention at a critical time.
I thank our President of Presidents, Rtn Emeka Iloegbunam, for his inspiring leadership; and Past President Nimi Lawrence of the Rotary Club of Karu Housing Estate, who always made himself available anytime I needed his help.
One cannot succeed in any undertaken if they don’t have the blessing of family. My wife, Mrs Vivian Amuchie, has been a huge pillar of support in my Rotary journey. Without her support I don’t think I would have been able to carry on.
Eleanor Roosevelt said “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”. Rotary is an organisation that believes in the beauty of its dreams. It just doesn’t dream, it goes further to actualise those dreams, reason why for instance polio has almost become history in the world. In the Rotary Club of Abuja CBD we believe in the beauty of our dreams. We dreamt that we would end open defecation in Central Prinary School, Gidan Gimba and we made it happen. Our dream equally finds expression in the fact that in 2022-2023 we Imagined a World filled with possibilities and in 2023-2024 we are Creating Hope in the World. There is no person whom the cap fits better to take us to that world we envision than President Aisha Ali, a tested hand. She has served our club in various capacities and knows her way around the District. I have no doubt that we are leaving our club in safe hands.
Thank you
Rtn Max Amuchie,
Synergy President, 2022-23,
Rotary Club of Abuja CBD
