Maurice Emeka Akueme has shown in recent times that it doesn’t take all that much to win the hearts of the people. The ingredients of recognition, acclaim, and influence are heartfelt consideration for a lot of folks and a watchmaker’s careful disposition in raising the standards. This is Maurice Akueme’s simple recipe and response to the question: how do you become the darling of the people?
Enugu State is the birthplace of the UK-based accountant and tax consultant, Maurice Emeka Akueme. As such, he started here and then extended himself beyond, successfully winning the hearts of youths within and outside Enugu. When his name is mentioned here or in Benin or Cross River State, hearty cheers are raised in response. Why? Because Maurice Akueme is an esteemed humanitarian. That is what the leadership of the National Council of Enugu State Students (NACESS) labelled him—a silent achiever and humanitarian.
The Maurice Akueme Foundation (MAF) has been the main tool with which Akueme has reached out and touched the lives of thousands, with little regard for gender, age, and social situation. That is why there are several thousand folks—old and young, some hitherto homeless—who essentially wear the name Akueme on their faces.
Some of these have been elevated from commoner statuses to folks who can hold their own, having benefited from Akueme’s free training sessions in fabric tailoring, fashion, and design.
Since its inception, MAF has targeted the suffering, the less privileged, and the old and weary. The reasoning is that once these groups are catered for through careful nurture, education, and skill delivery, it’s only a matter of time before poverty is eradicated and the dignity of humanity is restored and whole.
This approach has embraced the sick and elderly, the young and unemployed, and every other downtrodden member of society. There is no other non-profit organisation that takes the conditions of the internally displaced persons (IDP)—as the Abagana and Daudu IDP camps in Benue State will attest. Akueme’s novel approach was recently recognized in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
His intervention was felt and appreciated in 17 Enugu State local governments in the form of cash, food items, drugs, and other essential materials. His own local government—Udi—received the best of these, with expenses running into millions of naira. At the moment, MAF operates from both Nigeria and Uganda, which means that all of Nigeria will soon be bathed in Akueme’s glow—as will Uganda.
Many hearty cheers for the man behind it all, Maurice Emeka Akueme.
