Brands
Brand personality of the week
Bob Ogbuagu: Doyen of PR
Bob Ogbuagu parades an impresionable credentials as the man who navigated politics, civil service, journalism and Public Relations and excelled in them all.
But, those who know him, especially in later life remember him for his outstanding performance in the last two.
They reminisce of his oratory and high sense of humour, traits they reasoned may have contributed to his great exploits as a successful PR man.
Mallam Kabir Dagogo, a PR consultant had in a tribute to commemorate his 90 birthday described Ogbuagu as ‘swashbuckling man’ who has a penchant for papers paper presentation at PR functions because it ‘allows him the latitude to be himself, to express himself and to crack his professional jokes for which he is well known.”
His oratorial skills, erudition and exploits in Public Relations, earned him position as the National President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) between 1980 and1984 and later President of the Federation of Africa Public Relations Associations (FAPRA), a position he held until 1987. He is also President Emeritus of the Federation of African Public Relations Associations.
Sir Ogbuagu also got honours including; Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, (FNIPR); Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Ghana and Member of the British Institute of Public Relations (MBIPR) and Member of the International Public Relations Association (MIPR)
Bob Ogbuagu is also a recipient of the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) 2011; Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, (FNGE) 2001; 1982; Honorary Member, Arab Public Relations Association 1985; Member, Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) 1982;
That Sir Ogbagu is a man of letters showed in practically everything he did including mourning. At the burial of his late son Chinedu Ogbuagu, the octogenarian while expressing sadness at the untile death, quoted John Ellerton’s hymnological verse”, Now the labourer’s task is over, now the battle day is past, now upon the Father share lands the voyage at last.
Father in thy gracious keeping, leave we now thy servant sleeping.”
Ogbuagu has always been an opinionated man. When Young Bob was part of the nationalist movement in the 40s, he punched beyond his weight as Zikist via the Northern Advocate, a paper he founded in 1948 and edited to further his radical position against the oppressive colonial rule. His contemporaries like Dr. M.I. Okpara, Nduka Eze, Kola Balogun, M.C.K Ajuluchukwu, M. Aina, Abiodun Aloba and Obirike Kanu were herded into the prison for their revolutionary activities.
Ogbuagu recalled in an interview with Hallmark that ‘rebellion’ has always been a part of him and showed up even in his college days:
“In 1945, we had the Inter-college Football and Cricket competitions with Government College, Umudike. At Government College, we found that when it was time for meals, they just ring the bell and everybody rushed into the Dining Hall; ate and came out. They called it central feeding. This caught our fancy. So, when we got back, we put our heads together and said ‘ we better tell the authorities to introduce central feeding for us in Uzuakoli. That was our problem with Uzuakoli. So when we protested about it, it landed us in trouble. As young people, we wanted to achieve something. We wanted to draw the attention of the authorities to our feeding problem.”
That ‘Nwa Ticha'(son of a teacher, in Igbo Language) would end up a distinguished person, an activist of some sort, showed in the morning of his life. At school, he was expelled along with some of his colleague from the Methodist College, Uzuakoli, Abia State for spearheading a protest against a feeding pattern that students found unfavorable and had to write the Cambridge Examination as an ‘external student.’
Like many young, bright Nigerians at the time however, Bob despite being reasonably well to do as a civil servant was beginning to get disillusioned with the British colonial overlord’s oppressive rule and saw a good cause to join the independence struggle.
He was also an active member of the then nationalist political party, the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC) which later changed to become the National Council of Nigerian Citizens following the decision of Southern Cameroon to join the rest of Cameroon upon independence, a party through which the Zikist Movement, a vehicle of political reawakening among young people Nigeria found expression. Bob acted as Zik’s ADC among other numerous portfolios.
But like every oppressive government, the British colonial masters were intolerant of opposition of any kind and it was not long before they came after Bob and his paper. He was charged with sedition and jailed, a development which led to the paper’s death in 1955, but his quest for Nigeria’s self-rule did not die. Upon his release, he continued to play a huge part in the anti colonial Zikist Movement and served the NCNC variously as its secretary and branch president.
Upon independence in 1960, he was appointed Assistant Secretary in the then Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation which effectively handled the affairs of the Eastern Region Development Corporation. His excellence once again stood out and within one year, he was promoted to the corporation’s Chief Administration Officer. He would remain in that position until 1966 when the troubles that culminated into the unfortunate civil war began. As the crushing civil war raged, Bob was faced with yet another independence struggle, the struggle to liberate his people; the people of Eastern Nigeria and he did not shy away from it, he played a prominent part in the Biafra struggles.
After the Civil War in 1970, Ogbuagu continued his public service. He served as Managing Director, Agricultural Development Corporation in the then East Central State Government, was the founding General Manager of the new state government’s Agricultural Development Corporation and later served as Commissioner for Special Duties.
A committed Christian, he made immense contributions to the growth of the church through numerous humanitarian and selfless services. He was the Enugu State Arch Diocesan Lay President from 1992 to 1996 and later became the first Umuahia Arch-Diocesan Lay President of the church, a post he held from 1996 to 1999.
The humanitarian was the Director for District 911 of the Rotary International, Nigeria, a post he held between 1983 and 1984. During this time, he attended over 18 conventions of the club.