| Urhobo
Historical
Society |
The
Passing of
Chief
Lawrence Enamrerehor Scott-Emuakpor
The
Ero of Evwreni. Sage
and Patriarch
January
5, 1929 to February 7, 2011
By
Ajovi Scott-Emuakpor,
MD,
PhD
I recall
a verse from Kahlil
Gibran�s poem On Death which I read
many years ago:
You
would know the secret of
death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the
mystery
of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide
unto the
body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and
the sea are
one.
Indeed,
there
can
be no death without life. It has
dawned on me that in times like this, one must focus on the life that
ended in
death. That is my lesson from Khalil
Gibran.
My
Big
Brother
is dead, leaving those of us who
grieve his passing with memories of his exemplary life, of his
nobility, of his
good to everyone and of the spirit of self-pride that he generated in
remarkable abundance. He clearly departed with his hand held by faith
and his
path exposed by the glow of the light from all
those
he so lavishly loved and cared for.
The
light,
it
seems, has gone out of our lives and there is
darkness everywhere. I do not know how to say it comfortably, but our
beloved counselor,
problem-solver and leader -- Big Daddy, as we called him -- the father
of the Scott-Emuakpor clan, is no more.
Perhaps, that is not the right
way to put it; nevertheless, we will not see him again as we have seen
him for
these many years. We will not run to him for advice and seek comfort
from him.
The enormity of this blow can not be softened by any words.
I
spoke
with
him twice on the day he passed, wile he
was experiencing what appeared to my medical mind as a minor health
inconvenience. His last words to me on each of those two occasions were
the
same. �Don�t worry�, he said, �I am just weak and I am tired.� As I
reflect
upon his life, those last words to me have replayed themselves in my
head
constantly. I believe that is his way of telling me that he still lives
on.
Chief
Lawrence Enamrerehor Scott-Emuakpor was
the
Patriarch
of a
very unassuming legacy, made so by his almost religious insistence on
simplicity, congenitally endowed craving for modesty and by his
implicit faith
in the teachings of Christ. He was barely a man, when the mantle of
leadership
of the family fell on his shoulders. At 23, while planning his academic
career
path and preparing, like most intellectually inclined young men of his
time, to
pursue a course of study in the United Kingdom, our father suddenly
passed away
after a very brief illness that lasted less than one month. While we
were all
devastated by the death of our father, my Big Brother accepted it with
enormous
philosophical calmness. Rather than see it as a tragedy, he saw it as a
challenge and an opportunity to learn a lesson on �responsibility� and
�survival.� And out of that circumstance, came a young man, stout and
steady,
calm, and with a cheerful confidence that life would bring great things
to his
young family. There is no question that over the years, he was proven
right.
He
belonged
to
a generation of Nigerians that
measured men, not by their material possessions, but by their honesty;
not by
the size of the mansions they lived in, but by their courage. He lived
by those
virtues until his last breath in the evening of Monday, February 7,
2011. In
1993, under a lot of pressure from well-meaning Urhobo people to
contest the
Senatorial election, he acquiesced and wrote a letter to Urhobo people
introducing himself and his reasons for wanting to represent them. In
that
letter, he stated, inter alia,
�It
is
not
an
over-emphasis to say that we need at this crucial time to elect men and
women
who are committed to the ideal of probity in pubic life; men and women
of honor
and integrity who are dedicated to the cause of national unity���
His
quest
for
probity, honor and integrity
disqualified him from being selected. Such is the nature of the quiet
giant
that Urhobo has lost.
My
Big
Brother
had a
chieftaincy title from our hometown of Evwreni
which
translates as, �The Eye of Evwreni.� This
is a
weighty title, given to him because he was a champion for those who had
none;
the conscience of those deprived and marginalized; and a solid force in
the Nigerian
Civil Service � a man whose name graces nearly every meaningful Federal
government publication in Nigeria between 1960 and 1985, the year he
was
retired after 35 years of selfless and meritorious service.
Birth
and
Early
Education
Chief
Lawrence Enamrerehor Scott-Emuakpor was
born
on
January 5, 1929 to Chief Scott Johnson Masoro
Emuakpor of Evwreni
and
Mrs. Irowoli Scott-Emuakpor
(nee Carpe) of Jakpa. He attended St.
Andrew�s CMS
(Church Missionary Society) Elementary School in Warri and, in 1944 he
entered
the prestigious Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS) in Onitsha,
following a
set of rigorous competitive examinations, in which he excelled. DMGS
was the
largest and most renowned Secondary School of its time, a boarding
school of
some 600 special students. Because of his impressive leadership
qualities, he
became the Senior Prefect in 1949, which was the year he graduated with
�Exemption
from London Matriculation.�
A
Career
in
the Civil Service
In
1950,
Lawrence
Scott-Emuakpor became a
Clerk in the Department of Education in
Warri, and he was immediately made to be in charge of grants-in-aid to
approved
voluntary agency Junior and Senior Primary Schools in the then Warri
Province (later
Delta Province). This was the first sign of the tremendous confidence
the
officials had in his integrity and his sense of responsibility. He was
in this
position when our father passed away on September 11, 1952, leaving him
with
the burden of caring for 12 siblings, a responsibility he accepted with
grace.
In
1953,
he
was moved from
the Department of Education to the Western Nigeria Public Relations
Department
as Assistant Publicity Officer, thus starting a rich and exciting
journey in
Public Relations and Journalism, a journey in which he left an
indelible mark
of creativity and expertise at every turn. He served in this capacity
until
1956 when his services were transferred from Western Nigeria Government
to the
Federal Government.
Between
1956
and
1959, Lawrence
Scott-Emuakpor became the pioneer Public
Relation
Officer of the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan, which was
the first
Institutional Public Relations outfit in Nigeria at that time. It was a
successful experiment in institutional public relations largely because
of his
service zeal and creative instincts.
In
1960,
Lawrence
was
sent to England for a courses on Public
Information,
Advertising, Broadcasting and Media Management, organized by the
Colonial
office of the British Government under the guidance and direction of
the
Central Office of Information. It was this year that he was elected
Member of
the British Institute of Public relations (MIPR). It was this same year
that he
was promoted Senior Information Officer and sent to the Ministry of
Information
in Lagos.
Because
of
his
success at
UCH, Ibadan, Lawrence Scott-Emuakpor was
appointed
the very first Public Relations Officer for the Nigerian Police Force.
In this
capacity, he accompanied the Nigerian Police to the Congo, during the
civil
strife there, as part of the United Nations Peace Keeping Force under
the
command of the late Loius Edet,
who later became the first Nigerian Inspector General of Police.
1960
to
1965
was a very
busy and productive period for Lawrence Scott=Emuakpor.
He
was
Editor
of Federal Nigerian Magazine with 3 editions in Nigeria,
London
and New York. He was Editor of Features and Officer in charge of
issuing all
government press releases and statements. This was the period he was
honored by
being elected Member of the British Institute of Journalism (MBIJ) and
Chairman
of the Nigerian branch of the Institute.
In
1966,
he
was promoted
Assistant Director of Information in charge of publications and also
Editor of
the Nigerian
Trade Journal. Between 1966 and 1968, he was given numerous
assignments
connected with the Nigerian Civil war. Notable among these were the
provision
to the Nigerian Air Force of Propaganda materials for distribution to
the
break-away section of the country, Editor of all publications issued on
the
Nigerian Civil war by the Federal Government through the Ministry of
Information, and missions to the war fronts to report on progress. He
also
served as the Secretary of the National Publicity Committee on the
Civil war
with high-powered members such as Allison Ayida
and
Phillip Asiodu, and he was the Official
Escort and
Liaison Officer to all foreign journalists, electronic and print media,
visiting the war fronts.
In
1968,
Lawrence
Scott-Emuakpor was promoted
Deputy Director of Information and
made in charge of all overseas publications. Between 1968 and 1973, he
was put
in charge of publicity for several landmark changes in Nigeria. He
planned and
executed several campaigns on DECIMALIZATION OF THE NIGERIAN CURRENCY,
CHANGE
TO METRICATION IN NIGERIA, AND CHANGE TO
RIGHT-HAND DRIVE
IN NIGERIA. He also served on a number of committees on Effective
Publicity for
Nigeria, within the country and abroad.
In
1973,
Lawrence
Scott-Emuakpor was posted to
the United Kingdom as
Minister-Counselor in charge of Information and Culture in the Nigerian
High
Commission. In this capacity, he traveled extensively in Great Britain
and
Ireland, participating in numerous exhibitions and cultural festivals
on behalf
of Nigeria, making presentations to Nigerian and British groups about
ongoing
changes in the polity.
In
1976,
he
was posted
back to Nigeria as the Federal Director of Information. In this
capacity, he
reorganized the Information Department by creating four divisions of
Domestic
Publicity, External Publicity, Public Enlightenment and Common
Services, each
with well defined mandates. He personally designed and promoted for
execution,
publicity for Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) during this period. In
1977, he
established the National Institute of Public Information in Kaduna, the
only
one of its kind in West Africa.
1979
was
another
busy
year for Lawrence Scott-Emuakpor. He was
Chairman of
the National Committee on Information and Culture and Chairman of the
Committee
on Selection of the music and lyrics of the new National Anthem. He was
a
member of the Ministerial Committee on Transition from Military to
Civil Rule
and of the role of the Civil Service in a Presidential System of
Administration. In this position he convened and coordinated several
seminars
on �Nigeria in Transition�. He also served as Acting Permanent
Secretary of the
Ministry of Information on a few occasions.
Between
1981
and
1984,
his talents were actively sought by the National Assembly. He was first
made an
Advisor on Public Relations and later, Director Public Affairs and
Information
of the National Assembly. It was in this position that he took charge
of the publicity
for the Spring Meetings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union that met in
Lagos in
April of 1982. In 1984, he planned and executed various programs on
�The War Against Indiscipline� (WAI). He
was a frontline member of
the National Committee on Mobilization and National Consciousness
during this
time.
In
1985,
Lawrence
Scott-Emuakpor was acting as
the Permanent Secretary of the Federal
Ministry of Information, Youths, Sports and Culture and, in this position, he led a Nigerian delegation to the
Inter-Governmental Council Meeting of the Pan African News Agency
(PANA) in
Dakar, Senegal. It was while he was still in Senegal that he was
retired from
the service after 35 years of dedicated and selfless service.
Aside
from
the
numerous work that have been
published under his editorship, he has published
some other significant work. They include:
1.
News
agency
of
Nigeria:
A Blue-print,
1976.
2.
Women
in
the
Media:
Their role and contribution in the seventies,
1979.
3.
Functioning
in
a
Fluid
Communication Policy Environment: The Nigerian Experience of the
past 26
years,
1986
Following
his
retirement
from the Federal Civil
Service, Lawrence Scott-Emuakpor flirted
with the
idea of setting up a private newspaper, but it never went very far.
Then, 7
years later in 1992, he was appointed by the Federal Government as
Chairman of New Nigeria Newspapers Limited in
Kaduna, a job he again performed with zeal. A year later, in 1993, he
flirted
with the idea of representing Urhobo Central in Senate, an idea that
did not
materialize and which ultimately led him into a rather quiet life in
Lagos.
Many years later, I asked him why he gave up so easily on some of his
post-retirement
activities. His answer to me totally reflects the essence of this man.
He
essentially stated that everyone should try to be honest with himself and to understand their skills and
passion and that
if you are a square peg, no matter how much you try and no matter how
much
people push you, you cannot fit into a round hole.
Just
as
dedicated,
selfless and enthusiastic as he
was in the service of his country, Lawrence Scott-Emuakpor
was as dedicated, selfless and enthusiastic in the service of his
family. He
was everything to everybody in this family. In a later piece, I will
discuss his
meaning to our family.
I
hope
you
all can now understand the pain and
anguish that the Scott-Emuakpor family
feels about
this loss. Chief Lawrence Scott-Emuakpor
led a life
of dedicated service to his country, a remarkable service without
blemish, a
service exemplary for its keen sense of responsibility, probity and
integrity.
More immediately for us, he nurtured a legacy that our father left for
him to
construct. And he did it selflessly.
May
the
Soul
of Chief
Lawrence Enamrerehor Scott-Emuakpor
Rest in Perfect Peace.