Your good works go ahead of you. Your good reputation precedes you and opens doors for generations coming after you. Your acts of charity lift many out of penury. Acts of charity excite noble minds. Acts of charity remind all about our common humanity. It is apposite to preface this intervention with sprinkles o quotes on charity. Yes, I mean charity-benevolence, compassion, generosity, altruism. These include but are not limited to the following- “No one has ever become poor by giving”- Anne Frank. “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving”- Mother Teresa. “If you haven’t got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble”- Bob Hope. “Every good act is charity. A man’s true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows”- Moliere. “A rich man without charity is a rogue; and perhaps it would be no difficult matter to prove that he is also a fool” – Henry Fielding. “Charity is a supreme virtue, and the great channel through which the mercy of God is passed onto mankind” – Conrad Hilton. “Charity begins at home, but should not end there”- Thomas Fuller.
This piece mirrors the PRADA UZODINMA IMO INDIGENES LAW SCHOLARSHIP GRANT abbreviated “PUIISG”. The aim of the PRADA UZODINMA IMO INDIGENES LAW SCHOLARSHIP GRANT is self explanatory. Lawyers say it is res ipsa loquitur (the facts speak for itself). PUIISG is a private scheme put together to assist indigent Law Students from Imo State to earn their law degrees and qualify to become legal practitioners. What a class act of charity that can truly be said to have begun at home and for the right beneficiaries.
Make no mistakes about it, the cost of acquiring quality legal education is prohibitive. This is no mumbo-jumbo or scaremongering. There are countless expensive professional learning materials and reference resources to be acquired on continuous basis. These compulsory materials are usually beyond the reach of the law student from an average family. Coincidentally, the average family or middle class has been wiped away in Nigeria. You are either rich or poor in present day Nigeria (pardon the digression). Given the hard times and ramshackle existential realities, many law students have dropped out of school for no fault of theirs other than that their parents or sponsors have “ran out of gas”. The emphasis in most homes now is on how to see what to eat and not to fund costly academic pursuits in highly sought after professional courses like law, medicine, architecture, accountancy to mention a few. Even when you join the legal profession, you must keep acquiring new practice books and upgrading your professional tools, resources and competence. A lawyer reads and reads until his dying days. No good lawyer stops reading. It costs a fortune to stay learned. It costs much more to acquire learning as a law student. A law student is a lawyer in equity. Equity regards as done that which ought to be done. This means also that you must do your own part. No well written and authoritative law book or journal (hardcopy or e-resource) is a cheap buy. As they say, big man big trouble. So, big course, big expenditure!
This is why, where and how the PRADA UZODINMA IMO INDIGENES LAW SCHOLARSHIP GRANT initiative is a very welcome development that should be applauded and celebrated by all men and women of goodwill. Courtesy of the PUIISG, many otherwise indigent Imolites will be assisted to actualise their life ambitions of becoming lawyers. The humungous generosity receives resonated plaudits coming from a young lady, who is not by any means under obligation to assist or lend a helping hand. As a private legal practitioner, she could have used the huge resources expended on the charity work to fund expensive lifestyle and or acquire fanciful ornaments. The PUIISG is not a political charity either. There are no strings attached. As we often admonish, if you want to do charity, please leave your camera at home. If you are doing political charity, please invite ORIENT FM/TV, RADIO NIGERIA, NTA, AIT, TVC, ARISE CNN OR BBC. Alas, act of charity must be clothed with dignity.
As we commend PUIISG as a pure humanitarian edifice, we feel compelled to inform that there is need for more of such kind gestures from public spirited individuals in other disciplines or courses for Imolites in particular. By this gesture, PRADA has demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that age is no barrier to charity and public good. PRADA has shown beyond measure that your gender is no obstacle to extending a helping hand to the needy in society.
For the beneficiaries, you are entreated to remember PRADA in your prayers. Remember that “ekele onye akidi na nke omere, ya agwota ozo” (gratitude fires the zeal of the giver to give more). The least you owe a benefactor is gratitude. Ingratitude is a mortal sin. “Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality” according to Alfred Painter. “Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone” says G.B. Stern. Chop and clean mouth na wickedness- Ihube Okigwe proverb!
Out of abundant caution, for completeness of record, lifting the veil, the person behind this benevolent PUIISG is Dr PRADA UZODINMA. She is a lawyer and daughter of Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State. It is not about her pedigree or chains of earned law degrees and certificates. This is about her uncommon spirit of giving and passion in sharing with her learning colleagues. For supporting a generation of poor Imo indigenes towards becoming lawyers, THANK YOU, PRADA. Gratitude is what separates privilege from entitlement.
There are many other PRADAs out there. They are urgently needed. They are most welcome. Every little helps as “NOTHING IS TOO SMALL FOR IMO AIRPORT” was the slogan, catchphrase or mantra used back in the good old days in 1983 to build Imo Airport by Imo People of old Imo State under Governor Dee Sam Mbakwe. I remember because I was a joyful partaker as an undergraduate Law Student at Aba Campus of old Imo State University (now Abia State University, Uturu). How time flies. Do good and live forever in the hearts of benefactors.
A new normal is possible!
Prof Obiaraeri, N. O.
