SOLUDO: THE EXCELLENCE OF HIS EVOLUTION
— Mazi Ejimofor Opara
I am sure someone is already piecing together the “Life and Time of Charley Nwa Mgbafor: The Village Boy Who Became a Global Citizen”. In that piece, you should see chapters that cover his early days and how his Mum raised a role model for him in Headmaster Ugoji. His days at Azuzuru Primary School, where he had his first major encounter with Nigerian class system where education equalized opportunities for the son of a truck driver who sat in the same classroom with kids of top level managers.
His journey to Uga Boys Secondary School where he became the first Senior Prefect of the school, holding same position for a record two sessions, after him no other person has repeated this feat in the history of the school. These early days were characterized by distinctive academic records, perfected further when he finished with First Class across all levels of his tertiary education at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. All these, for me, summarizes the foundation of Soludo’s excellence.
You can’t look at this sound foundational achievements and yet wonder how Chukwuma Charles Soludo became an exceptional Academic and global itinerant scholar, hitting the apogee of his Academic career as a 38year old restless young man, and voluntarily concluding this first phase of his productive life at 42. His journey to public service and second life began on another firm foundation of excellence where he shattered the glass ceiling, bringing disruptive change to a financial system on the precipice of collapse. It is this aspect of Soludo’s Excellent evolution that veteran Journalist, Ray Echebiri, captures in his seminal book; “The Power of One Man”.
While Soludo’s third life has shown great promise with outstanding, yet signature achievements characteristic of a Soludo, I am persuaded to state that in all of this, bookmakers are in awe how a single individual has led a life of perpetual relevance. For instance, if Soludo decides to quit the Governorship seat today, he has another five (5) solid years to put into the Academia. If he decides to head back to Abuja for any reason, he would certainly become the perfect piece in the Nigeria’s economic puzzle. His records as the Chief Economic Adviser and Head of National Planning; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria have remain unmatched until date. Yet, the Man Soludo is still evolving on the path of excellence without apology.
