Did you know that as a young army officer, Emeka Ojukwu found it extremely difficult to live within his means.

Did you know that as a young army officer, Emeka Ojukwu found it extremely difficult to live within his means.

His father, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, was a very wealthy man but he never gave Emeka Ojukwu any extra pocket money for anything. And Emeka Ojukwu desperately needed an extra income to cater for his needs.

A way out of his predicament came when he discovered something in the general orders which says that if one can speak a language in Nigeria that is not your own, you get an incentive for each level you pass through.

For lower levels, you get £40
For intermediate levels, you get another £40
For professional levels, you get £80
(All currency in Nigerian pounds)

That was huge and a lot of money to be made at the time. Emeka Ojukwu quickly jumped into this opportunity and grabbed it with both hands and both feet.

First, he learned the Yoruba language and completed all three levels in time, collecting all the money as he pass through each level. Next he set his sights on the Hausa language. While learning the Hausa language at the lower levels, he opened up an argument which could enable him to learn the Igbo language as a new language for him.

Here was his argument: Emeka Ojukwu argued that since he spent most of his years in Zungeru, Lagos, and abroad, the Igbo language wouldn’t be considered indeginous for him. Since that was the case, he should be allowed to do the three languages. (Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba)

He spent a really long time arguing that case and by the time he completed the lower levels of the Hausa language and collected his money, the argument wasn’t over.

Unfortunately, the sequence of events that started in January 1966, changed his life forever. He never really got around to learning the intermediate and professional levels of the Hausa language.

Lesson: This is a really great program for anyone in the civil service. It will help attract people to learn the language and enable Nigerians to be more Nigerian, working anywhere in the country.

Is there still a program like this in the present day Nigeria? Please let us know in the comments.