By Sam Nwanze
Vision is an uncommon plan for the future. Vision is stronger than dream because while you work hard towards achieving your vision, you’re not entirely in control of achieving your dream.
The story of Evangelist (Dr.) Sam Maduka Onyishi, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Peace Group comprising over 15 high flying companies, has been told many times in diverse ways. Therefore, there is no point going all over it again as many people already know how he rose from nobody to someone great.
Therefore, the focus of this commentary is his early vision to establish a world class university and a hospital that could be compared to any of its kind anywhere in the world.
My first contact with Sam Maduka Onyishi was at the Investment Summit organised by the immediate past administration in Enugu state in 2016 at Okpara Square. The summit was to chart a roadmap for the administration’s desire to make Enugu state the investment hub in the Southeast. I was invited.
Whether that Summit which attracted a lot of quality presentations and millions of naira spent achieved its aim is a matter for another discussion although I can say straight away that it achieved nothing tangible before the end of the last administration.
Evangelist Onyishi was there as one of those who presented a paper. Clad in a simple attire with his tenor voice note pitched, he was at his best.
He narrated how he started his transport company with two buses which later grew to about 2,000 as at then, moving over 30,000 passengers across the country daily. The fleet is said to be over 3,000 now.
It was at the summit that Dr Onyishi revealed his plan to establish a university that “will be a reference point in all standards and a hospital that will have all the facilities which could be found in such medical institution anywhere in the world.” He further explained that transport business could terminate at any point, hence his plan to build a well funded, well run medical facility in Enugu which could last for a long time.
He said the kind of hospital he envisioned would partner with hospitals and doctors in Israel and Germany to make sure Nigerians receive adequate medical attention that would make it unnecessary to travel abroad on medical tourism. He made many investment suggestions at the occasion that got him loud ovation at the end of his presentation.
Today, the two personal investment vision he put forward at the summit have been realised. A visit to the Maduka University on Opi Junction-Enugu road revealed a kind of person Sam Onyishi is – a visionary who can pursue his vision to a logical conclusion no matter what it takes.
The University which has a massive land space said to be over 300 hectares is a place you will go and possibly “get-lost” while trying to comprehend what is on ground. Over 50 well designed architectural masterpiece buildings are scattered allover the place. Those buildings are for administration, lecture halls, hostels, staff quarters, etc.
A section for a Secondary School that could feed the University with well groomed young minds is well located. The First Class Hospital he spoke about at the summit also has a prime of place and wonderful structures right there in the university premises.
The University and all its components will be supplied with uninterrupted electricity and water system internally generated I was told. Internal roads are already being worked on while security architecture of the school is said to be first rate due to its location near Ekwegbe community in Igbo Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State. The immediate past Governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, performed the foundation-laying ceremony of the institution in 2018. And today, it is a vision realised.
The University is set to receive its first intake of students this year. Kudos to Evangelist Sam Onyishi.
My second encounter with Sam Onyishi was in his Corporate Headquarters office at Emene Enugu in 2019 on appointment. For 10 a.m scheduled meeting, I was there 30 minutes earlier but discovered that Sam has been there since 8.30 a.m attending to other schedules and meeting people.
My shock was to see that his office was “bare,” not the kind you see in offices of other millionaires or billionaires like Onyishi who is said to be worth $500m in assets as at 2022.
The waiting room has simple chairs while his office is virtually bare of opulence. On why he left his office that way, he said; “I don’t need such things here. When I am tired, I just lie down on that couch to stretch myself.” Unless you’re there on serious business that could take some time, within minutes he is done with you and another person will enter.
Sam Onyishi is a very religious person who cherish his Evangelist title more than any other. If he is at his office and it’s 12 noon, you may have to follow him to his usual noon worship hour at the premises if you’re a Christian. There is a Ministry right there with a Pastor and band team. Everyone in the premises except the security people are required to attend the about 20 minutes worship time. “I don’t force visitors to be there but all my workers here must suspend whatever they are doing at that time to worship God with me”, he said.
Onyishi is a simple person all round. No airs or superiority around him. On this he said: “I suffered to get to where I am now which is by God’s grace, why should I look down on anyone.” He said he visits his workers in his various parks across the country regularly “to watch how the work is going and to solve some problems.”
At times people don’t know he is the one because of his simplicity and how he mingles with both workers and passengers. He picks his call himself without knowing who is calling and replies text or WhatsApp messages instantly, he told me.
In Igbo cosmology, it is said that ones “Chi,” personal god or “guardian angel” if you like, is not asleep when one is doing well in life. That’s “g,” meaning “my god is not asleep.” Sam Onyishi is obviously among those whose “chi” has been awake to bestow upon him stupendous riches.
Good enough he has spread his wealth through investments all over the places both at home and abroad for the benefit of humanity. He is one of those whose story of grass to grace is awe-inspiring.
Nwanze is an author, journalist and media consultant based in Abuja