ZIK GBEMRE SPEAKS ON PRINCE GEORGE NUTASIA UGEN: GREATNESS IN HUMILITY, EVEN TO DEATH.

When the very first private broadcast station opened in Delta state, it was the deliberate disposition of the brain behind Jeremi Frequency Modulation, JFM as it became known, Prince George Nutasia Ugen, for the station not to be loud about the greatness such indelible record bestowed upon him.

I remember when a second Delta private station, Crown FM, debuted in Warri, the broadcast content throughout the test transmission was all about the owner, personally manning the cursors, to glorify self for the feat.

This analogy between the former and later speaks to how so humble, down to earth George Nutasia Ugen was. He was a great man yet lived humble through it all even in death as he passed on that dark Saturday 27, November 2021.

Nutasia wasn’t just great by becoming the foresighted versatile entrepreneur and intellectual he was. He was born into greatness as son of HRH, Charles  Eyagbologha Ugen, whose enthronement as the 1st Okobaro of Ughievwen, revived the royalty of the revered kingdom after a long interregnum.

Even the choice to name his radio station after his own community was in demonstration of humility in placing the common good above self. Jeremi Radio further launched Otughievwen (Otu-Jeremi) on the global map.

That collective honour would have eluded Ughievwen (Jeremi) if Nutasia had named Delta’s first private broadcast station, “crown”, “mega”, “eagle,” “quest,”, “star,” “, vision,” “sky” or simply self identify it as “Ugen Radio/FM, to immortalize his family name. He didn’t do that. He preferred the pride of the entire kingdom whose throne his father sat on, for many years.

In the passion to elevate the common good, Nutasia would eventually move operations of the JFM to rural Jeremi, just as he came home to live among his people while his business investments were spread far and near over the years till he passed on.

He was having joint pain in the waist and leg. We had talked about it. After some checks of the Nigeria’s inefficient health system, he inevitably flew to the UK. In hours, at a Luton hospital, he had had a joint replacement surgery. “Zik, I tell you, the operation was painless. Even till now I never felt any pain from such a major surgery”, George had told me at his home in Jeremi as we reflected on Nigeria’s failed health system, after he returned from that UK medical tourism.

“And I never paid a dime for all the treatment they gave me there over that trip”, he further told me. Because of their resounding database in the UK, the hospital at a click on George Ugen’s name had found out that he had worked there while resident in the UK many years back. That status gave him entitlement to free medical treatment on such a major health concern, absolutely free of charge.

George Nutasia Ugen saw his death and faced it with rare courage. The medical team at Luton had equally diagnosed a terminal ailment, giving him little or no chance to live much longer. Not wanting to burden anyone with his poor state of health, he chose to return to his home to spend his last days.

Weeks to his final moments, he had confided in close siblings to prepare his funeral, including picking the spot for his grave and facelifting his country home for his burial. These desires and others were perfected before he passed on. He picked a very short date for his funeral and family preparation placed on top gear to fulfill that wish.

A sound entrepreneur, intellectual, humble to a fault and a largely unsung hero, Prince George Nutasia Ugen lived a great man. It is a measure of how prejudiced our society is that the Delta State Government never recognised him in its periodic awards of excellence and statesmanship.

As an individual, JFM also strengthened my passion as a social justice advocate. 1999 up till 2003, I was a regular guest of a live program on ‘PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE NIGER-DELTA’. With Chris Ewokor as the then anchor of the programme, every Wednesday, for one to two hours, we would be on air as listeners phoned in to ask questions in response to background interview by Chris Ewokor, the anchor.

The program was so popular that people, listeners from far and near kept in touch to hear me and called in to contribute their views or asked further questions. Few people had access to NITEL land lines then to be calling me. NITEL mobile phones in Delta state were not easily available then, yet the programme attracted an increasing number of callers even under the circumstance.

It is gratifying that his legacy is enough to immortalize him, without the biases of partisan excellence awards. Rest in Peace, Oshegbere.

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