CONFERMENT SPEECH ON THE OCASSION OF THE NNEOMA AWARD CEREMONY FOR MRS COMMY MODUPE UKPABI ON THIS DAY THE 28^th OF JUNE 2003, BY NNANNA IJOMAH

Mr chairman, Mr president Nzuko Arochukwu ,members of the high table, Distinguished Invitees, ladies and Gentlemen, I feel honored and priviledged to stand before you tonight to make this conferment speech on the ocassion of today's conferment ceremony of the title of Nneoma to Mrs Commy Modupe Ukpabi . This innovative gesture of the 2003 Nneoma award was the brainchild of Nzuko Arochukwu,Womens wing in Nigeria with the active support and cooperation of Nzuko Arochukwu 
New York/New Jersey.

Todays recipient of the award is very well known to most of us present here today. Some of us know her as a friend, a member of your prayer group, a benefactor and as a fellow Arochukwu native. But beyond that very few us know anything else about her. Let me now fill you in.

Commy Modupe Ukpabi nee Williams was born and raised in Enugu, a city in the Eastern part of Nigeria. For the benefit of those of you from Arochukwu, she is a direct descendant of the Totty Okoro Okpong clan of Ndi Oti compound, Atani Arochukwu . She attended Yaba College of Technology, lagos where she obtained a Diploma in Accounting. She later left for the United States where she obtained a Master of Science and MBA degrees from Jersey State and Adelphi universities respectively. Before her departure to the United States, she worked briefly as an accounting staff at the kaduna Textile Mills in Kaduna, Nigeria. Between 1980 and 1981 she was a staff auditor with Tunde Williams and Co, an accounting firm in Lagos. As a senior Accountant with the Kaduna Health Management Board between 1981 and 1983 she was responsible for loan service, payroll supervision and budget control. Presently she is the administrator of her husbands medical practice, Nassau-West OB/GYM clinic in Long Island New York where she overseas the daily operation of the clinic. Mrs Ukpabi is married to a most wonderful and caring man, Dr Okoro Ukpabi and both are blessed with four children, namely Vera, Andrew, Nina and Nicole.

Now about Mrs Ukpabi as a person. What can I say. She is a very private woman who is always very reluctant to be a public person in anyway. Through her dignified silence and independent intergrity, she has at various times contributed to numerous charities and community projects while pleading for anonymity. She is a woman buoyant in spirit, always very cheerful and pleasant in manners. Whenever you see her there is always a kindness in her eyes, a generosity in her converse, a cordiality in the grip of her hand and an urbanity in her whole demeanour that told you of the warmth in her heart.

She is a lady of such obvious and examplary charm. There is a simplicity about her that makes you want to get to know her on first contact. An English writer once wrote and I quote : 'People are like stained glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within . In Nneoma Ukpabi we do not need sunshine to see the sparkle in her or some inner light to see her beauty and the kindness in her heart . Her kindness is infectious, it is a kindness that consists of loving people more than they deserve.

Mrs Ukpabi believes that the purpose of life is not only to be happy but rather to be productive, and to have made a difference. She believes that self fulfillment and true happiness in life only comes from having done something for the benefit of the less fortunate and less priviledged within the limits of ones resources. A lady was once asked what she would like her epitaph to read and she replied , 'She lived long enough to be of some use'. Nneoma Ukpabi has not only been a blessing to us as an association but also a source of strenght to those who know her personally.

Her generosity, her desire to nurture, and her impulse to serve are attributes that have drawn her close to our hearts. Due to her very busy schedule she does not always attend our monthly meetings but whenever she honours us with her presence in any of our many social gatherings she brings great sensitvity and examplary understanding of our many viewpoints. Mrs Ukpabi and her family in their many philantropic gestures to the Aro people have contributed generously towards a scholarship scheme for indigent Aro children. Here in the U.S they have awarded yearly scholarships to graduating/deserving high school seniors whose parents are members of the Nzuko Aro association. Back home in Arochukwu she has contributed to a satelite water scheme for Arochukwu villages and one such water scheme is already functional at Oro village.

Presently, together with her husband they are financing the construction of a modern Bus stop project for villages at Aro as well as contributing to a Widows project- ie women who through no fault of theirs have become indigent due to the passing away of their loved ones. In Aro Achara, a little Arochukwu settlement or outpost in Ngwa land where Mrs Ukpabi lived for a brief period during the Nigerian civil war she has helped finance the construction of a bridge over a little river that for years had a large log of wood as the only means of crossing over to the other side.

Here in the U.S every year for the past few years Mrs Ukpabi has been 
our sole benefactor when it came to organizing our yearly christmas parties. She has not only paid the rental fee for the venues but had also presented christmas gifts to the children. Mrs Ukpabi and her husband are not the richest Aro couple both here in the U.S and back home but they have been in the forefront of doing whatever is necessary and within their means towards the upliftment of the Aro People and the Aro community at large.

People at various times are always desirous of doing something noble, 
Philantropic etc but are reluctant to be the first. This couple, this lady being honored today have had no compulsion or hesitation in being the first to show their support and encouragement in any project this association or the Nzuko Aro Women's wing in Nigeria have embarked on. More often than not individuals and organizations have a habit of not appreciating the many things people do for them. Our worst fault is our preoccupation with the fault and inadequacies of others. The reality is that we live in a nit-picking, fault-finding world where people find it easier to criticize than to applaud, to condemn than to appreciate. As a people and as an organization the Nzuko Aro Women's wing in Nigeria on whose behalf we are making this presentation today as well as Nzuko Aro NY/NJ, do not believe in silent gratitude. We believe that offering compliments, expressing and showing gratitude based on a persons good deeds inspires them to do more. The truth is that people love you not for who you are but for how you make them feel.The way you see people is the way you treat them and the way you treat them is what they become.

This award today is of immense importance . It is our way of showing gratitude to someone who has done so much for her community. It is an affirmation, an acknowledgement of sorts, a show of appreciation and gratitude. Today we thank you Nneoma Ukpabi not just for your generous heart, but for your vision, for your ability to gaze into the future of this association and the Nzuko Aro womens wing in Nigeria and see that a difference can be made if we stick together and commit ourselves to the fight for self/community development.

Once again we thank you, Nneoma Ukpabi ,we express our eternal gratitude in recognition of the fact that a life without people like you, people who we can count as one of ours, people who will always be there for us is no life at all. An American humorist Robert Henry once said and I quote 'people do not live by bread alone, they need buttering up once in a while.' So while conferring this award on you today , I will
not hesitate to say we are also buttering up a little bit and like Oliver Twist we will always ask for more. Ladies and Gentlemen-I present to you Nneoma Commy Modupe Ukpabi.

Oliver Mbamara, Esq. reporting

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