THE SILENT PHILANTHROPIST

 Uchenna Kalu pays tribute to Bala Bello, a banker who promotes the welfare of others

Philanthropy is an integral part of humanity. Philanthropists are those who open their hands for others. Some philanthropists are garrulous with their deeds, others play their cards silently. Dr. Bala Bello, the Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is in this class. Bello is a man of good deeds. Not many Nigerians know this about him. Over the years, he has managed to keep his charitable works away from public space, especially the media. It’s the stuff of genuine philanthropists; those who give as a matter of empathy, and not on the basis of public acclamation or to be celebrated of men usually with vainglorious titles and societal epaulets as reward.

Bello’s charity works are divinely propelled and driven by his belief that it is in giving that we receive. His zero celebration of his philanthropy is premised on his immovable faith that only God can truly reward those who give bread to the hungry and water to the thirsty. Though a proud son of Taraba State, his charity works extend beyond the primordial boundaries of religion and ethnicity. To him, humanity is one. And the inside of a hungry child is the same, irrespective of race, religion or ethnic nationality. When want and destitution strip a people to their bones, they are the same colour in the dark; they bear the same pain in their bodies and equal measure of emotional torture.

Bello understands this and he has taken to the noble path of philanthropy just to add a veneer of smile to the faces of the abandoned and broken children. And he does this without recourse to ethnic configuration of the beneficiaries of his gesture or their religion. In a country where some persons, especially public officers and those seeking public positions, give for what they can get, Bello gives without expecting.

For many years, he has been a pillar of The Wanted Children Foundation (TWCF), a charity organisation spearheading the transformation of the lives of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Nigeria. TWCF was founded in 2005 and registered as a Canadian charity in 2006 through a public-spirited woman, Courtney Anderson. Ever since, the organisation has weathered several storms to become the hope of the orphaned and the forsaken. Bello has silently been supporting TWCF and has played major rule in its sound footing in the country today.

Starting out from its initial Children’s Home in Amaba community in Isuikwuato local government area of Abia State, TWCF has moulded its old weak skin and has transformed to a reliable refuge for OVC where the children are cared for, loved and walked through healing processes for those traumatised by their state of abandonment. Some acquire skills while others are given the opportunity to go through the basics of cognitive learning.

Today, through the support of pillars like Bello, TWCF has moved to its permanent site at Eluama, another community in the same Isuikwuato, a place they now call “home”. Let’s make it clear. TWCF is located in Abia State. Bello is from Taraba State. It did not matter to him that a majority of the beneficiaries of the benevolence of the charity organisation would be persons from Abia and the south east. It did not matter to him that his home state, Taraba, being part of a country with broken homes, broken children and millions of out-of-school kids also has need of such home. Bello did not influence the relocation of such home to Taraba, to his community. Never did. Instead, he continued to support the noble cause of a humanitarian organisation whose mission is to assuage the pains of children.

As a full-blooded Igbo man and someone who has lived in the north for many years, I sincerely salute the nationalistic spirit of Bello. Nigeria needs men like Bello; men who are detribalised; men who are not swayed by ethno-religious considerations but who believe in the oneness of the country. A man from the north who could wholeheartedly support a humanitarian organisation in the south east in the manner Bello is doing deserves a national medal. It is for such persons that the lyrics of the National Anthem, ‘Though tribes and tongues may differ, In brotherhood we stand,’ assume its full essence. Bello is not a slave to tribes and tongues. He is bound by the spirit of brotherhood, the spirit of one indivisible Nigeria.

Those close to him say this is the same nationalistic fervor that underpin his actions where ever he goes. And he has been to many places, functioned at several stations in high-ranking capacities. In all of these stations, he acquitted himself as a nationalist, not one sucked into the cesspit of nepotism. This defeats the trending thesis on social media that he was engaging in ethnic cleansing in his new station as Deputy Governor of CBN. Far from it.

Bello is not a bitter man. He acknowledges the benevolence of Providence in his life. Nigeria, his fatherland, has done him good. And he loves his country, he loves Nigerians of all tongues. He has no reason to engage in any form of ethnic victimisation or to undermine any authority. His pedigree bears him out.

Former Executive Director (Corporate Services) of Nigerian Export – Import Bank; the first indigenous Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer of Sigma Pensions; co-founder of Marine Capital Limited, a private sector-driven project finance, real estate development and strategic business advisory firm; pioneer CEO of Marine Capital Limited and later Apricot Investments Limited as the pioneer Managing Director. His pathway of academic distinction, corporate service excellence hallmarked by awards and industry recognition, including winning the Okonjo-Iweala Award as the Best Treasurer in FHDL Bond Simulation and Fixed Income Training, in 2006, lends him to the job.

This article is not about his storied corporate career, it’s about his devotion to charity, his humanity and his blazing spirit of nationalism. And if you think Bello has abandoned his people back home in Taraba, perish the thought. His We The People grassroots movement has become the rallying hub of development, empowerment and a meeting point between the poor and the rich. Through the movement, the virtues of unity, understanding and tolerance have been fostered among people of all ethnic nationalities and many have been lifted out of poverty.

Truth be told, Bello does not deserve any tongue-lashing, he deserves lotus for his nationalism, patriotism and humanitarian service.

·       Kalu, businessman/public policy pundit, writes from Umuahia