As the indefatigable Prince Tonye Princewill celebrates his 44th birthday tomorrow, January 4, 2013, I, as a close brother and associate, join other great Nigerians to rejoice with this rare gem and gift to mankind whom God Almighty in his infinite mercy and love for mankind bestowed to us as a brother, friend, leader, mentor, son and scion of the famous King (Prof.) Theophanous Jacob Tom Princewill, CFR, Amachree XI, Amayanabo Kalabari, with whom he shares the same birthday! A technocrat of the highest order, an accomplished businessman, a consummate politician and a philanthropist par excellence.

Married to Rosemary, who hails from Uromi in Edo State, The Prince is the proud father of a daughter (Miss Azaria Princewill) and the 12 years old twin boys, Teetee (Tamunotonye) and Teepee (Tamunopreye).

He is a certified PRINCE II project management practitioner who holds a Master of Sciences degree in Mineral Resources Engineering and the distinguished Diploma of Imperial College (DIC), all from the prestigious Imperial College, London. He also holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Port Harcourt.

The Prince cut his professional teeth with Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited as a Reservoir Engineer. Thereafter he has worked at various times as a risk analyst with the United Kingdom’s oil and gas regulatory agency DTI; as a Chief Technology Officer with PANASONIC UK and as a back office I.T. Consultant in CITIBANK Global Asset Management. In the last 10 years he has established and run businesses in the areas of oil and gas, construction, telecommunications, petroleum products marketing, waste management, dredging, entertainment and transportation.

The Prince has interests in several companies such as Riverdrill Nigeria Limited, Orashi Oil and Gas, Delta Plus Limited, Skyblue Nigeria Limited, Intellistern Nigeria Limited, Albaraq Africa Limited, and Seven Energy Limited. He is currently the Chairman of the Riverdrill Group of Companies.

An excellent communicator, he is effective at all levels and confident in resolving business, technical and political issues. The motivation, enthusiasm, technical expertise and team building skills that The Prince brings to his projects have usually been pivotal to their success. A strategic thinker with excellent problem solving ability, he is highly adaptable across diverse environments.

The political philosophy of Prince Tonye Princewill is anchored on liberalism as he believes strongly in equality and liberty. Liberals are known to espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally they support ideas such as free and fair elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free trade, and a right to life, liberty, and property. The Prince also feels that politics is too important to be left to politicians.

Before 2003, The Prince was better known for his business acumen but his decision to return to Nigeria and successfully assist in the resolution of the intractable crises in Buguma in 2003 was the point where he decided to join partisan politics. His years in partisan politics have seen him become the gubernatorial candidate of the Action Congress party in 2007 in Rivers State; the leader of the Forum of the Organised Opposition Political Parties (FOOPP) in Rivers State comprising over 43 political parties from 2008 to 2010 when he rejoined the Peoples Democratic Party; a member of the Rivers State Economic Advisory Committee under the Chairmanship of Professor Nimi Briggs in 2008; a member of the Presidential Technical Committee on the Niger Delta in 2009; Sub-Committee Chairman of the Niger Delta Subcommittee on Vision 2020 set up by the President Umar Yar’Ardua; Steering member of the Peoples Democratic Movement a national political movement founded by late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua to forge greater democratisation in Nigeria and as an official Consultant to the Government of Rivers State on Investment.

Advocacy

The liberal democrat has been involved in a lot of advocacy for his people. A few that may be mentioned here are as follows:

-He was at Enugu personally to liaise and collaborate with the Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo leadership to enable them to submit suggestions on how to resolve the Niger Delta issue in 2009.

-Believes in internal democracy and that political parties in Nigeria must be ideology driven and has in that regard appealed to His Excellency Alh. Bamanga Tukur, the PDP Chairman, to make the party an ideological based political party.

-Did the impossible totally unlike any politician in Nigeria by his dramatic resignation from the Vision 2020 Committee, to protest a military assault on Gbaramatu, in Delta State. Such principled politics has made Prince Tonye Princewill a brand name in the Niger Delta struggle and earned him legions of awards – attesting to his emergence as an important leader.

-He is the Founder and Leader of Princewill Political Associates (PPA) a political pressure group spearheading emancipation and uplifting the welfare of the people of Rivers State.

His philanthropy

The philanthropy of Prince Tonye Princewill is based on his oft quoted phrase “you are blessed to bless others.” He is also motivated by the Bible which states in Proverbs 28:27 that “He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack; but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse” in his drive to better the lot of the less privileged in our society. A few of his philanthropic exploits are as follows:

-On July 26, 2008 he sponsored 20 youths from Niger Delta and four members of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) to watch live the Manchester United and Portsmouth match football match in Abuja during their visit to Nigeria.

-He started the year of 2012 when he visited and donated N25 million to the Port Harcourt Polo Club, N26 million towards Microfinance for rural women, several millions of naira towards setting up a 3D studio for film academy scholars.

-By June, 2012, he sponsored 10 bright Nigerians under the aegis of Change Nigeria Group (CNG) on a tour of Dubai and South Africa where they met with members of the UAE royal family, institutional investors and leaders from far and wide so that they could discover for themselves the secrets of their success.

-The Prince through the Princewill Trust Fund sponsors the yearly Amachree Scholarship Fund for indigent students from the 23 Local Govt Areas of Rivers State. In 2012 the scholarship of about 150 Rivers indigenes in higher institutions in the country at the cost of N20m was concluded successfully.

-Donation of N25m to the Polo Club recently meant for the construction of a standard pavilion in honour of his father.

-Donation of N23m Skill Acquisition Scheme to Rivers LGAs and training of rural women in Rivers State by empowering them through a skill acquisition scheme as a believer in the saying “don’t give me fish but teach me on how to fish.”

-Scholarship to indigent students of Rivers State, a rare privilege to pursue their educational careers in higher institutions.

-Donation of a bus to the National Association of Ijaw Female Students.

-Indentified and donated N2.5 million to the Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) during its last State NUJ Fifth Delegates Conference of which he was the Conference Chairman.

-Donation of computer equipment to media organisations such as the Tide Newspapers, furnished and equipped the Cyber Cafe of the Federated Correspondents Chapel.

-On May 2, 2012 he did the impossible by donating an equipped classical Media Centre to his political party, PDP, at Abuja for the use of journalists. During the last Women Day in Rivers State, The Prince instituted a N26 million Microfinance Fund for Rivers State Rural Women.

-An active and key player in creating awareness for the melancholic plight of the less privileged like the orphans by his sponsorship of NNENDA, a Nigerian home video that highlighted the plight of abandoned children, and the sponsorship of “Melody Shelters Singing Talent Show” that cost him N120m wherein the final events saw Godswill Orphanage of Kogi State clinching the coveted trophy and the Championship Prize of N10m while the runners-up, the Lifetime Orphanage of Rivers State, got N5m. Rachael Homes, Abuja, came third, going home with N3m. N500,000 each was given to the other remaining five Homes as co-champions.

-Assisted his alma mater UNIPORT Alumni when he donated the sum of N5m to the leadership of the Engr. Sampson N. Adumu-led EXCO to aid them in their activities during the launching of the Association in Port Harcourt on July, 2012.

-Sponsored and organised football competitions with some past football stars based in Port Harcourt, as well as female and U-18 Soccer Tournaments his drive to continue to give succor to our youths.

-Recently intervened and assisted people in Rivers and Bayelsa states affected by the damaging floods in the land.

-Has touched hundreds of the lives of the widows in Rivers State through his “New Life for the Widows in Rivers State.”

Princewill and the entertainment industry in Nigeria

1. Created history when he premiered the first movie in Port Harcourt on September 12, 2009 when NNENDA, a movie about the ills of orphanhood, was staged at the famous Silverbird Cinemas in Port Harcourt.

2. He followed up with the premiering of the international award winning “The Figurine” anchored by the famous Kunle Afolayan on October 11, 2009 at Silverbird Cinemas, Port Harcourt. This movie was the second Nigerian movie to hit box office status after Stephanie Okereke’s “Through the Glass”.

3. The Prince premiered “Kajola”, the most expensive film ever produced in Nigeria, at Silverbird Cinema Abuja on July 30, 2010 with a whopping production cost of N130m. The plot of the movie is set in Nigeria 2059, which is expected to appeal to all Nigerians in the sense that it explores the implications of the continuous neglect of the poor and the widening gulf between the rich and poor and the ensuing catastrophic outcomes stemming from such neglect.

4. He is currently sponsoring the production of the first movie in Nigeria on celluoid camera titled “76” hinged and anchored on the coup of 1976 in Nigeria aimed at recreating history for the incoming generation and preserving a remarkable part of the history of our nation. The post production is ongoing in Germany. The second is “Valor”, a movie that deals with the Niger Delta and Boko Haram issues and is also at post production.

5. The RIVMAP which is the brainchild of Prince Tonye Princewill to serve as a platform for the emancipation of our youths from poverty and hopelessness by discovering, nurturing and grooming talents in the arts to stardom had during its inaugural outing that cost him the sum of N20m had Mr. Timi Julius carting away the N5m Record Deal in Music with the dancing group The Thrillers winning the N2m Prize in the Dancing Group and Mr. Jacob John, a Welder/Fabricator based in Port Harcourt from Akwa Ibom, winning the N1m meant for the Comedy group.

6. Sponsored the following to the Del-York Film Academy: Mr. Valentine Ohu in Broadcast Journalism, Miss Crystabel Goddy in Acting, Mr. Telema Senibo in 3D Graphics, Miss Mercy Akudo also in Acting and Mr. Stanley Kotey in 3D Graphics.

7. Donation of multi-million naira equipped studio to some youths he sponsored to the Del-York Film Academy.

His mission

On his mission, The Prince stated: “I have seen wealth, but I have not found it interesting accumulating it. What is of interest to me now is how to touch those lives that are not yet privileged to have the basic things they need for survival. I want justice to be done to all and to be able to speak for the voiceless majority who do not have access to the corridors of power. Those are the people I feel most concerned for, and, as I said earlier, my desire to make their voices heard by those who lead, made me to join politics.”

His vision

On His vision: “Rivers State should be one big development unit. I don’t think that what we have now in the state is enough. Certain parts of the state are not yet feeling the impact of government and amenities are not evenly spread. While some areas are begging for the state government attention, others are having more than their fair share of the state’s resources. This lopsidedness in the distribution of social amenities needs to be checked so that every part of the state would be adequately taken care of.”

It becomes obvious that Franklin D. Roosevelt, a former president of the United States of America, an orator and philosopher of great acclaim, had the likes of the Princewills in mind when he wrote: “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.” Holding tenaciously to this eternal verity, TP as he is called by admirers, believes that a leader should be a public servant, who strives relentlessly to put smiles on the faces of his followers without placing undue emphasis on their social status or dashing the hopes of the poor masses.

Conclusion

The Prince continues to create wealth through his businesses as he strives to make the country a better place for as many as is possible. To many Rivers State people, he is The Prince of the less privileged while to his political associates he is The Prince of Niger Delta Politics and to most of his friends from the other parts of the country, he is the latest Bridge Builder while to you the reader he is a consummate politician!

One London-based Nigerian social commentator, Mr. Kingsley Eben, after watching the latest documentary showing the core ideals, beliefs and involvement in changing people’s lives directed by Niyi Akinmolayan and produced by the famous Adonis Productions of Prince Tonye Princewill titled “MAN, MENTOR, MAVERIK” stated and I quote: “Behold a passion in action! A dream changer and maker. A Prince of Hope, a beacon for youths empowerment re-generation. Gifted, talented, versatile and above all dedicated for youths and children of the new Nigeria dream of an indivisible national patriotism and idealism. For many, who are yet to meet, see and know the passion and ideals of one of pan Nigerian living patriot who has impacted and continues to touch uncountable lives of many in the remotest areas of basic needs and lives of the ordinary and others, here is your chance to feel and streamline your views on this emerging nationalist and philanthropist voice and dream having being blessed to bless others. Relax and enjoy this epic maverick ideals.

“It will do you a lot of good if you will find time to watch this documentary either in NTA, RSTV, STV, CHANNELS, AIT or even through http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfxbUJYEIX and you will be convinced that truly we are blessed by this special gift to mankind.”

I hereby on behalf of his associates, friends and family wish and present 44 precious garlands to this man of honour who has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that it is better to serve than to be served on this special period of his 44th birthday. God will surely bless and multiply you.

•Photo: The Prince attending to kids in the flood camp.

*Eze Chukwuemeka Eze is a Media Consultant Based in Port Harcourt. He can be reached via e-mail: ezemediaconcept08@rocketmail.com

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