… Real Brass is an Akwa Ibom exportable goods
‘‘Vincent Enyeama, ex-Nigeria’s professional footballer and goal keeper, was my student,’’ former teacher, Boniface Ebewo, now Real Brass progenitor, told Straightnews.
Though Enyeama and Ebewo are indigenes of Ika Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State, their meeting was circumstantial as teacher-student– one looking for academic knowledge and the other, wanting to eke a living.
Ebewo, who delved into the odyssey of his life, traced his working experiences from a teacher, broadcaster, personal assistant to a board Chairman, Ika Local Government Chairman to the progenitor of Real brass, the veritable and unique entertaining group in Nigeria’s South-South.
‘‘When I came to Uyo in 1990, I started my life as a teacher. I’m proud to mention the likes of Vincent Eyeama, at Efficient Secondary Commercial School, Udo Obio, to be my product,’’ the Real Brass boss said.
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During his soccer career, which spanned nearly 20 years, the 42-year-old Enyeama who played for Ibom Stars, Enyimba, Iwuanyanwu Nationale, Bnei Yehuda, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Lille and Maccabi Tel Aviv, was a member of the Nigeria national team from 2002 until October 2015, serving as its captain from 2013 until his retirement from international football in 2015 with 101 caps.
In an interview with Straightnews in Uyo on last Wednesday, Ebewo who described life as dynamic recalled ‘‘I was his teacher and I thought it wise then to change my course and I love the shows of teaching to join the service of Akwa Broadcasting Corporation. I started with the AM station then Abak at the back and then graduated to the FM station 90.5 FM.
‘‘Overtime, I served the station as a presenter as a DCA they call it Duty Continuity Announcer. I’m a trained veteran broadcaster trained by the authorities of the Radio Nigeria Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.
‘‘Then in 2004, when we were transferred out of the AKBC, I had an opportunity to work with the Akwa Ibom State Universal Basic Board, even as I use this opportunity to pray for the peaceful repose of my late boss Evangelist Fidelis Etim, who adopted me as his son who blessed me, who tutored me administratively a lot of things I never knew in my days as a broadcaster.’’
According to him, ‘‘I was exposed to other administrative rubrics that are helping me to stand today and stand tall and taller. So, I ventured into politics to vie for House of Assembly; I couldn’t make it. Fortunately for me, I became a local government chairman. But out of all of this, I realise business is the key and it drives the economy of every room, every society, every organization. With the vast knowledge of administration, with the vast knowledge of contacts, with the huge connections that we have enjoyed over the years, we thought it wise to use this to build our individual company.
‘‘And so, we came up with the idea -Real Brass in 2008 commissioned on the 19th of December, 2008. So, 16 years down the line now, all of the knowledge we gathered from the civil service, the connections, the relationships, the administrative exposure, the academic exposure, culminated into the assemblage of this brand to the glory of God.’’
The excited former broadcaster noted ‘‘There is no one state in Nigeria, with particular reference to Nigeria and Africa, as a continent- 54 countries of Africa, there is no one country that we can point our finger at, to say, we imitated this. No, it is purely a dream that we had in view of the fact that we saw that something was lacking and you know our entertainment component was only characterized by pop music like pop reggae, cultural renditions. But taking a look at the class of dignitaries and the quality of events, we saw greater miles away from all of that. So, we came up with this concept to make it a lot more colorful, to make it a lot more interesting and now, it is becoming a global brand.’’
Ecstatic Ebewo stated ‘‘So, I would say to the glory of God, Real Brass is now becoming the pride of African nation. To the Igbos in particular, we have enjoyed their patronage. The Igbos patronise us, there is no single Igbo state, there is no single state of Igbo extraction that we are not patronised on a daily basis. And to the glory of God, I can say that Real Brass is an Akwa Ibom exportable goods to not only Igbo land, but to Lagos many other places.
‘‘We had the opportunity of performing for ECOWAS, the President of Ghana, the President of Kenya, the Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis. We’ve also had opportunity of the performing for the Ambassador of Poland, Ambassador of France and US Consul General. So, I give God the glory for this dream. It’s a rare dream and we have also over the years tried as much as we could to maintain the standard and it has paid us off colorfully,’’ he noted.
