Foundation awards bursaries, honours excellence, leadership and resilience as speakers urge beneficiaries to become agents of community transformation
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The Maurice Akueme Foundation (MAF) on Saturday, August 8, 2026, held its Annual Convention and Bursary Awards Ceremony at the CWO Hall, St. Joseph Catholic Church, Ukana, Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, bringing together political leaders, traditional rulers, academics, community leaders, students, parents, beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
The event, themed “Shaping Communities: The Power of Strategic Leadership,” featured the presentation of bursaries and scholarships to deserving students, awards for academic excellence, leadership and resilience, goodwill messages, a keynote lecture, question-and-answer session, music, drama, dance, interviews and the ceremonial cutting of the cake.
Among those honoured were Ubenyi Onyinyechi, who received the Academic Excellence Award; Okworka Olisaeloka, who received the Outstanding Leadership Award; and Onyemaechi Eze, recipient of the MAF Resilience Award, alongside other deserving members of the society.
Enemoh: Leadership Must Become Service
In his opening remarks, the Chief Coordinator of the Maurice Akueme Foundation, Ike Enemoh, described the convention as a celebration of hope, possibility and purposeful leadership.
Enemoh said communities do not transform by accident and that meaningful development requires vision, sacrifice, strategy and leaders willing to act.
He explained that the Foundation was established on the conviction that the circumstances into which a person is born should not determine the height to which that person can rise.
According to him, MAF’s bursary and scholarship initiatives are not merely about providing financial assistance but about investing in human potential.
“When you educate one person, you do not simply change one life. You potentially change an entire family, and eventually, an entire community,” he said.
Enemoh also highlighted the personal sacrifices of the Foundation’s President and Founder, Chief Maurice Emeka Akueme, particularly his commitment to returning from the United Kingdom to participate in programmes designed to support people back home.
He said such commitment represented strategic leadership because genuine leadership should be driven by the question of what difference one can make rather than what one can gain.
Addressing beneficiaries, Enemoh urged them to see their bursaries and scholarships as opportunities and responsibilities, encouraging them to excel and eventually create opportunities for others.
Akueme Highlights MAF’s Growing Interventions
In his welcome address and Founder’s Speech, Chief Maurice Emeka Akueme appreciated political office holders, traditional rulers, community leaders, stakeholders, students, parents and beneficiaries for identifying with the Foundation.
Akueme reflected on the development of MAF and highlighted some of its major interventions in education, healthcare and youth empowerment.
Among the programmes he mentioned was the MAF Pocket Doctor health scheme, which focuses primarily on supporting people with common ailments such as malaria and typhoid. He disclosed that he invested N6 million in the initiative last year and had committed over N10 million in 2026.
He also highlighted the Foundation’s annual student empowerment programme through bursaries and scholarships, youth empowerment initiatives and the N100,000 MAF award for first-year graduates from Ukana, designed to encourage academic achievement.
The Foundation’s broader record of intervention includes education support, school assistance, skills development, healthcare and community welfare programmes.
Akueme’s message was that philanthropy should go beyond temporary relief by creating opportunities that enable people to become self-reliant and contribute meaningfully to society.
Ugwu Describes Akueme as an Asset to Enugu
The Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Uche Callistus Ugwu, commended Chief Akueme for establishing and sustaining the Foundation.
Ugwu said Akueme’s focus on education and the wellbeing of the people aligned with the development direction of the administration of Governor Peter Mbah, describing the Foundation’s Founder as an asset to Enugu State.
He encouraged Akueme to continue his humanitarian work, stressing that responsible citizens have an important role to play alongside government in improving the lives of the people.
Uzor: Education Is the Greatest Builder of Society
Dr. Festus Uzor, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dr. Uzor Cares Foundation and former Chief of Staff to the Enugu State Government, described education as one of the greatest instruments of human-capacity development.
He praised the MAF Founder for supporting education and said such interventions amounted to building society itself.
Uzor noted that philanthropy was not necessarily about giving from excessive wealth, but about compassion and the willingness to share one’s opportunities with others.
“I’m not sure he is the richest man in Ukana and I’m not sure he has solved all his problems… but he is giving not out of too much wealth but out of concern, out of compassion,” he said.
He urged beneficiaries to repay the goodwill they had received by extending similar assistance to others when they eventually acquired the capacity to do so.
Uzor also highlighted the activities of his own foundation, noting that it had provided bursaries and scholarships, food and cash support, hospital assistance and SME grants. He described the work of both foundations as complementary and encouraged continued collaboration among individuals committed to community development.
Aguba: Strategic Leaders Build Systems That Outlive Them
The keynote address was delivered by Professor Chinedu Aguba, FNAEAP, MAE, Ph.D., Director, Institute of Education, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT).
Speaking on “Shaping Communities: The Power of Strategic Leadership,” Aguba said leadership was central to the growth of every human organisation and community.
He defined strategic leadership as the ability to make deliberate decisions today that determine the quality of life, opportunities and unity of communities in the future.
According to him, strategic leaders set clear visions, build partnerships and create systems capable of outliving individual leaders or projects.
He placed particular emphasis on education, describing it as a critical instrument for national development and praising the Maurice Akueme Foundation for making education a major component of its interventions.
Turning to the bursary beneficiaries, Aguba urged them to make maximum use of the opportunity before them.
“Go and conquer the world!” he told the students, describing education as an equaliser that gives children of poor backgrounds the opportunity to compete with those from privileged homes.
Traditional Institution, Senator’s Representative and Chineke Add Their Voices
HRH Igwe Tagbo Ubaka Oduoha II of Ukana prayed for the Foundation and encouraged the Founder and his team not to relent in their humanitarian work. He also urged beneficiaries and members of the community to support the Foundation through prayers and by reciprocating its goodwill.
Senator Osita Ngwu, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Air Force, was represented by Hon. Chris Mmah. The Senator commended MAF for its interventions and said more communities would benefit if individuals with the capacity to give followed Akueme’s example.
Also speaking, Amb. Prof. Cajethan Chineke highlighted Akueme’s antecedents in supporting Nigerian students, noting that his interventions had helped people access scholarships, employment and other opportunities.
J.U. Akueme Memorial Project Incorporated into Convention
Another important feature of the programme was the payment of school fees for selected primary school pupils.
The intervention, however, was not a Maurice Akueme Foundation programme. It was part of the J. U. Akueme Memorial Project, established by the family of the late John Udenna Akueme in his memory. The initiative was incorporated into the MAF Annual Convention to enable the beneficiaries receive the support as part of the broader community-centred activities surrounding the event.
The inclusion of the memorial project added another dimension to the convention, highlighting how families and community-minded individuals can preserve the legacies of loved ones through practical interventions that support education and vulnerable members of society.
A Celebration of Service and Opportunity
The convention also featured music performances, drama, dancing, interviews, a question-and-answer session, awards presentation and the cutting of the cake, creating an atmosphere that combined celebration with reflection.
At the heart of the event was a simple but powerful message: communities are shaped by deliberate decisions and acts of service.
From bursaries and scholarships to healthcare interventions, youth empowerment, recognition of excellence and support for vulnerable families, the activities celebrated at the convention demonstrated the importance of investing in people.
As Enemoh noted in his opening remarks, the ultimate measure of MAF’s success will not only be the number of beneficiaries it supports, but how many of those beneficiaries eventually become people who create opportunities for others.
That message captured the spirit of the 2026 MAF Annual Convention: leadership becomes most powerful when it is translated into service, and philanthropy becomes most meaningful when it creates a legacy of empowerment.
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