I dislike cosmetic surgery – Kema Chikwe

After forty minutes of talking to Kema Chikwe, former Minister of Aviation, Ambassador to
Ireland and Women Leader, Peoples Democratic Party, one cannot ignore her infectious humility and friendliness.
According to her, these qualities stem from
her childhood and parental background which
she says kept her well-grounded.
“I grew up in a sophisticated and elitist
environment because my father, Nathan Ejiogu,
was the Chief Inspector of Education and a
household name in Eastern Nigeria. But he
always told us that we needed to do well
because people will employ us on the basis of
our educational qualification and not on the
basis of our relationship with Ejiogu. When he
died as the Chairman, Public Service
Commission, East Central State, we started
struggling for ourselves. As highly respected as
he was then, my father was very grounded and
related to everybody in a down to earth
manner,” she says.
Now a grandmother, Chikwe who has been
active in public service for over two decades,
says it is very important for women to always
strike a balance between home and work. She
states that her home is very important to her
even as a public figure.
“I like to be down to earth in everything I do.
When I come back home, I am no longer
minister, ambassador or women leader, I am
just the matriarch of my family. I make sure
that my family eats well. I cook, I supervise
the house and make sure that everywhere is
clean. I go to the market to buy foodstuff for
my home and I call my children every night
before I go to sleep; I visit the school where
my grandchildren are to participate in
activities with other parents and to hang out
with them on their special days,” she says.
Relieving fond memories of her childhood, she
says her father was very strict and it was
difficult to convince him to allow her attend
parties. She states, “If there was a party, we
would be very nice around the house four
weeks before the date. Since informing him
about the party was very difficult, my siblings
would always nominate my sister, Ngozi, and
myself to announce the party to him. My
father would be disappointed because he did
not understand why children like us should be
interested in parties. He would then start
preaching to us but of course, since our minds
were not on the sermon, we would continue to
scheme, until he would finally agree. However,
he would ask the driver to take us to the venue
and wait for us. On getting to the party venue,
we would give the driver money to go home
because if he waited, it meant we would go
home after about one hour but if he went
home, we would stay for as long as the party
lasted. My father was not easy to dribble but
we always came up with excuses that would
allow us the freedom we wanted. We would say
we wanted to visit friends but we would all
have a meeting point where all our friends
from the various homes who had given their
parents the same excuse would meet and
proceed to the party venue. All our parties
were like Cinderella parties, at a particular
time, we would all rush home.”
Kema who met her husband, Chief Albert
Chikwe, through her father, recalls the
encounter, “He was a diplomat based in France
and my father had invited him to our house
because he wanted to give him a letter to
deliver to my sister who was in a university in
France. When he saw me, he told his parents
that he had seen a girl he wanted to marry.
With encouragement from his parents, his
family approached mine and that was how we
got married. We did not date before then
since it was unethical for a girl to expose
herself to a man who wanted to marry her
before the parents had given their consent.”
Mother to Nigerian rapper, Naeto C, Chikwe
says she disagreed with his music career and
attempted to prevent him from pursuing his
passion.
“Naeto’s first degree was in Biology, we were
in America then and he was supposed to be a
medical doctor, but he was also very talented
in poetry. He started writing lyrics for his
friends and I noticed that in between going to
classes for exam into medical school, he would
branch into the studio and I just did not like
the studio idea. I started chasing him around.
My husband thought I was supporting him but
I was not, I was pushing him away from music.
I would go to the studio to try to stop him but
he would disarm me with his charming ways
and I would leave him alone,” she says.
One day, she fell in love with a particular
music and had no idea her son was the singer.
“I was in the car and I heard a very fine music
on radio done in collaboration with Hugh
Masekela of South Africa, I was enjoying the
music so much that I instructed my driver to
get me the CD. At the same time, the radio
announcer said the song was done by Naeto C
in collaboration with Hugh Masekela. When I
heard it, I was embarrassed because my driver
knew that I was not supporting him,” she adds.
Continuing the glowing tribute to her famous
son, Chikwe says, “He is very good in research,
very knowledgeable; he is somebody who will
apply his attention to everything he sets his
mind on. He obtained an admission to study
Oil and Gas in Scotland but later switched to
Energy Economics. According to him, he would
like to be known as an economist. Right now,
he is in London at the Oxford University taking
a course in Energy Economics. He is there with
his wife and baby. He is a son any mother
would want. In December, he bought me very
expensive jewellery and said he had saved up
some money to thank me for everything I did
for him.”
On the secret of her looks, Chikwe who has
managed to stay trim and pretty after all these
years has this to say:
“The important thing is that I don’t engage in
dangerous beauty activities like surgery and
injections, I try to eat right. The grace of God
is sufficient for me and I have inward
happiness. I pursue my own desires; I don’t
bother about other people.”
Also about her style, she notes, “I like to dress
very well and I like to be complemented on my
dressing. Dressing announces the presence of
the wearer. I don’t want to be seen as not well
dressed at all, I don’t want to be caught
unawares. But I would never wear short
dresses, sleeveless or shorts.
“I believe fashion should be according to the
function you are attending. These days you see
people wearing evening dresses in the morning
and afternoon, they think it is a joke, it is not
a joke. I like women to be appropriately
dressed. I try to be modest with jewellery so as
not to attract the wrong attention to myself.”