WEPPA WANNO:

THE WAY FORWARD

Compilation of The Enesegbe Club Lecture Series

Volume One (1995-1999)

LECTURE ONE

1995

 

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL ORGANISATIONS IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

 

BY

 

 


ALHAJI ADAMU AZIMEYE EMOZOZO

OFFICE OF THE MINISTER OF STATE,

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

ABUJA

 

 

PROFILE OF GUEST SPEAKER

 

The able Adamu Azimeye Emozozo was born on the 3rd of August in the year of our Lord 1957 in a village know as Iviukhua, Agenebode in the present Etsako East Local Government Area of the present Edo State, the heartbeat of the nation. He is happily married to a woman who cares for his family and dependants.

 

Alhaji Adamu Azimeye Emozozo once chaired the various enlightenment lecture organized by Enesegbe Club on the basis of his profile which is loaded with academic achievements and a flair for continuous research and his financial and continuous support for the education of his wards and numerous dependants.

He prepared his own educational background quite early in life. He went to school when his mate went to school too. He attended Estako District Council School, Iviukwe between 1960 and 1967 for his first school leaving certificate and proceeded to the then enviable Grammar School in Agenebode, St. Peter’s Grammar School between 1969 and 1973 where he obtained his West African School Certificate WASC. He proceeded to the University of Benin (UNIBEN) Benin City, where he obtained his Bachelors of Arts Degree in History.

Alhaji Emozozo is a man who knew his onions early in life and gracefully planned for them himself as he was not ready to be taken unawares. In executing his plans, he added to a certificate in Foreign Service in 1986 in the Foreign Service Academy of the Ministry of External Affairs, Lagos. He also earned a Master of Science Degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife between 1988 and 1989 to which he added a Professional Certificate from the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and has since become an associate member of the institute.

 

Mr. Adamu Emozozo commenced his working life immediately after his University of Benin education and on completion of his youth service year in 1983 in the Ministry of foreign Affairs.

 

Adamu as fondly called started in the Administration Department of the Ministry served in the Consular and Immigration Department, Policy, Research and Statistics, the area he loved most. He has also served as consular General of Nigeria in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He was in the Directorate of Protocol between 1992 and 1998. He is presently in the office of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. He is a staunch supporter of the cause of Weppa Wanno Clan, a lover of people, and also a cheerful giver as well as a good listener.

 

 

 

 

 

THE LECTURE

 

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATION IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The bedrock of the development of any community and indeed every society is the nature and manner of its organization. The interaction of the various forces and segments results in the type, quantum and form of development that is recorded in a given society. If a society is well structured and the forces therein properly organized, the tendency is that these forces produce desirable change which invariably enhances the total well-being of its people. Thus, the attainment of improved living standard for the majority if not all members of a society is an indication of how well it is organized into compartment that would function variously and simultaneously to promote peace, stability and therefore development. Consequently, various concepts exists in their peculiar nature, application and techniques that subscribe to cohabitation in a particular environment possible. The principles of separation of powers, division of labour, social differentiation, differences in the capabilities of individuals, as well as conflict resolution are useful inferences. They are as large as Nigeria there must be a clear definition of roles for the various segments whose separate performance would aggregate the quantum of change within a period of time. In this respect, the government functioning in its perceived 3-tier levels will take responsibility for making laws through the legislature, adjudicating through the judiciary and implementing these laws through the executive. From within the ambit of the functioning of these different arms, quantitative changes are achieved. Development in infrastructure, efficient defense and security system, improvement in the health care delivery system, improved relations with other nations, providing good and reliable educational system, creating a viable economic atmosphere that will in turn promote investment opportunities, continually improving the communication system, etc to mention but a few, would result.

 

However, the development needs at this macro level of society may differ from those at the smaller community level. The reason for the differences lies not only in their sizes, but also in their complexities. This is easily comprehensible. These differences notwithstanding, the outcomes at both levels are imperatively complementary for the overall goal of the larger unit of development. The point that must be emphasized therefore is that at whatever level of society, the manner of its organization can never be of any less importance in relation to the needs and accomplishments of its people.

 

The topic of our discussion tonight portrays a simple subject which to a casual understanding, requires not more than a mere highlighting of the contributions which social organizations can make towards the total development of a community. This may be so because, some unit organizations have indeed successfully participated in and or sponsored developmental projects of communities. Social organizations have also metamorphosed into the vanguard of development in various spheres of human endeavours. However, an expert would see beyond the rather simplistic confines of evidences of the features of community development. This is because the topic might have subsumed a full knowledge by all of the concepts of social organizations and community development. Furthermore, if the conjecture in the letter commissioning me to undertake this lecture is anything to go by, I should believe that I am expected to zero in on the Weppa Wanno experience as a case study, In order that our audience does not fall victim of the assumption alluded , it is therefore imperative to clarify, however briefly, the context within which these concepts could be understood.

 

SOCIAL ORGANISATION

 

Sociologically, social organization is regarded as the way in which individuals and relationship are ordered with reference to the goals of the society concerned. According to Onigu Otite and W. Ogionwo in “An Introduction to Sociological Studies”, this concept also connotes “a means, a device by people to ensure their happiness and goal attainment… an indication largely of the manner in which people behave and relate to one another as members of the same society”.

 

There are aspects in the definition of this concept that must be noted. Firstly, individuals and institutions must play given roles and positions which are existing in an inter-related manner under a condition of some stable patterns. In this respect, there is the whole with which the parts interact to form and nourish. This role also possesses characteristics which the component parts may not possess. The second aspect is the process i.e. the manner in which the various components of the society are ordered, and therefore symptomising change. This point of view involves growth and adaptation in the structure and function as well as response to changing attitudes and adjustments not only to new goals, but also to organizational devices and strategies designed to achieve them. A renowned American Sociologist, Judson R. Landis perceives the basic elements of a Society in terms of the number of people and an inhabitable geographical area. Landis in his book, Sociology Concepts and Characters not only introduces the element of territoriality (that will be seen later as a vital characteristic of the community) but also describes the organization as “frequently referred to as a ‘social fabric’, an integrated net of norms, roles, cultural values, beliefs through which people interact with each other individually and through groups.

 

In fact, social organizations manifest at three levels of relationships. These are the inter-personal, group and the total social order levels. As against the inter personal (which is more elementary) and the total social order (which aggregates all relationships in a manner that the net effect is the benefit of all members and the integrity of the whole society) the group constitute the most inclusive level of abstraction. And hence the most relevant in our discussion.

 

GROUPS

 

A group exists when there are a number of people who have shared or patterned interaction and feel bound together by a “consciousness of kind” or “we” feeling. Sociologists study groups because it is felt that to some extent, a person is the sum of the group to which he belongs. Socialization, transmission of culture, values, attitudes, ways of behaving and believing are mainly a product of the proud to which one belongs. Groups may be simple in structure, or exceedingly complex. In other words, they may involve close, intimate relationship between members or more distance and infrequent personal contact. In type there exist voluntary and involuntary, horizontal and vertical, temporary and permanent, reference and peer groups. They could also be simply categorized into primary, small, secondary and formal groups. What is more germane therefore is the manner in which these are organized to play roles for the purpose of deriving maximum benefits for the overall well-being of the people in a society or community.

 

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

 

Community Development connotes the totality of efforts of members of a community as well as other agencies like government and extra-governmental bodies to improve and sustain a good life for all. Here, cognizance is taken of the fact that the community, apart from itself constituting a society forms a component part of a wider society i.e. a nation or the universe. Thus, the improvement in the lots of a community ipso facto denotes an achievement in the process of the overall development objective of the larger society.

 

The theme of community development is more relevant in the third world, where we belong. In this part, it is often interchanged in usage with the concept of rural development.

The community in reference therefore, would be those subsistent societies existing peripherically outside the urban areas that consume an overwhelming portion of the developmental resources of the nation. Conscious of the danger inherent in the continued neglect of the rural people and persuaded by other ancillary factors, efforts at community development have recently acquired a new clan. According to Henry Bernstain:

 

“the impoverishment of the rural population in the underdeveloped areas and the tension and maladjustments created everywhere by the process of change... have produced world-wide efforts at community development. Community development, it might be argued, is a prise de conscience, a reaction to the increasing under-development of the rural community (especially) in agrarian societies. Though the notion has not been clearly defined and includes everything from primary school education to agricultural extension and medical care, the underlying assumption is that many of the problems besetting the rural populations in under-developed countries can be solved at the community level, with community resources and with outside intervention limited to education and technical aid”.

 

Efforts at community development in contemporary Nigeria picked up in the early 1970s at a period when the entire society of Nigeria experienced a massive expansion. This period coincided with the oil boom and increased monetization of the economy. This has coupled with increase in the level of awareness and the gradual but steady breaking down of old traditional stereotypes and superstitious beliefs. Furthermore, there have been external inducements that have stimulated the involvement of individuals and groups to venture into this endeavour, Bernstin note again that:

 

“the movement for community development has been greatly stimulated by international organizations such as UNESCO, and by the special funds channeled into these activities by technical aid programs of the developed countries.”

 

Many nations, at their various levels of government are in the dire need to reverse the unwholesome trend of urban population explosion with the attendant social and economic problems. They have therefore been directly spearheading and indirectly encouraging deliberate development of the rural communities. The Nigerian governments have of recent been demonstrating this characteristic. Examples abound in this regard. Apart from the unusual mention that the concerns for the rural populace have continually been receiving in the successive development plans, in 1986, the Federal Government established the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI). Section 7 of its enabling law enjoined the directorate to gear all efforts towards the development of the entire rural areas of Nigeria in order to improve the quality of life of the rural dwellers. Part two of the same paragraph states, inter alia:

 

For the purpose of achieving the objectives in sub section (1) of this section, the Directorate shall use its best endeavours to:

 

a)         Encourage and organized increase agricultural and any other activities towards an   increased earning power of the rural dwellers;

b)         Encourage increased agricultural and any other activities in the rural areas to provide agricultural and industrial raw materials;

c)         Undertake the construction and repair of roads to facilitate communication and    distribution of agricultural products;

d)         liaise with the appropriate Federal, State and Local Government for the provision of     water, health facilities, electricity, means of communication and such other things as the Directorate may determine within the rural areas;

e)         Enlighten the rural communities in order to give them a sense of belonging to the          country.

 

The third subsection further states that the Directorate shall also encouraged communities to form their own village, community or town improvement or development unions or association under their own democratically elected leaders to serve as the apex organization for mobilizing their communities for the successful participatory implementation of all rural development program as initiated by the Directorate, each tier of government or by the communities themselves.

In addition to such formal governmental programs as DFRRI, there have also been informal ones surreptitiously sponsored and promoted, like the Better Life for Rural Women and the current Family Support Program all targeted primarily at the rural people.

 

However, community development has not been revolutionary. Efforts have been gradually in effect, and mainly in areas of primary and existential needs. The modest successes recorded so far can only be seen as a product of the co-operation between governments and the indigenes of the communities whose major vehicles are the unions, clubs and other associations, most of which predate the government’s DFRRI and other similar programs. These associations have been the bulwark for the mobilization of finances and manpower for the execution of their self-help and government assisted projects. This is where the role of the groups in the development of communities becomes most profound.

 

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT:

THE WEPPA WANNO EXAMPLE

 

Social organizations seen as the ordering of individuals and institutions to achieve set goals of a  society, no doubt, play important, if not the most crucial role in community development. The role of social organizations in this regard may therefore be summarized as follows:

 

a)         Initiate and participate in decision making;

b)         Provide the forces or manpower to execute policies;

c)         Regulate and control the behavior of members of the community;

d)         Mobilize as well as create funds necessary for development;

e)         Promote awareness and stimulate consciousness through formal and informal education;

f)         Encourage socialization among member of the community;

g)         Project the image of the community;

h)         Promote co-operation and healthy competition among individuals and other component parts of the community;

i)          Enhances the formation of pressure groups for various socio-political purposes such as       arousing of and attracting government’s interest and patronage, settlement of intra-    community quarrels and conflicts etc.

j)          Ensuring an unbroken continuity in the communal heritage etc.

 

These functions which are by no means exhaustive have been performed among Weppa Wanno people over the years with varying degree of success. The reason for this is not far-fetched; it has been the function of the level of consciousness and awareness among these organizations. Prior to the dawn of the modern era the structure of the society was essentially based on the age-grade system for the purpose of governance. Furthermore, the perception of development was limited to the scope of the immediate needs of the people. And hence, the system of age-grade could perform the necessary roles that ensured the unity and stability of society.

 

The unit of age-grade organization could be the ward, a village or the clan. The population was accordingly stratified on the basis of seniority with corresponding statuses and functions. The internal administrative organization of the clan, like those among the Isoko people of Delta State and most Bini Villages in the early Benin Kingdom rested on the division of the adult male population into three grades, namely, the ‘igivia’, the ‘ethua’ and the ‘ikpisa’. The igivia-age (sub-divided into ithekpido and utsako of ages below and above sixteen respectively) was made up of boys and young men who had performed the igiegieko rites. They performed the lighter communal tasks such as clearing the village squares, footpaths leading to farmlands and streams, as well as the construction and repairs of villages and streams as well as the construction and repairs of village and clan market huts and shrines of the community deities. In the performance of these assignments they were assisted by the grown-up girls in the form of supplying water and food. Defaulters in these duties were punished proportionately, in accordance with tradition.

The second grade, the ethua, comprised the able-bodied men who provided the class of farmers, hunters as well as the policing and fighting force of the community. They also supervised the younger grade and assisted the most senior grade i.e. the ikpisai, in decision-making and settlement of disputes.

 

The traditional village is headed by the ukpi-drumer who for purpose of jurisprudence had a council of elders including representatives of the various family units such as ebotsus (the senior okhe title holder), anawiis (father of age sets) as well as very elderly and ‘knowledgeable’ members of the community. This format was also replicated at the clan level when issues of clan interest were to be discussed. A salient point in the type of gerontocracy practiced among the Weppa Wanno people is that for purpose of leadership chronological age based on date of birth was not the primary consideration. Rather it was the titular age which mattered the most. We need also here distinguished between age-grade and age-sets. Age-sets are created through a process of initiation and socialization on a three yearly basis whereas the age-grade is a functional concept appropriate for the administration of the community. The formation and functioning of both concepts could be summed up in the words of Lucy Mair when she says that: The members of one age-set commonly pass together through the grades, first as warriors and then as elders. The set, then, is the body of men, the grade, and the status in which they are at any given moment.

 

The (age-long) practice now exist side-by-side new systems of groupings. The emergence of unions, clubs and other urban associations based on kndship (but with majority of them located in urban cities and towns outside the Weppa Wanno home) have found a willing ally in the age-grade system for the purpose of developing the community. And, of course, with the emergence of the new elements in community organization and the renascent trend of backward integration, community development has taken on a new accent. Expectations have also assumed modernity in dimension and scope of relevance. Thus, when one talks of community development the principal elements expected to feature will include the following:

a)         Construction of feeder, linkage and durable roads;

b)         Provision of portable water;

c)         Electrification of the rural areas;

d)         provision of public health facilities including hospitals, maternities, dispensaries,        extension services in the form of public enlightenment on projects such as the ORT, EPI       as well as the avoidance of fake drugs etc.

e)         Establishment of primary and secondary schools fully equipped with functional            laboratories, libraries and sport facilities;

f)         Establishment of recreational facilities;

g)         Provision of affordable communication facilities such as telephone, postal services,      news/broadcast outreach etc.

h)         Provision of public transportation system;

i)          Establishment of vocational centres for training and re-training opportunities;

j)          Emergence of small scale industrial and business concerns e.g. provision and patent   medicine stores, hair care salons

 

 

page 42 is not available for typing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            has been emulated by many unions, associations and clubs. Usagbe Club of Nigeria, also with headquarters in Lagos has even improved on this by not only instituting a system for            annual award of scholarship to secondary schools students, but also extended it to cover   university education. Other clubs all over Nigeria like Ebokhasomi Social Club, Lagos,       Weppa Wanno People’s Club in Benin City etc have been following suit thereby       expanding the scope of and raising the level of awareness in the community.

 

c)         Ebokhasomi Social Club recently in Lagos launched a comprehensive health care     delivery program for the community.

d)         Usagbe Club of Nigeria is on record to have successfully built and commissioned at Agenebode in December, 1994 the phase 1 of an ultra modern civic centre.

e)         Through the efforts and influence of some illustrious and committed sons of the             community, acting individually and collectively, such amenities as hospitals, banks,        modern farms, transportation facilities, as well as modern residential buildings have             reached the hitherto typically rural community.

f)         In 1991, when the then Etsako Local Government Area was to be split into two, Agenebode, the headquarters of the community was made the capital of the new Etsako East Local Government Area. And most recently, an approval was given for the          establishment of the headquarters of a Catholic Dioceses at Agenebode. All these did not             occur ex-nihilo. Weppa Wanno based organizations and persons were actively evolved in         their manifestation.

 

And yet as the existing organizations strive harder to make their mark in the development process of this community, there continues to be a proliferation of similar organizations based on peer groupings, kinship ties etc. One of the newest in this respect is THE ENESEGBE CLUB, the organizers of this gathering who have already scored a first through their publication of a quarterly news magazine, ”Enesegbe Link”. While welcoming them on board the sail of the developmental ship one would like to alert them on possible obstacles that they must not hesitate to confront and surmount.

 

SOCIAL ORGANZATION VIS-À-VIS PROBLEMS OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

 

For social organizations to effectively play their role as catalysts in community development they must be well organized. This is of course talking of social organisation in terms of social groupings.

 

Finally, the composition must reflect the type of group that is being put in place. For instance, if it is an involuntary group such as family, kinship, race or religious association, membership may be automatic where participants have no choice but to belong. If, on the other hand, the association is one based on peer or reference relationships such that members is voluntary, there would be a well regulated group in which the individuals so selected into the fold would strive hard for its corporate existence and progress. This is more wielding and more effective in its impact than the former model.

 

Secondly, the association must be operated within the ambit of a body of laws dispassionately carved into a constitution. Within the limits of the minutest human errors and inevitable flexibility arising from collective need or commonwealth, this constitution must become the supreme guiding spirit that should be obeyed and respected by all at all times.

Thirdly, there must be sincere, firm and astute leadership. This must be selected through the due process of the laws guiding the association. Having thus selected, all members must support them.

 

Fourthly, there must exist among members an ever enhanced intra-group mobility and strict adherence to the principle of collective responsibility.

 

Fifthly, the group must be ready to co-exist, co-operate and healthily compete with other groups.

 

Sixthly, in order to ensure group cohesion and commitment to the set objective there must be discipline among members: This could be induced if not inate in a member.

 

Finally, if not most importantly, there should be the collective resolve of all members of the organization to discourage, and if possible, prevent the infiltration of devious and anti-social elements. Identify such persons at the early stages might be difficult. This is because when they are seeking membership they may put up false appearances. But no sooner are they accepted into the fold than they begin to manifest their true colours. They thereafter might reveal disguised tendencies as agent provocateur, or bad role models.

 

Impliedly, therefore, the first major problem that an association might face in the process of community development would be in its structure and functioning. This second problem could be, the seeming difficulty in penetrating the traditional stereotypes and belief systems of the rural people. Fortunately, there appears to be commendable success in this direction in Weppa Wanno already. A third possible problem stems from the conflict of power and authority between the traditional authorities on the one hand and on the other, the new class of government officials and the emergent new class of relationship which are closely linked to the class and power structures at the national level. The new relations between social groups often upset long standing hierarchies and enter into conflict with traditional community power and stratification patterns.  For according to Barnsteins, “ community development tend to favour the strata or classes that already occupy a dominant position in the rural community and thus, in fact, tend to aggravate problems instead of solving them.” The fourth problems would relate to the land ownership patter. Generally, there exist an umbilical relationship between the Africans and their land. Acquiring land for developmental purposes often encounters some difficulty. The situation in Weppa Wanno assumed a further complication as the land is either family or communally owned. An association would therefore need to be diplomatic and persistent if the dream of possessing land for its use is to be a reality. Another problem at Community Development in Weppa Wanno is the absence now of exploitable natural resources that can be exclusively accessible to the members of the community. Nor is it fortunate to benefit from such special government target programmes as OMPADEC. Finally, the rural communities, Weppa-Wanno inclusive, are becoming at times, the locus of grassroots political movements and activities which are tied to important social issues of our time. This could be disruptive to the notion of group cohesion among members of the community where kinship and family ties had always fostered unity of purpose. Social groups must therefore as a policy resist being dragged into community cleavages, the outcome of which would not be a consonance with or promote the aims and objective of the group.

 

CONCLUSION

 

Ladies and gentlemen, after tasking your patience to enable me read through this rather lengthy piece I should not like to embark on a long conclusion that will akin to a summary of all what has been discussed. What will suffice here therefore is to restate that development and indeed every collective human achievements can only be possible when the society is properly organized in such a manner that the individual components interact to facilitate the accomplishment of the objective goals of that society. In other words, for there to be a forest there have to be more than one tree. And the trees need not necessarily belong to the same specie but must all cohabit in the same locality to meet the condition of becoming a forest. In the same manner people and institutions to meet the condition of variety of background and orientation must be organized to play different roles which in the end would culminate in the development of their primary or aggregate environment.

 

I thank you for listening and God Bless you all.

 

 

FOOTNOTES

 

1.           Onigun Otite and W. Ogionwo, An Introduction to Sociological Studies (Ibadan, 1990) p. 59

2.           Ibid P.62

3.           Judon R. Ladis, Sociology: Concepts and Characteristics second ed, (California, 1974) P78.

4.           Ibid P. 81

5.           Henry Bernstien, Ed Underdevelopment and Development: The third World today, (Middlesex, 1973) P93

6.           Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: The DFRRI Act (Lagos, 1987) pp 4623 – 30

7.           Obaro Iknime, The Isoko People (Ibadan, 1972) pp28 – 9

8.           P. A. Igbafe, Benin Under British Administration, (London, 1979) p. 133.

9.           Lucy Mair, Un Intoduction to Social Anthropology second Ed, (London, 1975) pp 118

10.         Henry berstein, op. cit. pp. 94-5

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BERNSTEIN, H (ed) Underdevelopment & Development: The Third Word Today – Selected Readings Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1973

 

Igbafe, P. A Benin Under British Administration, Longman, London, 1979.

 

IkimeO. The Isoko People: A Historical Survey, Ibadan University Press, Ibadan, 1972

 

Ladis, J. R Sociology: Concepts and Characteristics 2nd Ed, Wadsworth Publishing company California, 1974

 

Mair, L. An Intoduction to Social Anthropology 2nd Ed, O. U. P. London, 1975

 

Otite O and Ogionwo, W An Introduction to sociological Studies Heinemann Books, Ibadan, 1990

 

Stewart E. N. and Glynn J. A. Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Ed) McGraw Hill, New York, USA, 1971

 

Smelser N. J Sociology: An Introduction (2nd Ed) John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1973

 

MISCELLANEOUS SOURCES

 

Laws of the Federal Republic, Chapter 100 “Directorate of Food, Road, and Rural Infrastructures” Act, 1987 No. 4

 

“Modernization and Social Change in Uwepa Uwano: The Age Grade system as a case study” (unpublished Original Essay by Adamu Emozozo in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts (special Honours) in History to the University of Benin, Benin City, 1982).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LECTURE TWO

1996

 

POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF

WEPPA WANNO TODAY:

THE NEED FOR UNITY

 

 

BY

 

MR. EMMANUEL EGIEGBA IMOAGENE

LOGISTICS DIRECTOR

NIGERIAN BREWERIES PLC

LAGOS

 

 

PROFILE OF GUEST SPEAKER

 

IMOAGENE EMMANUEL EGIEGBA

THE MAN OF EXCELLENCE

 

Mr. Imoagene Emmanuel Egiegba, the Logistic Director, Nigeria Breweries Plc was born at Agenebode in the present Etsako East LGA of Edo State on 28th August, 1956.

 

He attended the then prestigious secondary school, St. Peter’s College, now St. Peter’s Grammar School, Agenebode where in 1973 he achieved the rare feat of obtaining a Grade One in the West African Schools Certificate Examination (WASCE). In 1979, he passed out of the University of Benin with a 2nd class upper division in Business Administration (B Sc. Hons) and a Master Degree in Industrial & Labour Relation (MILR) from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan in 1990.

 

Mr. Imoagene’s brilliance and scholarship excellence earned him two merit awards in his school days. He won the Midwest State Academic Scholarship Award (1971 – 1973) and the National Academic Merit Scholarship Award for University Education (1976 – 1979). The unique thing about the second award was that to keep it, one must maintain the academic standards that earned him the award, otherwise, it is forfeited.

 

The popular saying that a goldfish has not hiding place applied to our man of excellence. Immediately after his NYSC in Bauchi State (1979 – 1980) he got employed as a lecturer at Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi from 1980 – 1981. He then moved to Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited and worked in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Warri between 1981 – 1985.

 

As a young man, bubbling with ideas and aiming for the sky, he moved over from Shell to the Nigerian Breweries Plc as Personnel Manager in Training (1985) and he was Brewery Personnel Manager Ibadan from 1986 to1990 and Manpower Development and Training Manager 1990 - 1992. The Management of Nigerian Breweries Plc must have discovered the potentials in Mr. Imoagene, which prompted his being attached to Unilever Plc, London from 1992 – 1993 and thereafter internationalized to Unilever, Ghana as Personnel Adviser, 1993 – 1995.

 

He came back to Nigeria as Head of Personnel from October 1995 – March 1999 when he was appointed to the Board of Nigerian Breweries Plc as Personnel Director (1996 – 1999). From August 1999 till date, Mr. Imoagene is the Logistic Director of Nigeria Breweries Plc a quoted and buoyant company in the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

 

This is one man who is not content with just his natural flair but seek knowledge all round. His being a manager of repute is a result of his quests and the desire to be above par in all his endeavours. This prompted his participation, extensively in training programmes both in Nigeria and Overseas. Specifically, Mr. Imoagene has attended some of the best Business Schools such as INSEAD in France, IMD in Switzerland, MCE in Belgium, Cranfied in the United Kingdom among several others.

 

Our man of excellence is not all work and no play. He enjoys Swimming, Tennis and Aerobics.

Mr. Imoagene Emmanuel Egiegba is married and is blessed with four children.

 

THE LECTURE

POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF WEPPA WANNO TODAY:

THE NEED FOR UNITY

 

I will like to state here that I am not an expert on the subject of development. But as a citizen who is interested in the development of his community. I certainly do have an opinion on the subject. This is more so as the community in question is Weppa Wanno which is my birthplace, and I believe the birthplace of members of Enesegbe Club.

 

I will begin a discussion on the subject by first attempting to establish some meaning of the key words of the topic to bring us closer to a common understanding of the topic. In this respect, I checked through the Thesaurus in the word processor of the computer in my office for possible meanings of these words. In the process, I found that the word “POSITIVE” has the following synonyms – absolute, definite; indisputable; precise; beneficial; constructive; functional, practical; affirmative; hopeful; optimistic; dogmatic; emphatic; obstinate; assured; certain; confident; secure and sure. Similarly, I checked for the possible meaning of the word “DEVELOPMENT” and found the following: advancement; improvement; increase, progress, evolution; formation; growth; unfolding; maturation and ripening. In the same vein, I checked for possible meaning of “UNITY” and came up with the following: Homogeneity; oneness; solidarity; wholeness; accord; fellowship; harmony; unanimity.

 

This search indeed threw more light on the possible meaning of the topic and enhanced my understanding of its several dimensions. It also improved my appreciation of the importance of unity as a critical factor for bringing about positive development.

 

It may be useful at this stage to take a look at history and see if there are some theories of development or past experience from which we can learn some lessons. A popular (or is it notorious) theory that I remember easily is that by Thomas Malthus which attempted to relate productivity to population growth. The two basic principles of this theory are that:

 

1)         whanever a society’s standard of living rises above a minimum subsistence level, the population of that society has a tendency to increase and

2)         that as a result of the relative scarcity of agricultural land, any increase in population was     likely to result in diminishing returns to productivity of labour.

 

The implications of this theory are that a Society that relies on its natural resources for development, with land as a fixed factor of production and population (i.e. labour) as the variable factor was bound to remain at a subsistence level of general poverty. This is because as the economy grows, its population increase which puts pressure on land which subsequently leads to declining productivity and hence the vicious cycle of poverty continues.

 

While the Malthusian theory has been criticized as limited because it did not consider the impact that technological innovations and capital can have in improving labour productivity, it is nonetheless instructive on the possible negative effects that uncontrolled birth and population growth can have in producing self perpetuating poverty.

 

Looking beyond Malthus to more contemporary attempts to address the issue of development, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), an agency of the United Nations was established with a specific mandate to help developing countries achieve sustainable human development with emphasis on the elimination of poverty through improvement in the quality of life, environmental regeneration, job creation, sustainable livelihood and the advancement of women. This broadened approach to the issue of development is largely a reflection of the fact that hitherto traditional approaches which defined development purely in terms of material and physical parameters have not succeeded in producing the desired goals of improving the quality of life of the people. Poverty is still very much of great concern in many countries. For example, the 1996 Human Development Report issued by the United Nations ranks Nigeria as 137th out of the 174 poorest countries of the world. This means that Nigeria is still very much a poor country. This is in spite of its abundance of human and natural resources. The obvious question to face therefore is why has Nigeria remained poor despite our resources? Is the problem in our stars, or in us as Nigerians? We can cascade this question through the State to the Local Government down to the clan and village levels. In almost all cases, we will find that the problem has never been in our star but in us. We have remained poor because we have failed to heed the divine injunction of our creator that we should subdue the earth to our advantages and to His glory. This may have been due to the absence of a visionary and committed leadership with the will and ability to inspire a dedicated followership, or the absence of an appropriate socio-political environment that supports the pursuit of development, or both. In which ever case, the net result has been suboptimal utilization of our God-given resources.

 

Now to the issue of development in the context of Weppa Wanno. I will like to highlight the major characteristics of life in the community today. A few of these are:

 

-       Low income per capital

-       Poor housing conditions

-       Poor road network and poor communication infrastructure

-       Low literacy level and poor educational facilities

-       Either complete lack or where they exist, insufficient supply of portable water and electricity. Inadequate credit facilities to support commerce.

-       Low productivity in agriculture

-       Urge for enterprising youth to migrate to cities

-       Limited employment opportunities

-       Poor health care facilities

 

I will like to emphasize here that my intention is not to paint a dismal picture of Weppa Wanno, but to say that relative to contemporary standards which aim to eliminate poverty as an index of development, the community’s score on the above listed parameters is indeed very poor.

 

It is fair to state here that as poor as the above score sheet may suggest, Weppa Wanno is better than many rural communities in Nigeria. Indeed, the characteristics outlined in respect of Weppa Wanno tend to be typical of the average rural community in this country. It was precisely for this reason that the Federal Government made significant efforts to address the issues of integrated rural development on a national scale in the third and fourth National Development Plan (1975 – 1980 and 1980 – 1985) with specific objectives aimed at improving agricultural productivity and the provision of basic amenities and infrastructures. The reality to date however is that many of our rural communities still suffer and live in abject poverty due to lack of these amenities and infrastructure.

 

It is appropriate to say at this stage that Weppa Wanno has in the past 30 years benefited from some development programmes – for instance the rural electrification scheme which has been extended to many villages, construction of the new Auchi-Agenebode road which opened up some villages and provided easier access to others, the creation of a local government area with its headquarters at Agenebode amongst other. It will also be appropriate to say that for a community with history of exposure to early colonial influence that Weppa Wanno has, its record of development is unimpressive.

 

History has it that the first Christian Missionaries that arrived in the Edo North part of Nigeria first settles at Ivianokpodi. Similarly, Weppa Wanno also has a history of early contact with colonial Merchant companies, such as Royal Niger Company, John Holt etc.,

 

To my mind, the question that we should be asking ourselves is in spite of these early opportunities, why has development eluded us?  Why for instance is it that some parents now encourage their children to go abroad and look for money at all costs, even if that means stealing it, when there was a time in this same community a person associated with stealing was avoided like plague and almost ostracized? Again, is the problem in this case in our stars, or in us as sons and daughters of Weppa Wanno? I make bold to say emphatically that the problem in this case is certainly not in our stars but in us.

 

Therefore, if the problem is not in our start, what have we not done, or what have we done wrong, that we have not been able to produce positive development in Weppa Wanno despite our opportunities and resources? What has been the missing link in our desire to bring positive development to Weppa Wanno? Is it due to lack of harmony or oneness as the topic suggests? I do not have the answers? However, I do have an opinion.

 

I submit that the decline in our basic value system is a critical missing link here. We therefore need a cultural renewal to get back on course! Weppa Wanno is too small a community to be embroiled now and again in inter-village conflicts due largely to narrow nationalism. We should recognize the dangers that such behaviours pose to the future of our community. I believe that we need to evolve a common vision that should serve as a driving force and rallying point for the entire community. The power behind common vision is as important at the local community level as it is at the national level. The principles are the same. The scope and dynamics may be different. Societies that have achieved accelerated and focused developments have been driven by clearly articulated visions. Little wonder that a committee was set up recently by the Head of State to drive a vision 2010 for the nation. Other developing countries such as Malaysia and Ghana that have seriously taken on board the challenge of development have already gone far with similar initiatives.

 

However, I believe that a binding vision for a community as homogenous and small as Weppa Wanno is better achieved on a platform that is anchored on the basic values that our fore fathers lived by. These are the values of harwork, honour, respect for the truth, good morals, desire for knowledge, comfortable (not affluent) life, respect for authority, fear of God irrespective of religion, respect for fellow human being etc.

 

We should continually make conscious effort to refocus our values from the decay that abound all around us in the larger society. i.e. from untruthfulness, from the get-rich-quick syndrome, from immorality, from unholiness, from cutting corners etc.

 

This is possible if and only if we start respecting the infallible truths about life that were reflected in the basic values and culture under which many of us were brought up. When we start to build a society where these basic values are respected, only then can we begin to talk about unity, about harmony and about oneness. And unity, harmony and oneness are key ingredients for a common vision to which everyone subscribes. Without a common vision, efforts to develop are usually like embarking on a wild goose chase. They tend to be haphazard, ad-hoc, uncoordinated and confused. In fact, the most powerful description of the importance of a vision in human life I have come across I found in the Book of Proverb Chapter 29: vr 18 and it says: “Without vision, the people perish”.

 

An equally forceful description of the power of a vision is attributed to Nelson Mandela, the first democratic president of South Africa and arguably now the soul of the African spirit. He said and I quote: “Vision Without Action is a mere dream, Action Without Vision is a dream. But vision backed with action can change the world.

 

It is therefore obvious to me that , we need a vision as a necessary condition for positive change, but vision alone is not sufficient to produce the desired change. It must be backed by action in form of honesty and dedicated hardwork. It is important to remember the biblical saying that he who does not work should not eat. Little wonder therefore that it is sometimes said that a people’s destiny can be limited by its capacity for hardwork.

 

It is in this respect that I consider the challenge before us as the need to put in place the necessary conditions for development in our community. These are first, to agree a clear and well understood vision with objectives that are sufficiently inspirational. Thereafter, we have to galvanize the community to work hard (and I will add work smart too) to achieve the objectives of the vision.

 

If, as I have argued, unity is a key requirement for a common vision and true unity itself can only be built on a foundation of shared values that serve as glue for the community, then our first task is to champion a return to those core values that our fathers and forefathers gave to us. This is a task we cannot run away from. We must realize that sooner or later, posterity will require us to explain how well our generation has kept faith with these ideals of our fathers and forefathers and what heritage we are leaving for the future generations. We must remember that by our present action of omission or commission, we are leaving very little or nothing for the next generation. Little wonder that the popular musician, Charles Oputa (alias Charley Boy) is at the moment leading a national crusade to give purpose and direction to the generation he says he represents which he described as confused and lost.

 

I suspect that a possible question that may be going through the minds of many of us at this moment is –“How do we do this?. Again, I have a few ideas.

 

I considered Weppa Wanno a relatively small, homogenous and family-like community. Therefore, it should not be too difficult to start a process that will bring about the cultural revival and change I am advocating here. As is natural, the leadership of the various social institutions in the community have key roles to play here, be it the family, the school, the village, the kindred, or the clan. These institutions would need to benchmark their behavior tightly against the core values I referred to earlier to give testimony to the saying that leadership is best by example. Once we begin and we are committed and consistent, I am convinced that with prayers and the blessings of the almighty, the results will certainly delight us.

 

It was Alfred Lord Tennyson, the 18th century Victorian poet who once said in ULYSSES, one of his Essays on the Journey of King Odyssey, “Come my Friends it is not too late for us to seek a newer world” in this vein I submit that it is not too late for us to start the process of building a newer world in our community. We must begin this by using the strength of our heritage and build into them the advantages of contemporary times. This way, we will manage better the turbulence of our times with the rich experience from the dogmas of our past. I believe we can do it. I believe we should do it. I believe we should start now. And I believe that if we fail to address the fundamentals that are currently missing from our community, we cannot seriously be talking about development.

 

Thank you all.

 

 

 

LECTURE THREE

1997

 

 

EMPOWERING THE WEPPA WANNO YOUTH

FOR THE NEXT MILLENNIUM

 

 

 

BY

 

 

DR. MARCEL ANYIANYIAYE OKHAKHU

SENIOR LECTURER

UNIVERSITY OF BENIN

BENIN CITY

 

 

PROFILE OF THE GUEST SPEAKER

DR. MARCEL ANYIANYIAYE OKHAKHU

 

Dr. M. A. Okhakhu, a Senior Lecturer in the department of theatre Arts, University of Benin hails from Agenebode, Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State.

 

He attended St. Patrick’s College, Asaba/I.C.E. Benin City (1978 – 80) H.S.C; University of Ibadan, 1982 – 1985, B.A (Hons) 2nd Class Upper; University of Ibadan, Ibadan 1986 – 1987,

M. A. (Media Arts); University of Ibadan, Ibadan, 1987 – 1994 Ph. D (Media Arts).

 

Dr. Okhakhu having attained a near peak position in educational pursuit, is a reservoir or an embodiment of knowledge having taught at various levels of the University system thus: Graduate Assistance, University of Ibadan, 1986 – 1987; Assistant lecturer, University of Ibadan, 1987 – 1990; Lecturer II, University of Benin 1990 – 1995; Lecturer I, University of Benin 1995 – 1998 and Senior Lecturer, University of Benin 1998 till date.

 

It is extremely difficult to actually chronicle Dr. Okhakhu’s attainment in the academia and other spheres of life in one write-up. This is because, he is an all round resource fellow. Suffice to mention that Dr. Okhakhu has participated as an actor and producer/director in several plays both on stage and cinema/home videos, which is his professional calling. He is also a humour merchant and a walking library. Weppa wanno is blessed to have a man of Dr. Okhakhu’s caliber and resourcefulness. Dr. Marcel A. Okhakhu is happily married with children.

 

 

 

THE LECTURE

 

EMPOWERING THE WEPPA WANNO YOUTHS FOR THE NEXT MILLENNIUM

 

I received your invitation to deliver this paper with some sort of joy. My joy was informed by the fact that first, I am an academic whose business should include talks, attending conferences, giving papers etc. and secondly because, like most of you here, I am a Weppa Wanno Youth, However, my joy was short-lived because of the challenge of doing this paper and more so, because the issues involved in it are such that I think that I am the least capable of doing what you have asked me to do. But I think it will be a sign of weakness, and an early one at that to decline this very kind gesture especially as I believe that whatever I say here today would not only be my humble contribution to the overall growth and development of Weppa Wanno, but also, it would serve as a teaser to get out of the numerous fertile minds of our people, a beginning point for addressing our woes and joys, our foibles and strength, our locations and dislocations, our aspirations and misrepresentations. This, indeed, is the true reason for accepting the challenge to talk to you today albeit, in a manner that would probably challenge all of us.

 

I have been asked to address this topic: Empowering the Weppa Wanno Youth for the next millennium. The next millennium begins in another three years. If some of us are lucky, we would be part of that age, otherwise we would just be content with being part of this ebbing millennium. In any case, should this be the position, we would have no choice. We pray however, that we are part of the next. The operative words in the topic for today are Empowering and Youth. Empowering may sound high-fluting but it is a simple word meaning “To give authority” this is the simplest definition that can be imputed to the word. However, to empower is not as simple as the dictionary meaning that we would like to address today so that our community would be better tomorrow.

 

The other word is Youth. This is a word that carries, sometimes, very contentious connotations because of the very fluid and nebulous way in which it is used. The question usually is who is a Youth? The Chambers Dictionary defines it as “a state of being young; early life, the period immediately succeeding childhood: an early period of existence, a young person”. As much as we can argue that there is no ambiguity in the meaning of this word, we can also claim that it is a bit elastic both in content and context. Therefore a youth may be a young person in age or in attitudes and behavior. Some persons, usually in the age bracket to 50 years and above consider it an affront to be called a youth. While they may be correct because their ages preclude them from that bracket, they would be wrong if their whole-being take on the dynamism and vivacity of young people. For the purpose of this talk however, I would like to consider this latter position which is that age is not necessarily a referent point. The totality of the person, his outlook, disposition and altruism should be the focus and benchmark of a youth.

 

In carrying out our business today, I would like us to consider the popular Chinese charge which has become a cliché in our society. This charge is:

 

“ Give a man a fish and you feed him for a meal

Teach a man to fish and you would have fed him for a life-time”

 

This charge, for me is the quiet essential issue in our society today and which therefore needs to be addressed. The man who gives a fish stirs up indolence and often times a lack of initiative in us. But the man who teaches you to fish challenges not just your intellect but even your brawn. Consciously, he lets you know that your faith is in your hands. This is what our people call “Ete oya lo oya le uge” (A man eats his own spittoon in the vevetamarin fruit). Once you have been conscientized to know that your faith is in your hands, you have been empowered – empowered to either change your present state of life and living or keep it as it is. That authority that you now have to decide what you want comes from a certain knowledge base.

 

 

Therefore, I think that the average Weppa Wanno son/daughter requires a knowledge of the going-on at home in order to be able to allow him/herself to be empowered and use the empowerment altruistically, herein lies my thesis.

 

The Weppa Wanno world of the 1970s exhibited very pretentious positive signs that development was imminent. This was the time in which our General Hospital came, the Water Board, the Rural Electrification Board (R.E.B), now National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA) came, the new road between Agenebode and Auchi was tarred; St. Peter’s Grammar School was at its best, the Ferry was still at Pontoo Road on the River Niger, P & T (now NITEL) was proposed for Agenebode (indeed, the first telephone directory for this period carried Agenebode as a subscriber station) etc. this was also the time when some of our sons were being appointed into various positions both in the civil society and in the Military. But today, we are all living witnesses to the fact that in spite of this seeming good start, nothing is happening in Agenebode and Weppa Wanno as a whole. Pardon me to use Agenebode as the reference point. As you know, it is our headquarters and if anything, development ought to begin from there.

 

After all, a man’s well-being is usually judged from his living-room. Agenebode is our collective living-room. From the little premise above, it should be clear now why I said the 1970s exhibited very pretentious signs of positive development.

 

I believe that we have not been able to consolidate the gains of that age as well as achieve new feats because we were or are definitely ignorant of our roles as individuals and collective entities in the development of our land. Our ignorance may stem from our primordial fears and myths of ‘Egbho’ – witches and wizards. It may also arise from self-inflicted ego problem associated with living in the metropolis or a lack of orientation and understanding of the realities on ground. Whichever of these is the situation, we need to learn in order to get empowered and harness the benefits of such empowerment for our people. In order to be able to learn and work out a formulae for fostering the much needed development for our land, I propose to consider the following:

 

ü  What is the Weppa Wanno clan like today?

ü  What yearnings are there in the land?

ü  What efforts are being made to develop the place?

ü  What is the state and frame of mind of the Weppa Wanno Youth today?

ü  What is the role of Clubs/Association?

ü  Are there specific goal oriented strategies?

ü  How do the various benefits/inputs of the various clubs/associations get harnessed?

ü  What challenges are there in the next millennium?

 

The Weppa Wanno clan after what looked like a good head start, is creeping today. There is a complete run down of facilities. For instance, there is no water there now, electricity is very epileptic, no good roads, no good schools, etc Indeed, there is no sign of government presence. Even the council headquarters that is there hasn’t helped matters. We have no effective representation in it.

 

Added to this, is the fact that our people are overtly polarized or divided on most issues that affect us as a nation, a people. The direct consequence of this is that nothing is done in concert. This is not good for us. We need a change of heart, a new orientation that will put the community above individual interest. We need to put away the things that divide us and embrace those that unite us. There is a need to create a common forum for articulating the Weppa Wanno problem. Such a forum will be for identifying problems and proffering possible solutions. This way Weppa Wanno would take giant steps as a nation. In this regard, the recent efforts of the Okumagbe in calling for Weppa Wanno Day is commendable. As a concept, it is a very bright idea. But the execution of it seems to me not to have been properly thought through. For instance, it would have been more meaningful if the period of the Ukpe festival is used as the date for Weppa Wanno Day. This way, people can plan towards it yearly – especially when they know that it is also a festival period at home. The Okumagbe-in-council therefore needs to revisit this matter.

 

The yearning of our land are many, both for the folks at home and for those of us who are outside home now. Everybody wants to have a taste of the good life. So, we crave for some of the facilities that we have encountered in our sojourns outside home and those that we may not have experienced but that we are told are good for us. For instance, our people at home yearn for good medicare, good transportation system, good schools, education of farming techniques to boost agriculture, good pipe-borne water etc. others among us look forward to recreational facilities and other social services at home whenever they visit. Yet, nearly all of these elude us. They questions then are: How do we source all these materials? What efforts are being made to develop the land? Or are we just paying lip service to the issues of growth and development?

 

Some of these issues have formed the cardinal points of consideration of clubs and Associations of Weppa Wanno whether based at home or not. Efforts have been and are still being made to tackle these problems. Some of the efforts have paid off, other are yet to. For instance, what the Enesegbe Club is doing today is an effort and a major one at that, at tackling the problem. I am aware that the several associations and clubs in Weppa Wanno have at various times initiated moves/ideas at solving some of our collective problems. This takes me to the next issue of the role of clubs and associations in developing Weppa Wanno.

 

Clubs and Associations, apart from functioning as social umbrella for the people, are basically pressure groups which canvass the interests of their problems. In Weppa Wanno there are a plethora of such clubs and associations. Some of them include; Weppa Wanno Development Association, Weppa Wanno Union, Usagbe Club of Nigeria, Pyramid Club of Nigeria, Weppa Wanno Peoples’ Club etc. All these clubs and Association must exist not just in name but as true icons of development of the people. In other words, they must be prepared to galvanize the people towards positive action. For instance, I know that Weppa Wanno Development Association, Benin has taken a very keen interest in the activities of the Local Government Council at Agenebode. In the heat of the allegations of wront doing and fraud against the incumbent chairman of the council, the association caused a delegation to visit the council with a view to obtaining first hand information and through it ensuring that sanity returns. This is a good development. We must make ourselves relevant in our environment. On the other fronts, I know that clubs like Usagbe and Pyramid have single handedly identified projects in the community and have equally executed them wholly or part-sponsored them. The Mortuary at the General Hospital, Agenebode, though still not functional, is one of such projects. The women self-help project has been supported also by these two clubs.

 

However, a few things remain to be done by these various bodies. First, they need to function properly as pressure groups within and outside the community. For instance, they need to shop around individually and collectively for development which can be brought home. I mean that every development opportunity should be tapped. To illustrate this point, virtually every Weppa Wanno village is today connected to the national grid. This has been made possible by God through the instrumentality of one of our sons whose name I shall not mention here. This effort of his has, no doubt, painted us in a glossy image. When NEPA is not playing pranks with electricity distribution Weppa Wanno is properly lighted. This is obviously commendable. Furthermore, it used to be an open secret that Weppa Wannos do not assist one another to secure jobs and other placements. We are happy to note that through the influence and preasure of some clubs, that trend is being reversed. Otherwise, what we used to have was a situation in which there was no replacement stock for our children who due to retirements or secondment, found themselves moving out of previous positions of authority. I would like to particularly salute this younger generation of Weppa Wanno sons who are Chief Executives or near Chief Executives of their various business for going against the tide in this regard. Today, in more places than one, we are beginning to see replacement stocks. This is truly the dawn of a new era.

 

In spite of this, it is pertinent to note that there are still many of us who pretend to have more Eurocentric values than the Whiteman when it comes to recruitment and ensuring a viable replacement stock. While I do not canvas for mediocrity and a compromise of values, our work environment and political climate in Nigeria calls for some kind of deliberate assistance to some of our own if we must achieve our desired goal. For those who have been given opportunities to prove themselves, you must know that if you fail either by way of a betrayal of trust, confidence or an outright inability to cope, you would have disappointed not just yourself, but the community as a whole.

Above all, we must note that as we point out accusing finger at others, the rest of our fingers point at us. Therefore, you must ask yourself whether you have used your position and good offices well enough to empower your people, to ensure that development does not elude us. As a university teacher, for instance, I should be able to ask myself how many qualified Weppa Wanno children I have been able to assist to secure admission and other academic assistance in my university. This kind of self examination is important in order for us to make progress as a people. This is where I think that the various clubs and associations have a responsibility to create an awareness and ginger their respective members to think inward. Some persons call this backward integration but I think that this kind of integration has become more expedient in this light of the very clannish nature of the Nigerian nation today. If you do not do it for yourself, nobody is going to do it for you. You don’t need to be a chief executive or a lecturer to do something. At our various levels, there is always something that we can do to assist.

 

Glaring as some of these problems are, there seem to be no coordinated strategy in place to address the problems. And this makes the matter more precarious. Every club and association is doing its own thing. Agreed that all the efforts are geared towards development, there is need to streamline these various efforts so that they can be more purposeful and target-oriented. This is the only way we can truly harness the benefits and inputs of these various bodies. I therefore propose a networking arrangement among the various clubs and other pressure groups. They could have an open parley session at which various methodologies and strategies would be discussed. In the end, an agreement must be reached on a line of action. This is not a Utopian concept. It has worked in other areas.

 

I propose also that the various bodies initiate a public forum at home at which various contending issues would be discussed. This is with a view to identifying problems and deciding on possible areas of conflict resolution. This is important because if a people are not united they cannot articulate a common position. It is common knowledge for instance that there are various groups contending for authority on a number of maters in our clan. It is our responsibility to call a spade a spade. True leadership does not emerge by senseless compromise. No matter whose ox is gored, the truth, at all times, must be spoken. Rancor is not capable of attracting development, it can only drag us deeper into the abyss of under development and estrange relationship. I agree that our traditions and customs as a people must be kept but I also think that in the light of the dynamics of contemporary society, we must determine as a people where to draw the lines between tradition and development. This is also an area where clubs/associations are relevant.

 

Let us at this point consider some of the challenges of the next millennium for our youths and our community. Marshall McLuhan, that great American Scholar, in 1964, gave a new terminology to the world: “the world is a global village”. I am not so sure that the impact to this message was as felt as it is today. Indeed, the world is no longer a global village but a global bedroom. The immediate impact of this is that there is more cohesion among the people of the world. Distance, race and value are no longer as dividing as they used to be.

 

I wonder if we, as a people, can also say this today. One of the greatest challenges then for in the millennium is to be united in order to achieve some degree of cohesion. There is still a high degree of disunity amongst us and this has cost us a lot. We need to achieve a certain consensus on issues in order to be able to pave way for development. The task of achieving this is on the youths. As youths, rather than take sides in pedestrian issues that lead nowhere, we should be able to build bridges across problems and wrangling. We must act. As the Holy Bible says, “as the salt of the Earth”. If we loose our saltiness then we will not serve any useful purpose other than to be thrown away. We owe it a duty to ourselves and to our community to lead. Leadership in this context does not necessarily mean being in position of authority. Leadership here would emerge from the way we conduct ourselves, our reactions, and sensibilities to communal problems and our willingness at all times to rise to the challenges each time the need arises.

 

I have heard it said, for instance, that the Okumagbe, rather than unite us, has succeeded in putting a wedge between us. This campaign is more prominent with the Iviokpisas. I am not indicting any kindred here and I want this properly understood. Instead, the point I am making is that as youths, we must not allow this kind of ugly development to persist. The Iviokpisas like my Egori kindred, are part of our larger Weppa Wanno. If we feel that they have a point, we must concede it to them. By the same token, we must be willing to concede to the Okumagbe his own points and where he is wrong, our responsibility is to advice. After all, the Okumagbeship is a relatively young institution; 1940 saw the enthronement of the first Okumagbe. Before the establishment of the throne, we lived as one people and there was mutual respect for our various idiosyncrasies.

 

As an extension of the foregoing, we know what the problem is with land vendors in Agenebode. The previously held notion that Agenebode is home to all of us has been reduced to naught. Today, our Weppa Wanno youths have found a seeing panacea to the problem and it is to go and build in our various villages in the clan. While this kind of philosophy opens up the villages to development, the centre is left underdeveloped. Yet, in more sense that one, the centre, Agenebode, is our reference point. We must therefore, as youth, stem this tide and help to ensure that our collective reference point wears its desired look and glamour.

 

Weppa –Wanno is a richly blessed community by God. Without fear of contradiction. Weppa wanno ought to be the foremost community in the whole Etsako for several reasons. For instance, we embraced the Whiteman’s education and religion first. Relics of this civilization are still present today: the Royal Niger Company building, the mango Avenue in Ivianokpodi, the Post Office at Agenebode, Sacred Heart Primary School, founded in 1912 etc. The three local government areas of Etsako have thirteen professors in Nigeria Universities and six of these come from Weppa Wanno. Weppa Wanno has produced at least six Generals or their equivalents in the Nigeria Armed Forces, great technocrats at the Federal and State levels, astute businessmen and women, key players in the Nigerian Industrial circle, many clergymen, seasoned politicians, etc. how else can a community be blessed? Yet, there is nothing to show for this abundant harvest of human and material resources. The reason this is so is simply because we are not united and so cannot exert the necessary pressure to get the very best from these numerous icons of hope. Communities in far less circumstances have harnessed their resources and the benefits to them are unquantifiable. If you doubt this, consider the Avianwu clan or Auchi or Okpilla clans. The result is amazing. As youths of Weppa Wanno we must position ourselves ready to be able to channel our resources properly and harvest the expected benefits if we are to be relevant in the next millennium.

 

More than ever before, we need to be more home-conscious in the next millennium, we need to identify with developments and pressures at home. Before now, it was not uncommon to find very many Weppa Wanno youth who either did not know home (Weppa Wanno), speak the language or were not willing to visit or learn anything about home. The orientation was that home was good for nothing. Today, there is a gradual reversal of this trend, and I want to congratulate some of the Weppa Wanno clubs that have made it a point of duty to encourage our youth to go home as frequently as possible. The gains of this development are numerous. For instance, it is not uncommon these days to find “house-warming” ceremonies during Easter and Christmas periods by our young men outside. This is a novel development and if it continues, before long we would have imported the cosmopolitan values of cities like Lagos, PortHarcourt, Kano etc to Agenebode.

 

In the next millennium, we need to go beyond encouraging the building of structures at home to the provision of other infrastructure that would make it possible to enjoy home stays for our sons/daughters outside home. Besides, we also need to make home as comfortable as possible for our own folks and make the place investable. For instance, telephone service is a very necessary tool of development in contemporary society. Apart from its advantage of immediacy, it reduces physical movement. This facility is lacking at home at the moment, it is sad to note that of the three headquarters towns in the three Etsako Local Government Areas, only Agenebode is completely lacking of this facility. Although the Fugar line are not yet functional, their cables have however been laid. For us, nothing is in sight. It is even more sad when one remembers that the exchange at Auchi would have been standing in Agenebode on Weppa Wanno soil today, had we not denied the government land on which to build the exchange. We must not allow this kind of development in the next millennium. Indeed, we should do everything it takes to attract development.

 

It is very worrisome to note that there is no pipe-borne water at home today. In another two and half months from now, many of us, by the grace of God , will be at home to celebrate Christmas. And as usual, we shall buy water from the various boreholes around. Is it not shameful that there are pockets of boreholes all over the place and yet, the community has no water to drink. We must pull our resources together in order to tackle this problem. The average cost of running these boreholes must be high for the individuals. If we could come together to make functional the water board borehole and distribute water to every part of the town, we would have achieved a feat. This feat, I dare say, is not even difficult to achieve. It is obviously unsettling to know that the borehole at Agenebode cannot pump water today because of the lack of diesel. Yet, the Local Government Council can supply this, if the proper pressure is put on them. Our pressure group role must be intensified in the next millennium.

 

Weppa Wanno has no good Secondary School today. The hey days of St. peter’s are over. Our children and our brothers and sisters roam the streets these days. This is very frustrating to note. There is a need then to pay attention to the school system in our clan. These same children who are roaming the street today should ideally be our replacement stock. Unless we train them well, they would not be able to perform their expected roles at the appropriate time. It is gratifying to note that Rev. Fr. Isaac Bossey, our own son, who is parish priest at Agenebode, now, has identified the establishment of a private college as one of his dream for our land, indeed, he has started the campaign already and in my opinion, he deserves all the support we can give.

 

Furthermore, Weppa Wanno is more than ripe for a post Secondary School, and the facilities are on ground for a smooth take off. The Army Barracks at Agenebode, which has been abandoned, has more than enough blocks of classrooms, administrative buildings and hostel facilities for such a school. The land mass is also an advantage. All that is required is the right push for government to agree to cite a tertiary institution in place. This again, is another challenge for the next millennium. After all, knowledge, they say is power.

 

As part of our challenge, we must also ensure that we demonstrate enough interests in the various infrastructures located within our locality. For instance, we must ensure that the council at Agenebode is properly positioned to prosecute developmental issues. Besides the Obaze administration which started off the council with a few infrastructural facilities, subsequent administration have practically neglected us. Not even the Kasimu-Dokpesi led administration can be excused. Indeed, his case is the most worrisome because he is one of us both a youth and an Weppa Wanno.

 

It would be a big relief to see a functional morgue at the General Hospital, a good network of roads, street lights, culverts, cottage industries, recreational facilities at home, if not in twilight of this millennium, then very early in the next. This is certainly food for thought for all of us.

 

As part of the concluding comments of this talk, I would like to note some of the ugly developments we have been witnessing in the last few years at home. Petty thievery and burglaries have been rampant. This development has actually reduced the level of investments at home. The Leventis Farm has been looted several times. Niger Valley Farms suffered the same fate, so did some individuals with their electronics and other household properties carted away. The most intriguing part of this development however, is the recent robbery in the residence of Prof. Ebalu and in which two guards were killed (shall we observe a minute silence for the repose of their souls?). this is a development that is frightening and also capable of discouraging people from wanting to come home and invest. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the culprits of this crime are brought to book and also that such developments never occur again in our community.

 

In concluding this talk, I would like to reiterate the point that I made in the beginning and it is, that I consider whatever I said today as my humble contribution to the on-going discourse on how to improve our lot as a people. I have deliberately refused to prescribe solutions, even though some of my comments may sound prescriptive. I believe that there is no monopoly of ideas on this matters. What we can only hope to do is to tease out some of those latent ideas of yours about development in our land. We definitely won’t be on Mother Earth when the next millennium comes to an end but we can lay the foundation for a better society tomorrow by ensuring that a conscientization process begins now. This way we would have begun a true empowerment process that will sustain society in the next millennium.

 

Thank you for listening.

 

 

LECTURE FOUR

1998

 

POLITICAL AWARENESS IN

WEPPA WANNO CLAN:

THE JOURNEY TO THE FOURTH REPUBLIC

 

BY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MR. STAN  B. ATHEKAME

MOBIL PRODUCING NIGERIA, LAGOS

“A communication Engineer and System Analyst”

 

 

THE LECTURE

 

 

POLITICAL AWARENESS IN

WEPPA WANNO CLAN:

“The journey to the fourth republic and beyond”

 

Preamble

 

Definition of Politics: A cursory exposition on the concept of politics is expedient for a deeper appreciation of the relevance of the theme of this paper to the social, economic and political development of Weppa Wanno clan. Therefore, politics simply defined, is the science or art of governance. In practical terms however, it means the setting up of apparatus, devices, mechanisms and policies by which a people is governed.

 

The essence of course is that man should live in a decent and organized society. Politics therefore has to do with the arrangement and management of human society so that every person and all the components of the society live in peace and harmony. This political presumption predicated on justice and equality before the law and indeed the rule of law.

 

POLITICS IN DEVELOPING NATIONS – THE NIGERIAN EXAMPLE

 

Politics as the ordering of socio-economic arrangement for a just and peaceful society, has been subjected in varying degrees to subversion and perversion in the developing countries of the world including Nigeria, where strong tribal considerations and multi ethic interests articulation have set up the destructive centrifugal forces that have plagued the Nigerian political scene do date. It is no gain saying the fact that the presence of primordial sentiments have been a bane of our political development over the years.

 

The fragile national spirit has not been allowed to develop into a strong national bond. Tribalism, sectionalism, regionalism, selfishness, greed and avarice, rather than the national spirit, has remained the dynamics of the unhealthy political rivalry in Nigeria and most other developing countries in the world. This is the scenario of the vast Nigerian political awareness of which Weppa Wanno Clan is an integral part.

 

WEPPA WANNO POLITICAL ORIENTATION

 

The first opportunity Weppa Wanno had to demonstrate its political awareness was in the colonial era when the tax-paying adults had the freedom to exercise their franchise through the Electoral College system in 1951. This effort produced the late K.S.Y. Momoh (Late Hon. Justice Kessington Momoh) of Auchi on the platform of the NCNC as their representative in the then Western House of Parliament in Ibadan.

 

Kessington Momoh however crossed the carpet and joined the Action Group that had, by carpet crossing, formed the government of the house before the swearing-in of the members elect. This was followed in 1956 by the regional election that was keenly contested by the late Justice K.S.Y Momoh and the late Pa. A. K. Onwude at which election Pa. A. K. Onwude won as an NCNC candidate.

 

At the expiration of the term of the late Pa. A. K. Onwude, Weppa Wanno Clan elected the late Hon. M. A. Idodo of the Action Group to the Western House of Parliament in 1960. After the creation of the Mid-West Region in 1963, Weppa Wanno Clan also elected the late Mr. John Umolu to the Mid-West House of Parliament in 1964.

 

Before the election of John Umolu to the Mid West House of Parliament in 1964, Chief Marcel Idekhe, the first prominent Weppa Wanno Clan son – politician had gathered a large followership under the Mid-west Democratic Fronts (MDF). He was later to cross carpet to Action Group. However his life was cut short early and that put paid to MDF and gave AG a stronger base.

 

In 1979, Chief (Dr.) Austin Obozuwa contested election into the Bendel State House of Assembly on the platform of National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and lost. He was later to be compensated with an appointment as Legal Adviser to the then Senate President, Dr. Joseph Wayas. A move that became a boost for Chief A. O. Ethuakhor’s political ambition.

 

In 1983, Chief A. O. Ethuakhor defeated Chief Charles Adogar of Okpilla to represent the constituency in the then Bendel State House of Assembly, which was unfortunately terminated after three months in the December coup of 1983.

 

At the Local Government level, a Weppa Wanno son, Chief Pius Obaze served as the first Sole Administrator in 1991 when the Etsako East Local Government was created with headquarters at Agenebode. Hon. Kasimu Dokpesi took over from Chief Pius Obaze as the first elected Chairman of the Council in 1992. He had earlier been elected and served as Chairman of the then Etsako Local Government Council on the platform of NPN in the second republic.

 

It is expedient to produce this catalogue of Weppa Wanno Clan indigenes that have represented us either at the House of Parliament, Assembly or Local Government Council level as a proof of Weppa Wanno people’s high degree of political awareness and modest achievement, indeed, we are a people sensitive to the socio-political development of this great country, Nigeria.

 

In the light of this therefore the pertinent question is not whether political awareness is high in Weppa Wanno clan, but if the political awareness is the right one since the stewardship of these numerous representatives, including the late Chief John Umolu as Senator from 1979 – 1982, left no eloquent legacies.

 

THE NEED FOR RE-ORIENTATION OF WEPPA WANNO CLAN POLITICAL AWARENESS

It is sad to note that Weppa Wanno Clan’s political history presents an irony. This ugly picture certainly calls to mind the need for re-appraisal of the political orientation in Weppa Wanno Clan such that our political leaders and followers now and in the future will see politics as life of service above self and to one’s community.

 

POLITICS AS A PRAGMATIC TOOL FOR DEVELOPMENT

 

The original concept of politics from the ancient Greek City states that man should live a good life in a good state or town or city or country. The good life is generally conceived to be that in which there is “justice” and justice is a sine qua non to peace, progress and development. In any political dispensation therefore, our orientation should henceforth focus on the improvement of the life of our people. We must see political participation as the competitive struggle for the equitable distribution of available means and resources for the improvement of our community. That is the practice the world over, after all, what is service without positive impact on the people?

 

THE JOURNEY TO THE 4TH REPUBLIC AND BEYOND.

 

Walter and Jay, (1989) deal with a common problem associated with organizational change. Their article “Overcoming Resistance to Change: addresses why people resist change and how this resistance is manifested in their behavior. As an example, in their study of 1948, they used their experiment with participative management at the Harwood Manufacturing company that had groups of workers involved in designing changes to be made in their jobs. The results shows that the ‘rate of recovery’ to changes in a job is directly proportional to the amount of worker’s participation and rates of turnover and aggression are inversely proportional to the amount of participation. They conclude by suggesting that it is possible for management to overcome the resistance to change, if only the need for change is communicated effectively and if group participation is encouraged in planning for the change.

 

The entire people of Weppa Wanno must embrace the concept of change in our political views, interaction and participation if we must march forward and be accepted in the top echelon of the politics of the fourth republic. We must adopt a radical approach to total reconciliation and do away with politics of bitterness, rancor and primordial sentiments. Our collective resolve must focus on the uncompromising efforts at developing Weppa Wanno clan through our representation. “A people of one destiny, one voice”

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

In order to sensitize our people and prepare them for the politics of the fourth republic and the next millennium, we should embark on a re-engineering process that will champion the emergence of a combined force of representatives of all social groups, clubs and associations in Weppa Wanno Clan whose objective will be as follows:

 

Þ   Design a strategic course bound in unity and togetherness for our people.

Þ   Formulation of a “Mission Statement” and a “Political Blue Print” for Weppa Wanno Clan.

Þ   Appraise the viability of a Public Relation body that will be charged with the promotion and representation of the people of Weppa Wanno clan at all levels.

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

Our destiny and the future survival of our people lies on how best we work as a team whose success in achieving excellent results is based on high ethical standards and the collective contribution of all sons and daughters of Weppa Wanno clan.

 

Our zeal and aspiration in the fourth republic and beyond should be borne out of a genuine desire to contribute our quota to the overall development of Weppa Wanno clan so that our prints on the sand of time, will be the indelible testimony to our self sacrifice, impeccable dedication and transparent honesty in the service of our father land.

 

Long live Weppa Wanno clan,long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria

 

Thank you and God Bless.

 

LECTURE FIVE

1999

 

WEPPA WANNO IN THE YEAR 2000 AND BEYOND

 

 

BY

 

 

BARRISTER AUSTIN MAMEDU

SENOIR PARTNER

AUSTIN MAMEDU & CO

APAPA - LAGOS

 

 

PROFILE OF GUSET SPEAKER

THE LECTURE

 

WEPPA WANNO IN THE YEAR 2000 AND BEYOND

 

It is with bated breath that I received the invitation to speak at this now renowned Annual Lecture where the finest brains, the very cream of the Weppa Wanno community now gather to hear one of their own analyse topical issues and plot the game plan for the development of our common heritage. Ever since, I have been in a state of trepidation knowing that I can hardly claim to be in this selected class referred to as the cream of our community. But as the saying goes ‘akhasuanwu Odape, Odape osuanwu ushegwe’ and ‘na kha khe piu udo yo elu ya aaudua khe ma pio efo’

 

Let me say that if the topic for this lecture seeks to plan our way forward in the millennium. Then we are late by at least 25 years going by the common place wisdom that you plan for Christmas from September which begins the last quarter of a year. So we ought to plan for the 21st century for the 2000s from 1st January 1975! However, in the wonderful workshop that is the Almighty’s creation, it is never finished until it is finished.

 

My treatment approach is to examine three related subheads:

 

1. Weppa Wanno in history; 2) Weppa Wanno today and 3) A global community in the 21st century

 

The purpose of history is to enable us draw lessons from our past experiences, relate these experience to our present stance, weigh our community development index over the years and award marks. If the marks shown fail to achieve relative success, we reassess and realign our strategies; if we score ourselves right we energize and strengthen these strategies which have brought us success over the years, in carrying out the weighing, we must necessarily capture the picture of a global community in history and today. If we successfully do this, a picture of a global community in the 2000s will evolve and we are able to draw conclusions whether or not our present sowings can yield us the fruits of a global community in the 2000s

 

WEPPA WANNO IN HISTORY: THE PAST

The HISTORY of Weppa Wanno land can be seen as a substratum or extraction from the history of the Edo speaking area. The stream of this history, we might posit, has been largely tapered by what has been described variously as oral tradition, the authenticity of which may be found in relics, monuments and archival heaps.

 

The history of Weppa Wanno land that is being considered therefore is one that drew its impulse from the scattering and flinging of peoples, their eventual settlement, ways of life peculiar to them or by which they have come to be identified through the years.

 

Specifically, the demise of the central leadership of the people by the generalissimo that was Adaobi threw the people into kindred settlements at various locations across the land surface that is Weppa Wanno land. These kindred, however, were knitted by their linguistic homogeneity with very minimal variations that were far between. Nonetheless, they lacked cohesion or centrality, and the lack of which opened vulnerability to attack by invading forces external in character and conduct to the kindred settlers. Perhaps, more than all else, this porous security position facilitated the Nupe invasion of the mid 19th century and the consequent incursion into and the tampering of the pristine values of the people.

 

One of the consequences of this invasion was the imposition on the Weppa Wanno people of a paramount ruler that exhibited some levels of alignments with the invaders. The alignment in this case, was to be found in the religious affiliation of the Anegbete people, who, in addition to their traditional worship mode, embrace Islam much early in their history. So the rulership of the entire Weppa Wanno land was said to have been vested in the Oriola of Anegbete therefrom.

 

Thus, the period in Weppa Wanno history that is here being partly considered falls into the period of the reign of the Oriola of Anegbette that was called Ugbodaga. The period, elastically speaking, stretches through the immediate twenty years preceding King Ugbodaga’s reign, the duration of his reign, the era succeeding his demise up to 1940 when we had the first indigenous Weppa Wanno paramount ruler appointed and reorganized by the government of the day. In this presentation, we are not necessarily concern with a discussion of the historical period under reference, rather we have localized it only as a reference point, especially, for purposes of comparative viewing, vis-à-vis the context in which this discourse is off handedly sited. In so doing, we shall, within the limitations of our preview, look at the political setting, the economic cum commercial activities, the influences of the outside forces and perhaps the hopes as well as aspirations of the people.

 

As has been mentioned earlier, the rulership of King Ugbodaga, though centrally bearing on the lives of the people, was more in a visiting capacity. Thus, there was the necessity for the kindred settlers to, at least, have what we may be described as resident rulership. This necessity gave birth to the advent of a ruler in the person of Chief Inenemho who had his domain around the geographical area today known as Weppa, and his counterpart in the area today known as Wanno. The governing status of these rulers can today approximate chiefs with portfolios.

 

Alongside these rulers were lesser one like Ukpi Drummers, Akwi holders, Unuchi coordinators (Ebotsu) etc. in the sense of structural governance, there was never any such thing as organogram or strict reporting line. Thus, settlement of disputes – spiritual or secular – was vested on the senior citizens of a kindred settlement. The enforcement of sanctions was however, the mandate duty of a selected age group. In the same vein, the age grouping structure of the socio-cultural milieu encompassed the duty of rending communal services such a clearing the road to the village stream, tidying the village square and rising up for battle against opponents as may be expedient from time to time, re-roofing of blown roofs etc.

 

Within the rather lose political structure was the communally sacrosanct hospitality nature of the people. So, the advent of colonialism for example was, if anything, the least resisted the invading colonialists, who were commonly described as ‘KPOTOKI’ were received with open arms, perhaps unwittingly as their albino kindred in diaspora, and as benefiting to guests. The colonialists, it was, who came with school education establishing the first primary school in the then Afemai division at Ivianokpodi in 1897. The relics and landmarks of the first contact are still very visible at Ivianokpodi today.

 

The establishment of educational institutions was successively followed by religious establishments with the first major manifestation being the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Agenebode under the Roman Catholic Mission (RCM).

 

Commerce was the next in succession with the George Turman Goldie led Royal Niger Company registering its presence along the coastal plains of Agenebode Waterside. Indeed, a time there was when commerce boomed so much in Agenebode that the transportation of kernel (which was then the major produce) was done by Barges (as alternative for rail ways) under the Inland Water Ways section of the Public Works Department.

 

Perhaps, to facilitate education, religion and commerce – the tripod of the colonial invasion – the need to bring under one umbrella kindred of homogenous background more or less became an imperative for the colonial administration. Thus the available vehicles of transmission to the local people were the interpreters and the local police derisively described as “IDOGENI”. Apparently, from these and associated backgrounds, the choice of Mr. Martin Ogbaki (as he was then known) as paramount ruler was hardly opposed as he was the most prominent interpreter of Weppa Wanno stock of his time. He thus emerged under the circumstances as the first uniting ruler of Weppa and Wanno lands hence the nomenclature Oghie no ku mha gbe (shortened as OKUMAGBE). Indeed, we must note here that the correct titling of the ruler of Weppa Wanno land ought to be ‘OKUMHAGBE’ and not its adulterated, distorted, if not bastardize version OKUMAGBE. Let us ponder it over!

 

Within the lexicon and semantics of Weppa Wanno, where is the word OKUMAGBE to be found and for goodness sake, what does it mean. I think it might suffice here to simply consign it as part of that colonial siege we, as a people, are yet to wrest from. Nevertheless, life for the Weppa Wanno society within the colonial settling had structures and potentials for advancement educationally, commercially and economically to say the least. Alas! Up till today, the graduate population of Weppa Wanno is not anywhere near 10,000. Commercially, the place is a poor shadow of its glorious past. Economically, the income per capital is in recess of N5.00. yet, we have seen and heard of our own who held sway and command sectoral influences here and there, now and again. Our place, it was, that boasted of the political stalwart in the person and character of Mr. Marcel Idekhe, the avid Zikist; Senator John Umolu was the political impression that was, Chief Acha Idodo the political cyclone that was, Chief Akotu Alimikhena etc all of whom are today all personalities in history. I think glowing tributes must here be paid to Mr. Godwin Agbudumhe Aliegieuno as one man in a million who has done unquantifiable lot to assist Weppa Wanno sons and daughter; Chief G. F. Wiggle and Anawii Francis Alimikhena deserves no less encomiums.

 

So, the question may well be asked why, as a people, do we find it rather cumbersome to forge together? And another question may well be where did we start experiencing the non-capacity to forge through the smith together? Yet, what were those tenuous ties that held us together? And when did they snap? Perhaps a determination of these and allied posers will assist in the understanding and unraveling of where we are today. From today’s position, we would probably be able to recap where we ought to be and where we can be in future, especially in the impending millennium. Perhaps, it is through such excursions we might make today friendly and whose friendship will then make our every yesterday a dream of happy experiences and our every tomorrow a vision of hope, where happiness and bliss will no longer be, for our people, an occasional episode in a general drama of pains pine and penury.

 

WEPPA WANNO TODAY: INFRASTURCTURE

 

Perhaps nothing more paints today’s picture of Weppa Wanno than a drive from Auchi to Agenebode. The ‘new’ Auchi-Fugar-Agenebode Road runs through the three Local Government Areas that make up the erstwhile Estakor Local Government. If the road is broken up into Estakor West’s portion, Etsakor Central’s portion; and Etsakor East’s portion, any casual observer can easily determine the worst portion. Today, Agenebode stands out as one of the very few local government headquarters with no tarred township roads. Only two roads or lanes pretend to be tarred; Francis Omoh Road off market Road, veering left by Chief Martin Umole’s house and terminating 50 meters ahead. The second runs off the ‘new’ road; again veers left and terminate about 100 meters ahead.

 

I can recall vividly the state of Francis Omoh Road (the called Okumagbe Road) during the swearing in of His Royal Highness F. E. E. Omoh by the then Brigadier S. O. Ogbemudia. Why have we permitted this road to deteriorate as to become completely impassable? The Auchi – Ekperi –Agenebode Road remains completely abandoned and neglected. Along this road is situated the Leventis Farms, one of the largest in Nigeria and the Ise lake, a massive tourist attraction in Weppa Wanno yet unexploited. It is worthy to record that Weppa Wanno sons and daughters have made efforts over the years and even now still strive to see that the road is rehabilitated.

 

Beside the roads aforementioned, there is a total absence of any other tarred road in the entire Weppa Wanno community. In the 70s, as a primary school pupil of Ogbaki Primary School, Agenebode, I used to walk to the public water pump located about 100 metres from one another along the major roads in Agenebode. Water (pure and sparking) did not just flow from these pumps it gushed and it was a matter of seconds to fill your bucket. We did not know of typhoid fever or cholera even the few occasions we had to go to the river Niger to get water. Supposedly, as an index mark of development, water is now piped directly into the homes of the affluent at Agenebode. The public pumps which were the commonwealth have since run dry and hapless residents have to rely on the benevolence of the affluent to get pipe borne water or in many instances, pay money to commercial tanker/borehole owners to obtain water. Even the privately located pumps have since run dry and the clan of the hapless have since swallowed their owners whilst the clan of the affluence who can afford water shrink to those few who can own bore holes plus a power generator to pump the water.

 

Like they say, ‘Oku-omosi eva’ (mother luck has smiled on our community in ensuring that virtually all the towns and villages in Weppa Wanno and in fact, Etsako East Local Government Area are connected to the national grid and enjoy power supply. However, there remains pockets of communities like Osholo who remain eclipsed in darkness amidst light. So when I hear the Government budgeting to connect all the Local Government headquarters in Nigeria to the national grid. I relish in the joy that we had this over twenty years ago. But I equally continue to hear of rural electrification board run by State; the type that was the predecessor of NEPA in Agenebode. Should the Edo State Government not be encouraged to serve such projects to our rural communities, yet to savour electricity?

 

It is however a matter of regret that our community often times and at critical times goes without electricity for several months. As urban dwellers, it is sad that our reaction is one of discomfort when we visit home from which we quickly insulate ourselves when we return to the cities. Efforts of a few individuals who have advanced from mere feeling of discomfort to head-on tackling of the problem are quite commendable. Often times, information drive and sacrifice are the most valuable ingredients for community development not personal wealth.

 

HEALTH

 

In the health sector, Nazareth has had to come to our rescue in keeping our dead before interment. It is now a matter of faint memory that the General hospital at Agenebode has a morgue. I cannot remember the last time a funeral hearse took off from there. Economist will tell you that the additional cost of fuel to and fro Fugar over the years will fix our morgue.

 

The beginning of any proper treatment is a correct diagnosis. It is a matter for regret that the entire WeppaWanno community cannot boast of a fairly equipped medical laboratory; not one equipped with State of the art scanners, X-ray machines, mimeographs etc. but with simple reagents for blood, stool and urine test. For a simple malaria parasite or widal test, you have to travel to Auchi or may be now, Fugar with their recently commissioned General Hospital. So when recently cholera struck in Agenebode, the people died like flies and in their simplicity and ignorance christened the disease “back and front”.

 

The available hospitals, public and private, lack basic equipment, infrastructure, personnel and most importantly drugs. The only exceptions, Notre Dame hospital, is a private effort funded by foreign institutions and governments. Have we ever formally commended their efforts?

 

Professor Olikoye Ransom-Kuti bequeathed to Nigeria the Primary Health Care Scheme. This scheme emphasized preventive medicare and health education. Our community benefited a lot, but the reach was not deep enough. There is the need to encourage the establishment of more health outposts in several communities. This has been proven to be much more effective in health care delivery than the structures and facilities we cannot manage.

 

EDUCATION

As we have noted, Weppa Wanno was exposed to early contact with the European missionaries. From this contact flowed early western education. Whilst education remained in the hands of the mission, standards were meticulously set and maintained. The primary and secondary schools in and around Agenebode attracted students from all over Nigeria. The competition for space was stiff and distance was no barrier to learning.

 

The picture today is pathetic and we all know it. From quality and number of teachers, availability of teaching aids to student discipline everything is a big zero. Not to dwell too much on the rot, let it be known that amidst this filth lies brilliant gifted pupils and students who are sentenced to lifetime poverty and ignorance because their parents cannot afford =N=3,000 for WAECE forms. Let this touch our conscience and let something be done about it.

 

POLITICS

The state of Weppa Wanno politics bears resemblance to a joke about Nigeria’s Independence and government. Whilst Obafemi Awolowo and Anthony Enahoro strongly canvassed an independent government and decolonization in the late 50’s Ahmadu Bello and Sir Tafawa Balewa thought otherwise. At a time, a truce was reached between Ahmadu Bello, Balewa and the British. They said, let us give them the independence they want and we shall have the government! Sectional hegemony and neo-colonial government held sway in an independent country that effectively kept Awolowo and Enahoro out of national government. Today, what Weppa Wanno has is Etsako East Local Government Headquarters; someone else has Etsakor East Local Government, both the political and bureaucratic structures. How to break the logjam? I do not prescribe the Afenifere style of one way traffic democracy. This is because, but for the self-destruction practices of the All Peoples Party (APP), the ruling party today was not sure of polls victory. A little romance with the other side has secured for us, a Work Commissioner in Edo State. What we need now is dedicated and informed leadership. The battle for the election of 2003 has already been launched with the registration of party members and election of party officials of PDP at the ward, council and state levels. Did we appreciate this as Weppa Wanno community or did the elections mean nothing to us?

 

AGRICULTURE AND STORAGE

The mainstay to the people of Weppa Wanno remains agriculture. Several villages and settlements grew out of farm lands. Names like Alapako, Ogwozima, Okanawa, Obadudu and Onokhae easily come to mind. In the early and middle part of this century, food was in vast quantity and was largely given to neighbours as gifts or in exchange for other goods in a barter trade practice at the Akiomoado market. Foodstuff was largely sold to visitors from Benin, Ondo, Akure and Idah at the weekly Agenebode Market.

 

Over the years, the bane of agriculture in Weppa Wanno to keen observers has been storage and transportation. Farmers have to sell the fruits of their season-long labour at give-away prices to avoid their perishing. This is especially the case with vegetables like tomatoes, garden eggs, efo and fruits like mangoes and oranges and the lazy consumers, middle men and visiting urban elites are happy with this savagery. Has any Iviukwu son thought of sitting a tomatoe puree plant in the place or an Ivianokpodi son sitting a mango juice plant to take advantage of the large harvest of mangoes left behind as a legacy by the early missionaries? If this is not possible for an individual, has any Weppa Wanno’s financial consultants, accountants and bank executives made effort to locate and attract the investment capital project? Such a project has the advantage of guarantying fair pricing of the products thereby encouraging expansion of local agricultural production with the ultimate goal of lifting our people from the poverty trap.

 

Transporters arguably earn over 40% of the income accruing to farmers. When in season, a medium-sized basket of tomatoes sell for as low as N100 at Agenebode Market. The pain for the farmer is that he or she spends between N30 and N40 to transport the basket from Iviukwe. And if she does not succeed in selling, she is faced with the painful decision of having to throw away her harvest. The farmers having learnt a lesson form their own specialized markets in their locality to avoid transport expenses. Hence yam market, tomatoes market, cassava market are now forming in a couple of communities in Weppa Wanno. This is to be encouraged, as there is no immediate solution in sight to the transportation difficulties, which has a National dimension. Let the middle man or the consumer go to the farmer to obtain his need and not the farmer placing his goods on their laps.

 

A new trend is that of migrant farmers. Weppa Wanno farmers now travel to Akoko-Edo and Owan to lease farm lands for agriculture. What has happened to our agricultural lands? Through the practice of bush burning and concentration on cash crop farming like yam and rice which exert a heavy toll on the nutrients of the soil, the fertility of large tracts of agricultural lands have been completely eroded. It is hoped that government’s agricultural extension serves will educate farmers on the dangers of bush burning and environment friendly farm practices.

 

In a reverse trend, Weppa Wanno communities equally welcome and harbor migrant farmers from Igala land, Ekperi and the Urhobos. The case of the Urhobos is deserving of special mention. A keen observer will note that people of Agenebode who are blessed with the water of the Niger hardly exploit its riches. Most fishermen in Agenebode are migrants. The few locals easily declare their failure, saying: “no fish to kill today” but an Urhobo man catches fish that same day from the same waters.

 

The land tenure laws and practice of Nigeria today remains unsettled largely because of the simultaneous and contradictory application of the Land Use Act which creates only leaseholds and the common law which recognizes absolute ownership in fee simple. Migrant farmers are usually granted customary leases, but over ages and generations, they settle down permanently and claim absolute ownership. This leads to intractable communal conflicts like Ife-Modakeke, Zango-Kataf, Kafanchan and closer home, Imiava. If such conflicts must be avoided in the 2000s, we must discourage migrant farming irrespective of the seeming advantages.

 

I have earlier mentioned in this paper that Leventis Farms in one of the largest in the country. Can Weppa Wanno community absolve itself of blame over the deplorable state of the farm over the years it has evolved from Tiffany Farms? I am told by experts that one of the problems of large scale agriculture in Nigeria is crop theft by the locals. Are we not able to invoke our traditional institutions to prevent theft and longer? Perhaps we do not fully appreciate the benefits of the farm to the community! It provides employment which reduces poverty and crime. The company contributed to road maintenance, transportation and communication through its VHF radio facility. And of course, the trading in their products encouraged commerce and produce food. At present, the company has established a School of Agriculture in its premises, it behoves on the Weppa Wanno community to protect this investment.

 

HOUSING AND ENVIRONMENT

 

Closely tied to the issue of agriculture and storage is that of housing and environment. We may, by default, be developing tomorrow’s slum by our today’s building practices. Several communities have not embraced or been introduced to lay our survey plans with ample provisions for mixed use development. Most of today’s building development in Weppa Wanno are funded by the urban elites. We are happy to have large acres allocated to us for building without sparing a thought as a provision for future development of township roads, common area, parks and gardens etc.

 

It behoves on the urban elites to right the negative development. Each town union can and should fund the mapping and production of township layout survey plans. This will be of immense benefit to future generations.

 

Weppa Wanno land speculators have sadly adopted the urban style of land demarcation of diving land into miniature size plots barely sufficient to hold a medium family size house. A home properly defined must, besides the living house have sufficient grounds to contain an orchard where fruits are grown, a playground for children, a garden where vegetables and herbs are grown by women, a chicken house, a house for a few goats and sheep and a small technical workshop. I make bold to say that any size of land less than the traditional three plots of land is not sufficient. The benefits of literally transporting nature into your home is not what I may discuss here. Suffice to say that proper child education should begin with adequate and constant exposure to nature and that in old age when we become weak in mind and limb, some gardening around the home helps strengthens our body and spirit. So, of what value is it to cement the whole ground around your home?

 

The issue of the environment has in the last quarter of this century been on the front burner. This is rightly so because the land we occupy is of finite mass whilst our population grows in geometric proportion. Several generations yet unborn will rely on the available landmass for sustenance; so our exploitation of its resources today (especially the non-renewable resources) must be done in such a way as to leave something behind for future generations. Prof. Anya O. Anya, President, Nigeria Academy of Science in a recent article quotes the Brundtland Report which summarized that “those who are poor and hungry will often destroy their immediate environment in order to survive. They will cut down forests, their livestock will overgraze grassland, they will over-used marginal land, and in growing numbers, they will crowd into congested cities”  He continues, “with the…rate of migration from the rural areas into the cities becoming a flood, the omens for a disorderly, chaotic, violent and crime infested society at the turn of the century seem clearly evident”.

 

It is generally agreed that the era of oil boom has misaligned the Nigeria economy. The need to rediscover a cash crop economy with palm plantations, groundnut pyramids and cocoa is emphasized. Agriculture thus becomes very vital in redirecting the new economy and the management of the environment is urgent and critical. Perhaps the only resource we have been compelled by beliefs to preserve Weppa Wanno is the Ise Lake.

 

WEPPA WANNO IN THE 2000S

 

Besides the environment, the other issue that has engaged the intellect in the last quarter of this century is the concept of globalization. Globalization will directly impact on the life of every community in the year 2000 and beyond. Globalization has economic, political and security facets. According to Professor Ibrahim Gambari, the concept throws up the picture of a global village secured through the deepening and broadening of linkages of national economies into a worldwide market. There is free mobility of productive and financial capital and the general dismantling of trade barriers. The tools for the linkages are the rapid development and spread of information and communication technology (ICT), ideas and movement of people across national boundaries, television, radio, telecommunications and the internet play a crucial role in this linkage. With increased market opportunities and economic dynamism access to larger financial capital, technology, goods and services becomes assured and at lower costs. The autonomy and sovereignty of nations is weakened. In my view, globalization has always starred us in the face via manufacturing concerns. Has it ever occurred to us that a finished product coming off a factory line e.g. a car has its various inputs such as steel, aluminum, rubber electric conductors, motor, labour, etc sourced from various countries? Can we really claim that a product is made in X- country simply because the factory is located in that country? Globalization is an imperative in the next millennium. The alternative is marginalization. Therefore, in examining a Weppa Wanno community in the 2000s, we must capture the picture of a global community in that age.

 

AFRICA AND NIGERIA THROUGH STATISTICS

 

Weppa Wanno is located in Nigeria and Nigeria in Africa. I will take time to examine some hard statistical facts about Nigeria and Africa. The former World Bank Vice President for Africa, Edward Tavcox, once observed that “Africa will be the greatest development challenge facing the international community well into the next century”. There are 48 least developed countries in the world. 33 are in Africa and these include Nigeria. The 1997 Human Development Index  (HDI) report or UNDP reveals that of the 45 countries in the lowest categories of human development, 35 are in Africa. Africa’s share of world trade has declined from 4% to approximately 2%. 37% of the private wealth of Africa nations is held outside Africa. Industries located in Africa operate at a maximum of 30% of installed capacity. In the late 1970s, Africa’s external debt stood at $48.5 billion; today the figure is over $300 billion.

 

To further reveal what a debt trap the continent has found itself, consider that global debt of all developing countries stood at $567 billion in 1980 and $1.4 trillion in 1992. In that period of 12 years, these countries made foreign debt payments of $1.6 trillion. Africa is indeed the milking cow of the West. Of 41 countries classified as heavily indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), 33 are African.

 

To come closer home to Nigeria, per capita income was over $1,000 in 1980; today it is $200. In 1985, 43% on Nigerians lived below the poverty line. This grew slowly to 48.9% in 1992 and jumped to 65% today. The result is that 67 million out of Nigeria’s 110 million people are poor. I am sure that over 80% of Weppa Wanno indigenes are included in that unfortunate 65% Nigerian poor and the rank is expanding and swallowing more people. Nigeria’s external debt was $28.77 billion in December 1998 and reduced to $24.49 billion in March 1999. Recent revelations however reveal a jump to $30 billion as today’s figures. In the 1998 – 99 fiscal year, 40% of our earnings was devoted to debt servicing. The Obasanjo regime, it is reported has secured an agreement with International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce debt service ratio to about 33% of earnings.

 

The foregoing paints a graphic picture of the situation Weppa Wanno finds itself. The immediate implication is that every Nigerian including every Weppa Wanno indigenes owes $272.727.00 and this is just the external debt stock alone. A large chunk of the internal debt is comprise of cash call arrears to NNPC’s joint venture partners like Shell, Mobil, Chevron, Elf and Agip. Other large – volume creditors are the construction giants like STRABAG, JULIUS BERGER, STABILINI-VISINONI etc. it is therefore glaring that Nigeria is in a complete and total foreign debt trap to which our leaders since independence have enslaved future generations of our children and grand children yet unborn.

 

IMPACT OF THE DEBT TRAP

 

Statistical data have a funny lure; they sound unreal, out of this World and impersonal. They seem hypothetical, so we run the risk of assuming not to be affected. But the effect is devastating.

To capture only one dimension – the foreign exchange dimension – of the debt overhang, let us compare the 1990 and 1999 consumer price index of some items in Nigeria.

 

Product                                                            1990                            1999

                                                                        =N=                             =N=

Nissan Sunny Ex- Salon A/C                         140,000                       1,600,000

12.5kg LPG Gas Cylinder refill                     40                                650

Air Ticket (Lagos – Abuja)                            290                              6,000

Car battery (65 amp)                                       450                              3,500

1 create (Coca-Cola)                                       25                                350

1 carton of Star beer                                       45                                550

 

The debt problem, of course is largely responsible for this hyper inflation, Nigeria is predominantly a consumer country depending on imports for most of her needs. With a massive debt portfolio, exchange rate between the local currency and international monies needed to import goods continue to jump? As the exchange rate jumps, prices of all other goods jump. In the late 80s and early 90s, market women became sensitive to exchange rate movements and adjusted the prices of their food stuff like tomatoes and yams accordingly. Then some elites questioned why should the prices go up when yams are not bought in dollars. It was easily forgotten that the market women relies on income from the yams to purchase imported consumer items like toiletries etc and that the final cost of the yam in the market includes the cost of imported fertilizer, imported trailers for haulage, imported cutlass for bush clearing etc.

 

Imagine what joy-life will be and what development Weppa Wanno would have witnessed if a 50kg bag of cement has maintained its 1992 price of about N25 or maintained an acceptable inflation percentage of a maximum of 15% per annum. This would have yielded a today’s price of N51.25 instead of N580 per bag. Imagine the building and infrastructure development of Weppa /Wanno land. Between 1976 and 1981, I recall that Mr. Osi Eghabor, Mr. A. O. Ethuakor and Mr. P. S. O. Arewa, Schools Principals were able to purchase from the income they earn in Weppa Wanno brand new Peugeot cars. Between 1979 and 1999, I cannot recall any one Weppa Wanno resident worker purchasing a brand new car. For 95% of us urban resident workers, our best efforts yield us foreign used and discarded cars.

 

On the other hand, European countries which have maintained stable debt profile enjoy foreign exchange rates and relatively stable consumer prices. The exchange rate of one US dollar to one British pound has hovered between 1.50 and 1.68 in the last ten years. Consequently, the price of a chicken in London has ranged between 80p and STG 1,20 in the last ten years. Some may argue that with inflation has also come steady increase in income and wages over the years. This argument is invalid for two reasons; (1) the real value of money is not in its quantum but its purchasing power (2) steady economies equally witness steady increment in income and wages.

 

Faced with the mid-boggling debt profile, I have questioned myself whether I have received value since infancy from Nigeria worth $272,727; the resounding answer is “NO”. Recent revelations are that some few persons consumes our commonwealth, borrowed more to consume and spread the debt to all of us to pay. The reaction of most of us to the problem is to strive to steal our own. This cannot be a right attitude.

 

Over 60% of Nigeria’s population reside in rural settlements of which a large portion of Weppa Wanno falls. The largest chunk of the projects and consumption on which our foreign debt was incurred of course lies in the handful of urban cities holding less than 40% of the population. Of course, we the urban elites cruise on the roads and bridges, enjoy games in the stadia, consume foreign goods use subsidized imported fuel and electric power which are secured 60% by the folks of the rural communities who do not have these facilities. Does this not impose a duty on us to give something back to our rural folks by way of direct investment whose motive may not be necessarily profit?

 

A UNIPOLAR WORLD

Europe in the outgoing 20th century threw the world into two wars. At the end of World War 11, two major spheres of influence evolved – USA and the USSR. The era of the cold war immediately followed. Africa, Europe and Asia, the Caribbean’s and the Pacific countries were literally carved up into spheres of influence between the Western World and the Soviet. With the break up of USSR, the world has evolved from a bipolar world into a unipolar world. The United States of America now maintains a virtually unchallenged influence in world politics. How is this to be in 2000s?

 

Politically, it cannot be seen in the near horizon any country capable of matching the influence of the USA. However analysts have been limited in relating the concepts of poparity of politics alone. The unfortunate truth is that the stage is set for a huge divide economically into a bipolar world. The economies of the West are progressing at a dizzying pace. The Asian flu which affected the West has been remedied. The purchasing power of Americans has improved so tremendously that the entire citizenry is virtually on a shopping spree. The reverse, too painful to describe, is the case of Africa. With the pace of globalization leading to breaking down to borders, introduction of the Euro, the Schengen visa, free movement of labour, the Bosman case, etc, Africans are caught napping, imposing visa restrictions on themselves, shutting borders against themselves. The net effect can only be a total exclusion of Africa from the global village which holds so much dreams and benefits. For us in Africa therefore, marginalization is set to reduce us to parasites of the West. But in this case, the blood of the parasites is sucked by the host (the west) through debt servicing. Is this parasite not doomed to death in the millennium?

 

THE HEALTH QUESTION

 

In case you doubt the death sentence of Africa and Africans, let us examine some more hard facts in the health sector. In East and Central Africa, 4 out of every 10 adults carry mature HIV virus, 6 out of every 10 babies are born with HIV virus. The Executive Director of UNICEF, Carol Bellamy, recently revealed that while 200,000 Africans died in 1998 as a result of armed conflict, in the same year 2 million Africans died of aids. She therefore observed that Aids was “the most terrible undeclared war in the world with the whole of Sub-Sahara Africa as the killing field”. Recently, the Honourable Minister of health for Nigeria, Dr. Tim Menakaya stated that 18 million Nigerians carry the hepatitis B virus. Over 30 million are projected to develop the tuberculosis virus in the next 5 years. About 10 million Nigerians carry the HIV virus. Life expectancy has reduced from 65 years to about 50 years in the last ten years.

 

With all these figures, it has recently been projected that in another 20 years, over 50% of Africans will perish from one disease or the other. If we add death from wars, natural disasters and accidents, are we not all doomed?

 

VISION FOR TOMORROW

Having examined the past and the present in the context of our local community and the global community and having painted a gloomy picture of the future from the debt and the health situation, the only road left for us to pursue is a courageous snatching of ourselves away from the jaws of death. This can only be done by the people themselves. Too much political gibberish has been introduced into government. Hear some samplers

‘Government to create five million jobs’, says Atiku – Sept. 7, 1999.

“10 million telephones lines coming” -         Mohamed Arzika

“I have executed projects in every local government area. I have 18 local government areas and I am starting my commissioning tomorrow (August 26, 1999)… In each local government area there are at least two to three projects going on and initiated under my administration and ready for commissioning in the first 100 days”  Chief Lucky Igbinedion, Sept. 3, 1999.

The first two statements are projections so time will tell but I say clearly that there are no two project initiated by the Edo State Government in Etsako East Local Government area that have been commissioned or are ready for commissioning. I will now proceed to paint a picture of what my vision of the Weppa Wanno Community should present in the new millennium under eight heads.

 

DEVELOPMENT INFRASTRUCTURE

 

The Almighty in his wisdom has thrown man into different continents with different cultures, weather and climate, foods, language, etc a steady development of our gifts ensures perfection and in the unity of variety flows joy and thanks to the Creator. Imitating foreign cultures, speech, dress and eating foreign foods can lead to a stagnated development. It is sad that some of us sneer at our culture, ‘regarding it as fetish. In the millennium a proper attitude will be to develop positively that which is indigenous to us; refining and ennobling it.

 

As regard physical infrastructure, we should deploy only that technology which we the local community can sustain. Grandiose technology only gives us temporary joy. An example is the use of streetlights in Agenebode, iviukwe and Agiere. The people cannot even replace the bulbs. Fluorescent lamps in each person’s home will create the same effect and this is sustainable.

POLITICS

The Okumagbe institution is perhaps our gift to the Nigeria nation. Weppa Wanno practices rotation of the Okumagbe institution amongst the ruling houses representing all the communities that make up the clan. Add to the fact that the tenure is a life tenure, peace and stability has ensued. Nigerians now agitate for federating units (which are akin to Weppa Wannos ruling houses) and rotational presidency.

 

The Weppa Wanno community must in the new millennium jealously guard this institution and accord greater veneration to the stool. The strive to create ruling houses should be halted as it can assume the nature of state creation in Nigeria which can only fragment us and throw up unviable ruling house; unviable in the sense of limited qualified material from which a befitting Okumagbe can be elected.

 

CULTURE AND TOURISM

 

The celebration of our various festivals and traditional titles like Ukpe, Akhe, Uthuami, should be rejuvenated and redirected to capture the traditional essence. Too much damaging elite influence has been introduced into the practices. Money is now enthroned and it is able to buy away otherwise compulsory practices which our elite are too willing to discard like the shaving of hair and public parade. The keepers of our traditional values should reject these practices which threaten to annihilate our culture and values. We may only refine culture to enhance the entertainment values and remove hocus pocus.

 

Today’s practice of the burial ceremony especially calls for strong criticism. The elite influence have turned it into an “Owambe” where the essence is loud praise singing and verbose music amidst dancing, drinking, coquetry, abuse of the currency styled ‘spraying’, stealing and other vices. The whole practice can be encapsulated in one word, vanity. Vanity of the offspring and relations of the dead striving for acclaim as having given their deceased a befitting burial.

 

The question should be asked, befitting for who? The off-springs or the departed? Is it not sufficient and beneficial to simply sing hymns for the soul of the departed in solemn atmosphere where all gathered offer prayers silently for the benefit of the departed soul? I summit that our traditional drum beats for the departed interspersed with religious hymns and a prayerful disposition of all present is all that is needed to benefit our dear departed. Our “asoebi” cartons of beer, gallons of ogogoro etc benefits our vanity. We must make the choice. And I used this opportunity to call on the Okumagbe to restate the tradition and legislate against the damaging vane practices.

 

The Weppa Wanno Day, the Okumagbe has instituted should be encouraged by all. It is a vehicle through which our culture and tradition can be preserved by passing them on to the younger generation who are daily assailed by modern and foreign influences. It should be made richer in entertainment content provided by our masquerades and a demonstration of our traditions like Akhe, Okhe, Uthuami. These make deeper impression than long speeches. The Weppa Wanno day should and will provide cultural education for our sons and daughters in the diapsora. With time, its tourism value will be enhanced and it can become a major revenue earner for the people of Weppa Wanno and the Etsako East Local Government. The Rio carnivals that have attained world acclaimed may have very well started this way.

 

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

 

The conventional wisdom of the urban elite is that any small-scale industrial project sited at home will be mismanaged and ultimately, will fail. Are Weppa Wannos a special breed of people that so castrate businesses? In the new millennium, success of business should not be measured by the level of returns accruing to the investor. The legal benefits to the employees, the community and the environment should equally be measured, rather than condemn, we should teach our people to become good project managers otherwise we will continue to plough all or a major part of our income into foreign lands. This cuts us from our roots. In international politics, it is an accepted norm that the primary interest is the national interest. In national politics, the primary interest by simple analogy is the ethnic interest so long as it is secured legally without short changing other groups. I may not agree with this postulation but it is a logical analysis.

 

Most used cars in Nigeria come from Belgium, Belgium does not manufacture cars but a used Mercedes car is cheaper in Belgium than Germany! Belgium therefore reaps a lot of benefits from having internationalized its market. The Agenebode market ideally located on the bank of the Niger can and should develop into a strategic commodity exchange and loading point for agricultural goods especially yams from Ankpa, Anyangba and Idah to serve dealers/wholesales from Benin, Ondo, Onistha etc who will bring plantain, rice and other goods. We need only provide a conducive environment through improved road and water transport, storage and warehousing, milling and cheap motels.

 

Our homes must henceforth be built to provide for little indoor agricultural enterprises. This can enhance the value of a rural family’s economic well being. To give a little example; a mature coconut palm will produce up to 200 seeds a year selling for about N5 each in the village. With 10 trees in the compound, there is an assured income of N10,000 per annum. With oranges, a fishpond, goats and sheep added, our rural folks will already rise above the poverty line. We need to help them fence their premises to prevent theft.

 

HEALTH AND POPULATION

 

The world recently celebrated the 2 billionth baby. Nigeria’s urban population was estimated to be 40 million in 1993 and is expected to rise to 100 million in 2010. At the dawn of the new millennium, 50 percent of global population will be urban. Statistics for Weppa Wanno is not available but from observation each household has more of its sons and daughters in the cities than at home. This impact on the productive capacity of the community. All the young and able bodies are in the cities and the age bracket left at home at 0 – 18 years and 60 – 80 years. Shouldn’t our urban retirees really consider returning home to improve the available skill, intelligence and manpower? The urban cities of the 2000 will be diseased, filth and crime infested and it is not a place for you if you can avoid it.

 

In conclusion, today’s man faces crises and more crises stares us in the face with the 2000s if we do not now reverse the trend. Prof. Wole Soyinka in his recent TELL anniversary lecture painted the picture of Nigeria in pillars, archways and beams which were falling apart. When such problems beset us we should seek directions from the Architect and the Architect of the entire world is GOD Almighty.

 

Thank you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 APPENDIX

 

PRESENTATION OF THE ENESEGBE CLUB AT THE FIRST WEPPA WANNO DAY CELEBRATION ON AUGUST 28, 1998 TITTLES: PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT OF WEPPA WANNO LAND – THE WAY FORWARD

 

 

The Enesegbe Club, Lagos is quite happy that an occasion of this sort is taking-off in Weppa Wanno land. It has always been the belief of our club that we cannot move forward as a people without the principle of oneness in purpose. This is why the topic “Progress and Development of Weppa Wanno Land – the Way Forward” is quite appropriate for this maiden exercise and we hasten to use this opportunity to thank those whose idea brought about this gathering today and also to those who worked tirelessly for the idea to see the light of the day.

 

We have decided to base our discuss on one word; UNITY, because, it is our strong belief that no meaningful thing can be achieved on a divided front.

 

We may buttress this by quoting the popular adage that “Unity we stand, divided we fall”. The new Webster dictionary defines unity as “the state of being one, singleness; the state of being made one, unification; a whole made of separate elements, full agreement, harmony, continuity of purpose, action, etc. an arrangement of parts capable of producing a concentrated total effect”. By this definition, we can safely imply that unity or its effect is the total agreement, as in the case of a community such as Weppa Wanno land, on plans and actions devoid of any acrimony, with the singular resolve by everyone to achieve the stated purpose. We must quickly state here that without this resolve by the different element making a whole, there can never be any meaningful development and without development , progress will not occur. Therefore, instead of such a “whole” to move forward, it will either remain stagnant or move backwards – retrogression. It is instructive to note here and very seriously too that unity can never occur where the people are not resolved to unite.

 

1.         SELFLESS SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY

            Having said these, let us now ask ourselves, how can Weppa Wanno land move forward?   We want to answer this question by saying that, Weppa Wanno is a land flowing with    Milk and Honey, waiting to be tapped, if it is so, why is the land completely barren. It is             because, we have not as a people resolved to do the right things for the community.

            John F. Kennedy, a one-time American President said, “Ask not what your country can            do for you, but what you can do for your country”. What this means in simple term is that, we should strive to develop our place for the good of all. Our club, the Enesegbe          Club has since inception worked tirelessly and enunciated programmes that are beneficial to the Weppa Wanno community, both at home and abroad. Such programmes include an             Annual Lectures in Lagos, Publish Enesegbelink - a magazine to propagate Weppa       Wanno to the outside world, Essay and mathematics Competition for all secondary             schools here at home, Hospital visitation every Christmas day, compulsory home visit by      all members every December among other noble programmes. Our club is resolved to    move Weppa Wanno Forward, whatever it may cost us.

 

2.         POLITICAL MANEUVERS

            Our particular area where our people have defaulted and need to urgently come together           is politics. Politics to us is a potent weapon of development because, it is the embodiment           or the totality of power. This word is aptly described by the Webster’s dictionary as “the             art and science of the government of a state, public affairs or public life as they relate to     this, the opinions, principles or policies by which a person(s) orders his participation in such affairs, scheming and manoeuving within a group”. Having known this, we want to             impress it on our people to always take active interest in constructive politics, no matter          who is coordinating, military or civilian. We are not talking about party politics, but a           situation where no matter the party you belong to, everyone will come together in all        election between our son/daughter and others. If we continue to play party politics, we            shall always be the looser because other people will use it to their advantage. The merits        in possessing power could be summed up in Nkrumah’s saying long ago that: “ If I        have to sell my mother to achieve political power, I will gladly do so, but once I am in   power, I will simply give the order that my mother be returned to me with immediate          effect, without any refund”

 

            What we must never do in politics is to boycott elections, no matter the level of       provocation because in boycott, you stand to lose everything by self denial. There is a   popular adage that “the option of a man who fails to vote in an election is that he should            be ruled by the fools”. In any case, who says we cannot float a political party? If we are       politically conscious, we too can come together and form a party so as to be recognized             and become relevant at all levels of governance. The sense in this is that, if you belong to           a majority party and you are a minority party you will not have a say, because the             majority in the majority party will prevail and there is nothing you can do about it since        that is democracy. But it you form a minority party, you will be a majority in that party   and by that, you will at least be able to express your minority view at the national level.

 

            Today, many of us doubt if actually our soil is hosting the headquarters of a local            government (refer to the July, 1998 edition of the Enesegbe Link). This doubt stemmed             from the fact that there is nothing on ground to testify to this. The roads are not there, no             telephone system, taps are dry, social life is non-existence etc. We have come to this deplorable level because we failed to plan and we have never worked as one.

 

3.         INVESTMENTS AND SELF HELP PROJECTS

            God created settlements and her people so the people could look after these settlements.           God cannot come down to do what we can do ourselves. Weppa Wanno has abundance of         human and material resources. Sadly enough, the human has refused to tap on the             material resource for the benefit of our community. We can conveniently host small scale             enterprises and successfully too, to the joy of both the owner and the community.

 

 

 

            Prof. M. A. Awudu has shown that it is possible to invest in this area and be happy, with          his farm and community bank. Investment is not when you come and want to improve the         local people without proper planning and good administrative set-up. Without proper             planning, your investment must fail and you can’t blame anyone for it – not witch or bad          belle. If more of our people will decide today to set up business(es) in this area, this community would be opened up and this will definitely attract the attention of the             government to provide other social amenities needed for the survival of the existing           industries. The owners of these businesses will have reasons to talk to government         because of their personal interest which will in turn benefit everyone. Another gain to be             derived from enhanced activities is that there will be better enlightenment for the people and they could hold their own anywhere they find themselves. Also, apart from reducing        the drift of our youth to other places, it will attract more people down here and therefore more capital inflow.

 

4.         CONFERENCE OF WEPPA WANNO CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS

            It is our considered opinion that the clubs and associations in Weppa Wanno should come   together and be properly coordinated for them to be able to work as one in certain issues        that affect the community. Our stand in the Enesegbe Club has always been that whatever         these bodies may be doing, the bottom-line is the forward movement of Weppa-Wanno.             Therefore, we must come together and work together.

 

5.         CONFLICT RESOLUTIONS

            This speech cannot end without mention being made of the internal conflicts that have     always reared their ugly heads, between villages, ruling houses and even individuals. We      want to make it abundantly clear that conflict in whatever form does not favour anyone.             Whether you win or lose, you must have more losses that gain to count. This is why, in our considered opinion, there should be put in place as a matter of urgency, a Conflict        Resolution Committee whose membership must be Weppa Wanno indigenes – men and             women of proven honesty and transparency. It is envisaged that this communities be    answerable only and directly to our Royal Father, the Okumagbe of Weppa Wanno Land.         With this, we shall be assured that no conflict will develop into a crisis situation without being nipped in the bud. We shall be sure of peace and harmony in our land and we shall    witness tremendous improvement in our body polity.

 

6.         REJUVENATION OF MORALS AND ENFORCEMENT OF LAW AND ORDER

            Also worthy of mention is the rising incidents of theft and indiscipline among our youths.          In days past, we know our land to be absolutely safe. One could confidently store things          without the fear of thieves, but that is now history. We have witnessed so much theft and      even violent ones that everyone is now afraid to even visit home. This is not good for     us as a people. We are informed that the Weppa Wanno youth movement is doing       something about this menace. We urge them to be fast in finding a lasting solution to this        problem, which in our opinion is capable of not only sending prospective investors out of   this environment, but could discourage our own sons and daughters from extending their           expertise home. There is no one, no matter how patriotic, who would want to throw his   hard earn resources into the ocean, all for patriotism.

 

            Conclusively, we are saying that until we learn to function as one, until we wake up to     modern politics, until our elites learn to come down home and raise the standard of this      community, until we learn to talk to government on the plight of Weppa Wanno, until we        stop our internal bickering, stop indiscipline and the rising trend of stealing in our land,          we may never move forward as a people.

 

            Our elders says, a word is enough for the wise, therefore, those who can, must act now to       save Weppa Wanno land.

 

            God Bless Weppa Wanno land, God bless Edo State, God Bless Nigeria.

 

 

 

THE ENESEGBE CLUB

August 1998


CONTENTS

1.         Contents

2.         Introduction to the Book                                                                     3

3.         Dedication/appreciation                                                                     6

4.         Genesis of the Okumagbe Stool                                                         7

5.         Picture of the Okumagbe of Weppa Wanno Land                              22

6.         History of Weppa Wanno Land                                                          23

7.         Weppa Wanno Population                                                                  27

8.         Lecture One by Alhaji Adamu A. Emozozo                                      28

9.         Lecture Two by Mr. Emmanuel E. Imoagene                                                49

10.       Lecture Three by Dr. Marcel A. Okhakhu                                         61

11.       Lecture Four by Mr. Stan B. Athekamhe                                           79

12.       Lecture Five by Barrister Austin E. Mamedu                                    86

13.       Appendix: The Enesegbe Club Presentation at the

            1st Weppa Wanno Day Celebration                                                    116

14.       The Enesegbe Club Presidency                                                          122

15.       Chairman’s Page                                                                                 123